Skating School Director Earns Professional Skaters Association Master Rating
This May, Northfield Skating School Owner/Director Carey Tinkelenberg became the youngest program director in the Professional Skaters Association (PSA) to earn a Master rating.
The Master rating is the highest rating attainable in the PSA. Coaches and directors become rated in their discipline by successfully completing oral exams, sport science written exams, and meeting experience and continuing education requirements. The minimum requirements for a Master program director rating include 5 years and 500 hours of coaching and management experience and “exceptional knowledge and organization” of staffing, scheduling, promotion, safety standards, education, and ethics of managing skating programs.
Tinkelenberg completed the oral exam on May 25th and was honored at the Professional Skaters Association International Conference and Trade Show in Colorado Springs (pictured above). She also holds a Senior rating in group instruction and Registered ratings in freestyle and moves-in-the-field.
Tinkelenberg founded the Northfield Skating School after graduating from Carleton College in 2005. In 2008, the school was named a “Model Program” by the editors of SKATING Magazine and Tinkelenberg was presented the June 2008 Making a Difference Award by the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative for the school’s positive impact on youth. Tinkelenberg serves as a mentor to directors as member of the U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills Committee and presents regularly at director training events nationwide. She coaches full time in Northfield, St. Paul, and Eagan and was the silver medalist in Masters Pairs at the 2010 U.S. Adult Championships with Peter Biver.
Kittel Evenson, Northfield Skating School Assistant Director, has accepted an invitation from U.S. Figure Skating headquarters to join the Basic Skills Sub-Committee, a governance and development group for the largest sub-section of the national governing body’s membership. Evenson joins Northfield Skating School Founder/Director Carey Tinkelenberg on the twelve-person committee. The Northfield Skating School is the only program with two representatives. Evenson’s duties will include voting on rule changes, mentoring new directors, and discussing the future direction of the nation’s 950 Basic Skills skating programs.
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A big congratulations to Anna Sheehan for becoming our first Northfield skater to pass a U.S. Figure Skating test. Anna is both a skater and Skating Assistant (assistant coach) with the Northfield Skating School and has been skating with us since we formed in 2005. She is a 9th grader at the Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech) and she takes private skating lessons with Carey Tinkelenberg, NSS Director, and Melanie Ritz. U.S. Figure Skating tests are the next step of the U.S. Figure Skating development path beyond the Basic Skills curriculum. These tests make a skater eligible to compete at higher levels, but skaters need not compete in order to progress. The tests themselves are an achievement. Anna impressed the judges with her strength, form, and beautiful spirals as she passed her Pre-Preliminary Moves in the Field Test in front of a panel of U.S. Figure Skating judges in Burnsville. Congratulations, Anna, we are proud to have you representing NSS!
Our winter skate drive was a success! The number of rental skates available at the Northfield Arena has now doubled to over 70 pairs. We have already been able to take advantage of the new rentals to help meet our goal of increasing access to ice activities. The new rental skates were used for our PRIMEtime collaborative skate last month as well as Northfield Skating School lessons and open skate, and we look forward to hosting more skaters at our upcoming Girl Scout Skating Fever.
