Above: Skyliners coach Josh Babb and Denver Synchronicity coach Janie Moore show a proper hold position in synchronized skating.
By Troy Schwindt
Clad in purple, veteran coach Jackie Brenner walked off the ice at the inaugural Access to Excellence event in Colorado Springs, Colorado, excited to talk about the future of coaching and athlete development.
Photo by Yana Ginburg
The Oklahoma City-based Brenner, whose coaching career spans 34 years, served as one of coach collaboration leads at the national conference and camp, held May 15–18 at the DoubleTree Hotel and World Arena Ice Hall. With magnificent snow-capped Pikes Peak as the backdrop, this first-of-a-kind U.S. Figure Skating-sanctioned assembly featured 180 athletes and their parents, 225 coaches, 60 technical panel officials and 25 Team USA and emerging athletes.
Access to Excellence, in alignment with U.S. Figure Skating’s strategic plan, consisted of five distinct, but connected, programs: National Coaches College for coaches of all disciplines and levels, Athlete Acceleration Camp for competitive athletes at the National Qualifying Series level, Technical Panel Training and Testing opportunity, Emerging Athletes Program for up-and-coming Team USA junior athletes and Parent Partnership Program, in which parents were given information how to support their athletes and navigate the sport.
All attendees were encouraged to attend sessions outside of their assigned groups to create a sense of community that hopefully continues once they return home. Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito were among several Team USA members who joined in the small group settings, offering their expertise.
“It’s been a phenomenal experience,” Brenner said. “U.S. Figure Skating is taking the lead for continuing education for the coaches of our national governing body, and this is our first collaborative effort together.”
One of the many camp highlights took place on the ice in small groups, with skaters of all levels demonstrating elements while coaches weighed in with their suggestions for correction and improvement.
“We could evaluate an athlete and brainstorm as like-minded professionals and make corrections and make suggestions and talk together and grow together as a whole body,” said Brenner, who led one of the group sessions with two of her own young athletes. “Our goal is to have a healthy, productive environment in which we have our athletes train in and to be able to communicate with one another to produce wonderful, healthy and efficient and successful athletes.”
Brenner has taken advantage of countless educational opportunities over three decades, with some of the most valuable information she’s received coming between sessions. Access to Excellence was no different.
“It’s the intersessions, where you are in the middle of the lobby and you can go up and network with someone and ask them like, ‘What do you do with your left arm on that triple Lutz? Or what do you think about this new rule change that ISU has placed and how are you going to approach it when you get home?’ To me, those intersessions are so valuable to take home to your local community, because a lot of times your local community might feel really alone and not feeling like it has a support network as large as when you come here.”
Brown Breaks Down Spins for Coaches
Two-time Olympian Jason Brown left his mark with the coaches and aspiring Team USA athletes. He kicked things off by answering questions from fellow Olympian Polina Edmunds, in which he talked about the joy of skating and how joy fuels resilience; he then fielded questions from coaches.
Also in front of a coach-only audience, a mic’d-up Brown led a spin session using student demonstrators. A return to basics was the prevailing message.
“When starting the conversation about spins, I always try to do them as slow as possible, because I think when you are learning them, when you go slow that’s where you learn the most, because it’s harder to find that balance point when you are going slow.
“When you are going fast you can cover things up, or get by with positions not being as strong, but when you are going in a slow position or you start from a standstill and with one push and do a spin you really have to use the knee bend, you have to find that center of the blade, you have to use your weight distribution and put it in the right spot to have a well-balanced spin. I always try and break it down that way and then once you do the work there, then you can add the speed and build it back up.”
Later that evening, Brown joined several other current and former Team USA members for an ice cream social, as part of an athlete welcome event, “The Scoop with Jason.” Brown provided inspiring words to the skaters and then helped serve them ice cream.
“I’ve never been to a seminar where there are so many tracks going on at once,” Brown said. “I think what’s so cool is the networking opportunities that these events provide. … The conversation doesn’t end when the lecture ends. That’s special and just building different communities and conversation channels and sharing of ideas is so awesome.”
Mitchell and Johansson Love the Direction
While former Team USA coaches Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson no longer have students of their own, these Boston-area coaches remain committed to helping this current group of coaches and athletes thrive.
Mitchell and Johansson served as faculty facilitators at the coaches college and the camp, leading several small group sessions on the ice.
Each with decades of experience, Mitchell and Johansson said they are thrilled with this new, collaborative approach and where the sport is headed.
“When you are consulting you are neutral, you don’t have your own kids here, you don’t have any attachments to anyone so I’m here just helping anyone try to learn, and I think I’ve learned a lot, too,” Johansson said. “I’m here, I’m observing and monitoring all of these sessions and you get some bits and pieces from everyone and that’s the whole point of this collaboration.”
Mitchell learned a “boatload” about layback spins, he said, as a group leader.
“I’ve been to the PSA Conference. I’ve been to Champs Camp. I’ve done all the camps, but what I think is great about this is everything combined and everybody in one building. We get to see real skaters and real stuff; it’s not just coaches sitting in a room talking about technique. It’s much more interactive in the different groups; we have synchro, we have singles. I think it’s been really good energy.”
Officials Weigh In
Top officials shared their knowledge and expertise with coaches, athletes and parents. Emilie Billow, chair of the ISU Singles & Pairs Technical Committee, as well as other veteran officials including Robbie Rosenbluth, Jenny Mast and Lauren O’Toole, observed skater demonstrations and provided input to the athletes and their coaches.
Veteran official Lorrie Parker and her colleagues worked primarily with the emerging athletes.
“We spent time looking at new programs and providing feedback on sections, incorporating the proposed new rules for the upcoming season,” Parker said. “Prior to our sessions with the skaters, they had a different coach lead them in skating skills each day and I loved seeing the variety of stroking drills each coach challenged them with.”
The athletes also received input from TV star dance experts Randi Strong and Dmitry Chaplin.
“Continuous improvement is something we as an organization strive for in our skating community of athletes, officials, coaches and parents,” Heidi Thibert, director of coach development and education at U.S. Figure Skating, said. “This quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery reminds me of that mission: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.’”
