Sounds logical. Hopefully they have already thought of that.

Yes. Up until now virtually anyone who can skate can coach (unless the particular rink took measures to check potential coaches out.) It's been a long time coming. Hopefully, the bugs will be worked out soon.

One would think. Would be nice if that was one of his assignments wouldn't it?

I have paid $75 for finger printing/ background check to teach in public schools. it can get pretty ridiculous. I wonder why there is such a disparity.

Kay

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It really makes you wonder what the bids were for the background checks. Was the company they selected the most expensive or the least expensive? I'd hope it was a bid in the middle somewhere, esp. since these checks have to be updated annually.

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Our fingerprinting/background check is $52- but it's only every 5 years (when you renew your license) plus whatever the police office charges to print you (though some will do it for free). $40 a year seems a bit insane to me- I'm beginning to think it's just a money maker for the USFSA.

I honestly don't have a problem with the background checks, but I don't really like the idea of mandatory credentials. If I want to take lessons from a coach who has done nothing other than put on a pair of skates and learned to stand up- why should that prohibit me from testing? Since I'm the one taking the test- shouldn't it be my credential (ie, membership) be the one that matters?

I really agree with Kay that this is going to hurt LTS programs once it trickles down to that. The part time help for peak season who gets 1-2 hours a week for 3 months isn't going to want to out put the money it takes to get these credentials. Or can the rink just call them "helpers"? (But would that affect insurance since they are not registered as instructors?)

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DBNY said in her OP that the group instructors' educational requirements aren't defined as yet. My guess is that that's why the USFSA has been offering the Basic Skills Learn to Teach workshops - that would probably be their educational requirement. That's an outstanding workshop - I loved every minute of it and the on-ice presentation was excellent because the woman who led it was a very experienced, high-level instructor/director.

Instructors for Basic Skills programs are supposed to be registered with the USFSA through each program so they're covered by the insurance policy. The individual liability insurance policies are intended for instructors who also offer private lessons.

The fly in the ointment is that, as DBNY points out, a group lesson instructor whose GROUP is in a sanctioned show could find him/herself in a different category of the education requirements. It's not clear whether that would 'bump up' the instructor's category.

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Yep- that's why I made reference to trickling down...

My question about insurance was for when rinks aren't able to utilze full-time instructors for busy season (ie., many hire skaters who aren't really coaches to teach low level classes) and just use "helpers" instead. Right now, our rink registers these helpers as instructors, but once there will be formal requirements to be an instructor, they won't be able to do this.

I would love to go to a Basic Skills Learn to Teach workshop- but the only one I've heard of was well across the state (and at an inconvienent time) travel costs alone- would make that prohbitive. I'm just hoping it takes a long time for any regulations to trickle down to Group C. (As that affects my coaching) and I guess I'll have to hope it's worth the money for my coach to stay in the business- or else I'll have to find someone else to sign my test papers. (Maybe have a secondary coach just for that?)

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I can see people getting around the rules by team-coaching. Or, having a more formal Master Coach:Assistant Coach relationship as do many of the elite coaches.

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Ice Shows and Club events are excluded from the CER requirement. You can see where they have been crossed off on the Report of Action on usfigureskaing.org. So that's good news!

Yay! I agree! So at this point you only have to worry about the continuing ed stuff if you're coaching skaters for testing or competition, right? I'll be interested to see what kind of future requirements they have for us Group C folks. I wonder whether there might be a way for us to learn from the Group A or B coaches at our own rinks? That would certainly be accessible.

Got to jump in here. I have taught basic skills at 4 rinks. Not one of them covered me on any policy other than my own through PSA. I only taught privates at 2 of those rinks, and 1 of them was so few privates it was insane.

Kay

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I would also love to attend the workshop, if it is not cost prohibitive. ie: if I don't have to cancel lessons or miss work. Now that is just about impossible since I work 6 days/wk in season. WS would have to be offered off-season to make it realistic. However, many of us have second jobs that we may need to take time off from.

IMO, an online, or self-study program should be an alternative for those who cannot attend far-flung WSs that don't fit into their schedules.

Another comment while I'm at it. Let's face it, a lot of us primarily teach LtS, and beginner to low FS privates. Personally, I only have 1 student who would even be interested in testing and she is not ready for pre-pre yet. Okay, it's a slow yr and hopefully my business will grow. But for those who are not higher level coaches, it does not make sense for us to be Grp B and pay the required $ for certification if we only have a couple low FS students who may or may not test or may or may not compete or may drop out any minute depending on how the wind blows. I know where I am as a coach. I am not going to be an elite coach. Period. I think there are a lot of coaches who love coaching and are good at what they do who are in the same boat.

Please don't get me wrong, I am all for becoming a better coach, and education, etc. But I have to keep things in perspective and w/in budget.

Kay

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I totally agree with Kay! I hate doing things halfway, and would love to keep improving as a coach. But teaching skating is only a part-time thing for me. I didn't go to the PSA conference, much as I would have liked to, because I'm going to a professional conference for my "real" job this summer, and couldn't afford both. My goal as a coach is to do the best job I can teaching Basic Skills, and then pass my students up to more qualified coaches. I'm all for the background checks (although I'm not sure why it has to be done annually) and insurance, and think continuing ed is a great idea, but they need to find a way to make it affordable and accessible for those of us who don't make very much at it or we won't be able to do it.

