Education

Meet the New Education Committee Chair

Denise Williamson, MFS, MM, SFF, CC, Level 4 Ranking

Happy fall skating everyone! I am Denise Williamson, your new PSA Education Committee chair. In May of 2022, I concluded my role as 3rd Vice President for the PSA. It was an eventful three years. One of my responsibilities was oversight was the Ratings Committee. As many of you know, the manner of how the exams are administered has changed dramatically. Getting virtual exams launched was as difficult as learning a triple Axel and I believe with the leadership of Cheryl Faust (Ratings Chair), Heidi Thibert, and Barb Yackel, we landed a clean one. In this first article, I want to introduce myself. I was fortunate to train in Rockton, Illinois at the home of the Wagon Wheel FSC, in the 1970s. “The Wheel” was filled with outstanding coaches that drew athletes from all over the world. My coaches were passionate about their profession.

Celebrating the launch of the Theatre on Ice rating at the Chicago Summit. LEFT TO RIGHT: Cheryl Faust, Rating Chair, Jamie Lane-Youtsey, Adam Blake, Ashley Wyatt, John Mucko, and Rebecca Stump, PSA President, and Denise Williamson.

Dana Holan was my first coach and I was her first competitive student in the United States. She and her husband, Jerry, defected from Czechoslovakia after the world championships in 1969. I still remember Mrs. Holan asking to speak to my mother after my first group lesson. I was sure I had done something wrong. No…it was time to start private lessons and my life changed on that day. Mrs. Holan coached me until I passed my fourth figure test, then she and her husband moved to coach in Ohio. Devastation wasn’t even close to describing the anguish of her leaving. I loved and respected her so very much. I wanted to stop skating. No one could replace her. Our facility was full of national and world competitors and I was an average skater that went to regionals. Who would want to coach me? That person was Pierre Brunet, and he renewed my love of skating again. This wonderful and brilliant man changed my life and I continue to carry the lessons he taught me to this very day. I was fortunate to work with Mr. Brunet for over two years until his retirement. I adored that man. My final years of skating I was coached by Charlene Guarino. She was young, full of energy, and very detailed. We are still in contact to this day.

I began coaching in 1978 while going to college. My degree is in Chemistry, but I decided an ice rink is much more exciting than a laboratory! Fast forward to 1986 and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina with my new husband. I attended my first PSA seminar in Atlanta and didn’t see any familiar faces. Fortunately for me, one of the coaches from the Wagon Wheel, Lynn (Teglia) Thompson, was leading the seminar. She pushed me to answer questions when no one else would volunteer. I became hooked on what education could do for my coaching career.

In Charlotte, I was the new coach in the rink and I was welcomed by the staff. I pursued my ratings, took my athletes to other coaches through out the east coast to fill the gaps that I couldn’t. In turn, I had some wonderfully successful athletes accomplishing more athletically and in competition than I ever came close to during my own career. Fast forward to the early 2000s and the change in the judging system. Once again, someone from the Wagon Wheel took me under her wing and gave me a chance at become a Technical Specialist. Mary Cook provided me an opportunity that I never would have dreamt of for myself. About the same time I began serving as a Technical Specialist, I began my six-year commitment as a PSA Board of Governor and the Free Skating Discipline Chair for ratings. For ten years I served as faculty for the U.S. Figure Skating technical schools. I enjoy being on both sides of the educational table because no matter where I sit, I know I will learn something. Now, thanks to the chance Mary Cook (and Gale Tanger) took on me in 2005, I am an ISU Championship Singles Technical Specialist.

Looking at where skating is today compared to where it was when I trained and then the first 15 years of my coaching, the sport is almost unrecognizable. I am not complaining, but I am noticing. If I didn’t stay involved by attending many education events, challenging myself with ratings exams, and learning the “new” system of IJS, I would not be a coach of any relevance now. Education is so essential in our lives because it helps us to realize what we don’t know and how to fill those holes. Our skaters need us to be current, adaptable, and honest about our abilities. Learning is what keeps us young and present.

I hope you can see that I am passionate about skating and for those that share the sport with me. I need you to tell me what information you need to be a better coach. I am not the expert, but I will find them for you. I would like for my articles to cover the wide variety of disciplines in our sport today. Let me hear from you, please, and thank you for reading my first article!

Contact me at: Denise@gocubs.us