An Unexpected Russian

[SkatingOnClouds]

I haven't skated much over the last week, due to illness & Injury, but skated today, only to find the sudden appearance of a Russian skater at our rink.
This lady apparently skates in a cruise ship show, and is considering moving to our state, though not our city.

There is only one rink in our tiny island state at the bottom of Australia (under Downunder), it is a 1/4 of olympic size, though she said it is bigger than the rink on the ship. So she is accustomed to the tiny size.

It was fascinating to watch her coach kids today, and hear the kids rave about her skating because she can do axels and doubles (no-one here currently can, though 20+ years ago there were people who could).

Incredibly inspiring, yet also depressing to see what a huge difference there is between how we skate and how it can be done. This lady could totally change the face of skating here - if she does come regularly.

The question is though, how to handle this, in terms of our current coaches? Obviously if she does move here and coaches regularly, her students will be far advanced from the rest. Yet our current coaches have worked so hard and given so much of themselves to re-establish skating here. Loyalty or the betterment of skating in general, and the individual in particular (me and my daugher) ?

[AW1]

Karen,

I think you have to do what's right for you. However the reality is that if this lady is a cruise-shipper, she may be a fly by night kind of coach - like in the state one minute and gone the next. I know we have Alexandre Pavlov at our rink, but he's only there temporarily while he is on leave from the Russian AllStars thingy he tours with... so he's only back at the rink for a month or so.

Perhaps if this might be the case, and you can afford it, it would be worthwhile having a few extra lessons with this coach while she's in town providing it is okay with coach #1.

??? Tis a tricky one, but back to my first comment - you do what's right for YOU.

[phoenix]

AW's suggestion is good..

My other thought is, what about trying to organize seminars w/ her---both for the students AND for the coaches (separately). She has much to offer the coaches as well, and maybe they would be willing (and hopefully eager!) to learn from her. Several coach seminar sessions could go a long way toward improving the overall program, and then the benefit to the students could continue on during the times she isn't there. And give your coaches a boost in knowledege level, to help their students.

[WhisperSung]

You could also ask for just a couple, stand-alone lessons with her while staying with your current coach. I'd just be sure to discuss it with your current coach to make sure she knows you're not defecting; you just want to give your daughter the chance to learn from a different approach. I did that with my moves in the field lessons for a while. When I was in a rut with my current coach, I tried a few stand-alone lessons with other coaches to get me over that bump.

[SkatingOnClouds]

Yeah, you are all right of course. There is no reason to choose between them. And I am sure my coach is happy to have someone like this around occasionally to lift us all.