Great Weather, Great Group! ICP Level 1 London, UK 11-13 September

By ICP Examiner Asha Kirkby, United Kingdom

This course was blessed with perfect skate weather (no rain, no wind, not too hot, not too cold) which made the long hours of skating more palatable.

Participants came from as far away as Italy and Cyprus as well as from all over the UK (Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Eastbourne and London). Some participants were already teaching informally in new skate schools or social skate clubs and others completely new to the teaching experience. We even had a mother and son team which is an ICP first!

I love observing the 'ICP chain' which is the impact that one ICP instructor can have on the skate industry in one location. One skater from Glasgow was a student of an ICP instructor who I certified about 9 years ago. Another was my student in the very early years of Skatefresh who is now running a skate school in Cyprus. Another will hopefully now become employed in Skatefresh.

This group were very good at actively teaching the candidates as 'proper' students who needed help to improve their skills, rather than reverting to the 'pretend' teaching that sometimes happens. Everyone's skate skills improved enormously as a consequence.

I look forward to seeing the successful candidates in the future for their Level 2 courses. In the meantime I know they will enjoy putting everything they learned into practice with real beginner skaters. That's when the fun really begins.