Little known fact about Hudson Ergonomics CEO and Principal Ergonomist (CCPE): He figure skated through high school and has returned to figure skating as an adult. Read on if you want to see how coaching for sport also applies to lifelong coaching as in ergonomics as you progress throughout your career.
Figure Skating Story first:
Shane started skating at age 2. His dad was the Arena Man, so Shane learned to skate when no one else had booked the ice, pushing a pylon around. By age 4, Shane had joined Skate Canada’s CanSkate program (before it was called a CanSkate Program). From age 5-13 Shane did both Figure Skating and Hockey. At age 13, Shane dropped Hockey but continued on with Figure Skating through High School, occasionally landing double jumps and achieving the highest level of ice dance available at the time.
Things changed in university. It was hard to find Figure Skating ice time while working in a hockey store while attending university classes made it easier to be on the ice for Hockey. So for several years that became the focus.
Marriage, kids, and moving all changed ice time again, shifting to family skating on outdoor rinks or indoor public skating with the primary focus being on coaching kids to stand up, skate in circles, go backward, stop, and generally enjoy being on the ice.
Now that the kids are a little older, and in Shane’s current home in Cochrane, Alberta, there has been opportunity to pick up the figure skates again, as they have drop-in figure skating times at the local rec center. Over 20 years after barely figure skating, it is once again a strong passion. One that still needs coaching for Shane to achieve his goals, including re-landing the Axle (1.5 rotations in air, considered by many to be one of the hardest Figure Skating jumps to achieve). Interestingly, a little coaching here and there is helping Shane get closer to achieving his goal and regaining a skill set developed and refined as a teenager.
How Skate Canada Builds Lifelong Learners on the Ice
Skate Canada’s approach to teaching young skaters is intentionally layered and developmental, combining certified professional coaches with trained Program Assistants (PAs). From the earliest stages, skaters are supported not just by one instructor, but by a coaching ecosystem designed to reinforce learning, confidence, and safe movement patterns.
In programs like CanSkate, Skate Canada coaches are responsible for structured skill instruction, progression planning, and quality movement execution. Coaches introduce proper biomechanics, balance, and efficient skill patterns that form the foundation for skating—and movement—for life. Their role is not simply to tell skaters what to do, but to observe, assess, and guide progression based on each skater’s readiness and ability.
Supporting them on the ice are Program Assistants (PAs)—typically older skaters or developing leaders who have undergone formal PA training. PAs do not coach or assess skills; instead, they reinforce learning, demonstrate correct movements, help skaters navigate stations and circuits, and provide encouragement and reassurance. They act as extra eyes, extra hands, and often a friendly, relatable role model for younger skaters.
This coach‑PA structure creates a learning environment where:
Skills are introduced by experts
Movements are reinforced through repetition
Feedback is consistent and timely
Skaters feel supported rather than overwhelmed
Importantly, PAs are trained to model correct technique, maintain safety awareness, and keep skaters moving—without stepping outside their scope by “coaching.” This clarity of roles protects program quality while ensuring young skaters receive the attention they need to stay engaged and successful.
The result is a system that recognizes something critical: mastery doesn’t come from one lesson or one coach. It comes from repeated exposure, consistent reinforcement, and guidance that evolves as the skater grows.
Why This Matters Beyond the Ice
Skate Canada understands that athletes—and people—develop over time. Their model normalizes the idea that learning never really stops, it just changes form. Early on, support is hands‑on and highly guided. Later, it becomes more refined, strategic, and self‑directed.
That philosophy mirrors lifelong coaching in ergonomics and throughout a career.
Just as young skaters benefit from coaches setting the foundation and PAs reinforcing habits, workers benefit from:
Early coaching on safe movement and mechanics
Ongoing reinforcement through observation and feedback
Periodic check‑ins as tasks, tools, and physical capacity change
The ice may disappear, but the principles remain: good coaching isn’t a one‑time event—it’s a process that adapts with experience, exposure, and age.
It explicitly connects workplace ergonomics mentoring and peer coaching, while grounding the argument in career‑long coaching (Doug Goffman) and the need for periodic ergonomics check‑ins driven by postural variability (Jim Potvin). The tone and structure are aligned with your existing narrative.
From the Rink to the Workplace: Ergonomics as Mentoring, Peer Coaching, and Career‑Long Support
In the workplace, effective ergonomics functions much more like mentoring and peer coaching than a one‑time technical fix. Just as Skate Canada separates the roles of certified coaches and Program Assistants to ensure both expertise and reinforcement, strong ergonomics programs rely on subject‑matter expertise paired with day‑to‑day peer support.
Formal ergonomics assessments and training provide the technical foundation—understanding task demands, biomechanics, and risk factors. But the real durability of those improvements comes from ongoing mentorship and peer observation: supervisors, safety champions, and experienced workers who reinforce good movement habits, notice drift over time, and normalize asking for feedback before problems turn into injuries.
This mirrors the career‑long coaching philosophy articulated by Doug Goffman, whose work emphasizes that development is not achieved through isolated instruction, but through consistent, reflective coaching relationships that evolve as roles, capacity, and context change. Goffman’s approach to cognitive performance coaching reinforces the idea that people grow best when coaching is woven into daily work—not delivered as a single event—and when individuals are supported in owning their development rather than being corrected from the sidelines.
Ergonomics mentoring works the same way. An initial workstation setup or task redesign may be correct on paper, but sustained performance depends on how workers adapt, compensate, and self‑organize over time. That’s where peer coaching becomes essential—quiet course corrections, shared problem‑solving, and timely check‑ins that keep risk from accumulating.
Why Ergonomics Check‑Ins Matter: Posture Is Not Fixed
One of the most important reasons ergonomics must be revisited over time comes from the work of Dr. Jim Potvin, whose research and applied tools emphasize that there is no single “correct” posture for a task. Instead, humans perform the same task using a range of feasible postures, which vary within and between workers based on fatigue, experience, strength, and situational constraints.
Potvin’s work highlights that risk does not arise from one posture alone, but from how load is distributed and accumulated across tissues over time. As workers gain experience, change tools, age, or shift productivity demands, they naturally alter how they move—even when the task itself looks unchanged.
This variability is exactly why periodic ergonomics check‑ins are not a failure of the original assessment—they are a sign of a healthy system.
Just as an adult skater returning to the ice cannot rely on the movement patterns they learned decades earlier, workers cannot be expected to perform the same task the same way forever. Strength changes. Recovery changes. Context changes. Without recalibration, even well‑designed work can quietly become higher risk.
The Lifelong Coaching Parallel
The parallel to skating is clear:
Early career ergonomics establishes foundational movement patterns
Peer coaching reinforces habits and adapts them to real‑world conditions
Periodic expert check‑ins account for changing capacity, tools, and demands
This layered approach—expert guidance supported by peer reinforcement—creates resilience. It keeps people productive, capable, and confident as their work evolves.
Just like on the ice, the goal isn’t perfect form once—it’s sustainable performance over a lifetime.
Special Thanks to Doug Goffman and Jim Potvin for their contributions to this blog.
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