What is System of Skating™?

What is SOS™?

SOS™ (System of Skating) was born from a simple observation: adult skaters learn differently from children.

For decades, my adult students have told me, "You need to write a book." What they were really asking for was a way to capture the language, framework, and understanding that helped them make sense of skating.

SOS is my gift and my passion. It is the natural evolution of more than 35 years of coaching, lessons with many of the legends in figure skating, and countless hours spent discovering what helps adults learn most effectively.

I created SOS to reach beyond the limits of private lessons and bring this knowledge directly to skaters everywhere.

SOS, simply put, is a system.

It helps adult skaters:

  • Find clarity in the learning process

  • Break complex skills into manageable steps

  • Develop the ability to self-correct

  • Build confidence through understanding

  • Progress with greater ease, flow, and joy

At its core, SOS recognizes that skating is about more than skating. The challenges we face on the ice—fear, frustration, patience, trust, and resilience—are often the same challenges we face in life.

This process is empowers and encourages skaters to trust themselves, trust the process, and discover what is possible both on and off the ice.

 
 

Meet the Founder, Mimi Wacholder

For more than 35 years, Mimi has helped skaters unlock greater confidence, expression, and understanding both on and off the ice.

A former U.S. Team member and international competitive ice dancer, Mimi was known for her authenticity and artistry as a performer. After retiring from competition, she performed professionally with Ice Capades and the Ice Theatre of New York, where she also worked as a choreographer.

Mimi holds a BFA in Creative Communications from Emerson College and is a Registered Yoga Teacher and Structural Yoga Therapist. Drawing from decades of work in skating, yoga, dance, barre, Pilates, and athletic performance, she developed a uniquely holistic approach that helps skaters better understand both their bodies and their minds.

Based in Lake Placid, New York, where she ran an event planning company for two decades. Mimi has worked with hundreds of skaters, coaches, and athletes, including members of numerous national and Olympic teams.

Today, she has combined all of her skill sets and experience creating SOS™ (System of Skating), a learning framework designed to help adult skaters move beyond confusion and self-doubt and discover greater ease, confidence, and joy in the learning process.

Mimi believes that skating is never just about skating.

The lessons we learn through challenge, persistence, trust, and growth on the ice often become lessons that support us throughout our lives.

 

INSIGHTFUL

“Mimi is a bright light: articulate, insightful, humble and compassionate.”

-Nancy