Can't believe my coach...

[herniated]

Hi all,
First of all here are the facts. I am 43 yrs old, ( I mention this because it seems to take me longer to heal) I got my boots rebuilt mid August, I only skated 2 days a week in the summer as opposed to my usual 3 and then I hurt my back (again) the week after I got my skates rebuilt.(Mid Aug)I had to withdraw from a competition because of it. My back is still not great. I had 'locked up my sacrum' and pulled ligaments in my lower back. (plus I've had a cold for a couple of weeks now) My coach has been aware of all these things. Needless to say, at least I think it's needless to say, my skating has deteriorated. OK...so I had a lesson yesterday and he says to me " That was the worst program I think I've ever seen you do,I noticed that your skating has deteriorated lately, why do you think this is so?" Is he kidding?!!!:evil: 8O I said to him that this is not news to me and yes, it has deteriorated!!! BECAUSE, of the back injury AND not skating as much. Duh! Anyway, I love my coach. He is usually very motivating and he was not angry or mean when he said the above.

Then we worked on my jumps. After the lesson he said' I didn't mean to be negative:?? before. I know you've been sick with kidney stones too, blah,blah...' I told him yes, it's been a rough year for me and the back pain was so bad I couldn't get off the toilet. Nice.

Thanks for letting me vent, I may speak to him more about it.What do you guys think? By the way, I don't have any events coming up until Easterns in March so I really so see what the big rush is regarding my program.

[kayskate]

Sounds like he momentarily forgot then apologized later.
Personally, when I have been off for a while for whatever circumstances, I will inform my coach that I need to get back in shape before investing in lessons again. I try to let them know ASAP, so they can fill my slot. I have found paying for lessons when I really just need to get my legs back under me is a waste of $. JMO.

Kay

[jp1andOnly]

yup. my coach sometimes does silly things like that. It's no wonder I get super frustrated.

I love how they ask...after you've told them "I'm exhausted, this and that hurts, I'm having a horrible day, etc"...Well, why do YOU think that isn't working? Hello???? I just rambled on how something is wrong. I usually give the glare,

[herniated]

Sounds like he momentarily forgot then apologized later.
Personally, when I have been off for a while for whatever circumstances, I will inform my coach that I need to get back in shape before investing in lessons again. I try to let them know ASAP, so they can fill my slot. I have found paying for lessons when I really just need to get my legs back under me is a waste of $. JMO.

Kay

I hear what your saying. When I've been off for awhile, say a month or more I do what you do. I had surgery once, and when I had my kid. But...like you said he probably forgot. Frustrating for me though.

[Sessy]

Or maybe he thinks you didn't tell him the whole story and was trying to get you to vent, if you're the bottle-up-suck-it-up type, thinking that it would either help you emotionally to vent, or that maybe there were some other problems keeping you from training that he could work with you on (like, fear or something). Sometimes people fish like that.

[coskater64]

The fact that he apologized later should be what you focus on, I had a coach that made a comment that he thought I wasn't trying. 4 weeks later surgeon said that i am bone-on-bone again with my hip and will get a second surgery. I fired the coach the day he said that because I was trying and was doing better. About 3 weeks ago the coach did apologize, but...I have another coach and he seems much better about understanding. My free style coach has always been understanding, I am the same age as you, so I feel your pain.

[doubletoe]

That actually sounds like something my coach might say under similar circumstances. Most of these coaches have 20-30 students and it's easy for them to forget what has been going on with each one (I sometimes catch my coach forgetting what's in my program and saying something vague, hoping I won't catch on that he doesn't know what element comes before the lutz, LOL!), so try to keep that in mind when he gets a little absent-minded. ;) I agree that the realization and apology later are what you should try to take away from that exchange. :)

[quarkiki2]

Yeah, that totally sounds like a brain fart on the part of your coach.

And I second the advice to give it a while to get back to form before starting up with lessons. I'm almost three weeks post-partum and plan to get back on the ice next week or so, but I have absolutely no intention of coming back to lessons or to my synchro team unitl I work some of the bugs out -- maybe another month or so. It's not work the frustration to be "rebuilding" under the watchful eyes of a coach or a team -- I don't need additional pressure.

[herniated]

Thanks guys. I am starting to focus on the apology part.
Congrats quarkiki!!! After having my son (8yrs ago) I went back on the ice after 4wks, with the doctors ok and I did not take lessons for at least a few weeks. It feels really wobbly and my gut was soooooo weak.

When my back 'goes out' I do take time off from skating and lessons. But my stamina takes a long time to come back. So, I resumed lessons and some elements actually improved!! But, my program still sucked. I had a hard time getting through it. Anyway, I don't want to beat a dead horse.

My coach is great and I'll chalk it up to a memory lapse.