Who I am

My name is Gene Seitz. I am the owner of MDS Icesports and MDS Skate Sales at www.tidewaterice.com. For the past 15 years, I have been a business owner and parent of a competitive figure skater. As a figure skating Pro Shop owner, I have been involved in the figure skating industry from the equipment side and have learned and sold all of the big brand names (Riedell, Risport, Jackson, Mk, John Wilson, Paramount, Gam, Edea, etc.) in the industry. As the parent of a skater, I have been involved from the beginning learn to skate classes, thru her qualifying for two consecutive Junior Nationals, to her injuries, training, trials and tribulations that end with her testing out senior moves and freestyle. I have been a registered Category A USFS coach, skate sharpener, club officer, competition volunteer and spectator. I have been to more rinks, more competitions and met more coaches, parents, skaters and judges than I can remember. I have seen equipment, companies, skaters, coaches, rinks and ideas come and go. I have learned from it all, and hopefully sharing that knowledge with todays skaters and parents will help them make the right decisions as well as keep them from making some of the same mistakes we made along the way. I will post on the topics I see as most misunderstood and will try to answer all questions posted.