BellaZinga.Blog

Category: figure skating

  • The Importance of “Culture” in Our Youth Sport Organizations

    The Importance of “Culture” in Our Youth Sport Organizations

    With thirty years of coaching experience, and ten years as a sport parent, I have been afforded many opportunities to create, implement,  observe, and critique different organizational cultures.

    If I am being entirely honest, one of the reasons I retired from coaching was my complete disillusionment surrounding the never-changing landscape of the culture we work in as figure skating coaches.

    Full disclosure: While I always did my best to create a positive culture, I have also been responsible for creating less than positive environments through mistakes I have made, either by reacting inappropriately to what I percieved as injustice or unfair criticism, or being so outspoken about organizational issues as to burn bridges behind me.

    Throughout my coaching life, I have worked for clubs with organizational cultures that felt so supportive and progressive I have deeply enjoyed coming to work because I felt so valued in my organization.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am that these clubs exist and I have had the pleasure of working in them. 

    I have worked in other clubs where the culture was simply average; drama and divisiveness with one executive, then support and cohesion with the next. This is more often the norm in figure skating clubs in Canada simply because of the nature of their structure.  For more on this, read my blog on some of the hardships endured by skating coaches in Canada.

    I have also had the displeasure of working with a couple of clubs that were quite toxic. 

    Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

    I cannot overstate enough the stress I experienced working with these clubs. One, in particular, stands out.  The anxiety I felt day in and day out was so bad it resulted in sleeplessness, nervous tics, weight gain, depression, self-doubt, and eventually burn-out. 

    Where I used to love going to work and didn’t even consider my coaching job as a “job,” I eventually became afraid to go to the rink because I always felt under attack. Even worse, it was plain the values I held dear were nowhere in evidence.

    The hardest part of all was to try and diagnose the problem.  Why was the club so toxic?  Was it me?  No matter how hard I tried to model clarity, to try to include people in my ideas, and to try to show professionalism, I seemed to fail at every turn.

    What made my slow descent into disenfranchisement even worse is that I could see that people in the organization were doing the best they could.  Yet somehow, the club became a place of division and strife. In the end, clarity in communication became non-existent, and trust had eroded to the point of being completely absent. There was little organizational structure to depend on, and skaters were leaving in droves.

    I speak often about how important the “culture” of any organization is, but when it comes down to it, it is a complicated concept that few people understand, and, in my humble opinion, even fewer value it as an important factor in the success of skating clubs.

    Before going any further, I want to give a shout-out to those clubs that do have wonderful, supportive, open, clear, and progressive cultures.  You can tell those clubs that put in the work; they are the ones that produce confident athletes, seem to have happy coaches who remain with the club for a long time, and in general, you just feel good being there. 

    Sadly, in my experience, you have a 50/50 shot of finding a skating club in Canada with a positive club culture.

    So what exactly IS organizational or club culture?

    Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.com

    Well, after consulting my wise colleague Google, there seem to be several similarities between the many definitions of “organizational culture.” 

    You can pare down the commonalities of organizational culture to these things:

    • There is a collective agreement on what things are important to that particular club or youth organization. This means that the leaders in the club gather and determine which things they wish to make a focal point for the day-to-day running of their organization.  These can include assumptions, beliefs, values, and practices.
    • The leaders of the organization are the ones that help to create and model these agreed-upon values or practices.
    • Workers in the organization are provided support in order to uphold these common beliefs or values, often in the form of incentives and also sometimes in the form of…ahem…punishment.
    • Leaders and workers alike work together to implement and maintain these beliefs, assumptions, values, or practices in order to create a harmonious and successful organization.

    So there it is, sounds easy right? 

    BWAH-HA-HA-HA……!  I hope that sound of my laughter in your ears isn’t too deafening.

    Creating and maintaining a strong and positive club or organizational culture is one of the most difficult things to do ever. 

    Full stop.

    With so many moving parts present in a figure skating club, like coaches, volunteers, parents, athletes, executive members, and administrative staff, just trying to get people to collectively commit to one set of shared values is nearly impossible.

    A full concerted effort has to be made by every single person in that skating club to commit to modeling the core values of that culture, as well as following the processes and procedures set in place in order to maintain these values.

    As someone who has always been fascinated by leadership styles (indeed, I am guilty of reading more books on leadership, mindset, and motivation by business leaders than your average bear), I have spent years trying to learn the “secret” to creating a positive club culture.

    I’ve had some success and just as many failures, but I can tell you from experience these are the things that every club needs to possess in order to create a positive culture.

    Clarity

    As someone who is late to hop on the Brene Brown train, I admit to always being skeptical of anything that smacks of self-help…but wow, this lady (sorry….Doctor!) blew me away.  Listening to her book “Dare to Lead” left me open-mouthed and wide-eyed from the sheer force of the multiple “a-ha” moments it provided.  (not to be confused with multiple orgasms, that’s another book and an entirely different type of author).

    While it would take too long to list all of the takeaways provided by this first-class researcher on vulnerability, courage, and shame in relationships AND in the workplace, one of the concepts that resonated the most deeply with me is: “clear is kind, and kind is clear.”

    Dr. Brown repeats this rule like a mantra, and indeed, it should be the mantra at every skating club or youth sports organization.

    Too often, we are too afraid to say what we are feeling. When we have a problem in our club, we hesitate to speak up for fear of sounding weak or, worse, like an emotional woman.

    Too often, we let wounds fester in our skating clubs, leaving rumours unaddressed and allowing issues to grow until the resentment between coaches or executive members is so great there is no hope of meeting with an open heart or mind, as Brown often recommends.

    I have always been clear. Perhaps too clear, and if I’m being candid, my delivery is not always as gentle as it could be. It has always been my belief that we have to name issues and do the hard work required to solve them in order to move forward productively.

    Unfortunately, everyone in the club has to “buy in” to this belief, and if you are the only one or one of the few who believes that “clear is kind,” then you will often find yourself in “unkind” waters for attempting to be transparent.

    Organization

    In order to have a successful club culture, there must be a system in place that everyone understands and trusts implicitly. For example, it is no use attempting to team coach when you have coaches who haven’t bought into the process and do everything in their power to undermine the program.

    Everyone in a productive organization must know their jobs and have the support necessary to carry them out to the best of their abilities. This leads me to my third point.

    Value Each Other

    Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

    I can’t tell you how much a simple thing like “thank you” changes my day. Yet words like “thank you” or “I appreciate the job you did today” are very seldom used. When they are, they stand out.

    To value your fellow coaches and executive members means that you also trust them to do their job without micromanaging them.

    A club with a positive culture gives professionals and executive members alike the space they need to do their jobs well and the resources they need to do it.

    They also pay these individuals what they are worth and respect their time outside of the rink.

    A positive club culture is one that allows members to set healthy boundaries and maintain a work/life balance.

    Opportunity for Mentorship and Growth

    Every member of an organization or club needs a chance to grow within that organization. Opportunities for education and promotion should be regularly provided in order to keep members challenged and fulfilled in their careers.

    Novice coaches should be assigned a senior coach as a mentor to provide them support and guidance. The knowledge and experience mentor coaches can provide up-and-coming coaches are invaluable—particularly for female coaches—and will increase coach retention in the long run.

    Openness to Feedback

    No one likes receiving negative feedback. Myself the least of all. But in order to maintain and nurture a positive club culture, it is critical that all members in a skating club take a step back from their own egos and really LISTEN to feedback when it is offered. When members feel safe to open up about their concerns and feel valued and heard, the entire dynamic of the organization changes for the better.

    As an example, my daughter used to dance at a studio where I felt like I was always overreacting or being a hysterical female when I brought up my concerns to her instructors or the director. (I want to be accurate; there were two instructors that went over and above to help my daughter and recognized that she needed modifications; they were the reason we remained as long as we did).

    While lip service was paid to my concerns, nothing was ever changed, and I felt alienated and devalued, much like my daughter was feeling.

    As I later found out, my daughter was diagnosed with special needs, and we left that studio for one that has one of the best organizational cultures I have ever seen. Every time I have approached any of the teachers or the owner of our new studio about any concerns, I have been met with absolute openness and care, and best of all, action was immediately taken.

    This is what inspires people to remain loyal to your organization.

    Constant Vigilance

    As I mentioned above, it is not enough to simply write a mission statement about what the main values are for your organization. Now you have to “walk the walk.” This is where most organizations fall down.

    Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

    With so many changes in our executive members and sometimes coaching staff, the values and beliefs that are so integral to each figure skating club require constant care and follow-up in order to maintain. Positive club cultures are not a “one-and-done” thing.

    Another practical yet ground-breaking idea from Brene Brown is the idea of “rumbling with vulnerability.” Simply put, this is a meeting (on a continuous basis—I would recommend weekly) where everyone comes together with a total commitment to complete openness and vulnerability.

    Everyone is required to share a viewpoint and back it up; no one is allowed to sit back and coast. The idea is to set aside ego and come together, in understanding and vulnerability, to find workable solutions to any issues.

    I can’t state strongly enough how much I wish we had these at the skating clubs I have worked at. And yes, for those of us in the profession long enough, we are supposed to have coaches’ meetings, but are those really open?

    Do people feel they can be vulnerable and will be supported in sharing their issues? Are the executive members present at these meetings too? Shouldn’t they be?

    As you can see, creating and maintaining a positive culture in your youth sports organization or figure skating club can be a difficult process, but it is well worth it.

    If you are a club executive member, skating school director, dance studio owner, or club coach, I highly recommend reading any of Brene Brown’s books, particularly “Dare to Lead.” It may help you create a more positive club culture in your organization.

    If you want to hear more about organizational culture in youth sports, watch for our “Coaches on Edge” Podcast, where we dissect our experiences and thoughts concerning organizational, club, and studio culture. You can find us on Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocketcasts, and RadioPublic!

    We’ll be joined by Shawna Kwan, Owner of Elan Dance Arts: Dance Teacher, Choreographer, Business Mentor, and Entrepreneur, as we discuss the things we do to maintain a positive culture for our athletes.

    If you have any questions, comments, or pointers for creating your own positive culture you’d like us to discuss on our podcast, let us know in the comments below!

  • 6 Things I Learned from Starting a Podcast

    6 Things I Learned from Starting a Podcast

    I never thought I would be a retired skating coach. Skating was my passion, my life and my reason for getting up in the morning. Coaching quickly became my new passion after university, and I had always envisioned myself as one of those coaches sitting on a stool teaching from the boards at 90, still loving it and giving back.

    Circumstances changed, and demanded I “pivot” from my 30 year career in coaching. Truthfully, it was a struggle. So much of my identity was wrapped up in seeing myself as “coach” that when it was stripped away, I didn’t recognize myself.

    Even though I’d found a gig that paid my bills, it didn’t feed my soul and challenge me the way coaching did, and I floundered away from the sport. I knew I had more to say, but I didn’t know how to say it.

    One day, as I was aimlessly flipping through the available apps on my phone, I came across Anchor, an app designed to let anyone start their own podcast with zero cost and minimal equipment.

    After floating the idea by a couple of coaching friends we were in business and we are now three podcasts in and loving the process.

    Along the way, I’ve learned a LOT about myself and thought I would share some of my realizations with you. So without ado, here are 6 things I have learned about myself by recording a podcast.

    1. My Imposter Syndrome is Alive and Well

    Photo by Ibolya Toldi from Pexels

    I’ve always suffered from low self-esteem and imposter syndrome. Therapy, self-talk and affirmations (things every coach is VERY familiar with) have helped me with my self-image to the point where if I’m having a bad day, I can “fake it” perfectly with no one the wiser.

    There is always a little voice inside my head that surfaces when I am trying something new or putting myself out there that asks, (in it’s insipid voice), “who do you think you are?” or, “why do you think people would want to listen to you?”

    When you podcast, you’re sharing a little bit of yourself to the entire world (well, at the very least, our 5 subscribers…hey…we’re new!) It’s scary to be that vulnerable, knowing that you could be opening yourself up to criticism. Each podcast gets a little easier, but it’s still there.

    2. My Love of Skating is NOT Dead

    I’ve made no secret concerning my opinions on the issues I see systemically within our sport system in Canada, particularly for coaches working in smaller centres. After thirty years of coaching, and in particular the last nine years in a place that seems to be a hotbed of rumor, back-channeling, and toxicity, I was drained and disillusioned.

    I felt that there MUST be something wrong with me, because no matter how hard I worked, or how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to make things better. As the saying goes, “same shit, different pile.” There is nothing worse than doubting yourself at every turn and walking on eggshells. When you add to that a history of chronically being undervalued and underpaid, as so many of us are, it results in burnout.

    Over a year ago, I made the decision to NOT return to coaching, and it was like a weight had lifted off of my chest. I had no idea how much I had let the culture around me affect my mental and emotional health. And to be frank, I didn’t have much good to say about our profession in general.

    I now know that was the depression and anxiety talking, and that my love of the sport is NOT DEAD; the lessons I have learned from doing it, and how I FEEL when I help young athletes learn, have kept my passion and interest alive. By sharing my thoughts, concerns and feelings in a safe environment with my trusted coaching friends, I am slowly finding my love of the sport again.

    3. I Needed Grown-Up Time

    Not that we need reminding, but, this year has felt like a zombie-fucking-apocolypse y’all, and the isolation was really starting to get to me. Like, having-entire-conversations-with-my-daughter’s-LOL-dolls and breaking-into-show-numbers-from-Hamilton-at-any-given-moment kind of getting to me.

    Just being able to schedule an hour of intelligent, constructive, ADULT conversation with friends who absolutely “get” the world of coaching is GOLD.

    4. I Need to Learn to Enunciate

    I had always thought of myself as fairly articulate, both in the written word AND speaking. Turns out…not so much. In our last podcast we were chatting and comparing the two skating styles of the US skater Nathan Chen, and our Canadian icon Patrick Chan.

    Now, I KNOW that their last names are “CHEN” and “CHAN” respectively, and I know when we were chatting about these two skaters I said Nathan Chen and Patrick Chan, but upon listening to the playback, I quickly realized that I was not very clear when it came to pronouncing the short “A” sound in Chan.

    SIGH…..diction lessons for me it is. You will find me reciting “the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane” a la “My Fair Lady” for the next little while. The irony is I actually teach English as a second language every morning and spend countless hours helping young kids learn how to properly pronounce those same sounds!

    So for anyone listening to our third podcast, I am in fact saying “Nathan CHEN, and Patrick CHAN”….. but you just can’t tell.

    5. I Am Blessed to be Surrounded by Intelligent Friends

    I am blessed in my life. Every single one of my friends teaches me something every time I interact with them, and my co-hosts on our podcast are no exception. I learn something new about myself, the sport of figure skating, and coaching in general by our frank discussion.

    Photo by APG Graphics on Pexels.com

    I’ve always been a believer that sharing ideas and opinions is the best way to learn and grow, and this podcast has only reinforced that belief. Picking topics and sharing viewpoints, whether you are in agreement or not, opens your mind and helps you grow as individuals.

    6. It Really Matters to Me That This Podcast Can Inform and Inspire New Coaches

    As you get older, you always wonder what you will leave behind. Have I made life better for at least one person? Have I made a difference in the lives of my students, my friends, or my child?

    With each podcast I realize I have a forum that my friends and I can utilize to inform others about the positives and negatives related to professional coaching. I’m hopeful we can do it in a funny, candid and constructive way, and provide some degree of mentorship and inspiration.

    As senior coaches, and particularly as women in coaching, it’s our job to open doors and support those coming after us. It’s the least we can do for our sport, and to repay those that helped us along the way.

    It’s always scary to put myself out there, but I’m so glad I did. I’m enjoying creating our podcast so much, and I encourage you to listen and become part of the conversation!

    Check us out: Coaches On Edge on Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Breaker, PocketCasts, and Overcast.

    Have you stepped out of your comfort zone with any new ventures lately? Share your experience and what you’ve learned in the comments!

  • Coaching Neurodiverse Athletes

    Coaching Neurodiverse Athletes

    I have a confession to make. I used to be one of those coaches who did not believe ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) was a real “thing.” I cringe as I write this, but there it is.

    I can remember YEARS ago as I was in the midst of coaching a group of young boys for an ice show number. The boys were a handful, and I had been informed that several of them had ADHD.

    “Right,” I thought to myself, “all these kids need are a strong hand and firm boundaries….seriously.”

    So I cracked down. I was firm, and strict. Hell, I ran that practice like a drill sergeant. And those poor kids had no fun whatsoever.

