Michelle Leigh
Michelle Leigh is a three-time Olympic Team Coach, in 1992, 1998, and 2002. She’s coached at 16 World Championships and over 30 Canadian Championships. She’s also coached at over 60(!) international events including 4 European Championships. Michelle was the 1998 Ontario Female Coach of the Year and she’s received the Skate Canada Coaching Award of Excellence. Michelle is also a professional speaker and she’s presented at seminars for over 35 years. She’s also been heavily involved in organizational activities within the sport, serving on a number of important committees and councils.
Michelle is the Director of Competitive Skating at Skate Oakville in Oakville, Ontario (Canada), her home club. She taught for years at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario and she is probably most well known as one of the primary coaches of World Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist Elvis Stojko. She also coached two-time World Bronze Medalist Takeshi Honda and six-time Canadian Champion Jennifer Robinson and more recently, the 2016 Canadian Ladies Champion Alaine Chartrand.
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Michelle specializes in Jump Analysis and Progression, Dartfish, IJS, Program Adjustments, Athletic Management, and Mental Training. She has done extensive study and research on creating success and developing the champion mindset. She has also assisted numerous coaches with their careers.
Here’s what Elvis Stojko said about Michelle, “Michelle has the ability to keep things positive no matter what is going on around us. Her energy and attitude is what makes the difference when working with her and she keeps things in perspective. The positive energy she puts into the task is what is seen in the final product.”
Having worked with Michelle for just a few days putting together videos for this website, I agree that she has an amazing positive energy and attitude, not to mention a keen eye and a skill for seeing the big picture. She has a wealth of knowledge and is eager and willing to share it with others.
All iCoachSkating.com subscribers and visitors owe a debt of gratitude for Michelle’s willingness to share her knowledge and insights about skating and coaching.
Most recent videos at the top…
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh gives a double axel lesson. She begins the lesson by having the skater watch a successful double axel example by an elite skater (Carolina Kostner). This provides an opportunity to review characteristics of a… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater to improve the flip jump take-off with improved ankle flex in the air. (In previous videos, Michelle worked with this skater to get ankle flex on double loop jump and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater to improve the toe loop take-off and get ankle flex in the air on the double toe loop. (In the previous video, Michelle worked with this skater to get ankle… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares some exercises to help develop ankle flex in jump air positions. Ankle flex in the axis or landing side is valuable since it usually helps skaters lock out the axis knee, connect and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses how to increase jump air time, which is the same as jumping higher. Sufficient jump height is critical in order to have enough air time to finish the desired rotation prior to landing.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a video series discussing the tracings left on the ice by the 6 major jumps. By understanding what the tracings should look like, it helps get a clearer picture of proper technique and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a video series discussing the tracings left on the ice by the 6 major jumps. By understanding what the tracings should look like, it helps get a clearer picture of proper technique and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh begins a video series discussing the tracings left on the ice by the 6 major jumps. By understanding what the tracings should look like, it helps get a clearer picture of proper technique and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a “double axel” class for more advanced skaters who are consistently landing single axels and most if not all of the other double jumps. In the Part 1 Michelle taught take-off details, proper… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh begins a “double axel” class for more advanced skaters who are consistently landing axels and most if not all of the other double jumps. She starts by asking for super fast backspins as a… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh finishes with her seminar beginner axel class (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). In this video, Michelle gives the class a “test” which is a summary of the important concepts discussed throughout… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues with her seminar axel class (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). In this video, Michelle again returns to her “one focus” concept for practicing with one primary focus. The idea is to prevent… Continue reading
In this very short video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh begins an axel class with skaters who are either landing the jump or are very close. The main point of this video is the free leg kick through position.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her seminar class for skaters just learning the axel. In Part 1, she introduced the jump with an emphasis on head anchoring and proper take-off mechanics with flow. In this video, Michelle explains… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh teaches a seminar class for skaters just learning the axel. She begins the class by focusing on head positioning and anchoring. Many skaters really struggle with turning the head strongly in the direction of… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about head control on jump take-offs. As she notes, it seems that head anchoring is ideal, where the head remains fixed with respect to the rink and the whole body turns under it… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses the importance and need for setting aside time in a skater’s schedule for a proper off-ice warm-up prior to practice sessions and proper cool downs after practice sessions. Warming up the body and… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about the various aspects of off-ice training, sharing her insights and preferences. Michelle begins by noting, “First of all, I think it’s very, very important that you start off-ice training at a very… Continue reading
