I have noticed there seems to be 2 very difft types of pros, those that are on the ice with students next to them giving the lesson and those that sit/stand by the bench and give the lesson to the student from there. my pro comes with me out to the ice to give lessons and I like it like that. I'm interested to hear from those who have lessons from pros who stay at the bench and how they feel about that.

I'm wondering if you've noticed whether the coaches that seem to coach from the side are doing that with all of their students or just with their more advanced students. When you are first learning I would think you would need your coach near you so that they can demonstrate and/or hold your hand or show you how to place your hips, arms, etc. for you.

Teaching from the side probably comes later -- like for me, if I am doing a dance pattern or moves pattern, my coach might stand back and watch the whole thing and then we pick it apart and then we will work closer together. If I need to hold her hand for a minute then I do -- otherwise it is mostly demonstration and discussion.

So I'd be curious if the coaches you see coaching from the side do that with every student or just with some, or with just some parts of the lesson?

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My coach usually comes out on the ice with me. She's able to correct my body position easier that way, although I never hold her hand for anything. She'd rather let me fall, I apparently learn more when I fall.

Occasionally, she's sat on the sides before. It's only when I'm working on things I already know how to do, never learn anything new when she's on the side.

My free skating teacher tends to teach me from the side but always gets on the ice with the younger skaters or beginners. I don't really need her to show me movements on the ice. She often shows me things on the floor at the side of the rink. I don't find there is any difference. Sometimes I don't notice if she's on or off the ice.

Dance coach is always on the ice. He is able to do good impressions of how I look doing a move and how I should look so I can see the difference. I feel this helps. And obviously if I'm preparing for a test and need to skate with him he is on the ice

Generally I think the more advanced you get the less you need your coach on the ice. But its sometimes nice....

My coach is on & off depending on if he needs to demonstrate something. Probably 70/30, the 70% being off.

I agree that it's probably the higher level lessons that are w/ the coaches on the side. With the littler ones/beginners, you need to demonstrate everything, & be there to hold a hand. With higher level skaters you can make a verbal correction & they know what you mean.

I see it more with the more advanced skaters (those doing doubles) but even with them, some of them have pros that stay on the side and some of them have pros that come out onto the ice. actually come to think about it I have just realized its more common that I see the russian coaches with even the advanced skaters out on the ice than on the side.

My coach varies depending on the situation.

If we are working on jumps or spins or she's looking at my program, she pretty much is off the ice unless she's demonstrating some aspect of it such as take off or entry to a spin.
With moves, she is mostly on the ice when I am first learning the moves on a test so she can make instant alignment corrections. As I get better at the moves on that test, she tends to move more off the ice to get an overall feel of what it looks like.
When we are working on putting the program together, she's on the ice with me, partially demonstrating and partially instantly correcting.

My coach is always with me on the ice. And I like it that way. Makes me feel safe, plus I can always use her as a shield against the crazy skaters that feel that they can just barrel right through me because they're better.

I found it interesting when I saw a coach with.. maybe a low freestyle level girl and the coach was sitting on the side the whole time. And this girl was not very good if I might add that. Made me happy that I had mine with me all the time to show me how to fix things.

Many coaches who no longer skate (and shall remain nameless) coach from the sides. They might walk out a bit in their boots, even "demonstrate" a turn or position, but they just don't wear skates anymore. Aging, weight gain, and injury are the main reasons.

High-level skaters' coaches often coach from the boards, especially on high-level freestyles, just to stay out of the way. They call out to the student, or s/he "reports back" to the box.

I just returned Christine Brennan's first book to the library - Thin Ice, I think it was called - in it, she describes a Junior Nationals practice where the one skater would do one jump, then return to the boards to chat with the coach, then repeat the same process every single time. She compared it to another skater who just did one element after another, then went back when she needed water. Different strokes, I guess.

I admit it, I'm a chaser. However, all of my students are low-level and would never hear me if I yelled out instructions to them on the crowded freestyles with the music playing so loud.

