WHY SKATING?

Competitive skating asks an enormous amount of the brain.

A skater may need to:

• remember and sequence complex choreography
• coordinate timing and movement
• process sensory information
• maintain and shift attention
• respond to unexpected changes
• make rapid adjustments
• manage multiple demands simultaneously
• recover from mistakes
• regulate themselves under pressure
• perform while being observed and evaluated

And all of this happens while the athlete is trying to execute highly refined physical skills.

The skill may be there.

The question is whether the brain can efficiently access and integrate it when the conditions change.

That is the territory of the Diamond Method.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT REPLACING SKATING COACHING

Your coaches already know how to teach skating.

They know technique.

They know edges, jumps, spins, choreography and program development.

The Diamond Method brings a different lens.

Rather than teaching the athlete another skating skill, we explore the brain's role in accessing and integrating the skills the athlete has already developed.

The Diamond Method is designed to complement—not compete with—technical skating instruction.

A SHARED EXPERIENCE FOR SKATERS AND COACHES

The power of learning together

Shine Under Pressure is designed so that skaters and coaches participate together.

This matters.

When athletes and coaches experience the same work, they begin to develop a shared language around performance.

A skater may begin to recognize:

“I'm having trouble integrating everything right now.”

A coach may begin to recognize:

“This isn't necessarily a lack of ability. Let's help her reset and reorganize.”

Instead of simply asking:

“Why can't you do it?”

we can begin asking:

“What is happening when access to the skill changes?”

That shift can change the entire performance conversation.

THE 3-PART FOUNDATION SERIES

Three 3-hour sessions

The Diamond Method is not something I want athletes to simply hear about once.

They need to experience it.

The Foundation Series gives skaters and coaches time to understand the concepts, experience the work and begin connecting it to their own performance.

SESSION ONE

UNDERSTAND

The Brain Behind Performance

We begin by exploring what brain integration means in the context of performance.

Skaters and coaches begin to consider:

• how the brain processes information
• how attention affects performance
• how athletes respond to changing demands
• why a skill can feel different under pressure
• what happens when the brain becomes overloaded
• why “just try harder” isn't always the answer

The goal is to create a new lens through which athletes and coaches can understand performance.

SESSION TWO

EXPERIENCE

Experience the Diamond Method

This is where the concepts become experiential.

Skaters participate in activities designed to explore aspects of brain integration relevant to performance.

They aren't simply being told about the brain.

They experience the difference themselves.

The work may explore areas such as:

• attention
• switching
• sequencing
• processing
• coordination
• response
• adaptability
• motor planning
• integration of information

The emphasis is on experience and awareness, rather than adding another set of drills to an already demanding training schedule.

SESSION THREE

APPLY

Shine Under Pressure

Now we connect the experience to the reality of skating.

What happens when:

• something unexpected happens in a program?
• an element doesn't go as planned?
• attention gets pulled away?
• competition nerves increase?
• an athlete makes a mistake?
• the environment changes?
• the pressure to perform becomes intense?

Skaters and coaches explore how the Diamond Method concepts can inform the way athletes prepare, respond and recover.

The goal isn't to eliminate pressure.

It's to develop greater capacity to perform within it.

THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT MATTERS

Performance doesn't happen in isolation.

A skater's ability to learn and perform is influenced by more than what happens on the ice.

It is also influenced by the environment around them:

How are mistakes treated?

How is pressure communicated?

What happens when an athlete struggles?

Does the environment encourage exploration—or fear of getting it wrong?

How do coaches and athletes communicate when performance isn't going well?

As part of the series, we can begin exploring the learning environment that surrounds performance.

This component is intentionally skating-club specific.

Rather than imposing a predetermined model, I want to understand the athletes, coaches and culture of each club and explore what supports learning, integration and performance within that environment.

FOR COACHES

A new lens—not another coaching method

Shine Under Pressure isn't asking skating coaches to become Diamond Method practitioners.

It gives them another perspective to add to the expertise they already possess.

You may begin to notice the difference between:

“She doesn't know it.”

and

“She knows it, but she isn't accessing it efficiently right now.”

That distinction can change how we respond.

Instead of adding more correction, more repetition or more pressure, we can sometimes ask:

What does this athlete's brain need right now?

