Forest Hills coach inducted into Professional Skaters Association Coaches Hall of Fame
Aug. 6—Bob Mock feels like the luckiest guy in the world.
"Every day I get to go to a great place and try to impart my knowledge to the next generation of skaters," said Mock, 72, of Turtle Creek who has been coaching ice skaters for nearly a half-century.
He was recently inducted into the Professional Skaters Association Coaches Hall of Fame at its annual conference in Florida.
Mock is the skating director for Ice & Blades of Western Pennsylvania, a member organization of both U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for the U.S. under its Olympic Committee, as well as Ice Sports Industry.
Ice & Blades President Joyce DiToppa of North Huntingdon has known Mock since 1998, when her daughter Paige began skating in a program he ran.
"Bob has had national and international teams that've gone on to great success," DiToppa said. "He's been all over the world in terms of managing different ice dancing teams, and he knows so much about skating and the industry, even outside of the coaching aspects."
Mock works with skaters at the Alpha Ice Complex in Harmar, Printscape Ice Arena in Canonsburg and the Rostraver Ice Garden in Belle Vernon, and has coached numerous regional, sectional, national and international competitive skaters.
"I started at about 10 years old," Mock said. "We had a small community ice rink in Turtle Creek, and I just kept going."
After his own competitive skating career, where he earned an Eastern U.S. Championship with skating partner Carolyn Fortuna.
"We were ranked third in the U.S. in ice dancing," Mock said. "I went on to a coaching career and just ended up loving the sport. I've had some great skaters along the way."
In the late 1980s, that list of skaters included siblings and Murrysville natives Jeffrey and Jennifer Benz, who earned a 1987 U.S. Junior Championship in ice dancing.
"They went on to international competition and did very well," Mock said.
DiToppa said Mock has been instrumental in helping to grow Ice & Blades over the years.
"He was a competitor so he sort of knows all aspects of a skater's life," she said. "But even outside of that, he's a mentor to so many other coaches. That's a huge part of how he got to be part of this elite (Hall of Fame) group of skating coaches."
Mock said he approaches each skater as a blank canvas in determining how far they can progress.
"We have to go through proficiency levels in both the Ice Sports Industry and U.S. Figure Skating," he said. "The testing tells us a lot, but you can never tell when a light switch will go on and a skater will just take off like a rocket. I used to think I could pick a good skater out of a crowd. And a lot of times, younger kids with natural talent can be spotted, but that talent can also be developed."
"I never give up on a skater," Mock said. "I keep working with them and sometimes great things happen."
DiToppa agreed.
"Whatever a skater's potential is, Bob is really good at pulling that out. Not everyone is going to make it all the way to the top, but a great coach finds the positives and makes sure the skater always feels like they're making progress."
Mock said it felt like a lightning bolt ran through his body when he got the call about being inducted into the PSA Coaches' Hall of Fame.
"I started to think about all the people who made helped make this possible for me," he said. "For me, this honor belongs to the Pittsburgh skating community who I've worked with over the years. I want them all to enjoy this with me."
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
