Karyn Foley-Cormier is a true
example of what it means to be a dedicated roller skating coach. She
consistently goes above and beyond to get her skaters to reach new levels, both
in competition and industry tests. She pushes her skaters to new levels that they
develop themselves, proving time and again that her efforts are worth every
minute as she watches her skaters excel.
Karen’s tutelage under John Viola
provided her the foundation that a true coach needs to push skaters to
excellence, as Viola once did for her. In addition to her own skill set, she is
not afraid to get input from others in the sport to help her expand her
teaching abilities and is always the first to offer assistance. Karen’s goal is
and has always been to improve skaters and to advance the sport – she has no
fear of working with other coaches to help her own students reach their goals. In
fact, she is often asked to watch skaters who are under active coaches with a judge’s
commission to avoid any bias in judging. This respect and skill set has taken
her to nationals time and time again.
Asking other’s input for the
betterment of the skater is another one of Karyn’s strengths. Her goal is the
improvement of the skaters and the advancement of our sport, and she has no
fear of working with other coaches to reach this end, often offering assistance
where needed. Other coaches who also judge will often ask her to watch their
skaters while they are on a judges’ panels at the same time as their own skaters’
events. This level of respect is shown on both a local and national level.
During the 39 years Karyn has
been teaching, she has had national champions and placements every year. She
has taught skaters from beginning lessons up to World Class. Of her skaters not
on the podium, more often than not, they were finalists in their events. Karyn
has shown that despite obstacles, she is available for her skaters at all times,
adjusting schedules when needed to work with new skaters, making sure they
received everything they needed. She was able to take six of them to Nationals
representing eight champions and placements with five of them in challenged A
events having eliminations and finals covering freestyle, solo dance, team
dance, figures, and loops.
Along with coaching, Karyn is a
National panel judge and judges on all test levels. She is often asked by other
regions to judge their local and regional competitions, including Gold Medal
test centers. She has been a mentor to new judges on every level and encourages
established skaters to get involved with judging, refereeing, stewarding,
tabulating, or all of them combined. Karyn teaches all levels of beginner
classes at the rink and has created new in-between classes to transition from
classes to the artistic competitive team up to World Class events. She has
recently added the precision team and quartets to the already busy list of
figures, dance, and freestyle lessons she gives.
All said, Karyn was nominated and chosen as the 2017-2018 SRSTA Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, Karyn!