programs

Instructors

This is a friendly reminder to register as an instructor. All instructors, assistants and volunteers should be registered annually for $10 to stay current. With this registration you will receive a new teaching manual along with an instructor patch, year patch, membership card, sports accident coverage, Basic Skills edition of SKATING magazine and additional information throughout the year. Everyone teaching in any capacity should be registered on an annual basis with Basic Skills. To order a lesson planning booklet, please download a Basic Skills price list and order form (PDF).

For many skating coaches, teaching group lessons is fun, challenging and rewarding. Yes, it is much more difficult than teaching a private lesson, as you have different ability levels, ages, learning styles and attention spans to juggle all at the same time. However, as skating instructors we need to be aware of the impact a strong group lesson program brings to the facility, local club and the community as a whole. It is the backbone and feeder system to all of our other skating programs. A skater's experience with his or her first group lesson will determine whether he or she comes back or drops out of the sport. The group instructional staff has the biggest impact on this; therefore, they are the key salespeople for ice skating.

Group classes are about skill development and giving the skaters a solid foundation on which to build their skills. There are no shortcuts to good technique, and some skills will take longer to master than others. Taking the time necessary and developing their confidence on the ice is probably one of the greatest gifts you can give to your students.

Class Management Reminders
YOU ARE IN CHARGE! Always keep your skaters in your view at all times. Teach to the whole class and highlight common errors and corrections. Explain what the standard is for each skill and give them encouragement along the way to help them reach that standard. Alternate your class demonstrators as to not favor one skater over another. Be prepared ahead of time, know what you will be teaching and have a plan to do so. During the time you are instructing the skaters, you are responsible for their well-being - both emotional and physical. Your skaters are there to learn and have fun, so you must maintain a safe learning environment at all times!

The most important factor in all lessons is SAFETY. Encourage all children under 6 to wear an ice-approved helmet or a thick hat to protect their head. Also, inform parents of appropriate skating attire for the temperature of the ice facility, gloves/mittens and how to wipe down and store skates after class.

Draw a stop/start line on each end of your teaching space so the class knows its boundaries and keeps it away from either hitting or hanging on the barrier. This also gives you immediate control of the class; if you say, "Toes on the line," the class will automatically know to line up, listen to the next set of instructions and prepare to skate the next skill.

Breakdown of a half-hour class:

• 3 min. - Gather class, settle down, announcements
• 3-4 min. - Review prior skills (warm-up)
• 5 min. - Learn new skill
• 5 min. - Practice another skill
• 5 min. - Practice another skill
• 5 min. - Educational games to reinforce the skills learned
• Extra time to review or practice time, individual help time - (Take attendance during this time, as class is doing an exercise, so to catch all of those tardy skaters.)
• Final words and see you next time!

Every class should have a definite beginning, middle and end.

Here are a few ideas from skating instructors who truly enjoy teaching group lessons. Remember that if you are having fun, your students probably are as well. Use a variety of traffic patterns while teaching the skills in each class to make use of your teaching space. This also helps class time to be more entertaining than the traditional back-and-forth method of teaching. Use of toys and games should enhance the learning process, not detract from it. Try to incorporate some of these ideas into your class teaching to reinforce the mastery of each skill while having fun practicing them. Our first priority is to foster a love of skating in these beginning skaters, not to just play with toys on the ice.

Before the first class, meet rink side to discuss the following
Always go over proper fit and lacing of skates, attire, falling and getting up, marching/walking off ice in their skates, balance on blades, one-foot balance, proper posture on ice and penguin walks (rock or a waddle motion with feet in a V position) before taking the ice.

On the first day of a new Snowplow Sam 1 class to get the kids up and moving (3-4 year olds)
Have them sit on the ice with hands in their lap. Have the kids turn over and pretend to be "doggies."