In this short video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses the importance of skaters training in a way that gets them out of their comfort zone. This discussion is primarily in the context of competition preparation, but the concepts… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about a very common problem for both skaters and coaches in figure skating. Some skaters really struggle with effective practice and self-analysis, and this typically causes slow progress due to wasted efforts and… Continue reading
In this video series, iCoachSkating founder Trevor Laak interviews World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh regarding her thoughts and recommendations during the coronavirus lockdown. Michelle works with competitive skaters at many levels, and her ideas and approaches to a variety… Continue reading
In this video series, iCoachSkating founder Trevor Laak interviews World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh regarding her thoughts and recommendations during the coronavirus lockdown. Michelle works with competitive skaters at many levels, and her ideas and approaches to a variety… Continue reading
In this video series, iCoachSkating founder Trevor Laak interviews World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh regarding her thoughts and recommendations during the coronavirus lockdown. Michelle works with competitive skaters at many levels, and her ideas and approaches to a variety… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh offers insights and suggestions for how coaches can help skaters more quickly process bad skating experiences, from bad practices (or even parts of a practice) to poor competition performances. She notes right at the… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses 3 distinct issues that coaches face when working on jumps with their skaters. The first issue is when skaters simply don’t seem willing to set aside any time off the ice to watch… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about the challenges and decision process she uses when skaters need to make a major technique change for their jumps. As she notes, sometimes major changes are necessary when coaches get a new… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses the challenges of helping skaters work through fear issues associated with certain aspects of skating. She mentions the common fears of skating fast, jumping high, falling, and the fear of not succeeding. As… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about the very common problem of skaters who avoid working on certain skills that they really need to work on for overall success in their skating. Michelle notes that coaches can really help… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh offers valuable insights for coaches on how to handle the last moments before a skater takes their starting pose at a competition. She explains that this is one of her favorite coaching moments in… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares her thoughts on how to help skaters excel under pressure. First and foremost, Michelle recommends having specific, realistic, and achievable goals that are within the skater’s control (winning a competition is almost never… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh offers insights and advice to skating parents. Many coaches wish that skating parents would have minimal involvement in the development of a skater, but as you’ll learn in this video, Michelle wants knowledgeable parents… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about the process of determining whether a skater is ready to move on and learn a new jump. This discussion is similar to that of Audrey Weisiger here, and coaches who struggle with… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shows a simple but very effective off-ice drill for helping with weak air positions. Many skaters suffer from a “pike” air position where the body is forward and the hips are pressed back in… Continue reading
In this short video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about one of the most important but commonly-ignored topics for good jumping. Good jumps simply cannot happen if the skater has excessive body tension during the execution of the… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains how to fix a 2-foot toe loop take-off. First, she draws a tracing for the toe loop on the ice and explains what’s supposed to happen on a correct toe loop. As she… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains one of the most important concepts related to doing good salchows. To create the rotational energy and jump height necessary to do triples and quads, skaters must generate large rotational and vertical forces… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares some important insights regarding how to properly create edge pressure for a loop jump. As Michelle notes, elite skaters typically do not bend their axis (take-off) leg very much when performing a triple… Continue reading
In this figure skating video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh is giving a lesson to skater who is just starting to develop the double axel. This short video focuses on one exercise, the “cheated loop.” This exercise is… Continue reading
In this figure skating video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh gives an advanced skater a lesson on the triple flip and triple loop. The skater is clearly an excellent athlete as can be seen from the air time on… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh is working with a male skater on building a double flip from a solid single. This skater has not yet landed the double at the time this video was recorded, and Michelle covers some… Continue reading
