Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 4/8/2014

This weeks post comes from Dundee and the Ice Coaching Elite Skate Camp. This is the second camp I have worked on with Simon and Debi Briggs and I was delighted to be given the opportunity to do so.
Gheorghe Chiper, Jenna McCorkell and Kevin van der Perren, all three of them Olympians, were guest coaches at the camp which was great for the skaters to receive coaching input from such experienced athletes as well as great coaching from the rest of the coaching team.
It was also a great opportunity for me as an S&C coach to ask them about their Off-ice training, what they did and the aims of their off-ice programmes.
There were between 90 and 100 skaters divided into four groups attending the week long camp with classes including various on-ice and off-ice activities, presentations and workshops.

My activities included a practical session for each group on Monday morning, this session concentrated on squat technique for standard; overhead; split and single leg squats all at bodyweight. We also completed various hurdle jump and hop exercises for the two higher level groups whilst the two lower level groups completed various balance exercises which proved quite interesting. Several of the younger kids about 10 years old, said their balance was good, by the end of the session and having fallen several times they were still of the same opinion!
On Wednesday I delivered a brief presentation on Athlete Lifestyle Management to all four groups, tailoring it a little to suit each groups age and attention span. This was well received (the presentation) and prompted some good questions. Hopefully everyone took something from this that will help them develop as athletes whether this was understanding that sleep is important or the need for good, balanced nutrition.
The last session I delivered on Thursday was a practical where we looked at shoulder range of motion, thoracic and lumbar extension, flexion and rotation, and hip extension. Most of the athletes knew what stretches to do for each of these areas but in most cases the stretch was ineffective. Therefore the main aim of the session was to teach correct technique for stretching these areas. I ended the session for groups one and two by asking if there were any particular stretches they wanted to cover which raised a few hands I was pleased to see. We covered a further stretches for the neck/upper trapezius, adductors and the IT band.
It was a great week for the skaters, they all worked hard on and off the ice and had fun along the way. The coaches were great and made me feel a part of the team, not so much a newcomer!
It's testing this Saturday in Ayr for the Gain the Edge skaters and then off to Sheffield to present at the Coaches Conference hence the early post rather than leaving it until late next week.
Thanks again for reading if you have got this far, if you have any skating related topics for discussion please drop me a line. The Get Coached Facebook page is best for any communications and has my mobile and email.