OUR COACHES

Dave Moneypenny

Coach Dave has been there from day one of the establishment of our club in 1990. A remarkable number of skaters from our club have climbed to national prominence and World Team level. Two of our alumni, Kristen Santos and Ryan Pivirotto, represented the US at the 2022 Olympics. Kristen Santos is currently training for 2026 and is a multiple time world cup medalist and currently one of the fastest skaters in the world! Ryan Pivirotto was also a member of the 2018 US Olympic Team. We have had a least a dozen National Champions and four Junior World Team members and hundreds of local and regional medals and championship winners. It has been fantastic to see skaters that started out in this sport at a young age and climb the ladder to the top.

Coach Dave played semi-pro hockey until he was thirty-five and then started speedskating. Over the years, he has won over a hundred regional and national medals including first place National Medals in the 500 and the 777. He has also organized over 50 speedskating camps around the country coaching with twelve different Olympians from the US and Canada. Coach Dave has received the Volunteer Coach of the Year 2013 from the US Olympic Committee and US Speedskating. He is known all over the country as a highly technical coach. This gives skaters an edge in training and ice technique. He has deep understanding of the physics of speedskating and has developed racing techniques that put skaters on the podium year after year.

Coach Jon Winter

Coach Jon was inspired to begin speedskating at the age of 10 after watching Johan Olaf Koss win three gold medals at the Lillehammer Olympics. Luckily after watching Koss’s first race, a story on CT Speedskating was in the local paper. He joined and was hooked. He continued to compete through High School in various local, regional and national competitions. Jon began rowing at the end of High School - a sport where frozen lakes tend to be less desirable.

Jon competed in rowing while in college and continued after graduation - training for the US team. Eventually Jon became a six time US National Team member, a multiple World Cup team member and World Cup finalist. He earned a silver medal at world championships and won multiple national championships in rowing. Jon occasionally made the trip to Lake Placid for cross training on the oval in the winter and won his age group in the Lake Placid Ironman after he finished his competitive rowing career.

Coach Jon dusted his skates off when his son Sam began learning to skate and questioned why Dad’s skates were so much longer than everyone else’s. Importantly, asking when he could get speed skates like Dad and how he could go fast too. Jon obtained his USS coaching certification and has been coaching with CT Speedskating ever since.

Equipment

Speed Skates (hockey/figure skates are ok for beginners), Helmet, Gloves (leather or cut resistance, neck guard, long sleeve shirt, long pants (tights/sweatpants), knee pads and elbow pads recommended.

Boots and blades can be rented from the Club if sizes are available.

You may also buy your own equipment's from speedskating equipment vendors listed below

OFFICIAL SUPPLIER

Carpenter Boot Company https://www.carpenterbootcompany.com/

Other Suppliers

Bont https://bont.com/collections/short-track-skates

Nagano Skate https://naganoskate.com/ (Montreal Canada)

Oval Skate Shop https://ovalskateshop.com/ (Calgary Canda)

Special Equipment: http://www.specialequipment.com/
Marchese Racing: http://www.marcheseracing.com/index.php
Cascade Speed Skates: http://www.cascadespeedskates.com/

Skate Now https://skatenow.us/

CONNECTICUT SPEEDSKATING

OUR COACHES

Dave Moneypenny

Coach Jon Winter

Training

Equipment