PROGRAMS

Skate IA is in a unique position to offer liability insurance to certified skate instructors (inline/quad/skateboard). Skate IA has shown over the years to be a safe and insurable risk with our extensive manual, certification program and focus on safety in learning and thus we are able to confirm and offer a liability policy which includes $100k on SAM (sexual abuse/molestation).

The Insurance is sold separately from membership for three reasons:

• Not all candidates pass and therefore cannot use the insurance
• in order to keep the cost down
• because not all candidates require insurance

The annual insurance policy provided by the SkateIA for individual instructors costs $130 per calendar year. Skate Schools Insurance costs $1150 annually and includes 2 full memberships. Half-year insurance is also available for the months of July to December.

If you are not otherwise covered, we strongly advise you to purchase this insurance, whether you’re an individual or a school. Skate IA was formed, in part, to ensure its skate instructors have proper coverage for their professional businesses. 

Skills you will need to demonstrate  & teach:

• V Walk and Basic Stride*
• Heel stop or toe stop*
• Lunge Turn – both directions*
• Parallel turns -both directions
• Backwards skating – swizzles*

Skills you will only need to demonstrate:

• Spin stop – one direction
• Crossovers in a circle – one direction*
• Mohawk transitions – all directions

There are a variety of reasons why Skate IA does not allow quality skaters to simply take a test to ensure they can meet the requirements, but the biggest reason is that we need to be insurable. The Insurance Company annually reviews our membership guidelines, provides us with waivers for our students and works with us to set the parameters for safety equipment. They also review our manual and teaching guides to ensure we are teaching to a standard that allows them to securely insure Skate IA & Skateboard IA.  Everyone must take a certification to be insured.

In addition to the Insurance Company requirements, we have found, through our anonymous survey at the end of each certification, that those students who had already been teaching and whom are already high level skaters, agreed that the Certification was worth their time and money. Most of them stated that they truly learned “what they didn’t know” before the certification.  Better explained, they thought their methods were the best, or sufficient, but during the course started to see how they would be able to improve their current classes immensely.  For some it was the step-by-step process of the introduction, for others it was learning how to break down moves into three easy steps. Others added that learning teaching methods like where to stand in the classroom and how and when to demonstrate, added a layer of sophistication to their teaching that they had not previously understood.  We have yet to have someone finish a certification who did not state emphatically that it would improve their teaching to a very large degree.  We had two recent graduates of our certification programs independently share with us that they both oversee academic teaching programs and raved about our programming. One said that she was convinced it would be a waste of time beforehand, but a necessary evil to obtain insurance. She is a full time school teacher and program creator/editor for her school district. After she completed our certification she generously raved that our program not only exceeded her expectations but she wished we ran the academic workshops she is required to attend. We have something to offer all levels of skaters and skate instructors. Get certified and know more so you can share more.

There are many good reasons to be satisfied with a Level 1 Certification. But, if you are teaching either regular classes, larger classes or skaters at a variety of levels, even if only private lessons, then you might consider taking it up to the next level. Here is a rather exhaustive list:

1. A chance to review your teaching skills will take your teaching up to the next level almost automatically. We can only remember so much during our certifications, this is a chance to re-embrace ideas/concepts that we forgot.
2. Learn how to teach better, to a wider audience. This includes differing levels, different ages and in a variety of different locations. See below for examples.
3. We will discuss how to help students progress, including when it is fear based.
4. Skill Modification List: This is a list of modifications to help you teach students in the same class who are at several different levels. This list will allow you to enjoy teaching to a disparate group rather than scheduling several separate lessons.
5. Demo to Market: A new section! The goal is to show you how to demo & market your classes to better ensure your students will keep coming back. You will learn how to provide demos and explanations to your students on how all the skills relate from the duck walk/V-walk to an artistic stride. How a Toe Roll transforms into a better glide, into a daffy, a criss-cross and beyond. By linking how the skills your students are learning in the basic courses can be transformed into more difficult skills, you can create classes which keep them coming back…rather than just 4 or 8 classes.
6. List of Combinations: Combinations are merely a series of moves which are combined. The value of combinations is two-fold. First, by combining moves students will actually learn how to perform each of the moves better and improve their balance because the transitions from one move to the next require new balance ‘points.’ Secondly, it makes learning more fun. Most students come to classes because they’ve seen someone effortless weave moves together. They want it and you’ll get it at this cert. We will create a list during the course that works with your skills so you can target your market. This may even become a new class you can offer your students.
7. New moves: Level 2 offers new skills to break down for your clients. Whether you are demonstrating the skills you simply have to demo, or the ones you will be asked to teach, expect to learn new moves!
8. More bags of tricks: We all have our bags of tricks for helping our clients learn to skate. We will have a round table discussion sharing them with each other, then transcribing them so you can take them home with you. We hope to put the Bags of Tricks up on the web for use to our larger membership. You have great ideas and proven tricks that work for you. Now it’s time to strut your stuff and show us what has worked for you.
9. Marketing Discussion: We will have a discussion on marketing ideas, determining your target audience and how to either build your business. If you are NSP, or run school programs, then you might benefit from the concepts of building skating IS building your business. You will leave with proven concepts to build your business.

Rarely do we have the chance to teach two or six people who are all the same level and ability. In order to ensure you are equipped to teach whomever rolls into your class, your Level 2 Cert will offer you the skills you need. We’ll talk about examples from each person’s own classes, build a list of our toughest challenges and then go to the classroom and learn how to “see” everyone, teach so they all can hear, visualize, listen and understand what we are teaching.

Examples of the wider audience you will be able to reach include:

• Communication issues (non-hearing, speaks a language you do not)
• A five-year old girl and her dad who want to learn together
• Five girl scouts who have never skated, 2 that have skated five times in quads and one who is a whiz
• Teaching 14 kids at a small private school in the space the size of a large living room
• Fear-beleaguered student who can’t get off the grass who has a friend who keeps telling her it’s so easy
• The one with such bad self talk, your’re not sure she’ll master any skills
• A four-year old who shows up despite telling the parents you don’t take kids under five
• That skater who’s been skating for five years but doesn’t seem to understand he is missing several foundation skills so it is unlikely he would be willing to consider skating differently
• The skater who thinks that just because she can do it fast, means she can do it
• You can list several more, I am sure!

These skaters and more can be taught more easily by knowing how to really dig into the issue of how to teach to everyone.  Don’t you want to learn how to be a better teacher?

Skills you will need to teach:

• Spin stop
• Parallel turns
• Backwards skating
• Stride Two
• Mohawk transitions

Skills you will need to demonstrate (13):

• Spin stop*
• Parallel turns*
• Backwards skating*
• Stride Two*
• Mohawk transitions*
• Backwards crossovers
• T-stop
• Backwards power slide
• Slalom
• 1 foot slalom
• Hockey stop
• 180 jump
• Heel –Toe Progressions