"What do doggies, say?"
"Arf, Arf!"
"I can't hear you!"
"Arf, Arf!"
"That's better!"
"Now, we are going to take one foot and put it between our hands on the ice, and then the other foot (get them into a dip position)...now, we look like froggies! What do froggies say?"
"Ribbit!"
"Everyone say 'Ribbit'!"
"Great. Now, everyone keep your feet like a penguin so your feet won't slip and PUSH yourself up! You can do it! Yes, you did it! Keep your feet like a penguin! Great!"
(Repeat as many times as necessary to make them comfortable getting up on their own)
"Let's waddle like a penguin and keep your arms out like airplanes."

Have the kids skate using a penguin waddle or rock in place with their feet in a V position and then across the ice. Skills addressed are falling and getting up, marching/walking and gliding.

Driving game
March to the parking lot. Fasten seat belts and stroke onto the highway. Dip under a bridge or through a dark tunnel. Lean and curve on a twisty mountain road. Stop sign! Practice stops. Detour - back wiggles or swizzles. Back onto the highway. Hop over potholes in the road. Make sure to use your horn, headlights and windshield wipers. If they fall down, they have a "flat tire" and need a tow truck to come rescue them. Give out speeding tickets for the reckless drivers. Skills addressed are marching, dips, curves, wiggles, swizzles, stopping, gliding, falling and getting up.

Red light/Green light
Skaters stand at one end of the class zone (parking lot), while the instructor is in the middle. Instructor yells, "Green light!" and skaters march toward the "stoplight" until he/she yells, "Red light." The skaters must come to a complete stop or get a pretend speeding ticket and have to go back into the parking lot to begin again. First skater to make it across the ice gets to be the next "stoplight." Use different colored lights for different skating elements depending on the ability of the skaters, such as yellow light = dip, blue light = backward swizzles, black light = fall down and purple light = spin.

Dot Game
Cut out large dots of different sizes from poster board. Have them scattered around the ice. Have the skaters collect the dots and put them back in the buckets or sand pails. Have the kids sort the sizes as they place them in the appropriate buckets. Other toys or gloves may be used as the dots. Make the object big enough as to not be a hazard on the ice. Skills addressed are marching, gliding and stopping.

Making Snowmen
Use forward or backward swizzles to make snowmen across the ice. Have your skaters perform a very large, fat swizzle for the base, a medium-sized swizzle for the middle and a tiny swizzle for the head. See how many snowmen they can build in a row. Skill addressed is swizzles.

Balloon (my personal favorite!)
This is a great game for little ones who can barely skate, as it holds their attention for a long time. Everyone starts in a small cluster. Reach in your pocket and pull out an imaginary "balloon." Ask the kids what color it is and if it has any decorations. You will be surprised by how they decorate it. Then, as they blow it up, everyone wiggles or backward swizzles away, and they keep making a blowing-up noise as they skate backward. The first one to fall POPS the balloon or, if the circle is getting too large, clap your hands over your head to POP it yourself. When it pops, everyone must fall down. Everyone skates together again using forward swizzles, and the game starts over with a new balloon. Skills addressed are backward wiggles, forward swizzles, backward swizzles, stopping, falling and getting up.

Fishing
Similar to "Balloon" but should be played in the crease, where the ice looks like a little pond. Kids start in a circle, each holding a pretend fishing pole. Dip down to get a worm from the ground, place on hook, and everyone casts in the water. Pretend to reel it up, and each child says what they caught (sunfish, octopus, dolphin, goldfish, etc.). If someone says "shark," then everyone must wiggle or swizzle backward as fast as possible to avoid the shark. The kids then form their circle again when the instructor says the shark swam away. Start the game again with another worm. Warning: everyone will catch sharks as often as possible. Skills addressed are dip, backward wiggles, forward swizzles, backward swizzles, stopping, falling and getting up.

