A few weeks ago, I came across this website and video called Champion Cords. Watching it, I was kind of reminded me of when I complain to my coach, "My body won't go that way!" or "I can't get my leg in that position!" or how about this one, an oldie and a classic for me, "I can't do it on that side. Let's move on." I wonder if Sheila Thelen (see right), inventor of Champion Cords, heard these comments from other students, which led to her creation.
I contacted Sheila, who's based in Shafer, Minnesota, to get the backstory about Champion Cords and it's quite interesting! She said,
In the spring of 2003, I was struggling with teaching a skater the dreaded single axel. Finally, in frustration, I said, "I’m going to tie your left hand and left foot together, so you are forced to move – as a unit.” I put my guards on, ran up to the office, cut a big section of bungee cord (used to tie the puck bucket to the locker room keys), and ran back down onto the ice. I proceeded to knot the cord around the skater’s boot and tied another knot at the other end of the cord in a loop, creating a handle. The skater went on to land ten axels in that lesson! He came back each time saying very important words to me, such as, “Now I know where my left foot goes in midair.” “Look what this cord does for my landings – now I’m doing the landings the way YOU wanted them.” “I think I’m really getting the hang of this!” Of course, the comment that he made which also resonated with me a lot was, “This bungee cord really works great!”
After working with several other students using her makeshift cords, Sheila realized that she was onto something. With the cords' assistance, she saw a huge change in the skater’s posture, position and awareness. Good skaters looked and performed better. Great skaters looked even more amazing! (see right, national competitor Tommy Steenberg) Fast forward many sleepless nights, months of researching patents and designs, putting her marketing background to good use, producing instructional DVDs, obtaining the endorsement of the Professional Skaters Association (PSA), coming up with a name, and voilà! Sheila now has a product that is being used by over 18,000 coaches and skaters throughout the world, including notable coaches/choreographers such as Audrey Weisiger, Frank Carroll, Robin Wagner, Isabelle Brasseur, Jimmy Santee (PSA Executive Director), Jill Shipsted-Thomas (Choreographer for Disney On Ice) and Paul Wylie.
Sheila encourages coaches and skaters to use Champion Cords for singles, doubles, triples, quads, spirals, moves in the field, flying camels, laybacks, split jumps, camels, stroking, crossovers, presentation, posture, alignment, position, muscle memory, awareness and technique. I think that pretty much covers everything on the ice. Most skaters wear their Champion Cords for about half an hour each day and I asked Sheila what she has seen as the the biggest improvement in her students who work with her cords.
Confidence. The skaters are learning so much quicker, or fixing long last mistakes so much quicker, that they realize, "I can do this!" That means so much to me and our staff of dedicated coaches. My friend Audrey Weisiger of Grassroots to Champions always says, "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!" I truly believe that Champion Cords help skaters achieve this goal.. . . I've seen so many skaters improve in the areas of jumps and spins. You really notice a skater's jump improvements in alignment, posture, free foot position and their landing positions especially! But you also notice a major improvement in the skaters in their camels, back spins, and laybacks. The biggest difference I notice is skaters coming back to me saying, "I can really feel that! I now notice where my body is - and I can feel what my coach is telling me!" That makes me very happy to see those kinds of results.
In addition to coaching, Sheila is also the Executive Director of Grassroots to Champions, which holds seminars around the country helping skaters and coaches achieve the best results possible. For additional information about Champion Cords, you can check out her website or contact Sheila at sk8thelen[AT]aol[DOT]com.
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