lferg Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Planning to work on hockey skating technique improvements for my son (Pee-Wee) over the summer. Considering options with personalized attention, corrections, and reinforcement over a few weeks, or some other format. I know RMU has a list of Instructors, and PPE offers private sessions. But, I don't know anyone specifically. Will appreciate any suggestions/recommendations regarding local instructors/places who do this type of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinstrap Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) Steve Emmett. SCE Hockey. semmett@rogers.com 724 759 3356 Works primarily out of Baierl in Warrendale. Edited April 1, 2019 by Chinstrap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockey07 Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Grant Springer at alpha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucey Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Just asking for a random recommend is not the best, imho. It depends on your kid, too. Some of these instructors can be really tough, and some kids respond well to that, some not so much. Some of it is finding a match between instructor style and your kid. Talk to people who get lessons, take a look at their kid...is their kid's personality similar to your kid? I am sure the instructors at most rinks are pretty good. Or it wouldn't benefit the rinks to have them. If your kid is not into it, I would do more of a clinic, camp or power skating class. Waste of money and everyone's time if the child won't work. Follow their lead. Pittsburgh really does seem to be blessed with a lot of good people. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lferg Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 Thank you for recommendations. Tough instructors are fine. Looking to identify weak spots, provide corrections, and then reinforce it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafa fohi Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 All of my boys have used Levi at Frozen Pond. Very pleased with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucey Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 12 hours ago, lferg said: Thank you for recommendations. Tough instructors are fine. Looking to identify weak spots, provide corrections, and then reinforce it all. Marianne Watkins at RMU is good at breaking things down. Cliff Loya at Bairel. Who do the south people use, lots of great players come out of there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifelongbender Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 (edited) I second Marianne Watkins - she's tough but still easy to work with. I've had players have good success with Mark Chaves, who usually has classes at Mt. Lebanon. Great for edgework improvement. Edited April 2, 2019 by Lifelongbender submitted too early Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hipcheck66 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Lifelongbender said: I second Marianne Watkins - she's tough but still easy to work with. I've had players have good success with Mark Chaves, who usually has classes at Mt. Lebanon. Great for edgework improvement. My son worked with Chaves, and he is a tremendous skating teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HereWithPopcorn Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 On 4/2/2019 at 8:20 AM, Saucey said: Marianne Watkins at RMU is good at breaking things down. Cliff Loya at Bairel. Who do the south people use, lots of great players come out of there. Barb Benedetti works with a lot of players at SHAHA and Mt. Lebanon hosting private lessons at both facilities, sometimes by invite only because of her calendar filling up quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SChEats Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 I do second Marianne at RMU (she has worked with the Pens and has a great resume), Cliff at Baierl is OK - some love him others are 'meh'; Tyler Kennedy has started doing lessons at many of the rinks locally as well but he isn't really focused on power skating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinstrap Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 (edited) On 4/4/2019 at 4:11 PM, SChEats said: Avoid Steve Emmett - ... remainder removed by moderator (along with the entire original comment) as it was inappropriate and potentially libelous. Commenter warned. Have had my son skate with Steve for 4 years. Every other week, weekends on occasion, sessions always well attended by many levels of skaters. Junior hockey, AAA High School, Tier 1, all the way to squirts. Clearly we cant “ unring the bell” from the above post, but I have never heard of any of the behavior described above. Steve was not thrown out of Baierl, his banner is still on the wall. Will not go into any thoughts regarding his absence over this past winter; perhaps contacting him directly at the address or phone number provided above would get an answer. He is scheduled to be back at Baierl in May for a weekend clinic, come see for yourself and ask him then.The original post asked for recommendations not unfounded scandalous accusations. Edited April 5, 2019 by one97one00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HereWithPopcorn Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Never a fan of Steve Emmett's work. He was at SHAHA years ago and while he set up good drills, he just had kids go through the motions and not make individual critiques or corrections with skaters. Even in groups, Marianne and Barb take kids aside and personally instruct them in group settings to give it that personal touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinstrap Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 3 minutes ago, HereWithPopcorn said: Never a fan of Steve Emmett's work. He was at SHAHA years ago and while he set up good drills, he just had kids go through the motions and not make individual critiques or corrections with skaters. Even in groups, Marianne and Barb take kids aside and personally instruct them in group settings to give it that personal touch. Honestly and sincerely, thank you Popcorn. That was a personal critique of another person’s work. Probably what the original poster is looking for after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaaahockey Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 I've had great experiences with both Barb and Marianne as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one97one00 Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 On 4/4/2019 at 4:28 PM, SChEats said: I do second Marianne at RMU (she has worked with the Pens and has a great resume), Cliff at Baierl is OK - some love him others are 'meh'; Tyler Kennedy has started doing lessons at many of the rinks locally as well but he isn't really focused on power skating. Clarification, @SCheats was NOT warned for this comment, but a different one which we also deleted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyPRPro Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Marianne Watkins is great. Several NHL teams have used her, as Columbus brought her in at one point too. But yet she takes youth students and works with youth clubs regularly. That's pretty much ideal. She comes from a figure skating background so you're getting totally skating-focused training. I typically think the best skating coaches are probably solely skating coaches, so no matter who you chose that's what I'd look for. (It's the way most pro and major teams tend to operate right? So clearly there must be something to it when you're talking about specialized, individual skill coaches like this.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMB Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 Marianne was one of the best! Then about 5-8 years ago she started having too many kids, up to 25 at a time and there was no way she could coach them up! Smaller classes, 5-10 at the most are the best! Believe it or not, Marc Voit is one of the best power skating coaches around, if you can get around the stigma, he’s goo though! Kevin Muller is also very good at UPMC! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaaahockey Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 2 hours ago, DMB said: Marianne was one of the best! Then about 5-8 years ago she started having too many kids, up to 25 at a time and there was no way she could coach them up! Smaller classes, 5-10 at the most are the best! Believe it or not, Marc Voit is one of the best power skating coaches around, if you can get around the stigma, he’s goo though! Kevin Muller is also very good at UPMC! What's the stigma? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinstrap Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 My son has skated with Marc in the past. Wondering what stigma I missed. He is an awesome skating instructor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaaahockey Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 14 hours ago, Chinstrap said: My son has skated with Marc in the past. Wondering what stigma I missed. He is an awesome skating instructor. I feel like we have been left a trolls cliffhanger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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