    When I think back to that time, I can’t believe how ignorant I was…..I had no knowledge of ADHD, and just assumed in my hubris that it was the result of inadequate parental discipline. I still shudder to think of my lack of empathy and understanding for those poor kids suffering with invisible conditions, as well as the parents doing their best to help them.

    Fate has a twisted sense of humor, and she decided I was in need of a serious karmic tune-up. The first person put in my path to teach me valuable lessons was a competitive skater. I had worked with many recreational skaters in the past with ADHD and other special needs, but I had not had the pleasure and the challenge to work closely for a long period of time with a higher level athlete.

    It was an eye-opening experience. There were so many behaviors I observed over the course of our years together that I was to learn were simply not in my athletes’ control, and I experienced first-hand the struggles faced physically, mentally and emotionally these brave kiddos face every-single-day.

    I also learned that despite all of my coaching experience, my university degree, and my thousands of dollars spent on my NCCP coaching courses over the years, I had received virtually no training in 20 years of coaching with my association, (up until that point in time) on how to coach neurodiverse athletes.

    It was an aha! moment, and I immediately went to work to learn as much as I could about conditions like ADHD, ASD, giftedness, dyslexia, processing disorders, executive function issues and so many others…..and let me tell you, there is a LOT to learn.,

    After taking courses in Learning Disabilities and ADHD with different associations and colleges, I felt better equipped to be the best coach I could be for my skater.

    Then fate hit me with the second of it’s one-two punch.

    I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. My miracle baby after years of infertility. And it quickly became apparent that there was something different about her; not better or worse, (although she certainly demanded MORE of me than other babies and toddlers her age seemed to demand of other parents)…..just….different.

    Sure enough, after years of research, advocating, homeschooling and fighting against judgement and stereotyping…..I had a diagnosis….well, one of possibly many diagnoses….my daughter has ADHD. And anxiety. And executive function issues….and possibly Aspergers. Let’s not forget possible dysgraphia. Or the possibility of processing issues….oh yeah…and pretty sure she’s gifted too!

    (note: I am aware Aspergers has now been grouped under the autism umbrella and categorized as an Autism Spectrum Disorder–ASD–but Asperger’s and “Aspie” is the term we have chosen to use.)

    Holy fuck.

    On a personal level, I found out just how amazing, wonderful, frustrating, overwhelming and draining it feels to be the parent of a kiddo with an invisible disability and superpower like ADHD.

    Not gonna lie though, sometimes it feels like I am drowning.

    Over the course of the years, as my daughter tried different activities like skating, karate, soccer, and dance, I was able to observe many different types of teachers, coaches and dance instructors as they worked with my daughter.

    I felt I had a unique viewpoint given my many years coaching, and my years parenting a neurodiverse child to REALLY understand what it takes to teach kiddos with unseen disabilities.

    And I was, unfortunately, often disappointed.

    I say this with the utmost respect to those amazing teachers and individuals I have encountered who were fully educated about my daughters needs, and those who went over and above to help her and really individualize her learning experience.

    Some of my best friends are teachers, educational assistants and coaches to special needs kiddos, so I see and appreciate those who actively work to make a difference every day.

    Unfortunately, most teachers, coaches and dance instructors simply don’t have the tools in their toolbox, the knowledge, or even the motivation to learn the techniques required to work with these kids.

    And even MORE UNFORTUNATELY, most sports and educational institututions don’t supply adequate training or compensation for their teachers/instructors who deal with children with special needs, and are equally lacking with resources and supports for those who need it most.

    I remember clearly my daughter coming home sobbing from school, not understanding why her teacher got mad at her for not finishing her work on time, or taking off her outside clothes after recess before she was late for class. Even though I stressed that my daughter struggled with executive functioning, working memory, and fine motor skills, all of which required more time and assistance to complete most tasks, her teacher was not able to give her the time, grace or help she needed.

    I also remember a couple of my daughters’ dance teachers making the students sit on the studio floor for long lectures, a task that is painful for kids with ADHD. I also watched them giving long lists of instructions or corrections that were difficult for my daughter to follow and, in my opinion-the cruelest thing of all-telling the kids that only the students that could sit still and be quiet enough would be the ones who would get the best parts in the dance.

    My daughter felt unseen, unheard and unworthy. She still has nightmares about that particular dance studio. We have since changed studios and are with a wonderful, inclusive studio where my daughter has found her love of dance again.

    But the damage was done.

    So in an effort to save my fellow coaches some time as they work with athletes that may have these invisible disabilities, I thought I’d compile a list of the things I’ve experienced and information I’ve researched in an effort to better help YOU help YOUR students.

    Before we get started, I’d like to impart a few words of caution.

    When talking to your athletes parents about what you are seeing with their children, don’t normalize the behavior in an attempt to make them feel better. How often have you heard or been part of a conversation like this?

    Tired parent: “So how did Sally do in her lesson today?”

    Coach: “She did well, but she was pretty busy, she had trouble standing still and listening to me giving directions.“

    Tired parent: “Sorry, she has a hard time maintaining attention, but she is listening….(sigh), she’s just very busy and it takes a lot of work to keep her on track.“

    Coach: “All kids are busy, but she just needs to pay attention to the instructions so she knows what to do in the lesson.“

    Sounds okay, right? The coach didn’t sound mean, just explaining what behavior is required in the lesson. I mean, we’re taught to be clear about our expectations, right?

    The problem lies with the “all kids are busy” part.

    You may think by down-playing that child’s hyperactivity you are making the parent feel better by pointing out that all kids are busy, or have difficulty paying attention.

    But you aren’t making them feel better. In actual fact, you are making them feel awful.

    Think about it. Kids with invisible disabilities have an actual, proven, neurobiological and physical disability. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. They simply are MORE, and because of these deficits they demand MORE from parents and coaches.

    Would you tell a parent of a child with cerebral palsy, “it’s okay, all children have trouble with movement and muscle tone.”

    Pretty sure you wouldn’t. But when you tell a parent of a child with an invisible condition that “all children” are like that you are devaluing their entire experience of parenting their child. You are in actuality giving credence to the judgment they hear every day from people with no knowledge of the biological reasons for their children’s differences.

    You are, in effect, saying that if all children are like that, then it must be an issue with the environment or parenting.

    And that’s just shitty. Even when it’s meant with the best of intentions, it still hurts. The shame and recrimination we feel and think every day as the parent of a neurodiverse kiddo is a pretty heavy burden. Trust me, we already judge ourselves more harshly than other parents. So don’t add to that guilt, okay?

    Next, as the saying goes, “if you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.” (Steven Shore)

    This means that no two neurodiverse athletes will have the same characteristics, strengths and weaknesses as the other. Every neurodiverse individual is unique, as coaches it is our job to figure out what works, what doesn’t and how to adapt our teaching styles to best accommodate them. It’s not their job to accommodate us…..they are physically unable to do so.

    You have to approach every neurodiverse student as if they are a puzzle to figure out. You have to observe their behavior, discuss their needs with their parents who are often the BEST source of information, research their conditions, talk with other coaches or teachers who have had success with their own special needs students, and finally, use trial and error in your approach to coaching them.

    Coaching students with invisible special needs is not for the faint of heart. These kids can try your patience and knowledge to the Nth degree, but when you figure out how they learn best, you will be richly rewarded. Without further ado, here are a few common sense and easily applied strategies you can use in your every day coaching these athletes.

    1. Keep Your Instructions Short

    Really short.

    THIS.SHORT.

    Seriously guys, I can not stress this enough. Asking kids with attention deficits to sit through long lectures, explanations or any instructions longer than a few chunks of information is actually not only unrealistic, it is almost cruel to them.

    Give instructions in short, easy to remember chunks. Then send your student off to try it.

    If you use “cue” or “key” words when you teach (and you should, because…hello!) then you need to try to use the same 4-5 keywords for everything.

    I know, this is hard to do….especially if you are working on two very different skills in a lesson, but do your best. It is critical that you make your instructions as easily accessible for their brains as possible.

    Think about it, learning is an incredibly complex process-when you learn something new you have to be able to access and rehearse the information as you hold it in your working memory, and then incorporate it into your motor program carefully enough so that you myelinate the correct pathway!

    And let’s not forget that the brain also has to convert that information from your short-term/working memory to long-term memory, and then be able to figure out where you stored the correct information when you need to access it in subsequent practices.

