ICP Rolling Strong in Spain

by Examiner Asha Kirkby

2014 has been a busy year for ICP courses in Spain with this final course in Burgos (10-12 October) being my 5th course this year! Once again Burgos was the ‘hub’ to which people travelled from all over Spain. We had 15 skaters in total coming from Barcelona, Madrid, Zamora, Soria, Badajoz, Segovia, Vitoria Gasteiz, Salamanca, Valladolid and Ciudad Rodrigo.

This course would not have run so smoothly if it wasn’t for the dedicated attention and efforts of Natalia Santamaria’s (ICP Program Liaison for Spain) excellent organization of the group, venues, meals and transport.  The success of the course was also facilitated by Apprentice Examiner Pepa Gil who drove 6 hours to Burgos after getting off a flight from California from her Honeymoon! Now that’s dedication.

The group bonded very quickly especially as they all stay in the same hotel. From Friday evening after the theory session, late night study sessions were already happening. It’s good to see candidates taking the course seriously and realising that attending the course is not an automatic pass. ICP is a high standard of teaching and skating and everyone on this course worked very hard.

We were lucky to have an indoor sports centre for the entire weekend in a small village just outside Burgos, with a restaurant and bar right next door. The weather was extremely stormy with lots of rain, sometimes so loud we could barely hear the teaching instructor. Good practice for everyone to improve upon projecting their voices!

I have never seen a group so enthusiastic with their results. There were tears of joy from many skaters showing the relief and happiness that comes from putting in a lot of effort and being rewarded. To those that were not successful, I always encourage you to practice more, assist with classes and come back for a retest in the future. Those who were successful I hope to see again in the future for a Level 2 course. Until next time.