Senior writes book about figure skating with father

Rose Knakal, a UD junior, gets an autograph from author
Nikki Schallehn as her father and coauthor, Bernie Shallehn, looks on.

Nikki Schallehn, HNS 2001, wants to teach figure skating full time after she graduates from UD's exercise and sports science program in May. In the meantime, the young woman who first took to the ice at age 11 has found a way to teach thousands of skaters she's never even met.

Schallehn–with her dad, Bernie Schallehn, and triple gold medalist Patti Tashman–has written The Essential Figure Skater, designed to be a comprehensive handbook for beginning and intermediate skaters and their coaches, families and fans. The Schallehns were at the HenEssentials shop at the Rust Ice Arena in December, signing copies of the book and chatting with visitors about skating.

"The writing was hard work, and the editing was worse, but this project was still something that just fell into my lap," Nikki Schallehn said. She transferred to UD in August 1999, after attending college in New York for two years and then taking a one-year break from school. "I'm only 21, so I know that having the chance to help write a book at my age was a unique opportunity."

The opportunity came about when her father, a part-time writer and a counseling psychologist who had worked with skaters on mental-skills training, approached publishers about a skating biography he was writing. Editors at the Lyons Press didn't take him up on that book, but they asked if he'd be interested in writing a basic guide of figure skating tips and techniques. Not only was he interested, Bernie Schallehn said, but it seemed only natural to involve some experienced skaters in the writing, and it seemed even more natural for his daughter to be one of them

"This is Nikki's vocation, so I wanted this book to be an opportunity for her, too," he said. When they began writing, in fall 1998, Nikki had left school temporarily to teach skating full time. The Schallehns decided the book would benefit from a third viewpoint as well, and they enlisted Tashner, a skater and coach with 22 years of experience.

The book addresses such basic questions as how to buy and maintain skates, what kinds of clothing to wear, how to find a coach and what beginners should to do if more experienced skaters try to intimidate them during practices. In addition, it covers the technical aspects of figure skating–Nikki and Tashner's area of expertise–and psychological issues–Bernie's specialty–including how to deal with burnout or an apparent loss of interest in skating, as well as techniques for staying relaxed and focused during competitions.

Despite the parts of the book that deal with competitive skating, the Schallehns said their primary goal was to encourage readers to enjoy the sport at whatever level they preferred.

The three authors spent about a year writing the book, finishing in August 1999, just as Nikki enrolled at UD to major in exercise and sports science with a concentration in figure skating science. They edited the manuscript into its final form over the next year, including many editing sessions that took place in the car during trips between Newark and the Schallehns' home in Albany, N.Y., they said.

Nikki doesn't expect to write another book, but her experience with The Essential Figure Skater, while stressful, was positive, she said.

"Writing the book made me think about how to explain things clearly and concisely, in words, without being able to demonstrate them, like you can when your students are standing right in front of you," she said. "I think the whole experience has made me a much better teacher."

–Ann Manser

Photo by DUEANE PERRY