The Great Neck Park District welcomes back Great Neck’s own, John Castro-Tie, as the new Skate School Director at the Andrew Stergiopoulos Ice Rink. He has been teaching ice skating for 19 years and is former VP of the Skating Club of New York and competitor chair for Middle Atlantic Championships. Castro-Tie’s daughter, Sarah, is a student in the skate school program. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice.
The ice skating program at the Skate School, based on the International Skating Institute (ISI) curriculum, is one of the largest municipal skate programs in the entire country, offering group and private lessons with exceptional pros for all ages and levels, as well as synchronized skating, freestyle classes and figure skating camps. Castro-Tie’s past experience has him reaching for greater heights in his new position, always looking to facilitate even more growth and improvement at the rink.
Castro-Tie encourages the Skate School’s professional staff to run a high-quality, successful ISI-based figure skating program. His focus includes keeping the teacher-student ratio at an optimum for learning and encouraging pros to use creative teaching skills to connect with each individual and group as a whole and ensure a fun, safe learning environment.
“In our school, we teach [everyone from] recreational skaters to high level competitive students. We have a variety of coaches from master to junior level”, explains Castro-Tie. His teaching techniques and unique communication skills aid in his ability to fulfill the needs of students.
It is never too late to sign up for a class or take a lesson. Call the Skate School office at 516-487-2975, ext. 114, for more information.
