by TROY SCHWINDT
or Jason Dilworth, being able to help a guy like Colton Waring makes it well worth the thousands of miles he’s traveled by car since January. Dilworth, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska,
paid a visit to small-town Sioux Center, Iowa, to meet with Waring about the new Learn to Skate USA program, which launched June 1. As one of the program’s 10 national business development specialists, Dilworth wanted to share his passion for skating. He was preaching to the choir. Waring learned to skate at age 14 and played
on the town’s fi rst high school hockey team. T e team lost every game, but Waring’s love for skating never wavered.
“Colton ended up working at the rink when it opened, doing maintenance and working his way up the ranks. Now he’s the manager of the rink,” Dilworth said. “He’s absolutely a fantastic guy and he now runs this viable learn-to-skate program in this town of 7,000.” Learn to Skate USA, a rebrand of the Basic
Skills Program, is a perfect fi t for Waring and other hardworking ice rink professionals from cities both large and small. Endorsed by U.S. Figure Skating, USA Hockey and US Speedskating, its mass appeal will help rinks serve their customers with a stan- dardized program that keeps skaters engaged as their skills progress.
With a cutting-edge curriculum, Learn to Skate
USA provides online instructor training, a mobile skating coach app and a user-friendly website for parents and skaters. Its online management system alone will help skating directors and administrators save time.
And time is important to rink managers like
Waring, who works for the municipal All Seasons Center Vernon Arena. “T is rink is a city-owned facility and he’s a city
employee,” Dilworth said. “Colton doesn’t get paid anything extra for running this program.” When the seasonal rink opens in September,
the innovative Waring will use local hockey players and skaters at the area college to teach the Learn to Skate USA program. “T e fact that we can help a guy like that out to administer this program and make it easier for him, to me it’s icing on the cake,” Dilworth said.
WHAT’S BEHIND LEARN TO SKATE USA? Learn to Skate USA’s mission is to provide a
fun and positive experience that will instill a lifelong love of skating. T e foundation of the program remains based in safe and solid skill progression that provides all skaters the necessary tools to reach their goal, be it recreational or competitive skating. While the Basic Skills Program taught countless people to skate since 1968, Learn to Skate USA still uses many of those fundamentals with a modern application.
14 JUNE/JULY 2016
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