    And of course, if you struggle with regulating attention, this will hamper the process of encoding the information….this is what happens when you have students who have seemingly grasped a skill or concept one day, then appear to have no knowledge of the skill the next. It feels like you are re-teaching skills constantly and can get quite frustrating. This leads me to my next point.

    2. More Patience, More Understanding, More Kindness

    Imagine what the learning process feels like for your neurodiverse students. These athletes are giving you every effort they can, doing their best to attend and learn, and they still struggle to retain skills from one day to the next, watching their neurotypical counterparts pick up the skills more rapidly and with less effort.

    It’s not fair, and as a coach, you absolutely have to give support and empathy to these athletes. They will require more understanding, more patience, and more kindness than you may have ever thought you have.

    Don’t think you have that level of support in you? Trust me, you will find wells of empathy you never knew you had, because when these kids finally achieve a skill they have worked and cried and literally bled for, it will feel like they have won the freaking Olympics.

    (For a great infographic on how we encode, store and retrieve information, check out learnupon.com)

    The learning process for any new skill is hard enough for a neurotypical learner, let alone a child who has a deficit in the brain processes required for these tasks…which leads me to my next point, kids with processing disorders.

    3. Give the Gift of Time

    A neurodiverse athlete or learner will often have difficulty in any one of the steps required to encode, store or retrieve information.

    Often, upon hearing verbal instructions, students with processing issues require time for the auditory input to reach their brain. I think of it as that swirling circle you see when you type information into your web browser and are waiting for it to load.

    You have to give your neurodiverse athletes more time then you would normally give your neurotypical athletes when you give instructions. If working in a group setting, give the instruction, using only a few chunks of information (remember, SHORT instructions) and send your neurotypical athletes out first to practice the skill.

    Then, use the time with your neurodiverse kiddos to check for understanding. You can ask them to repeat what you said, and if you detect they are having difficulty you can repeat, rephrase, or reform your instructions, perhaps drawing a picture, or demonstrating the skill yourself while stressing the cue words.

    Even more helpful would be pictures of the instructions posted for them to refer back to when necessary.

    Too often, I see coaches blaming kiddos for not paying attention, or not caring, when they don’t understand given instructions. Remember, A CHILD WILL DO WELL IF THEY CAN, if they cannot, it is our job to help them to do well.

    Talking louder and repeating the same instruction to your athlete when they struggled to understand it the first time will. not. help. It only creates anxiety and frustration in the learner.

    I heard a brilliant analogy of this from the “Leaky Brakes” Brake Shop Webinar offered from the Child and Parent Resource Institute in London Ontario. I highly stress you check them out, because it will CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK about kids with impulse control problems.

    Here’s the analogy: Imagine you have a beautiful sports car. This car is the top of the line, it can drive faster than any car on the road. Now imagine, there’s a leak in the brake line of this beautiful car. This car simply cannot stop when it needs to.

    Will yelling at the car and repeating “stop, stop, stop!” help the car to stop?

    Will threatening to take away the best oil from the car if the car doesn’t stop help the car to stop?

    No, identifying that there is a problem with the brake line, that the car is physically UNABLE to stop at this time, and figuring out how to fix the brake line is how you fix the problem.

    We have to change how we approach and work with these kids, realizing we cannot have the same expectations from them as we have from neurotypical kids.

    And we absolutely cannot use the same language, motivation, or discipline techniques with our neurodiverse athletes as we do with our neurotypical athletes.

    It just won’t work.

    4. Help Them Prioritize

    Often, athletes who seem to not give their best effort in a task are not procrastinating out of disinterest, they are unsure how to begin. Many neurodiverse athletes have deficits with executive functioning, which impedes how they access information to complete tasks.

    In order to complete any task, we must be able to organize our thoughts enough to pick a beginning point. This involves prioritizing the elements of a task and picking the most important to complete first, organizing each subsequent element of a task in sequence, and finally, accomplishing the appropriate portion last.

    This act of determining which elements of a skill must be practiced or completed first is sometimes the biggest obstacle to a neurodiverse athlete as they attempt to learn new skills and incorporate instructions.

    In order to help, first, keep instructions short, and repeat them as many times as necessary for the athlete to remember. Where you might teach a skill with the “whole-part-whole” approach for a neurotypical athlete, when it comes to dealing with students who think differently, you must parse your instructions down even more.

    Lower your expectations with regard to the time it takes to learn new tasks, and break skills down into chunks involving only 2 chunks of information or physical actions at a time.

    Next, give your instructions using this phrase: “First…….then….”

    Giving instructions in this format helps neurodiverse kiddos pick the most important step to begin with, and the next step to do after they have accomplished the first.

    This gives them a clear path to learning the skill with much less use of brain power on their part, allowing them more enjoyment in the learning process itself.

    I also highly recommend writing these instructions down where they are easily accessible, such as laminated lists you can re-use daily. Having instructions posted where neurodiverse learners can see them helps them when they lose focus and become distracted.

    5. Dial It Down

    Many student athletes have “sensory processing” disorders, which deals with the way a body receives and processes sensory information from the outside world. Children that have sensory issues often experience stimuli more strongly than others, and things like loud noises or bright lights can be painful for them.

    If you know or suspect that an athlete may have sensory issues, you might want adapt their learning environment, choosing times when there is less stimuli, less people, and less noise. If you are teaching a sport in an environment that requires music, then watch the volume of the music, and make sure to modify it if it causes issues for the athlete in question.

    Teaching group lessons with students who struggle with distraction may be difficult, however, kids that struggle with social cues learn so much about how to interact with their peers when they are working with a group of friends toward a common goal and under the guidance of an instructor.

    I recommend a balance of group lessons for work on social skills and private for intensive skill work in order to provide the best benefit for your neurodiverse athletes, but remember, every neurodiverse kiddo is different, so trust your instinct for what you feel will work best for them.

    From taste, touch, pressure, sight and hearing, be prepared for your neurodiverse athletes to exhibit sensitivity in any of these areas, and work to lessen the discomfort so they can train free of distractions.

    6. Delayed Development

    All coaches have received training concerning the difference between chronological age (years) and developmental age (maturity). When working with neurodiverse children, it is important to remember two things:

    First, it is very common to see delayed development in kiddos that have hidden disabilities like ADHD or ASD. Children can often lag behind several years from their counterparts.

    This means that while you might be teaching a student who looks 12, he or she may be up to 3 years behind their counterparts in not only physical, but also social or emotional development.

    As coaches, we have to recognize this lag and adjust our expectations on everything from emotional control to reading social cues.

    Second, development in children with hidden disabilities and issues is often ASYNCHRONOUS, particularly in children with multiple special needs-often called twice- exceptional children.

    This means that you could be dealing with a gifted 8 year old child who knows more than you about the Canadian political system, yet struggles to grasp basic time management each practice, and may have the emotional control of a 6 year old.

    Be prepared to meet your neurodiverse athlete on all levels in order to best engage them as they learn.

    7. Embrace Anxiety

    This sounds funny I know, after all, who wants to embrace anxiety? What I mean is, as a coach, you have to realize that anxiety goes hand-in-hand with neurodiversity. Children who suffer with invisible disabilities often know they are different before they are even diagnosed. They know things are harder for them, and they feel shame and anxiety about not fitting in.

    Often anxiety will show up as perfectionism, negative self-talk, crying, or reluctance to practice. Even more often, the anxiety about failure, or being different, will manifest in stomache aches, headaches, aches, pains and melt downs.

    It is important to remember that if you have a child athlete that exhibits these symptoms often, and all possible physical causes are ruled out, then you are likely looking at a physical expression of their psychological turmoil.

    Don’t accuse them of making excuses or trying to get out of work. They didn’t ask for this. Instead do what you can to alleviate their anxiety.

    Help them name their fears, if they can’t express how they are feeling then they can’t address how to control those feelings.

    Once your neurodiverse athletes have named their fears, don’t discount them or issue the typical “stop worrying” advice that we so often hear. While it is important to recognize your students’ anxiety, it is equally important to not try to fix it, or tell them to stop worrying. Doing this invalidates your athletes feelings, after all, they are allowed to feel what they feel.

    Instead, start teaching mindfulness, growth mindset and relaxation strategies EARLY and OFTEN. Then practice, practice, practice.

    I can’t stress this enough. As a coach of neurodiverse athletes, you must stay on top of their mental training….it will be as important as their physical training.

