Archive for April, 2013

Understanding Balance

Monday, April 15th, 2013

Based on the article “Plumb Perfect,” written for the May/June 2004 edition of Yoga Journal by Roger Cole, PhD, a certified yoga instructor and research scientist.

I like to encourage skaters at all levels to practice one-foot balance poses to improve agility, coordination and confidence. Such practice also delivers better control over a constantly shifting center of gravity during the motions of skating so we can become more efficient with each stroke. This article discusses how alignment, strength and attention affect your balance practice.

Empathy Enhances Learning

Friday, April 5th, 2013

“Frankly,” he confided, “I’ve been doing this sport for so long, I can’t really empathize with her learning issues.” The truth comes out.

The instructor’s perspective counts

Teaching skating

Beginners want to be on a real trail ASAP

What a difference the teacher’s level of empathy makes to the beginner who is at the bottom of the skills ladder, where each stance, each movement must be learned from scratch in the proper sequence to build one skill at a time …to just feel safe skating on a local trail …to dance through slalom cones.