Nationals from a Coach's Perspective

Sherri Krahne Thomas will be at nationals not as a competitor, but as a coach.  While getting novice lady Karen Chen ready for the upcoming competition in San Jose, she found time to answer a few questions about what it's like to coach national level skaters.

Tell me about yourself outside of skating.

My name is Sherri and I am a mother of 2 children, Justyn who is 16 and Jazlyn who is almost 4. Away from the rink I enjoy boating/wake boarding and going to the snow and snowboarding.

How do you structure your skaters' season in terms of making changes to programs between regionals, sectionals and nationals?

By regionals, the programs are pretty set for the remainder of the season. Prior to that there is a lot of restructuring of programs.

Do you have a ritual as a coach to get your skaters ready for competition once you're at the event, or is it specific to each skater?

Yes and no.  It is specific to each skater as each skater is different, but the basic outline is the same.  Off ice warm-up, streching, visualization, jump walk thrus, walking thru programs. After the skates are on I always go thru all spin positions, spirals, etc.

Do you encourage your skaters to watch other skaters?

I do encourage my skaters to watch others skaters, just not during their own events.