    Once you have the basis of these strategies, stress to your athlete that anxiety is natural, but they have the tools to cope with it and you have faith they can do it.

    Anxiety is a tricky monster for neurodiverse athletes, but it CAN be controlled with CONSISTENT EFFORT from them, and CONSTANT support from you, their coach.

    8. Change Your Thinking

    As coaches, we have this belief about what it takes for kids to be coachable. We’ve all seen those memes we circulate on Facebook, hell, I’ve even circulated some of them.

    I know you all know the ones I’m referring to, memes that start like this:

    Ten things that have require zero talent.

    Being on time. (ten times harder for kids with executive function issues.)

    Work ethic. (hard for kids with ADHD or ASD that are prone to distraction, which is often mistaken for laziness.)

    Effort (often neurodiverse kids are so riddled with anxiety they give up, or they don’t even know where to begin due to executive function or processing disorders.)

    I hope you are all starting to see what I am talking about here. It’s time to stop posting these motivational memes. We need to stop applying these neurotypical expectations to our neurodiverse athletes because they shame those athletes for which these behaviors are ten times harder.

    We have to adjust our expectations when teaching kiddos that think differently. This means:

    Stop asking them to look you in the eye when you are talking to them, often this makes it HARDER for neurodiverse kiddos to focus.

    Stop asking them to stand up straight and stop fidgeting when you are explaining a task to them. Many kiddos have balance or coordination issues that require them to lean on something for support, and some have chemical imbalances that make it next to impossible to not fidget.

    Stop asking kiddos to stand in line and wait their turn. Aside from just poor coaching (yes, I said it) asking neurodiverse children to stand in a formation and do nothing but wait their turn is not realistic and sets them up for failure.

    As coaches, we need to change our beliefs about how we teach our students and what we expect from them. There are more neurodiverse athletes out there than we realize, and we simply haven’t adapted our teaching techniques to accommodate their needs.

    It’s time we let go of outdated practices, and started really exploring how to best help this underserved population of athlete.

    Sports can be a life-saver for kids struggling with invisible disabilites, following these simple tips can change lives for the better, both yours and your students.

    If you have any tips for teaching and supporting neurodiverse athletes, feel free to share!

  • Coaching Chronicles: Keep Your Chin Up Coaching Friends

    Coaching Chronicles: Keep Your Chin Up Coaching Friends

    Originally posted February 2018

    A coaching friend of mine texted me last week.  I hadn’t heard from her in a while, but I had worked with her for a decade, and we keep in touch as often as our busy lives allow.

    This friend is an accomplished skater and coach.  In many ways, she exemplifies what the spirit of coaching is about; someone who passionately gives of themselves to their clubs and their skaters, often at the expense of their own well-being. In short, this is a person who has earned my admiration through the quality of her words and actions on the ice, everyday, for a decade.

    My friend is the kind of coach who is capable of teaching every level with ease. She has a wealth of technical know-how, a calm and supportive demeanor and a heart that guides her to volunteer most of her expertise and time to run some of the most successful programs in her club.

    And when I spoke with her, it broke my heart.

    You see, my coaching friend is usually steady, unflappable and self-assured.  And I could hear the pain, incredulity and disbelief in her voice as it cracked, on the verge of tears, as she told me about what was happening.

    It seems that after years of selfless devotion, of coaching athletes to gold levels, producing stellar results, leading the way by providing a shining light of volunteerism and excellence, and steadily growing the numbers of members in her organization, the club that should have had her back had decided to demean her, belittle her, and strong arm her with loss of work, all over a small issue that could have been addressed through simple communication.

    As I listened to my friend break over the phone, my heart ached for her. I wish I could tell you that this was an anomaly.  But the sad truth is, coaches are often the brunt of terrible disrespect, harassment, verbal abuse and manipulation by executives and clubs that should be showing them respect and deference.  And the reason they can get away with this is that we have a system in our country that allows it.

    Full stop.

    I’ll say it again.

    Our system is broken and does. not. support. coaches in smaller clubs.

    I’m not making this up.  One of the top officials in our section said to a room full of us in a seminar I attended a few years back that “he didn’t care about the clubs”.  The tone of the lecture was very much that he was delivering a slap to the wrist to all of us coaches who weren’t doing our jobs to get skaters interested in competing.  I know this was the tone because I made it a point to ask other coaches who attended what they thought, and they too felt they were being spoken down to and reprimanded.

    Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

    It also did NOT escape my attention that the majority of coaches in that room were women.  I can’t help but wonder, if it was a room full of men would the tone of that meeting have changed?

    So, is it any wonder that this style of leadership filters down to the clubs that work underneath them?

    The culture of any organization starts from the top down, it’s not rocket science.

    When you create a system that puts more and more onus on coaches to pay through the nose for training and insurance, and you restrict their ability to work anywhere else but under the umbrella of your organization, you now have a monopoly where anything goes, and people look the other way.

    And then to rub salt in the wound, when you have procedures set up within that system for harassment and abuse of power that don’t work because the organization that is supposed to help you and you have been paying into for your entire career doesn’t have the manpower or the resources to follow through on it…there is no accountability.

    This means there are no repercussions for these volunteers with little to no knowledge of our sport when they decide to manipulate, strong arm, defame, disrespect and take financial advantage of the coaches that work for them.  It is striking how much it happens.  And it makes me furious.

    I want to be careful here.  I have met many, many, amazing volunteers and executive members, and when clubs work, they are excellent.  I want to make sure I don’t lump the good with the bad, because there are many ethical, caring and wonderful people whom I have been honored to work with.  Sadly, though, it’s about a 50/50 split between the good and the not so good.  And that’s when the coaches bear the brunt of the abuse.

    I can remember working for a small club in the mid 2000’s.  I was proposing a new program, called the Junior Gliders, and wanted it to be a new version of group programming that would promote accelerated progress and skating excellence for the beginners who had a passion and an affinity for the sport.

    Photo by bongkarn thanyakij from Pexels

    I spent well over 100 hours in devising the program, structuring it in much the same way as our current Star Program in SkateCanada.  We divided the mini-lessons into disciplines, with approx. 6.5 minutes of each station spent on either dance, jumps, turns, spins, edges, or moves in the field.  I also devised stroking exercises, each set to its own specific piece of music, so that when it was time to rotate, the kids would practice different skating skills as a full group based on whatever music was music playing before they switched to their next circuit and their smaller group formation again.

    We started the session with basic exercises on lanes for a warm up, rotated through three to four mini-lessons each day and followed up with theatre and four-lane high-way exercises for our cool down.  Twice weekly we offered this program, and we also provided an extra session called Junior Plus for those kids that wanted three days a week of skating. 

    On the third day, we encouraged the skaters and their parents to hire a private coach for some semi-private or small group lessons and some free practice time.  Of course, we also provided practice plans in books for each child who could read, AND pictures around the boards for those who weren’t old enough to read yet.

    The amount of work it took to run this program was staggering.  Particularly because I went the extra step of planning each lesson for each discipline for every single day of the year, complete with progressions, teaching tips, diagrams, and circuits.  I also coordinated the lessons, so that what a coach was teaching in one mini-lesson with one group (for example outside edges) would then coordinate with what the other coaches would teach i.e., outside three turns in the turns lesson, forward one-foot spin with spiralling entry in the spins mini-lesson, and salchows for the jump mini-lesson.

    Then of course, there was the music.  By the end of the season I had recorded at least 10 different hour-long CD’s, complete with musical cues for warm-ups, station switches, theatre, seasonal and holiday themes, you name it.

    I worked hard on this program.  And it was amazing.  I know it’s not considered cool (particularly for a woman) to brag about their accomplishments, but it was ahead of it’s time.  In fact, I often wonder about the similarities between that program and the Star program and Canskate programs SkateCanada uses now, because there are many.

    The reason I have explained this to you in such detail is because you need to know just how much work goes into creating and delivering a quality program.

    After creating the program, printing up all the lessons and materials, and organizing the entire program so it could virtually run itself, I then presented it to the executive.  The total cost of the work I had put in to create and develop the idea, with the time spent on the ice coaching and overseeing it combined with time spent preparing off the ice for it’s delivery from September through until the end of April would have cost at minimum $14,000. Of course, I knew there was NO way our club could afford this much, so I then told them I would do it for as little as $8,000 spread out over the course of the 8-month period it would run.

    I SHOULD have been paid $1000 a month for the work I put into the program. 