One-foot glide contests - forward and backward
Line up all skaters on the stop/start line. Announce that you are having a contest to see who can hold their one foot glide the longest. They need to count their favorite thing or "hippopotamus" to slow down their counting. So, they all pick a favorite object (Game Boys, skating, candy, motorcycles, horses, etc.) and have them count their objects after they pick up their foot and begin gliding. Get everyone's score, and then tell them they have to beat their own score. Now, have all the skaters who scored five and under go together, then 10 and under, then everyone else. Having them count shows them that they need practice on one foot or the other and also shows their own improvement. Skill addressed is one-foot glides.

Teddy Bear Class
A 10-week session of classes designed for 2- and 3-year-olds offered at Madison Skating Academy, Madison, Wis. Take a piece of carpet and roll it onto the ice. A parent, guardian or babysitter needs to be with the child. Everybody walks onto the carpet (only skaters and instructors are wearing skates). The class begins on the carpet, and the skaters gradually go onto the ice, when ready. If the kids are not ready to skate, they participate by standing on the carpet. Some of the musical choices are "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "Ring Around the Rosey" and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear." The kids receive a certificate, pin, picture to color and a snapshot of themselves wearing skates at the end of the session. Pre-Snowplow Sam class.

Other games to play
Hokey Pokey, Simon Says, Mrs. Fox, Red Rover, controlled races

Blob
This game should only be played with higher-level skaters and must be in a controlled environment. No one can pick up their feet while they skate, so only swizzles, pumps and slaloms can be used. The game begins with two people who are "it." All skaters scatter about the area of play. The people who are "it" work together to tag a skater, and they join together as a threesome. The threesome now needs to work together to tag another skater. When the threesome tags another to make it four, they break into two teams to catch other skaters. Each of those teams tags a skater into a threesome and then four, and then they break into two more teams. The winner is the last remaining skater who wasn't tagged. This is a fast-paced, fun game. Remind the skaters to watch out and skate safely.

Add on
Great for higher Basic classes and Free Skating classes. Start with skater number one, and he or she does an element for the group. Skater number two must perform the first element and add one. Skater number three must do the first two elements and then add his or her own, and so on and so on. This is a memory game and pushes some skaters to try new skills they haven't mastered yet.

Mini exhibitions
Give your students a list of four or five elements from their level or from a prior level to connect together into a mini program. Give them about five minutes each to work on their program, and then the last week have everyone perform it in front of the class. Invite their parents to stay and watch.

End each class with a bow, curtsey, high five and "See you next week!"

Real fun in skating comes from progress and the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Be sure to reward and emphasize the little steps along the way to skill mastery. If a skater becomes frustrated, break it down into easier, attainable steps and make sure that all the parts of the skill are mastered before you put it together as a whole (Forward outside three turn example - skill breakdown is a two-foot turn, rock on the blade, forward outside edge glide, backward inside edge glide, twisting shoulders against hips).

Additional props to be used during lessons
The use of toys should enhance the learning process - always think safety!

• Washable markers to draw shapes and maps on the ice
• Cones or pylons
• Suction cup basketball hoop
• Plastic cups turned upside down
• Goofy hats
• Puppets
• Pool noodles
• Bubbles
• Stickers for rewards
• Nerf toys
• Stuffed animals
• Hula hoops
• Streamers
• Music to play in the background or for special classes or presentations. Music can be motivational and helps some skaters to understand the connection between movement and music.

10 Tips for a Great Class

1. Keep all skaters moving
2. Give short, precise instruction
3. Break down all skills into easier steps
4. Positive feedback
5. Deal with discipline immediately
6. Be organized! Have all supplies, materials and lesson plans done ahead of time
7. Know your stuff!
8. Give rewards after class
9. Have fun, smile and enjoy what you are doing
10. Be on time!

Susi Wehrli-McLaughlin, senior director of membership at U.S. Figure Skating, would like to thank the following individuals for sharing some of these great ideas: Jan Tremer, Toyka Lewis, Angie Sopranos, Jean Rentsch, Stephanie Radloff, Jo Ann Schneider-Farris, Annette Thomas, Katherine Sandum and Hazel Wehrli.