'Chasing that passion': Coach Jenn aims to get your kids hooked on figure skating
Brett Kimmins
5 min read
RED BANK - When she was 8 years old, Jenn Gruver, owner and operator of Coach Jenn LLC, went to a “Disney on Ice” performance with her parents and was instantly hooked on figure skating.
“I was obsessed and I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Gruver said. “I grew up with the intention of being a show-skater. I kept skating and eventually was a part of that very same 'Disney on Ice' show. I did it for five wonderful years and I enjoyed my time there.”
Gruver had already started learning to skate at age 6 and became enthralled with it after visiting her cousins in Alaska, who were very skilled skaters because they grew up playing hockey.
“They would take my sister and I skating at the general skating session inside the local mall,” Gruver said. “They were so good and I was very wobbly at first. Aside from just having the passion for skating, I saw that it took great dedication to really get better and be good at it. I wasn’t the best when I first started out, but I practiced a lot. Eventually, I got really good at it because I kept chasing that passion as I went along.
Jenn Gruver, owner of Coach Jenn LLC, coaches a private figure skating lesson with Slone Cini, 8, of Rumson at Red Bank Armory Ice Complex in Red Bank, NJ Tuesday, September 13, 2022.
“My mom put me in lessons right away and, although I took part in many other activities like dance, gymnastics and piano, the only one that I stuck with was figure skating. The others all just started to fall by the wayside. I wanted to replicate all those other skaters that I looked up to and I did everything I could to achieve that status.”
Although Gruver was certain that she wanted to figure skate professionally, she still went to college to get an education as a backup plan.
“Even though I wanted to pursue skating full-time, I realized that it would be better if I went to college,” Gruver said. “I wanted to have something to fall back on, in case skating did not work out. I even chose a college near the rink where I skated. In the two years before I graduated, I was taking a break from skating because I was a little burnt out and wanted to do other things.”
Jenn Gruver, owner of Coach Jenn LLC, coaches a private figure skating lesson with Slone Cini, 8, of Rumson at Red Bank Armory Ice Complex in Red Bank, NJ Tuesday, September 13, 2022.
Living out her dream
After graduating from college, Gruver had plans to travel and those plans coincided with her original dream to perform at the “Disney on Ice” show as a professional figure skater.
“'Disney on Ice' was my way to travel,” Gruver said. “I was applying to different places that specialized in that same avenue of figure skating. I was accepted by Disney right away because of my experience and everything I had accomplished up until that point. I would spend six months preparing myself to live out my dream and participate in the 'Disney on Ice' show that I aspired to be a part of as a kid.
“In the six months after I graduated from college, I would get back into the rink training and practicing all of the moves that I would need to master the overall performance, including jumps and spins, among others. I got myself back into skating shape and I performed all over the world for the next five years. I am very grateful for the opportunity.”
After Gruver got her fill of traveling and performing all over the world, she wanted to try her hand at coaching.
“I wanted to get involved in that scene and I was living with my fiancé at the time in New York City,” Gruver said. “I walked into Chelsea Piers one day and asked if they were looking for any coaches. It turned out that I knew someone that worked there and that was the beginning of my career as a coach. I got work immediately and I also made some really great connections and close friends. That was not my set plan from the get-go, but I knew there was opportunity and I was ready to work harder than I had when I was with Disney.
“Based on the networking that I did and the relationships I formed from all of my hard work, I started to accumulate a lot of clientele. I came to realize that I should establish an actual business or an LLC because I wanted to manage all of those students that I was already teaching.
"In 2018, I opened up Coach Jenn LLC and I got right to work on teaching my students everything I could about figure skating and I enjoyed it very much," Gruver said. "I established three locations, including my first at Chelsea Piers, the second at the Armory in Red Bank and a third at the Navesink Country Club on the River in Red Bank as well.”
Jenn Gruver, owner of Coach Jenn LLC, coaches a private figure skating lesson with Slone Cini, 8, of Rumson at Red Bank Armory Ice Complex in Red Bank, NJ Tuesday, September 13, 2022.
Grassroots coaching
Gruver teaches figure skating to kids of all ages. “I coach figure skating from the grassroots level,” Gruver said. “My main goal is to get my students to more advanced opportunities, like competition and U.S. figure skating testing. I try to provide the keys to opening many different doors, whether it be a skating coach or on a synchronized skating team or a theater-on-ice team. I won’t get them there directly, but I will guide them to the direction they need to be to get over those obstacles.”
Gruver wants to get the Red Bank community to be a sought-after community for young people that want to figure skate.
"There is so much interest in the sport,” Gruver said. “I hope to develop a following for the members of the Red Bank community, as it pertains to figure skating, and I will strive to increase the strength and attention for that following. It’s all about getting my students on the right track to doing great things with the art form.”
