SCWNY Seminar Program
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Mark your calendars!! The Skating Club of WNY, in conjunction with Skate Great, is very excited to announce that we will be hosting a Grassroots to Champions Seminar on September 1st and 2nd, 2011 at Holiday Twin Rinks. This seminar will feature World and Olympic-level coaches Nick Perna, Sheila Thelen and Chris Conte. Registration Form now available! This seminar is free for all full-members of SCWNY! Another great perk of your membership with our club! |
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Sheila Thelen Ms. Thelen is the Executive Director of Grassroots to Champions. She holds a Professional Skaters Assocation Master Rating, and from 1998-2008 was the Skating Director at the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center located in Stillwater, Minnesota. Ms. Thelen is the Designer and President of Champion Cords (Endorsed by the Professional Skaters Association International) for teaching skaters: alignment, position, muscle memory, awareness and technique. |
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Nick Perna Nick Perna is a PSA Master-rated coach who is a jumping pole expert. Perna is a former pairs skater who has carved out a niche in the sport with his unique training device — which has earned him the moniker, “The Fishing Pole Guy” — with two-time men’s national champion Michael Weiss and Olympic Champion Sarah Hughes among the users of his harness. "Kids that wear it say they feel like a fish, a dog or a puppet,” Perna said. “I’ve been doing it for 15 years. I used to grab the backs of little kids’ sweatshirts and pull it over their heads when they’d do their axels — holding them by the scruff of their necks, so to speak. But with that, they couldn’t really skate into jumps.” Perna stumbled onto an ad in a skating magazine for the Pro Motion Hand-Held Harness invented by a Canadian named Jan Glerup. “I was his first customer,” Perna said. “It fit exactly what I was trying to do.” Nick was a World Coach at the 2001 World Championships with Christine Lee. |
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Chris Conte Chris Conte is a PSA rated coach and choreographer based in Fairfax, VA. He will demonstrate/speak on how Dartfish technology can speed the learning process. Conte is choreographer to International & National level skaters in Pairs & Freestyle, and has worked with skaters including Tim Goebel, Sasha Cohen and Emily Hughes. He was a Principal Skater with Ice Capades and Disney on Ice, and also has performed with professional ensemble companies including The Next Ice Age and Ice Theatre of New York. Conte also gave a technology presentation at the 2001 PSA World Conference on Creative Music Editing, and is a Certified Instructor of Therapeutic Pilates. |