My 9 year old first put skates on 3 months ago. She has been in private lessons all winter and is doing extraordinarily well. Her coach is a real sweetheart, however there is another coach at the rink who we have been watching from the start. We had initially wanted him to be her teacher because he is Russian (my daughter came here from Russia 6 months ago) but she was too imtimidated at first because he seemed much more serious and had more advanced students. Well, recently my daughter expressed an interest in trying a lesson with him after "evesdroping" on his lessons and copying his students. This past Sunday I finally spoke with him and my daughter did a 20 minute lesson with him. She loves her regular coach but she said he is the better teacher. He REALLY kept her focused and worked her much harder than her regular coach. I feel guilty because I only spoke with him after her regular coach had left the rink (it was the only time he ever left the ice to give me a chance). I feel guilty about possibly switching, but I can also see that my daughter will probably get more out of working with him (and maybe have a chance to relearn some Russian). What is the etiquette for this situation? Is it OK to take a few more lessons with both coaches to see which is the better fit? Won't they be offended, angry, hurt? I know if we switch we can probaby never go back and what if it doesn't work out? I am as new to all of this as my daughter is to skating and would appreicate input.

I think in your case especially, changing coaches is justified. Your daughter is Russian, and so am i by the way, so if you ned a reason you have 1 right there. The fact is people change coaches all the time, its absolutely ok as long as you don't part on abd terms. in the end she may even end up going back to her old coach, you never know. I suggest you try out this coach and see how it goes. here is nothing wrong w/switching.

It is absolutely okay to try lessons with other coaches ****SO LONG as the present coach knows about it!! I can't stress this enough, as both a coach and a skater, this is the way the PSA lays out the ethical guidelines, and is also the "nice" way to do things. The Russian coach technically was not supposed to give your daughter a lesson before informing the current coach. But you should also out of courtesy let the other coach know that you'd like to try some lessons w/ the Russian coach.

Here's a snip I wrote several months ago in another thread (so I don't have to write it all again!!):

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I've been on both sides of this scenario, as a student and as a coach. Coaches are supposed to follow a set of ethical guidelines put out by the PSA, which states that you're supposed to contact the old coach before taking on a new student. This is for 2 reasons--one, to make sure you don't accidentally steal a student away from a coach who is still officially employed by the skater; and two, to make sure the skater didn't leave that coach with unpaid bills. Not every coach follows that protocol, but they're supposed to.

I've had to leave 2 coaches in my skating life, niether time was happy, but in the long run both times it was a change for the better. Coaches do have to get a tough skin because students do definitely come and go. But on the other hand, I would appreciate it greatly if someone came to me & said, 'I just feel I need a change" or whatever. Once a father switched his daughter to another coach without even bothering to tell me--I walked into the rink to teach her lesson, & there she was having a lesson w/ the new coach (who obviously had not contacted me re. the switch). Up to that point as far as I'd heard they had been very happy w/ me. I still don't know why they left me & it still bugs me--maybe I did absolutely nothing wrong & the girl just connected w/ the other coach (who she'd had in group class) better. Maybe I did something to make them mad that I could have fixed. Or maybe I unknowingly made some mistake that I'll make again because no one's pointed it out to me.

Yes a coach is your employee, but they are people too, they have feelings & we invest a lot into our students. It's only common courtesy to communicate with them if you need to make a change.

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Did this coach ask you if your daughter's coach knew about this? You didn't do anything wrong, but it is unethical for a coach to "take" another coach's student without making sure first that all business is settled between the student and the old coach. I realize that this was just one lesson, but you don't want to offend either coach, as your daughter will be skating around them if not with them. I have seen coaches go totally nuts when a single lesson has been given, but I also know coaches who do not care, and let their students know that, when they ask.

Another point is that every coach has a different way of doing business, and you might want to speak with some of this coach's students/parents to find out if lesson appointments are kept, and whether or not this coach attends his students' tests and competitions. Reliability is just as important as good coaching skills.

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Absolutely. It was very bad of you to have a lesson with another coach without the current coach's consent. Since you don't know the ettiquette i will tell you that that is a Big Important Rule to learn. And there's unfortunately nobody that informs parents of new skaters of this.

The Russian coach may not know that rule, as it seems to be a US thing. I've known russian coaches here who have done the same, but it's extremely frowned upon.

Everything else Phoenix suggested is good.

I agree. Nothing wrong with changing if that is what is best for YOUR skater.But the new coach shouldnt have given a lesson without having the other coach be aware.That is bordering on Unethical conduct.
PSA also says coach B new coach, cant give lessons till coach A old coach, has been paid all outstanding money.
Good luck

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Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice. I spoke to my daughter's original teacher and she was very professional and supportive. This weekend my daughter will take a lesson with each coach and we will just take it from there. They have totally different styles. Her original coach started her on 20 minute lessons and moved up to 30 minutes. The new coach suggested an hour which I think is a bit too much for my daghter so he agreed to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, we are beginning to see what an expensive sport this can be! How soon can we get a sponsor other than mommy and daddy (just kidding)?

Most kids who have sponsers are at least novice level. I do know some intermediate kids who have sponsers, but they are kids competing and placing well at big comps.You can always ask people to sponser your skater, but it usually doesnt happen at lower levels.
Our ISI rink helps our skater out with ice time.We are a small community and they are great to us !!!But then we dont have the things that big places have ie more coaching, better classes.

Since your skater is just starting out, you have a way to go

Well said phoenix.

Chico

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

If the two teachers can work well together - not all can, of course - your daughter might well profit from taking one lesson a week from each of them.

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Mrs Redboots
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