FOR SKATERS

You already have more ability than you may realize.

You have trained.

You have practiced.

You have learned your elements.

You have learned your program.

You've worked hard.

But performance isn't simply about having the skill.

It's about being able to access and integrate that skill when it matters.

Shine Under Pressure gives you an opportunity to become more aware of how your brain responds to challenge, pressure, change and performance.

The goal isn't perfection.

The goal is greater access to your potential.

FOR PARENTS

Your skater's performance is more than what you see on the ice.

Parents are welcome to observe portions of the program at the discretion of the host skating club.

Observation allows parents to see the work firsthand and understand how brain integration can become another piece of an athlete's performance development.

A parent may recognize something familiar:

“She can do this at home.”

“She does it in practice.”

“But competitions are different.”

Shine Under Pressure offers another way to understand that difference.

WHAT YOUR CLUB RECEIVES

A 3-Part Foundation Series

3 × 3-hour interactive sessions

Designed for:

Skaters + Coaches

The series can be adapted to the age, level and needs of the athletes participating.

Optional club-specific component

Following observation of your skaters and coaching environment, an additional discussion can explore ways the club's learning environment can support integration, learning and performance.

Optional coach follow-up

For clubs wishing to go deeper, a separate coach session can explore how Diamond Method principles can be integrated into the broader training environment.

WHY START WITH A SERIES?

Because this work is experiential.

A single presentation can introduce an idea.

Three sessions give athletes the opportunity to experience it.

The Foundation Series allows your club to move through three stages:

UNDERSTAND

Learn a new way of looking at performance.

↓

EXPERIENCE

Feel and observe the work.

↓

APPLY

Begin connecting the concepts to skating, training and competition.

BRING SHINE UNDER PRESSURE TO YOUR CLUB

Give your skaters and coaches a new lens for performance.

Your athletes are already working hard.

Your coaches are already developing their technical abilities.

The Diamond Method adds another piece:

Brain integration for performance.

Not more technique.

Not more pressure.

Not more hours on the ice.

Greater access to what is already there.

Interested in bringing the Shine Under Pressure Foundation Series to your skating club?

[ENQUIRE ABOUT THE CLUB SERIES]

Let's talk about your athletes, your coaching team and what your club is looking to develop.

THE DIAMOND METHOD

Shine Under Pressure

Brain Integration for Performance

For dancers, athletes and performers who want to develop greater access to what they already know—

especially when the pressure is on.

Why Mariah-Jane?

The person behind the Diamond Method

Mariah-Jane Thies has spent nearly four decades exploring the relationship between movement, the brain and performance.

A Registered RAD teacher, mentor and supervisor, licensed Brain Gym consultant and instructor, and creator of The Diamond Method for Performers, she brings together extensive experience in movement education, brain integration and performance development.

Her innovative approach to movement education was recognized with the 2024 RAD Innovation in Dance Teacher Award. She has also shared her work with dancers, teachers and performers through workshops, speaking engagements and her TEDx talk, Your Movement Habits Create Your Life.

While her professional roots are in dance, her work has increasingly focused on a question that extends far beyond one performance discipline:

What allows a performer to access what they already know when the pressure is on?

The Diamond Method grew from her exploration of brain integration and its relationship to learning, movement and performance. Rather than replacing technical training, it offers performers and their coaches another lens for understanding what happens when skills that are well established in practice become more difficult to access under pressure.

Mariah-Jane brings this perspective to skating with respect for the expertise already present within the sport—working alongside coaches and athletes to explore the brain-performance connection and how it may support more adaptable, integrated and consistent performance.

Her philosophy is simple:

**You don't always need more.

Sometimes you need greater access to what you already have.**

Credentials & Recognition

Registered RAD Teacher, Mentor & Supervisor
2024 RAD Innovation in Dance Teacher Award
Licensed Brain Gym Consultant & Instructor
TEDx Speaker — Your Movement Habits Create Your Life
Nearly 40 Years of Movement & Performance Education

Shine Under Pressure Foundation Series 

3 × 3-hour sessions

Starting at $2,500 CAD

Final investment depends on club size, location and program requirements.

A customized 3-part club experience 

Three 3-hour sessions for skaters and coaches

Investment is based on club size, location and program format.

[INQUIRE ABOUT THE CLUB SERIES]