Just curious: have any of you voiced your complaints directly to the PSA? Would seem helpful to them if they knew where the discrepancies/holes were in their membership.

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Then you need to check with your employer. If you receive a check through the rink/recreation dept., you should be covered under the group policy as an employee.

We had this same problem...the rink manager thought the city pollicy would cover the coaches for our local (non USFS) program. I explained for years to people that we weren't salaried employees, or even part-time city employees. Given the way they paid us, we were clearly independent contractors...making everyone responsible for their own insurance.

The USFS policy will cover anyone coaching on Basic Skills ice, but not on separate club ice. For that you need private liability insurance.

The cost of the background checks will be less next year if you have insurance through the PSA or the USFS--without insurance, it's more along the lines of $140.00.

USFS explained to me and the LTS director that the insurance would cover me on any ice time as long as the student I was teaching was registered with USFS Basic Skills (So snowplow through freeskate 6) including private lessons.

I only have insurance through the program, so I was very wary about that. I still don't take private lessons, but they told me if it was an LTS registered student doing the privates (that is paid the $8 membership fee), I would be covered.

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That was my understanding as well. I haven't taught ISI in a few years, but I already had my own policy, so I don't know if their LTS covers both the students and the instsructors.

I don't know, Skittl. All the Basic Skills rinks I've taught at have always required individual policies for anyone doing privates, but the group lessons were covered by the skating school's policy. Two were private, two were municipal rink/private club hybrids. Perhaps it's based on the facility's insurance coverage: my new rink requires the individual policy for everyone teaching.

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They were voiced on a coaches' forum last year during a discussion with the USFSA. To my knowledge, the PSA did not participate.

To whom should we address our concerns?

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I think you may have gotten the quotes confused? I think you meant to respond to the one about contacting the PSA. But I'll give my .02 anyway.

If you have legitimate concerns/questions about the CER or background check, you need to contact the committee that brought about the proposal. I believe it is the Membership committee. If you go to the ROA on USFS.org, it will tell you where it came from. You could either contact your respective Vice Chair from your section or the Chair directly. You could contact the PSA about questions on the CER, but they wouldn't have anything to do with the background check.

That's strange because I spoke with Jill Hare, Basic Skills Program Manager at USFS, this past winter about exactly this issue. Our management was allowing uninsured teenagers to give private lessons on the public sessions. I suspect that the girls were not even registered as BS coaches with our program, as none of them ever received a BS Coach's Manual. Jill told me that the determining factor in covering Basic Skills Program coaches is the designation of the ice. If the ice has been specifically designated for the use of the program during the time of the private lesson, then the coach is covered. A Basic Skills Program coach giving a private lesson on a public session would not be covered except by her/his own insurance. I suspect that there simply has not yet been a test case, so the rules are still fuzzy. I would not want to be the test case for this issue.

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This is what I was told as well. As my club's Basic Skills Director, I had to register all of our instructors, even the teenaged helpers, as instructors for them to be covered, and the coverage was in effect only for the Basic Skills ice time. If the instructors wanted to coach on other club sessions or on the rink's sessions then they needed their own private insurance.

The hockey group I've coached for has required CORI checks of the coaches for several years; The first one was free (covered by the ogranization) but in subsequent years, they deducted a small amount from the paycheck (like $2 or $3) to cover the cost of updating. Considering the issues hockey has had recently, I didn't mind, especially since I knew there was nothing on my record to find. Better safe than sorry, I say.

Although my club has had one very-part-time coach quit already, due to the rising cost of gas and the increased costs of mainting memberships and insurance. She says she can make more money selling Avon.

So sad - I think I need glasses. Thanks for the heads up - I edited my post.

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Thanks all- guess I need to put a new call into USFS. I've been reassured many times by my LTS director and by someone at USFS (didn't get the name) that I'd be covered for privates- but like I said, I don't do privates (I've turned students away in the past. I'm not interested in teaching private lessons) so its a bit moot for me. However, I know others at the rink who are registered as instructors without additional insurance who do because our LTS director is so insistant that the insurance is enoguh. EEK

I do teach girl scout groups though- and I'm getting nervous that I'm not covered for that either. Might have to stop doing that.

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I'd check your insurance coverage just to be safe -- a girl scout troup being instructed outside of a skating club's sessions - probably is not covered by your coaching insurance. However, you might be covered by the girl scout insurance policies. Check with them before you cancel out next season.

I know that in Canada, certified coaches are not covered for their $1million worth of liability if they coach outside of the Skate Canada system. So if they rent private ice at a local rink to work with non-Skate Canada members - they are liable. But if coaches work with Skate Canada members on private ice rented from their club or centre etc. they are covered.

Skate Canada certified coaches that teach in a city program or special needs program etc. are not covered by their coaching insurance but are covered by the city or special needs program insurance.

I have emails into the Girl Scout Council (where I am registered as an adult volunteer- so I might be covered under their insurance, and I know the girls are all covered under theirs) and USFSA. Sorry to thread hijack- but I'm glad you all set me right that my LTS director might be wrong!

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