In this figure skating video, World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh is working with a skater to improve a relatively new double salchow. The focus is on control and timing. The skater is using a forward inside three turn entrance… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh begins a lesson with a young male skater by reviewing his single jumps. This is a great chance to see what an elite coach like Michelle looks for on single jumps after a skater… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a multi-part series on off-ice jumping and training. In Part 1 she focused on some basics and the axel. In Part 2, she discussed the salchow and some drills to… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a multi-part series on off-ice jumping. In Part 1 she focused on some basics and the axel. In Part 2, she discussed the salchow and some drills to improve landings.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her explanation of the mechanics of a toe loop. In the first video of this series, she introduced the idea of the edge and the heel take-off with a straight leg,… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her explanation of the mechanics of a toe loop. In the first video of this series, she introduced the idea of the edge and the heel take-off with a straight leg,… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a multi-part series on off-ice jumping. In Part 1 she focused on some basics and the axel. In Part 2, she discussed the salchow and some drills to improve landings.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a multi-part series on off-ice jumping. In Part 1 she focused on some basics and the axel. In Part 2, she discussed the salchow and some drills to improve landings.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a multi-part series on off-ice jumping. In Part 1 she focused on some basics and the axel. In this video, she discusses the salchow and some drills to improve landings.… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh begins a multi-part series on off-ice jumping. A large percentage of elite skaters use off-ice jumps as part of their regular training and warm-up. And top coaches like Michelle often have… Continue reading
World and Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains the mechanics of a toe loop jump as it relates to the non-picking foot. She draws a picture on the ice to explain the movements and she shows common errors. … Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh offers two valuable exercises for correcting the “pike position” or “broken arrow” jump air position where the body is forward and the skater’s body does not make a nice straight line. The first exercise… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues a lesson with a skater. The first part of the lesson focused on toe loop combination jumps (triple-triple but concepts also apply to double). In this video, Michelle and her student leave… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater on developing triple-triple combinations with triple toe as the second jump. The lesson starts with 2 huge double axels which are used primarily as a warm-up for this skater but they… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater on the triple toe loop jump. This video has a number of important concepts and drills that will benefit skaters working on doubles, triples, and quads. Michelle begins with a… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses some key concepts associated with the triple salchow. She likes having skaters use a “crosscut” entrance. In the USA this is more commonly called a salchow from “back crossovers” or from an “undercut.”… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh talks about using a half-axel to improve the axel and as a drill for double axel. This video is a continuation of an earlier double axel lesson. Michelle refers to an under-rotated axel where… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh gives a double axel lesson. As Michelle notes, the demonstrator in the video has just recently landed the double axel so it is a brand new jump without consistency. In this video we get… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with a young male skater in Part 3 of a 3-part series on jumps. In the first part of the lesson, Michelle focused on the lutz. In the second video, Michelle… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with a young male skater in Part 2 of a 3-part series on jumps. In the first part of the lesson, Michelle focused on the lutz. In this video, Michelle is… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a young male skater in a 3-part series on jumps. In this video, the focus is on the lutz. To begin the lesson, Michelle asks for an air position drill from a… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater in a 3-part series on jumps leading to triple salchow and triple toe. This is the final part of this lesson. In the first part, Michelle worked on 3-jump combinations… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater in a 3-part series on jumps leading to triple salchow and triple toe. This is the second part of this lesson. In this first part, Michelle worked on 3-jump combinations… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater in a 3-part series on jumps leading to triple salchow. In this first part, Michelle works on 3-jump combinations with the skater. Before beginning the lesson, Michelle explains the issues… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with two young skaters. The first part of the lesson focused on a series of warm-up drills prior to jump training. In the second video, Michelle had the skaters do waltz… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with two young skaters. The first part of the lesson focused on a series of warm-up drills prior to jump training. In the second video, Michelle had the skaters do waltz… Continue reading
In this figure skating video, Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with two young skaters. The first part of the lesson focused on a series of warm-up drills prior to jump training. In the second video, Michelle… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her lesson with two young skaters. The first part of the lesson focused on a series of warm-up drills prior to jump training. In this video, Michelle has the skaters do waltz jumps… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh guides two skaters through a series of warm-up drills prior to jump training. These exercises help skaters get used to jump movements while focusing on air position and alignment details that will be important skills… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares a simple but valuable setup pattern for single and double axel development. Michelle utilizes the hockey circles on the end of the rink to help the skater keep a consistent entrance pattern to… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her work with a skater on double axel. The first video of the series was focused on axel exercises at the wall where Michelle emphasized the sideways nature of the take-off and the pivot… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her work with a skater on double axel. The previous