MySkateCoach...This site seems to have primarily Canadian coaches, including the divine Brian Orsrer (swoon). Most of the names may not be familiar to the American customer (although Doug Leigh who coached Orser, Stojko, and Jeffrey Buttle among many other famous skaters will be a well-known name)
Primary customer focus: Skaters although there are also videos providing tips for coaches.
Delivery: Download of videos and with the "Gold Membership" streaming of videos. Cost of downloads decreases with the level of subscription from Bronze to Gold. Bronze membership is free, and cost of videos is $1.99. Subscription Details
Video Quality: High. The coaches are miked, and the camera work flows with the demonstrations, so you aren't stuck w/ a fixed camera view. Length of video is 2 to 4 minutes is the norm.
Video Previews: Yes, 10 or so seconds per video.
Range of Skating Skills: From beginner skaters to the axel. Also off-ice exercises and dance.
Video focus: Videos are usually narrowly focused to a single particular skill. For example, entry to a flip jump, a particular step in a dance, spin entry.
Favorite Coach: Brian Orser. No kidding. The guy is fantastic on camera and coaching.
Recommendation: If you are a beginner skater looking for advice on certain skills, this is certainly the most economic way to do it.
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ICoachSkating. . . Primarily US coaches. To Americans the names will be familiar: Frank Carroll, Audrey Weisinger, Charlie Tickner, Tom Zakrajsek and numerous others. Curiously, Robert Tebby does videos for both sites!
Primary customer focus: This site has a lot of videos that are focused in giving tips to coaches but that may be because I'm focused at looking at the low end of skating. Certainly everything here is usuable by both coaches and skaters. STRONG SUPPORT OF ADULT LEARNERS!
Delivery: Online video--no download. You may experience skips in the video. I find myself scrolling back to check the video when I'm looking at a foot position or something. You pay a monthly fee of $29.97 a month for unlimited viewing.
Video Quality: High. The coaches are miked, and the camera work flows with the demonstrations, so you aren't stuck w/ a fixed camera view. Length of video is 5 to 8 minutes seems to be the norm. I like the longer video format as it's easier to tie complex techniques together.
Video Previews: No, although if you sign up for their free sample videos you get access to four videos.
Range of Skating Skills: From beginner to axel. Some videos are addressed to adult learner problems. Off-ice training is covered. I've looked for dance videos but didn't find any.
Video focus: The videos I've watched cover a topic more broadly than MySkatingCoach which is narrowly focused.
Favorite Coach: Nick Perna and Amy Brolsma because of where I am in my skating journey.
Recommendation: If you are a beginner skater looking for advice on certain skills, this is probably not the most economic site. For ~$30 a month you could get 15 downloaded videos a month from MySkatingCoach with the free Bronze membership. If you are an advanced skater working on a lot of skills, or if you are a coach with a lot of students at different levels, you may find this appealing even at the monthly charge. Obviously, all this depends on your skill level and needs.
Except....if you want dance tips, it looks like MySkatingCoach is the winner.
So Who Wins?
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| Oh, Canada, Our home and native land...of the free and the brave |
Everybody!
Try them both, and see which you prefer.
Great blog!!! I have MySk8Coach and have ordered several videos. They've raised the price to $2.99 per video for Bronze; not that it really matters.
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