About Me

My name is Keersten Richards and I have been coaching since 2014 as an ice skating instructor. Before then I was a figure skater who competed in many local and national competitions as well as an NCAA track and field athlete. I graduated from Lindenwood University with a major in psychology and minors in coaching, health & wellness, and strength & conditioning.  I continued my education at SIUE with a master’s in Kinesiology with a specialization in sport and exercise psychology.

 From my own athletic experiences, I have seen how physical, mental, nutrition, and sport specific training all work together to make the best athlete an individual can be, so I have sought out training to help provide those to my students. Overall, my goal is to bring attention to the fact that there are a lot of dimensions of health and wellness. Lacking sickness or injury is not all it takes to be healthy. We need to have a healthy relationship with our body, food, mind, family, and friends.

As a coach, I believe it is my job to help the athlete have fun and learn the basic to advanced techniques of the sport in a creative and progressive manner. Accomplishing that by breaking skills down and directing practices in a way that encourages them to have fun and work hard. I believe each athlete has their own abilities and that it is my job to help them be the best athlete that the individual can be. I believe that setting goals can help one see progress. Doing yearly, monthly, weekly, and per practice goals that they set themselves are a great way to keep athletes motivated and seeing progress.