Figure Skating is not a commonly talked about sport. Although, one may come across it during the Winter Olympics or around winter time i general. Many do not know the amount of work that is put into the sport, on and off the ice. Kathleen, the program director at Norwich Ice Rink, in Norwich Connecticut, was kind enough to take time out of her lesson to do several interviews, one being over the phone, and the other in person. During her lessons she shared critical information on what it is like to be a coach, what it is like to be a figure skater, and how ice skating shapes a skater’s life as a whole.
Kathleen’s Background
When talking with Kathleen over the phone, she mentioned that her idol in figure skating was Dorothy Hamill, a gold-medal winning figure skater within the Olympics. She described her to be her biggest influence and the initial reason for skating. Kathleen started skating at around nine years old, which as she stated was a “late” age for a skater to start. She then skated until she was eighteen, but suddenly had to stop due to double pneumonia. This was a traumatic time for her because it stopped her completely from a sport she became very compassionate for. But, once she overcame this she continued on and eventually became a coach. In total, she has been skating for over thirty years.
Kathleen had not only been a skater, but she was also a ballet dancer as well, which helped her significantly with skating. Skating requires for the body to be very fluid and flexible, doing other sports like dance, track, gymnastics and/ or running are great on the side to keep the body fit and flexible.
Kathleen not only has the experience of being a coach, but she also had experience in running a rink and running programs for skaters within the rink. She is still a program director today and enjoys her job very much.
Achievements
Starting at a younger age, her greatest achievement was learning to do a split jump. This is a split in the air, the skater has to touch his/her toes while doing it. Very difficult, and as she explained in the phone interview, it led to a lot of falling, and mistakes, which is completely normal.
Now, her greatest achievements are seeing her students succeed in the skating field and watching them take home a medal of some sort. Kathleen explained that her greatest goal is to see her students successfully complete a program. the medals do not matter, but they are great when they do come to her students way. She explained that it is a great feeling to know that a majority of her students have gone far and competed well throughout her years of coaching
Men vs Women
There is a large controversy between who is better, men or women. Kathleen’s idea on this is that men definitely bring the athleticism to the sport, but women bring the grace. men can do jumps and spin better and longer, but women can carry themselves in a more fluid and graceful way, which is a very important aspect of figure skating. This was an interesting conversation because many have different ideas about this, but this seemed to be a very logical, and accurate way to describe the difference between men and women figure skaters.
Working with Students
Kathleen describes herself to adjust her coaching to who she is working with. Two of the students she taught while I interviewed her were both girls who she described needed a little confidence boost. Kathleen described the younger of her students to be very advanced for her age, but because she is placed in a certain age group the coaches evaluate her with a different, more critical way. She is working on putting her within another group that is closer to her age and style, making it a better chance for her to get a medal. She explained that she does not get these titles even though she is a great skater, this happens to many skaters as well. This student’s idol is Ashley Wagner. She says that this is her favorite Skater because she knows what she wants, and achieves her goals as a skater. It is important to have these figures in order for skaters to have goals they can create and potentially achieve.
An important point Kathleen made within the phone interview was the fact that figure skating is not a sport where everybody gets a medal. This is what makes the sport so hard and what motivates skaters to do better. One little mistake during a program can deduct many points from a skater, even if he/she did very well throughout the rest of the program.
The other student Kathleen taught, also was struggling with confidence. This is because of her previous coach. She explains that the reason she asks so many questions is that her previous coach never lets her ask questions, which now makes her want to question everything to perfection. Questioning is not a bad thing, in fact, it is very helpful. As you can see in the video below, her asking questions helps for Kathleen to explain and give her a verbal and physical description of what she needs to improve. This is a technique done a lot of coaching figure skaters.
Working with Students Kathleen has seen that there is a lot that goes on within a skater’s world. Skaters will find that their struggles within the rink can prepare them to the real world. Kathleen hits the nail on the head when she explains that not everyone will like you, and you will fall into a certain click. Anyone who does this sport will know or come to find this out eventually. But, she is right when she says that it prepares one for the real world, becasue in the real world everybody faces this bitter reality.
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