    They offered me much less. Much…. MUCH less.

    Slap-in-the-face-total-disrespect-for-the-work-I-had-done-or-the-innovativeness-of-the-program-insultingly-less. Now, I did go back and argue my case, and I ended up receiving slightly more than the initial offer….but it was still not congruent with what I should have been paid.

    You see, the sad fact is, very few people who aren’t involved with skating have any understanding of how much work we put in as coaches.  There is this misconception that it is just a hobby; something we do on the side to make a little extra money. I mean, it’s not a real career, is it?

    For some of us that may be true.

    But for most of us, to be a skating coach means you are a highly dedicated individual with years of training and expertise that very few people have. We spend hours online, getting our certifications, being assessed, filling out workbooks, networking, studying, and reading to hone our craft.

    So now, put those highly qualified people in the hands of a group of volunteers who have total power over our careers.

    Let me say that again.  These people have the power to demand that we work for less than we are worth.  If you live in a small town, and you need to work, this means you have little to no recourse other than to accept their terms…. I mean, a coach has to eat right?

    Basically, our options become; work for less and be exploited by people with no respect for the work we do or the sacrifices we make, or don’t coach at all.

    I’ve seen it happen over, and over, and over. To too many coaches to count, and I’ve had it happen to me more than I can say.

    It’s frustrating and infuriating.  We work in a system that allows this type of abuse of power and exploitation of arguably its second most important asset. (the first being its athletes of course).

    How does this make sense?

    So, I wanted to write this blog to reassure my friend that I and all the other coaches who have gone through this have her back.  That she has made a difference to me and how I coach, and to all the students she has coached or who have learned their skills through programs she has run.

    Just yesterday, as I was teaching one of my Canskate students in a private lesson, I used a technique I learned from her. It worked like a charm.

    You see, sometimes the only reward we get is the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, we have made a difference.  Maybe we’ve left our students better skaters, and better people because of what we’ve taught them.  Maybe somewhere, someone glides a little faster and holds their head a little higher because of the example we set for them.

    Sometimes it’s only that knowledge that keeps us lacing up our skates each day.

    My friend, your influence reaches farther than you know.  Never doubt your worth, and never let people with no regard for what we do as coaches take that away from you.

    Sound familiar? Sound off below!

    I want to hear your experiences, let’s start a revolution!

  • SkateCanada Canskate: Has It Lived Up to the Hype?

    SkateCanada Canskate: Has It Lived Up to the Hype?

    As a coach with 30 years experience working in the Canadian figure skating system, and a skater of 47 years who also amateur coached, (I can’t be that old, can I?) I’ve seen and coached in nearly every variation of learn-to-skate program offered by SkateCanada. From the N.S.T. program, to Parent-and-Tot, to Learn-to-Skate, and EVERYTHING in between, I’ve seen them, coached them, and in some cases coordinated them all.

    This latest iteration is simply called Canskate, and has been presented to the SkateCanada membership as something akin to the second coming of Christ. Now, at nearly a decade since its introduction, we’ve all had a chance to get to know the program inside and out. After coaching the program for several years, and running it this past year, I thought I’d like to list my review of the best, and worst features of this heralded program. (in my humble opinion)

    Interested in finding out if SkateCanada Canskate is worth the hype? Read on!

    Organization

    As the person who nearly orgasms just by walking into Staples at the beginning of the skating year with visions of file folders and binders and training plans -oh my!!-I have to admit, I am truly impressed with the level of organization the Canskate program brings to the table.

    SkateCanada has created a manual that provides the clubs and coaches with everything you need to know to administrate the program, such as:

    • Founding philosophies behind the program.
    • An intensive list of “who” should be doing “what” and “when.”
    • Templates for EVERYTHING from program assistant (otherwise known as PA) training, to parent newsletters, to suggested time allocation for groupings depending on the length of your session, and so on and so on.

    Seriously. Kudos to SkateCanada for the thought and level of organization they put into this program and the Canskate manual they created so the program can be re-produced by the clubs it is meant for.

    As someone who thrives on organization (indeed, I am often accused of doing TOO much for my programs) the SkateCanada Canskate program hits a home-run with its level of organisation. If you have the resources, all you need to do is study the manual, follow the plan, and literally reap the rewards of a happy membership.

    Rating for Organization 10/10

    Fun

    This program, done right, is CRAZY fun for the students. With the colorful props, constant movement, easy to follow circuits, group activities for warm-up and cool down, not to mention stimulating music, there is endless color, motion and challenge for young skaters.

    Done correctly, the Canskate program should be a fun ride for neurotypical kids with no disabilities. However, if you are a child who struggles with sensory issues, neurodiversity, or disabilities, then this program may not be for you.

    As the parent of a neurodiverse child, and a coach with years of experience, I can tell you that this program is simply “too much” for many children who are simply bombarded by all the sensory stimulation. Think of it. If you are already wired to perceive loud noises, lights, or too much movement as painful, then the Canskate program would be incredibly overwhelming.

    We see this in many of the pre-skate students who are just starting out. Often, the slipperiness of the ice, the huge size of the surrounding space, the loud music we play for warm-up and the fluorescent lights are simply too much for them to process and they shut down.

    Sadly, the prevailing attitude from many parents and many coaches is to let a child sit on the ice and cry rather than let them skate back to their parents at the boards for a much needed break. They think it’s tough love, or dealing with problematic behavior, often not realizing that some children may not actually have the capacity to listen, pay attention or regulate their emotions.

    I feel strongly that blaming this behavior on the child for “being bad” or blaming the parents for a lack of stern parenting is simply…….well…..being ignorant of these issues.

    Note: This never, ever happens on my watch. In my humble opinion, letting a child sit on the ice and cry until they skate, particularly for a child with unique needs and challenges, is nothing less than child abuse.

    While some of this behaviour may indeed be acting out for “normal” kids (I use the term normal very warily, there really is no “normal” anymore), SkateCanada dropped the ball by not providing any information about how to recognize possible neurodiversity or disability.

    Yes, I can already hear the defenders saying, “but there are waivers that parents are expected to sign before signing up for the Canskate program, and there certainly IS a question that asks for disclosure of special conditions!”

    For that argument I would pose three statements.

    1. Many parents don’t disclose their child’s special needs.
    2. Many parents don’t know their child has special needs yet as they are still searching for a diagnosis.
    3. Most coaches and certainly most program assistants are not trained or qualified to coach special needs students.
    4. Often there is simply not enough man-power or volunteer helpers to give children requiring extra attention the help they desperately need.

    All in all, while tailor made to be TONS OF FUN for typical kids, sadly, many kids that aren’t so typical may not find it as much fun.

    Rating for Fun 5/10

    Effectiveness

    Next to fun for the skaters, this is perhaps the most important category. Does the SkateCanada Canskate program teach children how to skate effectively?

    Well, YES……and…..no.

    With it’s constant movement, the Canskate program is designed to keep the kids moving at minimum 90-95% of the time. This is a wonderful goal, given what we know about children’s attention spans these days. The Canskate program keeps the kids constantly learning and practicing their skating skills by virtue of carefully drawn out circuits, which the students follow repeatedly, with direction from their program assistants.

    The sticking point here is not that they are moving or practicing, but that they are not purposefully practicing.

    Here’s what we know about motor learning.

    When we learn a new skill, we form connections from our brain to the muscles required to perform that skill. This connection is called a motor neuron. Think of it like a computer program.

    Every time we perform that skill, the neuron we use to do so is coated with a fatty sheath called myelin.

    Myelin makes the nerve signal travel faster down the motor neuron. The more we perform the skill, the more myelin is sent to encase that neuron, the easier and faster we are able to perform that particular skill. Not to mention more signals can now travel down that neuron because it keeps getting bigger.

    If you’ve ever heard the terms “muscle memory” or “automaticity” then you’d realize that myelination is the mechanism by which we achieve the state of flow in our performance where we don’t actually have to think to accomplish a skill.

    BUT HERE’S THE CATCH. IF YOU PERFORM THE SKILL INCORRECTLY, THE NEURON YOU USE FOR THE INCORRECT MOVEMENT WILL BECOME MYELINATED MORE THAN THE MOTOR NEURON FOR THE CORRECT TECHNIQUE.

    This means you are developing a bad habit, because the brain and nervous system will always choose the faster, bigger, more myelinated neuron to perform the skill.

