The Future of Figure Skating Coaching

Figure skating has become more and more popular over the years. It seems everyone knows Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano.

And recently there’s been a few rule and judging changes.

But not much else about the sport
has really changed for decades!

And that’s especially true of coaching.

The exact same coaching techniques that were used 50 years ago are still in use today. The typical process of how to take a young athlete and create a talented figure skater has not really changed.

Coaches still teach their skaters the way that their own coaches taught them. In essence, the process is:

• A coach explains what to do or shows the skater what to do.
• The skater tries it.
• Usually the skater fails, which in skating often means a painful fall.
• The coach watches the attempt and decides what went wrong, based on one or two seconds of observation.
• The coach then tells the skater what changes to make for the next attempt.
• The skater tries again.
• Usually the skater fails, again and again and again!

Experts in other sports raise their eyebrows
and shake their heads at this process!

Most other sports have experienced a “research period” where optimal technique has been identified. As a result, the majority of coaches in those sports are aware of optimal technique and how to teach it. Golf is a classic example. And because of this, teaching methods have become more consistent and standardized.

The “research period” is just beginning in figure skating.

Today, if you put 5 coaches together in a room and asked them to define optimal double axel technique, you’d get 5 different answers. That’s not very encouraging, especially for skaters and their parents. Even more alarming, most coaches seem proud of the fact that there are “many ways to teach the same thing.”

But skating coaches are losing sight of the fact that there is usually a “best way” to teach something. If there truly is a “best way,” that way will eventually dominate the higher levels of the sport. As coaches see that domination they adjust their teaching accordingly. And teaching methods within the sport will become more standardized over time. This is happening in skating, although very slowly.

“This blog is dedicated to helping encourage
research within the sport of figure skating.
It is dedicated to finding the “best way.” It
is dedicated to helping promote the “best way”
and educate coaches to use it.”

The “best way” is now more easily determined than ever before due to the prevalence of inexpensive consumer digital video cameras, laptop computers and powerful video analysis programs. With frame-by-frame comparison available to all coaches, it is now possible to accurately model the most successful skaters and coaches.

Creating A Model

Creating a model is relatively straightforward by following a process of methodical tests and analyses. For example, consider the double axel. A typical double axel has a flight time of only about half a second. Even adding the critical portions of the entrance and exit edges, the jump only takes a couple of seconds. Yet the jump can be broken down into phases. And the common characteristics of each phase of the successful jumps can be determined through observing frame by frame video.

By determining exactly what these common characteristics are, we can slowly but surely build a model of the “best way.” But it isn’t just skating technique that’s changing.

The process of coaching is changing. Rapidly.

Those skaters that get to attempt challenging elements only in the safety of a harness and only when their skills are ready have a huge advantage.

• They have fewer injuries.
• They have less fear of falling.
• And they don’t “learn to fall.”

Practice Makes Perfect?

The old saying that “practice makes perfect” is nonsense. “Practice makes permanent” is more accurate. And skaters that practice jumps and repeatedly fall are teaching themselves to fall.

The phrase “perfect practice makes perfect” illustrates the real goal. In a perfect world, a skater would learn difficult and dangerous jumps without risk of pain or injury. Without the risk of pain, the skater doesn’t hold back and fear becomes a non-issue. The skater can focus on the “best way.”

Imagine how much faster a skater
could learn in that environment!

Do you think skating parents will start demanding that? You can bet on it. And coaches that don’t deliver that will lose out to those that do.

I’d like to make sure that all coaches have the tools and knowledge to teach the “best way” and give their skaters every possible advantage by using the best processes available.

Trevor Laak