Contact details

email tg@rentp.com

Please send your feedback on this site (good or bad),  email above.

Read the notes on how to teach an Axel jump,  includes pictures, diagrams and videos,  click here.

Grassroots to Champions,  click here for flyer.

Melodie wins MJS Trophy (pre primary division)

More pictures and videos of Melodie,  click here.

Melodie is now training at the KWSC in Ontario, Canada, we moved here at the end of November 2008.

Melodie loves to play in the snow outside our house! (Feb 2009)

Above - Tim's Princess   (i.e.. daughter)

NEWS

December 2008

Melodie lands her first double Salchow (clean) in competition (20th Dec 2008).  Skating in the KWSC Xmas club competition,  to see it on video,  right click here and select "save target as ...",  then download and open.   This was at the rink she trains in at the KWSC.org,  note the lack of boards.

Melodie also skated in the interpretive division of this competition,  right click here to view video.

Right click any of these links and select "save target as", download and then open.

21st Feb 2009

Melodie's latest competition video,  landed a nice double loop on a cutback,  click here.

More pictures and videos of Melodie,  click here.

Must see video

Melodie shows how to do the Dutch waltz and Canasta tango, well at least in a comedic way,  also lots of comedy and fun,  produced by Slav Boboshyn as a farewell to Australia. Click Here.

Talent;  what is talent?

Skate Canada research has shown that talent is not just a natural gift but rather a product of some natural “ability” plus “opportunity”.  Opportunity in this case refers to quality coaching and skating experiences,  and quality training.

Often when a skater starts to do well,  perhaps in competitions or starts to land their Axel jump clean,  that's when parents will start to say "Oh your son/daughter has talent",  What they are seeing is more than just natural ability,  the skater has had "opportunity",  for example the parents of the child took him/her to the ice rink for plenty of ice time and lessons,  purchased good quality skates,  the skater most likely has had "quality coaching". 

Dartfish software

What is it?

The Dartfish software was used by Kristy Krall in the Kathy Casey / Kristy Krall seminar Sept 2008 to great effect,  to analyse jumps.  Here's an example of what it can do :

Capture video and play it back in slow motion or frame by frame just like a VCR and a video camera,  measure the air time in a jump which helps determine if the skater has enough height to rotate the jump,  compare a skaters jump side by side and frame by frame with an Olympic skater doing the same jump successfully,  this then show where our skater went wrong.  It can also superimpose two images on top of each other so you can compare skaters doing the same jump.  You can also draw lines on top of the image to illustrate correct alignment.

By measuring jump flight/air time,  and other benchmarks during flight time,  goals can be set and monitored,  for example if a skater is working on a double Axel they need at least 0.46 seconds of air time, 0.5 if they have a more open takeoff,  if they only jump about .42 then they need to gain about .08 in air time.  Once this is known, targets can be set for gaining air time and a training plan can be set in place to meet those targets. 

I am not endorsing it's use and I am not selling it,  but it is worth looking at if you teach doubles or triples.  It really takes the guess work out of teaching these jumps and dumms down the process.

Here is the web site http://www.buydartfish.com

There is also a more cost effective software solution at this web site,   http://www.sportsmotion.com/

Anti-solicitation

Parents - coaches are not allowed to approach you to offer you lessons if you already have a coach!

What is solicitation by a coach?

This is when a coach approaches the parents of another coaches student and offers them lessons or entices them to change coach,  in some cases this coach may criticize your coach.   If this occurs to you it is a breach of the coaches code of conduct,  you should inform the approaching coach that you already have a coach and if they persist record details such as what was said and when,  then give this to your coach and/or the rink manager.   For more details on what constitutes solicitation click here,  this is from the PSA USA web site.   Other forms of solicitation include a coach approaching you and offering to team coach your child,  often they will say such things as your son/daughter is talented and needs a coach of his/her caliber,  perhaps not in those words,  but they may go on about their skating achievements.  This form of solicitation is also a violation of the coaches code of conduct in most countries.

Solicitation is a serious offense,  solicitation destroys skaters careers, coaches careers and clubs!

Above : Sasha Cohen showing her wonderful spirals

Hunter Ice skating club - Australia's best ice skating club web site!

Ready to use music for programs

You will need the latest Adobe shockwave video player to see videos on this web site,  click on this link http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/

If your child is at or going to compete at levels above skate school,  for example Preliminary and up,  then a good knowledge of the International Judging system ( IJS ) by the coach is important.

Click here for more info