    Bad habits acquired in Canskate will follow skaters through the rest of their career unless countless hours of practice are spent in constant repetition of the CORRECT technique.

    Look, the optics are GREAT when there are 60 kids on the ice all moving around and never sitting still, but the truth is, for smaller clubs, often there is only one coach available, therefore the students are only receiving qualified instruction for 1/3 to 1/4 of the time.

    The rest of the time skaters are left in the hands of program assistants whose job is expressly stated in the Canskate manual as “to guide” but “not to coach.”

    This worries me. This means that for MOST of the time each skater performs a skill on a Canskate circuit, they may be performing it incorrectly, or with poor technique, therefore myelinating those sub-optimal pathways.

    Given that most clubs have only fully implemented the new Canskate for approximately 8 years now, we haven’t seen the new crop of competitive elite skaters who have graduated from the program. It will be interesting to compare competitive results of those who started their skating careers in this new Canskate program with those who came before it.

    Look, parents want their kids to be moving. As a parent of a competitive dancer AND a competitive coach, I expect to see my daughter moving instead of standing around. But, it’s the quality of instruction that we should also keep in mind. We need a program that allows us to provide an affordable way for kids learn to skate that is appealing to ALL involved.

    This is how we build the base for club programs, and it is critical for a skating clubs survival that it is done effectively.

    I realize that realistically, only a handful of skaters will continue from the Canskate program to StarSkate or the Competitive program, but surely, quality should start from the very beginning of our instruction?

    If you are interested in learning more about how myelination affects motor learning, check out the book “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle. You can read my book review here.

    (I do NOT receive any money for reviewing books or advertising them. It’s incredibly important that I only recommend books that have helped me with my coaching journey and I feel could help you.)

    Rating for Effectiveness 7/10

    Ice Usage

    I love, love, love the way the Canskate program is laid out on the ice. Done correctly, the program covers the entire ice by virtue of a well thought out structure and design.

    Perhaps my favorite innovation in the SkateCanada Canskate program is the use of both inside circuits and outside circuits, so ALL areas of the ice are maximized for the skaters use.

    For example, one circuit will be drawn outside the perimeter of the square of ice from the blue-line to the boards, providing one group of students a set of skills to follow and practice, and another circuit will be drawn utilizing the inside area of that square for a second group to use.

    This allows coaches to put a maximum number of skaters in a small area in a safe and organized way. This is crucial for the success of programs in small clubs, for in order for them to be sustainable, they need to maximize participants to offset ice cost.

    Combine the use of inside and outside circuits with a fast track surrounding the perimeter for use for warm-up, speed drills, transitions, and anything else the coordinator wants to use it for, and it makes for a tight, effective design for ice usage.

    Some tips that we found that might help, ( I can’t take any credit for thinking of these things myself, I’ve been lucky enough to work with wonderful and innovative people than ensured the program ran smoothly.)

    1. When using inside and outside circuits, draw them on the ice with different colors of marker or bingo dabber, otherwise it’s too difficult for the kids to follow.
    2. Always allow a few feet between the inside and outside circuit so beginning skaters with little control don’t run the risk of colliding.
    3. Make sure you draw the start of the circuit CLEARLY and in big letters with BIG arrows for the direction of flow, then make sure to put the START of the inside and outside circuits that are sharing the same space in DIFFERENT places. If they are too close together, the skaters (and the PA’s) will get confused.
    4. During warm-up for the fast track for the Canskate students, take the Pre-Canskate students to a dressing room where they can practice basic skills like falling down, getting up, balancing on two feet, and marching on the stable ground in a quiet environment before hitting the ice. When the Canskate warm-up is done, and the students are in their groups and off the fast track, then it is safe and easy to guide the Pre-Canskate students across the fast track and into their allotted lesson area.

    All in all, the SkateCanada Canskate program scores max points for ice usage. This is one smartly and efficiently designed program in terms of ice flow and usage.

    Rating for Ice Usage 10/10

    Implementation

    Out of curiosity, I decided to download a time tracking app and track the time I spent outside of the regular Canskate lesson time for things such as set-up, take-down, organizing the weekly schedules, keeping track of PA’s, writing e-mails, creating music playlists, printing and updating attendance lists and group records, writing report cards, preparing for PA training and actually PA training, communicating with coaches, writing newsletters for parents, etc., etc., etc..

    Want to know how much time it takes to run a Canskate program well? (Yes, we ran a stellar Canskate program, I could be humble here, but……why?)

    For every hour on-ice for Canskate I was spending an average of 6 hours off ice to coordinate it.

    Yes, you heard me, one hour on, and six hours off.

    Even if you are getting paid an increased hourly wage of $40 or even $60 per session, that still works out to a shitload of work for WAAAAAYYYYYY less than minimum wage.

    This is why IMPLEMENTATION is the area of greatest concern for me, and possibly for some of you that have struggled to deliver this program as it is outlined.

    I’ve taught and coordinated a LOT of programs in my life, and this one was by far the most work I have ever encountered. With the drawing of circuits, to the daily retrieval and storage of huge amounts of props and learning aids, to keeping track of daily lessons and rotations, the list is never-ending and it takes a huge toll, both physically and mentally.

    Now add to that the other issue when it comes to implementation.

    You need to have enough people to do the Canskate program properly.

    This means you NEED to have enough coaches on the ice, you NEED a coordinator, and you need TONS of good PA’s who are willing to learn, take direction and are committed to the training required to be a program assistant.

    I think you can see where I’m going with this?

    Look, with the increase in the cost of living, affordable housing skyrocketing and both parents in families working more and more, that means there is less time for volunteering and less ability for people to get their kids out to volunteer opportunities.

    Not to mention, (and I know I may offend some people), but not all volunteers are created equal, and not all coaches are either. As coordinator, it is a never-ending and often thankless task to try and figure out how to best keep your volunteers happy so they will keep coming back, but to also make sure the lessons are taught with the coach or volunteer who is best suited to that level or that task.

    Often, just managing the PA’s or volunteers, (some of whom are amazing and you wish you had 10 more of, and some of whom are never on time, never follow direction and require constant monitoring), is a job in and of itself.

    The worst feeling in the world is looking at a full sheet of ice, knowing you have to draw 6 circuits, set up props for those circuits and re-organize your coaches, all within 5 minutes!

    Now, add in the fact that you know your coaches and PA’s will be angry because they only want to teach their circuit. Why? Well, because it is within their comfort zone and they only want to be the “master” of their circuit, but you have no other choice because one coach has just called in to say they aren’t coming, three volunteers aren’t able to show, and you are now missing 5 PA’s with the flu.

    Never mind that your back is breaking from the strain of already lugging all the props and materials out of storage, and you’re not getting anywhere near enough of the pay you should be for this, yet it’s all on you to figure it out for the 45 skaters who are about to hit the ice and expect a good lesson.

    Oh yeah, and be supportive and set a good example for everyone while you’re doing this, ok?

    Never-mind that after the fact everyone (parents and board members alike) will be a critic and feel they can weigh in on your performance, even though they have not even a tenth of an idea of how much work this program is to pull off.

    See where I’m coming from?

    Look, (and I’m looking squarely at you SkateCanada), this isn’t a club-level problem, it’s a problem with how you’ve got the club system set up and the way you expect coaches to be remunerated for their jobs for programs like Canskate.

    Canskate coordinators do not get near enough pay for what they are doing, and I will say the same about any coach for group programs. It is customary for coaches to only charge half their hourly on-ice fee for off-ice work.

    To this I say BOLLOCKS! Coaches with years of experience and solid credentials are highly skilled and rare individuals and should be paid what they’re worth both on and off the ice at the same rate.

    When you pay a highly skilled individual only half the amount they should be paid for off-ice work, you de-value their work. When you incorporate things like “mandatory volunteer hours” into their contracts, it becomes exploitation, pure and simple.

    So, all in all, while I am a big fan of this program, the systems in place to support it in most small to medium-sized clubs just aren’t there, and the expectation that coaches should work for nothing is frankly, unacceptable.

    SkateCanada needs to do better. Yup, I said it, and I’ll keep saying it until changes are made.

    Rating for Implementation 3/10

    Buy-In

    What does “buy-in” mean? Well, this means that the club membership, from coaches, down to board members all have to buy-in to the Canskate program and decide it is worth the effort it takes to run it, and worth the money it takes to pay for people to coordinate it and coach on it.

