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That was in March 2013. By February 2014, she was by the boards at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, coaching American Jason Brown to a bronze medal in the team event and a 9th<\/sup><\/span> place finish in the men\u2019s event.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat first year, he would literally turn on half the lights, because electricity is exorbitantly expensive in ice rinks \u2014 it can cost $30,000 a month. I remember a couple times where I said, \u2018Can we please have a Zamboni?\u2019\u201d Ade recalled. \u201cWe were training under those kind of conditions that they show in b-roll in Russia \u2014 snow falling, its dark and gray, they were skating on an inch worth of powder. But out of that came Jason [Brown] making the Olympic team as the silver medalist at nationals and Jordan [Moeller] making the junior world team as the junior silver medalist at nationals. So out of these super humble training conditions, and with a whole lot of grit, we were successful that first year.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grit is a word that comes up often with Ade. It\u2019s a quality that she wants to instill in her students, and one that she herself exemplifies. For Ade, adversity is simply a nudge to improve.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s how she\u2019s approaching this Olympic season, coaching Brown and 2017 French Ladies\u2019 National Champion Laurine Lecavelier.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt pushes me to be better every single day. When you look into an athlete\u2019s eyes, who looks defeated or hopeless in that moment, and they need a nugget of wisdom from you, you go, \u2018Oh my gosh, I have to come up with this on the fly.\u2019 This kind of high-pressure season has forced me to be sharp with regard to my delivery and the appropriateness of my words,\u201d Ade said. \u201cI\u2019m working on being as articulate as I can, but at the same time being realistic. Not everything this season is going to be sparkles and rainbows. It\u2019s going to be tough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both Brown and Lecavelier are fighting for an Olympic spot \u2014 Brown hoping to grab one of the three available men\u2019s spots for the U.S. and Lecavelier aiming for France\u2019s lone ladies entry.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n They train at Ade\u2019s 7K International Skating Academy at that same Monument rink, and now the lights are always on and there is no trouble getting an ice make. It\u2019s the highest-altitude training center in the U.S., where Ade teams with artistic director and choreographer Rohene Ward and administrative director Heather Aseltine. They offer programming from the learn-to-skate to elite level, as well as adult skating.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ade has an unusual background for an elite level coach, and during her college years, she actually thought she\u2019d go to medical school or into forensic science. It was during an internship \u2014 in the middle of conducting an autopsy \u2014 that she realized that science wasn\u2019t going to be her career, despite how much she enjoyed the subject.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn the middle of the autopsy, I realized that no matter what kind of great science we would do that day, we couldn\u2019t change history and make it a good day for that person lying there on the coroner\u2019s table. It was like an epiphany,\u201d Ade said. \u201cI realized at that moment that I needed to do something that would touch the human spirit and be more proactive, instead of reacting to what had already happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was the first step on a journey that would lead to the development of her holistic coaching philosophy and TAPS (Total Athlete Performance Seminars). TAPS aims to develop the whole athlete, including the mental and emotional aspects that play a powerful role in successful training and competing, at all levels of skating.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t a highly decorated competitive skater, so it never crossed my mind that I could be a professional coach, much less an elite coach, much much much less a world and Olympic coach,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember saying to myself, if this is going to be a career\u00a0<\/span>and not just a job, I am going to pour my heart and soul into it. I\u2019ve spent about $100,000 educating myself in the sport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ade attended seminars, learned from other coaches, and apprenticed under coach Anthony Liu at the famed Ice Castle International Training Center in Lake Arrowhead, California. Her personal experience with ADHD also influences how she coaches.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMy own short attention span for anything that feels like its stagnant led to my insatiable quest to branch out and figure out new ways,\u201d Ade said. \u201cI don\u2019t want anybody\u2019s experience with me to duplicate anybody else\u2019s. I want every athlete that I come in contact with throughout my career to have a unique experience with me as their coach; to not have the same analogies, to not have the same anecdotes. I just want them to feel that I can connect with them as people. And then, I think they are able to grow as athletes so much more fully.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the core of Ade\u2019s motivation as a coach is a desire to positively impact her skaters\u2019 lives, and equip them with skills that are useful both on-ice and off. This year, she launched 7K Cares, with the goal of doing 7,000 good deeds in 2017. So not only are her skaters working on their mental strength and training on the ice, but they are also participating in service projects in their community.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI want to round out their experience as athletes, so that they understand that it\u2019s not about them all the time, because that\u2019s not the way the rest of the world is going to treat them,\u201d she said. \u201cI try to challenge myself to make their experience as compelling as possible. I want them to come back to the rink every day, not just to land a new jump, but to be mentally and emotionally stimulated and challenged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s this approach that breeds intense loyalty in her skaters. She has worked with Brown and Jason Moeller for nearly 20 years. When Brown and Moeller were considering their next move after high school graduation, leaving Ade was out of the question for them both. In 2014, Brown\u2019s parents told ESPNW about coaches and others in the sport pressuring them to leave Ade for a more established coach. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe never thought about leaving Kori,\u201d Marla Brown, Jason\u2019s mom, told ESPNW<\/span><\/a>. \u201cOur child could not have been happier or more motivated with anyone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both Brown and Moeller made the move with her from Chicago to Colorado, and played a major role in the growth of 7K.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nThe Olympic Season<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/a>From Science to Skating<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Coaching Skaters as People<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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