coaches who never skated vs coaches who were ex-skaters

[zilam98]

whose work do you prefer across disciplines and why?

and is there a pattern of success between those two kinds of coaches?

[overedge]

Hard to tell if there's a pattern of success to compare because so many coaches are ex-skaters.

The only names that come to mind of well-known coaches who never skated are Joanne Macleod (whose training is in modern dance IIRC) and Philip Mills (former ballet dancer, although he is more of a choreographer than a coach).

[zilam98]

what about zueva of french ice dance federation? was she a former skater herself?

[overedge]

what about zueva of french ice dance federation? was she a former skater herself?

Do you mean Muriel Boucher-Zazoui? Yes, French ice dance champion in the 70s.

If you mean Marina Zoueva, she too was a competitive ice dancer (5th (?) in worlds in 1976 or 1977).

[zilam98]

Do you mean Muriel Boucher-Zazoui? Yes, French ice dance champion in the 70s.

If you mean Marina Zoueva, she too was a competitive ice dancer (5th (?) in worlds in 1976 or 1977).

dang, i meant zazoui. i see. i thought there would be a comparable number of coaches who arent former skaters themselves coaching top 10 skaters

[manleywoman]

Gus Lussi

[jlai]

Hard to tell if there's a pattern of success to compare because so many coaches are ex-skaters.

The only names that come to mind of well-known coaches who never skated are Joanne Macleod (whose training is in modern dance IIRC) and Philip Mills (former ballet dancer, although he is more of a choreographer than a coach).

I remember a Mills interview (by Manleywoman) that said he can skate though his training is mainly in ballet

[ks777]

I would never take figure skating lessons from someone who never figure skated.

[Aussie Willy]

Someone told me that Richard Callahan wasn't a skater.

[DORISPULASKI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Callaghan

He was a skater. In fact, he also competed in ice dance.

Did Shpilband ever skate as a senior at Russian nationals? He & his partner won Junior Worlds in 1983.

[matti]

Betty Callaway's own skating skills were limited to three turns and waltz jumps...at highest? Perhaps she was too modest...

[winterone]

Did Delilah Sap skate? How about her assistent Larry?

[BittyBug]

Larry was a pairs skater.

[sk9tingfan]

Did Delilah Sap skate? How about her assistent Larry?

Larry Ibarra competed in pairs for many years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laureano_Ibarra

In terms of Dalilah Sappenfield, any references that I could find quickly only discuss her as a coach but not as a skater.

[sk9tingfan]

Found a reference for Sappenfield which indicates that she too skated

http://figureskating.about.com/od/to.../p/dalilah.htm

[gkelly]

Gus Lussi

That's the only person I could think of who was a technical skating coach without having been a skater.

My very first skating instructor was a guy who had been a professional ballet dancer and who knew enough about skating to teach beginners, but by the time I was ready to start learning the preliminary figures I needed to switch to a different coach. I'm sure he never competed as a figure skater, but it's possible he may have done some performing on ice.

At the elite levels, I don't think you'll find technical coaches who hadn't also skated themselves. Possibly not as competitors, especially considering that for much of the 20th century performing or teaching skating would have been enough to lose their own eligibility to compete. But if they're better at teaching than at doing it themselves their students may far surpass their own accomplishments.

Choreographers who don't skate themselves wouldn't be able to teach technique, but they could help skaters with second mark/program component aspects of performance better than some technical coaches. If they started as stage choreographers and then learned how to skate themselves, then they could also teach technique.

[A.H.Black]

Gus Lussi

from wikipedia -

Gustave François Lussi (1898 – June 23, 1993) was a figure skating coach. His students include many champions, such as Dick Button, Donald Jackson, Ronald Robertson, Ronald Ludington, Barbara Ann Scott, David Jenkins, Hayes Jenkins, Dorothy Hamill (during her novice years), John Misha Petkevich, and John Curry.

Some of Lussi's other students, such as Mary Scotvold, Robin Wagner, Evelyn Kramer and Priscilla Hill, have also become successful coaches who have passed on Lussi's techniques to subsequent generations of skaters. Wagner coached Sarah Hughes to the 2002 Olympic title and Sasha Cohen to her first World Championship medal. Priscilla Hill has coached Johnny Weir to three national titles. Evelyn Kramer is now known as a "spin doctor" and has helped many skater improve their spins. They include Michelle Kwan, Robin Cousins and Caryn Kadavy

His influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.

[AYS]

According to his obituary, Gus Lussi at least knew how to skate, but was primarily a ski jumper when young, and was involved in producing and directing ice shows before he started coaching. On a note interesting only to myself , he was born on the exact same day (same date and year) as my grandfather.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pe...i-1483334.html

[madm]

Found a reference for Sappenfield which indicates that she too skated

http://figureskating.about.com/od/to.../p/dalilah.htm

There was an feature story about Dalilah in one of the skating magazines a couple of years ago (maybe in Blades on Ice?) Does anyone have a link to it? I believe she competed up to the junior pair level but then her partner cut his foot badly skating, was never able to skate again, and that was the end of her competitive career.

[Frau Muller]

Danny Kwan! During the 2001/02 season, he coached "somebody" to a U.S. National title and an Olympic bronze medal. Not shabby.