Cathy’s Power Skating Hits the Ice Again

Every Sunday at Peng to the Point, we talk about the world away from the San Jose Sharks.

Cathy Andrade without ice? She’s like a fish out of water.

“Besides my maternity leave [in 1999], this is pretty well the longest time that I’ve been off the ice since…I don’t know,” the power skating coach told San Jose Hockey Now. “I’ve been coaching for over 35 years. This is the longest break I’ve had in a long time.”

Andrade runs Cathy’s Power Skating out of Solar4America Ice in San Jose, where the San Jose Sharks practice. Andrade has been teaching power skating in the Bay Area to all age levels since 1992 and has worked privately with Sharks like Joe Pavelski and Kevin Labanc. Because of COVID-19 protocols, this is the first week since March that Cathy’s Power Skating has been on the ice.

“A year ago, I was working five, six hours a day doing private and semi-private lessons. Right now, there’s only an hour, two hours a day that are even available to us,” Andrade said, “It’s only a fraction of what we were able to do. We went from being able to potentially coach eight hours a day to one or two hours.”

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Day 1️⃣ after 6️⃣ month break…getting the rust off the wheels ▶️ using 🏒 stick as a level ⚖️ to establish balance & posture for quick reactive movements, without bad habits like counterbalancing by dropping shoulders! ☑️ edges ☑️ posture ☑️ rotational sequence ☑️ crossovers ☑️ outside edge punch ▶️ note that it’s the right inside edge that allows the movement range for the left hip to get the deke💥 . . . #edges #crossover #deke #hockeyplayer #hockey #californiahockey #balance #strong #playerdevelopment #hockeygram #powerskatingdrills #hockeyskills #usahockey #hockeytraining #minorhockey #development #powerskatingcoach #skatewithpower #stridemechanics #powerskating #learning #skating #coaching #makeyourextrahourcount @extrahourtraining #gettheleadingedge @cathyspowerskating

A post shared by Cathy's Power Skating (@cathyspowerskating) on Oct 2, 2020 at 10:49am PDT

Like so many small businesses, Andrade has faced unprecedented challenges over the last half-year. For example, it will be the first year since 1998 that Power Hour, her signature power skating program, won’t see the light of day.

“I usually do it in the spring,” Andrade said. “That affects the [six or so] coaches who work with me.”

Andrade noted that Cathy’s Power Skating applied for, but did not receive a SBA Paycheck Protection Program loan. Her husband Randy Andrade’s Extra Hour Training, an off-the-ice hockey training facility also located in San Jose, also did not receive a loan. Another Andrade business, unrelated to hockey, did. Like most small business owners, the Andrades don’t know why one business received a loan, while the others didn’t.

That’s not Cathy’s Power Skating’s only challenge.

“In this climate, you can’t really plan beyond this week,” Andrade pointed out. “Right now this ice time, they’ve just offered it up as a two-week [trial]. I’ve had last week and this [coming] week. I don’t know until they release it.”

Andrade isn’t complaining — this is everybody’s reality now.

“It’s ever-changing. You have state regulations. You have county,” Andrade observed. “You have to really stay on top of what you’re doing. You have to kind of re-invent yourself almost every few weeks.”

Luckily for Andrade, she’s not the only one with a hunger for ice. Her limited lessons are all booked. She’s grateful to Solar4America Ice for being as accommodating as they’ve been and to the parents and students loyal to Cathy’s Power Skating. And she hopes the players who have essentially missed an entire off-season of training haven’t missed out on too much.

“Power Hour occurs in the off-season and the spring because it’s a perfect time for skill development,” Andrade said. “The off-season is when players should be working on things like stride mechanics and elevating the edge work.”