On picking a coach

[AgnesNitt]

Dan Hollander has a thoughtful article on picking a coach up on his website, here (http://danhollander.com/private-instruction/).

I wish I had read something like it when I was starting out skating. I thought it might be useful for people just starting.

[Query]

I sent the author my own suggestions:

---

What a great article!

One thing you could add is asking the coach and his students whether the coach ever drops students for lack of skill, or drops lessons of less skilled students just before major competitions.

I realize coaches who want to field the very best skaters, and who want to build up that kind of reputation, have to do this, and they almost always have to drop one lesson while on travel to the competition, but it makes some students and parents very unhappy. (E.G., I knew an Olympic hopeful Dance team who were dropped at a critical time, in favor of another team.) It's best discussed in advance.

The question about visual vs verbal learning is spot on. You might add physically guided learning, and physics style explanations. I need all four. Coaches need to show me the skill, guide me with words, sometimes physically move my body to the right position. Sometimes things have to make sense to me too (e.g., "Align your body and blade vertical axis along the vector sum of gravity, centrifugal force, and other accelerations"), which is where the physics comes in. Not many coaches can do all these things.

Most of the best athletes were some of the worst coaches for me - with one outstanding exception.

I'm not a coach. But when I volunteered to help teach young kids at a local rink, it became obvious that words interfered with most of their learning styles. They could not concentrate on moving while I talked, and mostly couldn't connect words with motions in any event. And I at least did not feel comfortable as an adult male physically guiding (touching) young students.

Another question is about breaking things down. I've had coaches who could show a complete skill very well, but who could not break it down into individual steps. Some students loved them, but I need the break down.

[londonicechamp]

Hi Query

I am so like you. When I learnt a new jump, spin or basic dance step, I will have to have the coach showed it to me, or at least hold my hands when I do it first time round, otherwise I would not get the steps or the techniques.

For more difficult steps and skills, I also need my coach to break it down into individual elements for me.

londonicechamp