John Nicks被授予美国年度最佳滑冰教练奖

(05/25/2012) - When John Nicks, the octogenarian who has coached top U.S. skaters for half a century, accepted this year's Professional Skaters Association EDI Award for Coach of the Year, he did it in his own inimitable style.
"I'm here to tell young coaches, you better try harder," the ever-quotable Nicks said to a crowd of fellow pros in the packed ballroom of Boston Park Plaza on Thursday night.

Nicks' acceptance speech was full of his patented brand of deadpan humor, as when he related one of the less-glamorous moments of his stellar career.

"About five or six years ago, I was having a bad time," he said. "One morning at the rink, I had gotten up late, and had a lesson with a student who had no talent. And then the mother asked me to give her updates."

A native of Brighton, England, Nicks and his late sister, Jennifer, had a long competitive pairs' career, taking part in two Olympic Games and six world championships. After winning the 1953 world title, Nicks toured briefly and then turned to coaching. He relocated to British Columbia in 1960.

The following year, fate brought him to California. All members of the 1961 U.S. world figure skating team, including many top coaches, were killed in a plane crash en route to the world championships in Prague. Frank Zamboni, inventor of the ice-making machine and owner of a well-respected skating rink in Paramount, invited Nicks to his facility to replace a coach who had been lost.

Last night, Nicks paid tribute to Zamboni and others who have helped him along the way.

"Frank Zamboni taught me all about the ice business," he said, going on to thank, among others: Jimmie Santee, president of the PSA; Carole Rossignol, the PSA education & accreditation director, who "helped me pass the [PSA Ratings] tests;" and U.S. Figure Skating Executive Director David Raith, who Nicks said "has good ideas."

Nicks also acknowledged some of the many U.S. skaters he has trained, including Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, five-time U.S. pairs champions and 1979 world champions; three-time U.S. pairs champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand; Tiffany Chin, 1985 U.S. champion and two-time world bronze medalist; and "the challenging Miss [Sasha] Cohen," 2006 U.S. champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist.

"Coaches in figure skating are like trainers of horse racing," Nicks said. "The trainers will never be successful unless they have the right horses, and here we need skaters."

Finally, Nicks came to his most noted current pupil: reigning U.S. champion Ashley Wagner, who today tweeted her own tribute:

Congrats to my coach John Nicks on winning coach of the year. Well deserved for an incredible man, I am so proud of our progress this year.





"Ashley is a complete scatterbrain and listens to half of what I say," Nicks said, once again calling upon his dry English wit. "She is very critical of me; [she says] my hairstyle doesn't hack it, my clothes are too old-fashioned. Recently she said I was her 'Yoda.' My friend had to tell me Yoda was [that character] from Star Wars."

After the laughter died down, Nicks added, "If it wasn't for Ashley, I wouldn't be here."

The evening's other winners included Pasquale Camerlengo, who was honored with the Paul McGrath Choreographer of the Year Award; Tammy Gambill, coach of U.S. novice champion Vincent Zhou, named Developmental Coach of the Year; and Kat Arbour, the developer of Ice Dynamics Assessments, who received the Pieter Kollen Sport Science Award for use of scientific technology in skating.

Joe Inman, the longtime international judge, received the Jimmy Disbrow Distinguished Official Award. 2011 U.S. champion, now professional showman, Ryan Bradley, the 2011 U.S. champion and now a professional showman, won the Gus Lussi Award, given annually to a male professional skater who brings positive world recognition to the sport.



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John Nicks，英国人，运动员时期曾和妹妹搭档双人滑，获得过1953年世界冠军。2000年入选名人堂。

Event	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953
Winter Olympic Games		8th				4th
World Championships		8th	6th	2nd	3rd	3rd	1st
European Championships	6th	5th	6th	3rd	3rd	2nd	1st
British Championships		1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st

转为教练后，他带出过的名徒包括：

Peggy Fleming、Angela Nikodinov、Jo Jo Starbuck and Kenneth Shelley、Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner、Tiffany Chin、Christopher Bowman、Natasha Kuchiki、Jenni Meno and Todd Sand、Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudy Galindo、Naomi Nari Nam、Sasha Cohen、Michael Novales

John Nicks一位为花样滑冰奉献一生，由衷热爱这项运动而且伟大的人！
祝福他健康快乐每一天！