    I personally think the Canskate program is the most important program the club has, and should be thought of as ‘long-term investment” for the longevity and success of the club.

    I love the Canskate program. I believe that with a few minor tweaks, it could be phenomenal for helping young skaters develop a life-long love of skating, and even better, it could ignite that competitive spark for those who develop a passion for it, like I did.

    The problem is, there are so many hurdles to overcome in order to run this program. When you factor in the workload, the volunteers and manpower required, and the knowledge and training that are mandatory to make it successful, many clubs either can’t run it the way it was meant to be run, or to be honest, some clubs and coaches simply choose not to run it.

    SkateCanada has gone over and above with promoting the Canskate program. Opportunities for training abound, plus there are tons of incentives for those who run a great Canskate program, but let’s face it, even though they say that clubs are expected to follow the program as it was intended, and we know that a club could have it’s sanction revoked for not following it….this hasn’t happened yet.

    Quite frankly, I don’t think SkateCanada has the money or the means to make visits to clubs and monitor and police how they implement their Canskate programs, and just as frankly, they shouldn’t have to.

    But the sad fact is, many clubs, coaches and yes, even board members haven’t bought in to the benefits of this new program.

    I hope in time this will change, I’ve seen the benefits it can have, and with the cost of ice increasing rapidly, the future of small clubs may come to depend on their ability to move away from single coaching and toward a group coaching format that can pack as many bodies safely on the ice for training.

    I guess we’ll wait and see.

    Rating for Buy-In 6/10

    Content

    When I say content, I am talking about the skating skills we teach on Canskate and the different areas of focus, such as warm-up and cool down.

    My favorite thing about the SkateCanada Canskate program is its focus on teaching skating skills for all ice sports, so when a skater is done, they may choose figure skating, hockey, ringette, or speed skating. I love this approach, and salute the creative team who put together the stages, fundamental areas and skills. This is a well thought out and easily follow-able pathway to skating competency.

    I love the way the Canskate program utilizes the fast track for developing speed, and I also love the circuits themselves, they are fun, and colorful.

    One note I have found over the years, is that we shouldn’t allow the skaters to stay in a fundamental area on the same circuit for more than about 5-7 minutes. Kids these days simply get too bored and need more stimulation, so I have found that it’s better to do more rotations each session than the manual actually prescribes.

    Keep in mind, this differs for differently-abled children or neurodivergent children who may need an entirely different learning plan than the one followed by the masses.

    Another note: I found if you want to utilize the fast track during each allotted stage/circuit time frame, you might want to have large cardboard arrows placed on the glass around the rink with sticky putty, and as coordinator, you can switch these arrows during warm up and during each rotation to show the direction of movement on the fast track so everyone stays safe.

    My only big concern with the content of the Canskate sessions is there is no allotted free time for the kids. Look, these little kids are structured from the moment they get up, throughout their school day, and for our entire Canskate session. Whey not allow for some free time for them to practice what they learn, explore the space they are in, and learn how to interact with each other for 10 minutes at the end of the session.

    The science backs me up.

    According to study after study, scientists are shouting from the rooftops about the need for unstructured play, and its benefits both socially, emotionally and cognitively cannot be understated.

    I like this quote from Time Magazine: The Secret Power of Play best:

    But scientists have learned that free play isn’t just something children like to do—it’s something they need to do. It exercises their minds and their creativity. More than anything else, play teaches children how to work together and, at the same time, how to be alone. It teaches them how to be human.”

    Time Magazine: The Secrets of Childhood, Inside the Minds of Our Younger Selves

    So while I love nearly everything about the content of the Canskate program, I would love to see some time allowed for fun, unstructured play for its participants.

    Rating for Content 8/10

    Opportunities for Mentorship

    This topic is near and dear to my heart. I strongly feel that it is our duty to help mentor and guide young coaches as they start on their journey. Coaching is not an easy profession, and there are often more negatives than positives.

    Canskate provides the perfect opportunity for young coaches and skaters to test the waters as they learn basic coaching techniques surrounded by supportive mentors.

    In theory, every club should have a supportive culture and a philosophy of empowerment, but in practice, this is harder than it looks.

    I feel that there should be more attention placed on the mentorship and guidance aspect of the Canskate (and the Star Program) and those coaches involved should be provided with paid leadership courses which can give them the tools necessary to create a positive and nurturing culture for PA’s and fledgling coaches alike.

    Leadership ain’t easy. As a person who struggles with it, I can attest to the fact we need more emphasis on how to be positive, encouraging and supportive leaders for our membership. This would only benefit us all.

    Interested in mentorship in coaching, why it’s important, and how you can get on board? Check out the Guide from from Coach.ca.

    Rating for Membership Opportunities 6/10

    Summing It All Up

    As you can see, I am a fan of the SkateCanada Canskate program, but after working as a coach on it, and implementing it as a coordinator, I would love to see some small tweaks to both the program itself AND the underlying club system supporting it.

    If feel that if we REALLY want to look toward the future growth and sustainability of our sport as we see prices rise and wages drop, we need to get more creative than ever, open ourselves up to feedback, and work together to make the SkateCanada Canskate even better for everyone involved.

    Final Score for the SkateCanada Canskate program: 6/10

    Any Canskate coaches or coordinators out there? What are your thoughts on the program? Do you agree with any of these ratings? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below and share to your friends! Let’s start a conversation!

  • A Book Review of “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

    A Book Review of “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

    Product: “Smartcuts:  How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success” by Shane Snow

    Price:  Kindle Price $17.99

    Cheapest Place to Buy:  Amazon.ca

    Note: I do NOT currently receive any perks or money from my reviews. My goal is to give my HONEST opinion about books and resources that can help anyone be a better coach, administrator, mentor or parent.

    In time when I build up membership, I may participate in affiliate marketing, but, I will only recommend products on my site that I believe to be the best quality and the most educational.

    My Rating for “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators and Icons Accelerate Success“:  9/10

    Overview:  For any coach who has wondered if there was a better way of teaching a skill, or for any club administrator who spends hours trying to find new and innovative ways to schedule programs for maximum efficiency this book is for you. 

    For those of you who don’t like to challenge the status quo, and who believe in doing things as they have always been done….. well…. this book may change your mind.

    As the author, Shane Snow, writes: Smartcuts is a book that studies the “patterns through which rapid successes and breakthrough innovators achieved the incredible.” Snow explains that through his studies of pioneers in various fields, he has created a “framework for breaking convention” which “explains how people do so much with less.”

    Sound interesting? Perhaps appropriate for youth sport organizations?  Read on.

    As coaches, we all ascribe to the conventional wisdom of working our way up the ladder, both in our careers and in how we train our students. Smartcuts debunks this theory, suggesting that instead of climbing the ladder, we should create our own ladder and develop the self-awareness to determine when it is time to make our lateral move over to it.

    This is only the first method Snow uses to illustrate all the ways people can create spectacular successes in their lives and each consecutive method will spark light bulb moments of either recognition from your own experiences of past triumphs, or discovery of new ideas that may propel you to the next level in your career or life.

    For those of you who feel constrained by our conventional systems of learning in sport, and in life, this book outlines why YOU may actually be the next great pioneer simply by challenging the status quo.

    Smartcuts speaks to the rebel in all of us.

    Best Feature of this Book:  Snow has whittled this book down into 9 basic strategies for creating a smarter, more efficient way to success, and explains each strategy through entertaining anecdotes of real success stories.  This personal touch allows the reader to become engaged in each tactic, and identify with each story, driving home the lesson encased in each chapter.  

    Pros:  Snow is obviously an expert in the subject matter, and his intelligence and passion for the subject matter reaches out from the page and captures the interest of the reader from start to finish. Every person can find a little bit of themselves in the narrative, and will finish the book feeling inspired for their next adventure or project.

    Cons: Many of the principles in this book relate more to business practices than athletics, however all of the theories listed for success are easily modified and adapted in order to increase chances of success, and decrease the time it takes to achieve that success for coaches, skaters and organizations alike.

    Conclusion:  Smartcuts is an excellent and eye-opening read that will leave you inspired, invigorated and chomping at the bit to create your own Smartcut to a more successful you. I highly recommend Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success for anyone looking to take a firmer hand in their own destiny.

    Have you ever had to create your own ladder? Share stories of your SMARTCUTS in the comments below!

    If you like my blog, share with your friends!