About iCoachSkating
iCoachSkating was launched in June of 2008 after more than 18 months of planning and preparation. At that time, membership was limited only to figure skating coaches. Over time it became clear that the information at iCoachSkating could be very valuable to the much larger audience of skaters and skating parents. So the website was opened to all skating participants in February of 2010.
The purpose of the iCoachSkating is to help ALL SKATERS reach their potential by publishing theoretical and practical knowledge from the top figure skating coaches in the world. There are so many misunderstandings, myths, and half-truths in the skating world. All coaches, adult skaters, and skating families need an independent source of high quality information to be able to make better skating-related decisions and make more consistent and faster progress.
Online delivery of information is the future (and present!) of figure skating education. It’s inexpensive, it’s effective, and it allows a tremendous range of flexibility and convenience. How else could you possibly get this level of instruction from this caliber of faculty in such a consistent manner?
iCoachSkating was developed by skating coach Trevor Laak with input from hundreds of coaches and skating families. This input was instrumental in determining the design elements of the website as well as the content and the selection of top coaches providing featured content. Trevor is a passionate teacher and he’s committed to making a positive change in the sport with this project.
Here is our staff. Please use the Contact Us page to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you.
Trevor Laak is the day-to-day webmaster for the site. Trevor travels all over North America and interviews the best coaches on the continent. These interviews are captured on video, which is then edited into short, easily watched video clips. The clips are then published with a text summary. In nearly all cases, Trevor writes the summary for each video and sometimes offers additional insights.
In addition to adding content and keeping the website updated, Trevor writes regular email reminders, notifying paid subscribers about the latest published videos. These emails usually contain additional insights about the topic, typically from Trevor’s own coaching experiences.
As an active coach, Trevor specializes in on-ice jump technique. He works almost exclusively as a consultant to other skating coaches by providing pole harness, computer video analysis, and regular lesson services to them and their skaters. Trevor has presented at a number of coaching seminars and workshops.
Trevor has a graduate research degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He holds 6 patents in the areas of digital signal processing, advanced control systems, active sound cancellation and acoustic control. He’s provided technical consulting for a number of Fortune 500 companies.
Sheila Thelen is our social media expert, keeping our Facebook page up-to-date and posting links and content to other social media sites, especially our Twitter feed. If you are a member of our Facebook page (you should be!), chances are the posts you see there are from Sheila.
Sheila also serves as a primary adviser for the website, making recommendations regarding content, marketing, and nearly every detail associated with the site. She also serves as our in-house travel agent.
Sheila is also very busy with her own companies, namely Champion Cords, Champion Skating Charms, Champion Skating Harness, Champion Skating Harnesses, and Vestibular Training Services LLC. Even with all of this on her plate, Sheila continues to coach skating on a regular basis.
