Congratulations to All on a Successful Course in Changzhou, China!

ICP wrapped up a successful program in Changzhou, China 27-29 June with 23 Level 1 and three Level 2 students passing. Led by Brent Tay and Mike Tang, ICP continues to expand its efforts in China. ICP is thankful for the efforts of dedicated people like Brent and Mike, and all the students who participated in the course. Congratulations to all who passed! To those who did not pass, we wish you all the best as you prepare for your re-test. Thank you for your support, China!

Both Brent Tay and Mike Tang Wrote Program Accounts of the Changzhou, China Course.

 The Level 1 in Changzhou, China 2014 Ends in Success

By Brent Tay, Program Organizer, Certified Instructor, Apprentice Examiner

 Three Chinese Apprentice Examiners (AE’s) were carefully selected amongst the 30 instructors certified back in 2011 and were invited back to support this program to take their abilities to the next level.

Singaporean Examiner Mike Tang, Singaporean Apprentice Examiner and program organizer Brent Tay of Urban Inline, the three new AEs, 27 Level 1 candidates and three Level 2 instructor candidates all came together, so the program was set up for success!

The Chinese AEs presented the theory class in Mandarin. Many questions were raised and we could see from the start that the candidates were all fired up for the next day’s program.

With an indoor venue, the raining season in Changzhou during this time did not affect us a bit. Day 1 went on smoothly as Mike shared his experiences. Practical class went on from 8 am until 7 pm with a two hour lunch break.

Day 2 was a day all candidates were very nervous about, but looked forward to. The theory test took place in the morning, and the teaching test happened in the afternoon followed by the personal skating test. Everyone looked tense, but we could see they were prepared.

Finally the test was on! The three new AEs made sure the test went on smoothly which ended at about 6 pm. After one hour of tabulating, the results were finally out — 23 passed for Level 1 and all passed for Level 2.

The graduation dinner was filled with mix feelings. Those who passed received their certification and ICP t-shirt presented by Mike. Wide smiles were seen across the restaurant while pictures were taken. Congratulations to our new Level 1 instructors!

Those who did not make it were invited to a small private room to learn why they did not pass and what they need to do next. They were a little disappointed at first, but explanations were clear and precise, which made them understand which areas that they need to work on, They were also invited to come back for a retest.

Finally formalities were done and dinner was ready. To wrap up a successful, properly planned and executed program, the dinner menu was something that we could not overlook.

Lobster, fish, prawns, chicken, crab … were cooked to perfection. As the drinks started to flow, spirits were once again lifted, more pictures were taken and students chatted with examiners and AEs.

The graduation dinner finally came to an end.  The whole program was a blast and with the help of the new AEs and of course, our sponsors Radius, hosting company Urban Inline China.

We look forward to the next program which  is most likely to be in Shanghai later this year.

The Level 1 Course in Changzhou, China 2014

By Mike Tang, Level 2 Certified Instructor, Lead Program Examiner

The last ICP session was at Donggang, the Southern part of China, but this time, we headed up to the east of China at ChangZhou. We took a 6-hour flight and a 5-hour midnight train ride with a straight back seated position to the destination. We arrived in the morning and checked into the hotel at 8 am. The host Wu Yuengui checked us in and we went to the AE meeting at 10 am where we met the AEs: Wu Haojian, Xu Wei and Zheng ChengJie. It was their very first time.

The candidates came from different parts of China. Many have been teaching and had heard about ICP. The reason they were not at the first two sessions was because the location was too far away, and it was too expensive for them to travel such a distance. They were glad that we brought the ICP closer to them. Even so, many had paid more than the cost fee for travel and accommodations. They are keen about ICP methodology. Some had deep impressions that ICP teaching methodology can be applied to anything else. As usual, some would feel that they had done what is presented after day 1. After the theory, we had a simple dinner and then rested after day 1.

Day 2 started with warm up exercises right on the grounds of a shopping mall. Many enjoyed the different activities that were fun and safe. They practiced falling without skates after that. All of them tried falling with wrists first and closely with the knee, and we tried falling on knees first too. A question was asked if you were to do this a good 20 times, which one would you feel more straining to the joints. More than 75% agreed that falling on the wrist has lesser impact than the knee. To conclude, we learned that falling forward and sliding off the impact is a good fall.

The teaching of the essential skills started about 10 am. Their practice was rotated among themselves and the AEs were asked to rotate among the group too. By lunch, many are not confident and shocked by the system. Some were still confused. After a China standard 2-hour lunch, the whole group continued. But some were confused by their skill itself, e.g. rotation of body during A-frame turn, weight shifting, using outside edge in swizzle, etc. So right after lunch, Mike went through the essential teaching skills again and allowed everyone to understand the reasons why. They continued with a deeper understanding and felt more confident. By the end of the day, many have grasped the STUMP. All of them went through the optional skills before heading for dinner. This group had good skating skills and breezed through with ease.

Day 3 is heavy for everyone. They started with the theory test with four candidates in Level 1 and three Level 2 students clearing the teaching test before lunch. The main group of the Level 1 were split into two groups to be tested by Brent and Mike. The process took long, and we worked past 5 pm. All of us managed to clear all the skating skills just before we hopped into a catered bus that brought us to a nice restaurant while all the examiners rushed to tabulate the results.

We tackled the border line cases and shared what could be done better. Those who did not make it were very upset. Mike shared that it was the soft skills and the application that achieved. Examiners have seen tremendous improvement in the students during the course. The only reason why the certificate was not given was because of their scores and several important points where they had lack. Mike urged that they work on those weaknesses.

The evening ended with a dinner and lots of drinking sessions yet again-typical for our programs in China!