Can you imagine being 19-years-old and already coaching Ohio University’s synchronized skating team? Anne McBride is a sophomore studying communication sciences and disorders at Ohio University. McBride has been skating since the young age of three, but not the type of skating you would first guess. Following in the footsteps of her older brothers, she started with hockey, but being the only girl was hard. She switched to figure skating three years later. She started synchronized skating when she was 8-years-old and quickly fell in love with the sport. Not only did she fall in love with skating, but she also found a love for helping others fall in love with the sport through coaching.
After the first few practices on Ohio University’s synchronized skating team, McBride knew she wanted to coach the team, but didn’t think that would happen until she was a senior. She had noticed lots of gray areas in the team and wanted to “implement different skills and techniques” that she had learned from her coach. The team is full of skaters with different skating backgrounds and personality types and it is important to try and cater to all of them.
Halfway through this school year, the coaching opportunity arose and after checking with the rest of the team, McBride took it. She explained how the transition from teammate to coach was a bit weird at first and she was definitely nervous, but the great thing with OUSST is that the coach still gets to skate and compete with the team. Two qualities that Anne focuses on are showing everyone respect and having good communication among all members, no matter their roles. Having those two assets can make the world of a difference with a team.
McBride will continue as coach next year and hopefully will be coaching until she graduates. She has lots of ideas that will be implemented in the near future and can’t wait to see where she takes the team. “I don’t want people to think of us as the hockey team’s cheerleaders,” McBride said. “We’re an elite team and I think we are getting closer and closer to the respect I believe we deserve.”