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Finding a
Coach
The time has come. You have joined
a skating club. It is now the time to find a coach for private
lessons. To start with, most skaters tend to have a single coach as
they begin their skating career, who teaches all (elementary)
disciplines of the sport. As time goes on, your coach may recommend a
“specialist” to help them with ice dance, or choreography, or skills or
whatever, while still remaining your “base” or primary coach.
Assuming that you are a parent, and the
coach is for your child, you need to consider a number of things when
making this decision. You need to know your child, and the kind of
learning style they have, as well as the kind of personality in a coach
that will most enhance their learning. Figure skating is a sport that
is intensely one on one as far as the coach/skater relationship and you
need to know that the coach’s philosophies mirror those that are
important to you. The only way to find that out is to have a friendly
conversation with any of your club’s coaches, and talk about your child
and your expectations of what you would like to see. You also need to
discuss lesson rates, and come to an agreement as to how many lessons
you require. Keep in mind that lessons are booked for a season, and
that barring any unusual circumstances, changing coaches mid-season is
considered very poor form. If you would like to make a change, inform
your coach of this decision, and make the change at a natural break like
spring/summer or fall school.
As a coach, I have found my
relationships with my students to be intensely rewarding watching them
develop from children to young adults. As a skater, I know that the
relationships that I have shared with various coaches along the way have
helped to shape me into the person as well as the coach that I have
become…a definite win/win situation!
Click Here to Visit the Coaches Page
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