video was focused on axel exercises at the wall where Michelle emphasized the sideways nature of the take-off and the pivot before the skater… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shows a double axel exercise at the barrier to develop the proper take-off movement. One of the primary challenges for skaters learning a double axel is creating enough rotational energy so that the jump spins… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh uses walley jumps to warm up her skaters for double axel and triple jumps. In this video, Michelle shares an exercise she uses to warm up the walley. It’s a walley – double bracket… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares some drills for toe loop. The drills in this video address several common errors in toe loop execution. ERROR: Not coming off the heel of the non-picking skate. Many skaters lift the non-picking… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses details of the salchow, particularly as it relates to the triple salchow for the demonstrating skater. Michelle discusses the issues the demonstrator is working through and she shows the drills and walk-throughs she uses… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh finishes her 6-part on-ice jumps class for some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2, On-ice jumps Part 3, On-ice jumps Part 4, On-ice jumps Part… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues with the fifth part of her multi-video on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2, On-ice jumps Part 3, On-ice jumps Part… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues with the fourth part of her multi-video on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2, On-ice jumps Part 3) In this video, Michelle… Continue reading
This is the third video in a multi-video series from Olympic coach Michelle Leigh as she teaches an on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2) In this video,… Continue reading
This is the second video in a multi-video series from Olympic coach Michelle Leigh as she teaches an on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1) At the beginning of this video, Michelle works… Continue reading
This is the first video in a multi-video series from Olympic coach Michelle Leigh as she teaches an on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. It’s pretty rare to see just how an Olympic coach teaches low… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains the details of a good landing. At initial impact with the ice, Michelle wants the skater’s shoulders in line with the skating foot and landing edge. This requires the skater to twist the… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh has a skater demonstrate her exercises for head control in jumping. Head pre-rotation is probably the most common major jumping error at the lower levels and it actually prevents many skaters from ever reaching higher… Continue reading
In this very short video, Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains a drill she uses to help skaters develop the control, quickness, and power necessary for double and triple toe loop combination jumps. The exercise is simply a series… Continue reading
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains how she develops single lutz.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh offers some jump drills and exercises to improve control and efficiency, particularly related to building double jumps into triple jumps.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh provides a thorough explanation of how she teaches the flip jump. There are some extremely important key point in this presentation.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh provides a thorough explanation of how she teaches the loop jump.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses taking a single toe loop to the double.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her discussion of how to teach a toe loop.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses how she introduces the toe loop to a skater for the first time.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues her discussion of salchow.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh shares a great exercise for improving the salchow.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains her approach to teaching the salchow. This video is packed with very important information that is easy to overlook.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh finisher her discussion of the axel.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains a valuable warm-up drill that incorporates the helicopter exercise and walleys.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses the back preparation edge for axel. This video is a continuation of Michelle's discussions of the axel.
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh discusses core strength as it relates to air position for multi-rotation jumps.
This video is a continuation of the axel lesson video with Olympic coach Michelle Leigh. In this video, Michelle is working towards double axel with her skater.
In this video, Olympic coach Michelle Leigh explains how she teaches the walley.
In this video, we sit in on an axel lesson with Olympic coach Michelle Leigh. This is a great follow-up the Michelle Leigh axel video.
Michelle Leigh discusses how she develops the axel from the waltz jump.
Michelle Leigh continues her discussion of the waltz jump. In this video, she talks about the step.
Michelle Leigh talks about how she introduces the waltz jump and she continues the discussion through some helpful exercises that also apply to axel and double axel.
Michelle Leigh shares some of the exercises she uses to teach lutz.
Michelle Leigh talks about one of the most important concepts of successful multi-rotational jumping.
Michelle Leigh works with a skater on drills intended to fix head issues.
Michelle Leigh explains one of her favorite drills for her skaters.
Michelle Leigh discusses some very helpful information regarding arm motions and positions throughout jumps, and particularly loop, flip and lutz.
Michelle Leigh discusses some general jump principles she uses with her skaters. This discussion continues her thoughts on head placement and movement. She then moves to a more thorough discussion of shoulder and hip movements, take-off direction, and air position.
Michelle Leigh discusses head position in jumps. This topic is very well understood by a small group of top coaches. After all, a very high percentage of top skaters
