About Skate Excellence….
Skate Excellence is a team of professionals with extensive knowledge and experience from skating and leisure services. Our team is on hand to support you in delivering and receiving excellence in skating with a strong accent on fun. The Skate Excellence program is taught over 8 stages and utilises patented colour coordinated boot covers and different coloured gloves (Red is for the Right hand and Blue is for the Left hand). The colours make it easier for the skater to remember their right from their left hand and also assists the coach, as mistakes are clearly highlighted and visible.
Why Skate With Skate Excellence?People skate for lots of reasons, and there are also lots of ways to skate. Our Skate Excellence program teaches you to skate whether it be on the ice, or off, and already people of all ages are enjoying the fantastic experience of learning a new leisure pursuit. Whether you simply want to try skating for a bit of fun, or aim to join a serious team, this enjoyable sport offers a number of key health and fitness benefits |
Learn To Skate Off IceSkate Excellence can be enjoyed whether you skate on the ice or off . Our teaching program allows you to learn off ice on any hard surface…and then go back onto the ice to continue enjoying your skating freedom. Skate Excellence has developed a special blade which is completely diff erent from a normal inline skate or rollerblade which mimics an ice skate blade. To fi nd out more about off ice skating |
Tools & Colour Coding
| RED | TOES |
| BLUE | HEEL |
| YELLOW | MIDDLE OF FOOT |
| ORANGE | OUTSIDE OF ANKLE |
| GREEN | INSIDE OF ANKLE |
| PURPLE | BALL OF FOOT |
What Makes Skate Excellence Different
For nearly 20 years people in the UK have been taught to skate pretty much the same way. The format used by the majority of coaches in the UK and prescribed by the National Governing Body, has been inherited from the USA and Canada. Most of that original structure has long since changed in those countries and other countries across the world, but not in the UK. Learning a sport must be fun, and supported by a team of specialists who can help and advise coaches and skaters on their development. For many young people and adults, that’s about building confidence and enjoying the fantastic art of skating….whether it be on the ice…..or off. Many top skating coaches acknowledge that the format for teaching people to skate in the UK needs to change….it just hasn’t….well, until now.
A Bit Of History…
Karen Coombes has been an ice skater since she was 8 years old, turning professional and performing in numerous ice shows. Over the years she was concerned to see the decline in the number of ice rinks around the country and knew she had to do something to keep the thrills, skills and experience of ice skating alive forever!
Working with Karen O’Neill at a large London leisure centre, ‘the Karens’ started to develop a skate which would enable you to experience everything you normally do on ice – but without ice!
In 2006 ‘Dancing on Ice’ started on TV and there was a nationwide resurgence in people wanting to get on the ice – but where could they go? So for the next couple of years, ‘the Karens’ worked on perfecting an inline skate which would mimic an ice skate and in time the ‘Off-Ice Skate’ was born!
The ‘Learn to Skate’ scheme known as Skate Excellence was born out of addressing the issues many new skaters have in learning to ice skate. When ‘the Karens’ decided to launch the off ice skating boot they also launched a totally new, patented, ‘Learn to Skate’ program, that would bring fun back to learning to skate, as well as addressing technical issues with the current format…Skate Excellence has been recognised by the leading brands in ice skating here in the UK, many off ice skating clubs use it too.
Skate Excellence Award Scheme
The Skate Excellence Program has 2 diff erent award schemes:
The Skate Family
The Skate Family age range is from 5-11yrs, and has eight different characters to represent each grade.
The characters are named after skating elements so that the new skater becomes familiar with the skating terminology. Their names are – Sebastian Steps, Sinitta Skates, Tanisha Turns, Josh Jumps, Elliot Edge, Arty Tistic, Sally Sequence and Saffy Spins. These characters are featured on the children’s certificates and badges to encourage continued interest and motivation.
Skate Excel
Excel is aimed at 12yrs and above, the award scheme has a more mature look to cater for its older audience.
Skate Excellence Grading
| GRADE 1 | TOOLS FOR THE JOB |
| GRADE 2 | SKATING FOWARD |
| GRADE 3 | SKATING FORWARD IN A CIRCLE |
| GRADE 4 | SKATING BACKWARDS IN A STRAIGHT LINE |
| GRADE 5 | SKATING BACKWARDS IN A CIRCLE |
| GRADE 6 | CROSSOVERS AND TURNS |
| GRADE 7 | PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER SKATING FROWARDS |
| GRADE 8 | PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER SKATING BACKWARDS |