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I can't imagine not having my coach on the ice with me. No matter how much better I get I always need hands on help. Sometimes this is actually doing the skill for me and sometimes just a hand aide or moral support. Even the very, very best skaters seem to need this support from what I can see. Some folks do work with sitter coaches but this would never work with me on the norm. I guess it all depends on each individual skater.

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

My coach is on the ice with me 90% of the time. He coaches all levels, beginners and competitive skaters, so he might have one session where he's demonstrating mohawks or partnering a low-level dance, and on the next he might be giving a senior skater trips for a triple jump.

For my lessons, he demonstrates a LOT. He doesn't demonstrate full-out jumps, but demos walk-throughs of jumps and the important parts of spins. He was also my dance partner for tests, so that required he be on the ice! I definitely prefer it when he is on the ice versus just at the boards. Half of it is that it is inspiring to watch him demo something, because he is an amazing technician. He is, IMO, one of a dying breed of coaches that grew up with strict figures coaching and truly understands and can explain (very well) the biomechanics of every little muscle movement required to make a move happen. He's also able to show me what I look like, and what I SHOULD look like.

There are a couple of coaches at the rinks I skate at who I've never seen in skates and probably never will. But they have successful skaters as well. People just learn differently.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Unless my coaches were injured or had some medical problem, I wouldnt pay good money for them to sit at the side and direct me from there, I need them right beside me. My husband cant skate but he could tell me where I'm going wrong from the sidelines and how to correct it, but I'm the sort of person that needs things demonstrated to me.

My coach holds my hand, and it always throws me off and I fall.

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At my rink it is mixed but sometimes it is because a coach is injured or sick that they stay by the boards to teach. Most often though the coaches come out onto the ice to coach. But some like my coach do more than that. Mine does the element in part and in whole to teach his students.

My poor coach is now sorry though that he is my coach because he now knows that everytime I'm out there for a lesson that I will be pushing him to get his skating back up to where it was when he quit competitive skating. Last lesson with him, I was doing upto my single loop and flip and was making him do everything I did in singles as doubles. I'm trying to keep my coach up to par so that when he gets a ice show gig, he'll have an easier time to prepare for it. And maybe, he might think about competing as an adult skater someday. He's one year younger than me and sometimes my energy level puts him to shame. But it's fun all around and when he's doing the doubles or more spin rotations or harder spin types, it lets me pick things up from watching him for my own skating.

I did have a coach who for the most part stayed by the boards but that was when we were in the part of the lesson where we were reviewing and not learning something new.

I can take lessons both ways from coaches but I find it much more fun having my coach on the ice with me. Now some coaches are glad that they aren't my coach because of the sweat I put my current coach through. ROTFLOL

singerskates

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With no skating experience, your husband can tell you that you are not quite over your skating hip; you need to bend your ankle more; you are not riding your edge long enough into a spin; you need to put more edge pressure on the front of the blade at a certain time; you are not reversing your shoulders at quite the right moment to make a turn happen, etc.? Impressive!

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

15-20 skaters practicing intermediate-senior MIF... seems better for all involved if the coaches stay off to the side. Actually, my coaches stay to the side most of the time, unless it's a moves lesson on a really empty session. I mean, how is having my coach stand nearby going to help my Axel? As long as she can see it, it seems better that she stand in the hockey box or by the boards to make room for other skaters. Obviously, she's more hands on with LTSers and lower level freestylers.

Mine's usually on the side unless we're doing choreography.

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I have both. My primary coach is usually on the ice unless he's pretending to be a judge or just watching to see what's going on. Secondary coach usually does her stuff at the penalty box and usually does NOT have her skates on. There's an ongoing joke that it's a GOOD THING when my secondary coach does not have her skates on and stays behind the bench. The rare days that she DOES puts her skates on for my lesson usually means a day where she WILL make you do something VERY SCARY!!! Needless to say, I pray that she keeps her skates off!!!

My coach in NYC usually is on the ice with me.

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jazzpants

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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Ours all teach on the ice unless there's a very good reason for them not to - and often even then! Coach1 has only ever taught from the side when he had a broken bone in his foot & couldn't get his skates on, and the only other times I've seen coaches stay off the ice have been due to either very advanced pregnancy or very recent childbirth (and not even then, in the case of coach2's second baby!).

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