Ignored by coach - what to do?

[ChristianeDK]

I've just come home from the rink and yet again I feel I haven't got as much out of the session as I should... Today a man who was at practise for the first time asked me if I was an assisting trainer - this might sound flattering but instead it made me think. Even though you could see he had been skating a lot, you could also tell he'd never taken lessons, so he wasn't able to judge by my technic that I'm not on a level to teach anybody - far from it. ;) But he must have noticed two things: 1) I was perhaps a little faster than the other seven in our group, and 2) I didn't get any attention from our coach. :frus:

I'm in an adult class which practises twice a week with two coaches - one for the more experienced end one for us beginners. I started skating a year ago and I guess I've become one of the best in my group - partly because a lot of new skaters began this season. From the beginning I've had some (small) problems communicating with my coach, but now I don't feel she's coaching me at all. :roll: She never tells me anything and if I ask for her help I often feel she doesn't understand me - almost as if I'm in the way. I'm B]sure[/B] it's not personal but it still makes me frustrated...:(

I'm certainly not good enough to advance to the other group in the class but I'm not making any progress like this since she doesn't give me anything to work with. I've talked to some of the others but it doesn't seem to be as big a problem to them as for me. Have any of you experienced this? What did you do? :?:

[Alexeiskate]

I dropped the coach. I like my previous coach very much, but he would often give up my lesson time or reschedule my lessons in order to accomodate his competitive students without telling me beforehand. So one day I just said "Bye-Bye".

[skaternum]

"Dropping the coach" doesn't work for a group lesson. You have a couple of options.
(1) Speak with the coach off-ice and kindly, gently express your frustration.
(2) Switch classes. If there aren't any at that rink for your level, switch rinks.
(3) Drop out of the group class, pick a coach you work well with, and start private lessons.

I'd start with option 1 and see how that goes. Sometimes coaches, especially inexperienced ones, often overlook the better student in a class. It's not intentional or right, but the better student doesn't require the attention that the others do. Maybe just brining it to his/her attention will help.

Good luck. Sorry you're getting frustrated!

skaternum

[jazzpants]

I had something similar to this the last time I was taking group classes. I ended up finishing out the group classes and never signing up for them again.

Of course, at the time, I could afford to do that... I already HAD my primary coach for a while by then! :P

Cheers,
jazzpants

[kayskate]

Maybe your coach thinks you don't need as much help as the other students. She may not be ignoring you intentionally. You also said your coach seems not to understand your questions. I noticed you are in Denmark. Could there be a language problem? I assume you are both speaking Danish. If Danish is not native to one of you, it could just be a simple language problem.

Try talking to the coach. This issue can probably be resolved very easily.

Best wishes,
Kay

[Elsy2]

Are you sure you aren't good enough to move up to the next group that's more advanced? You may be intimidated at first, but it could be just what you need. I asked to move from our beginner group to the advanced group, and the coach thought I wouldn't be able to keep up. But I learned so much more there. It was challenging, and I was a little overwhelmed at first. After several weeks I was at the top of that class, and moved on to private lessons. If you have the time to put in the practice you will need to catch up with the advanced class, it may be the way to go. That would mean being able to put in 3 times the practice time per week as lesson time.

[flo]

I had a similar problem with an adult edge class. I do know that I was not being ignored, and it was not anything personal as the instructor was also my private coach. The problem was that there were so many levels in the one class. He needed to focus on the students being on the correct edge and such that I really didn't get anyting from the class. What frustrated me more was that there were several adults in the class who could have tried more difficult moves, but wouldn't. Once in a while the instructor would give me a different move to do that was at my level, but I was the only one trying it. I ended up dropping the class. I did go to some of the kid's edge classes he taught which worked out better, but were hard for me to make. Now his class has a few more upper level skaters in it, so I may try it again.

So, this may not be the best class for you, speak with your coach, then consider your options. Is there another class? Could you fit in better with the advanced class? Could she give you different skills to work on in your class?

[arena_gal]

I can't comment specifically on adult lessons but this comes up time and time again in our parent meetings for our kids learn to skate classes. The skaters that are standing up and seem like they are following along don't get any attention whereas the kids who don't get it or need help or annoy the teacher get attention. Parents feel that their child isn't getting the coaching they are paying for and they are right.
The coaches' defence is that it is "group lessons". They teach to the group. But that is not always true, I've been ice monitor this year and have been watching and they do spend too much individual time with the kids at the bottom level of the group and the rest of the class gets 5 minutes of attention as a group. It's not unique to figure skating, I hear it also from school teachers.

My point on that to the coaches is that kids who feel ignored don't come back and then if there's no kids, we don't need to hire a coach.

Complain to whoever is running the program. They have some control over the coach. The reality is, it would only take maybe two minutes of the coaches time to be responsible to a student and give some feedback per session and make them feel valued but there are coaches that can't even do that and they dont REALIZE it!

In the end, it is UNORGANISED coaches who ignore students - coaches who don't have a lesson plan, who can't keep track of time, who underestimate the learning abilities of their students. The coaches that do well are ORGANISED coaches.

Whew! can you tell this is a sore point with me?

[garyc254]

I signed up to be in an intermediate adult group lesson, but unfortunately I was the only one to register so the class was cancelled. My "old" coach asked if I would take the beginners group lesson instead. I could have said no and got a refund, but I thought I'd give it a try, even though I'm not a beginner anymore.

Yes, I am MUCH more skilled than the others in the class and the coach of this class knew it going in. That being said, I can see where you are coming from. This coach doesn't give me nearly the attention that she gives the others, but that doesn't upset me as they need more attention than I. She runs me through the same drills at times or has me do edge work while instructing the others in basics. She keeps a wandering eye on what I'm doing and will occasionally make a critical comment.

I'd talk to your coach first. Tell her your observations and ask if she could work with you at your level a little more.

I agree that you should try the more advanced class next time. You'll be amazed at how much you can do with a little practice. Sometimes you just have to challenge yourself more than usual.

Good luck!!!!

[KatieC]

Count me as another to suggest you try working with the more advanced group. I did something quite similar, moved from the beginners group to the advanced group. I was way below the advanced group, but there wasn't anything in between, and I did end up learning a lot, even from the other skaters. If they were doing something well beyond me, I just went and spun in the corner. But I also tried some of that stuff, and surprised myself, and the coach with my success!
(Besides, no one else in that group could spin in both directions - so I had my own little trick.)

[ChristianeDK]

Hello again,
Thank you all for your answers. I think I'll try and talk to the coach again. I don't feel ready to join the other group yet, but I hope I get some private lessons for my birthday - if I work hard enough I might improve enough to advance. I think I'll make a list of 4-5 things I want to improve and then I'll look into it. It'll also make it easier for me to have something specific to work on instead of just doing the same things over and over again especially since I don't get any response from my coach on these things. I'll let you know how I'm doing! Thanks again,
:) Christiane