Hello All. I have a question about lessons during public session. I was on a deserted public session one morning. There was a tot in lesson, an adult about my age and level in lesson, and me. The lessons were in the far corners and I was on the blue line practicing my edges. Anyway, it just seemed that the coach and the adult student were going out of their way to make me move and practice something different. When I was working on backspins on my blue hockey line, the coach decided that she needed to work on crossovers which took over all the ice from hockey line to hockey line. I moved to the other end (opposite the tot) and starting working on jumps. I have been jumping for about 10 minutes when they decided to work on jumps not in the center of the rink but near the end where I was. I moved yet again and I swear they followed me. Should I have kept where I was or followed the etiquette and yielded to a coach/skater in lesson? Now don't get me wrong, I get my lessons during a public session and don't have a problem with lessons on public ice in general but I was just thinking that this was ridiculous.

Just wanted to know what you guys thought and if this happens at your rink.

This has definitely happened to me. One time there were 2 of us on the ice, one in lesson and me. I was at the far end working on spins. The coach actually had her skater move from the opposite end and work on crossovers around the circle I was in. What was wrong with the center circle, or other 3 end circles, I'll never know. This went on the entire session. No matter where I went, they followed. We were on an Olympic surface, and on a freestyle session. I think it's ridiculous and frustrating.................but some coaches obviously can't help themselves. They get on the ice and ego/intimidation take over. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there is much you can do about it. Just keep moving and be glad your rink allows lessons on public sessions.

If you believe that they're really trying to mess with you, you should just continue to do what you're doing. And if they say something, then you should say something in return. Politely at first of course. But if they try to tell you off....then the next best thing is to give a warning that you'll report it all to the rink supervisor, or upper level management.

I think it's pretty common on both public and freestyle sessions. Some coaches just can't believe that they are not the end all and be all. I don't believe that most of them do it on purpose, they have simply chosen to be insensitive to the needs of anyone other than their own students, and it becomes habit. I would never say anything, having had a very bad experience with a coach (the bad experience was also with the club) who was actively interfering in my daughter's lessons (with a different coach) on club ice. Ice time is too hard to find to risk it by getting involved with a nutter.

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That's why if the problem persists, it's necessary to take action against that nutter, or else the wasted ice time will keep accumulating as they interfere with your ice time.

Or, depending on politics, you could be made to feel very uncomfortable. In my case I had no alternative, since the nut job was openly hostile towards my daughter, and had a Svengali type following in the club. We would have left anyway. I'm just saying, be very, very careful.

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I agree that if you're in a rink that seems hostile, go to another one. Scarlett, it doesn't sound like what happened to you was that bad - the coach may have just been kind of clueless - but I would say generally that if someone is at a rink where the situation is not good for any reason (nutty coach, weird policies, too crowded, bad schedule, whatever), the best thing to do is skate somewhere else. Skating is expensive, and you shouldn't spend your money at a rink with a negative atmosphere.

If the club doesn't do anything about it, then that'd be my fourth move. My second move would be to just stand my ground on the ice if they kept deliberately trying to mess with you. The third move would be full on argument and confrontation. The last move would then to go to a different rink. I don't take nonsense from people when I don't deserve it. That is, I don't take kindly to bullying tactics.

That's a good suggestion.....and that's only if the whole rink is hostile. But if a particular coach keeps doing this every time you're there, then it's time to give them something to think about. On a full size rink, and there's only like you and them on the ice, there's absolutely no reason for them to keep following you around wherever you go on the ice. The coach is just trying to mess with you. And they'll probably do it to anybody that looks timid or weak. If they did it to me....big mistake.

It is just possible that it was not deliberately to make you move but that the coach was following what they had planned for the lesson, eg first we'll work on whatever, then we'll do crossovers (and between the hockey lines is an obvious place for practising getting them powerful in a circle as it gives the skater something to aim for) and then we'll do jumps the other side - maybe for a change of scene or because that's where the skater likes to do jumps or where they are in the skaters program if they have one. (I always tend to practice jumps on one side of the rink given the choice - I dont know why and I dont consciously choose it - I just seem to head that direction if the coach says jump!). Plus it may have been something as simple as where they were standing when they decided to change to jumps and it was obvious to set off anticlockwise to whichever end was anticlockwise from them. Also if there was a tot the other end from you, they were very sensibly avoiding the tot who is likely to be much less predictable than an adult skater and to whom they could do a lot of damage if they collided.

It's not like there wasn't plenty of space for you to move to and sometimes it does you a favour by making you practice things in different places on the rink.

Also it does seem that the fewer people on a rink the more likelihood there is of them gravitating towards each other - it's like a magnetic attraction. I've been on a rink with two of us and at some point we invariably end up heading for the same spot on the ice. Possibly because with few people you dont have to concentrate so much on avoiding people so you are less aware of the others there.

Besides he was hardly following you around that much if you were able to be in one spot for 10 whole minutes - many lessons are only 15 mins long in total and of course whether it's 15 mins or 30 mins the coach and students will be working on various things within that time and I would expect them to move around the rink.

Don't get paranoid - use it to your advantage. Work on something til the coach moves and then move onto something else.

Unless it is obvious they are being deliberately intimidating (and this doesnt' sound like they are) then you should follow etiquette and move for them and then you can rightly expect the same courtesy when you are in a lesson following your coaches plan and picking your favourite spot to jump etc.

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'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

I agree they were sensible to avoid the tot. If you really think it was not a coincidence or planned lesson pattern and they were following you, it couldn't hurt for you to approach and say something along the lines of "Since there are so few of us out here on the ice today, I was hoping to stay out of your way. Is there someplace I can work on my (spins/jumps, edges/moves/fill in the blank) where I won't be in your way and I won't have to look out for you and you won't have to look out for me?".

This has happened to me as well, but I would chalk it up to general cluelessness and inconsideration of others. When there are 4 people on the ice and you are doing crossovers around one of the hockey circles, and a coach takes a relative beginner student over to the circle you are on and starts their student in the opposite direction to the direction you are skating... that's just dumb and inconsiderate. For myself, my response depends on the other circumstances and at what stage I am in my own practice. Sometimes I move, sometimes I keep skating. Sometimes it seems like a particular person is just trying to be obnoxious and in that case, there's not all that much you can do. I complain to my coach, he is sympathetic and will block for me, but in a practice... there's not much recourse if someone is deliberately getting in your way and you want to avoid a confrontation.

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August 22, back on the ice!

Reminds me of my summer rink-there is a coach who taught on public ice and would commandeer the center circle-basically overtaking anyone who wanted to spin there (she was working mostly with hockey boys). Pat, you might know of her? After a few sessions of this (and she would move in with no announcement to us that she was coaching), she moved to the center with her student I said to her, "Oh, you are teaching now?" and she introduced herself and said yes, would we mind moving for a while? After that, we were ok with it.

I think it was different than your situation, though. It may also be Murphy's Law-no matter where you are in the rink, that's where everyone moves to! I notice it during my lessons-we stake out a quiet corner, next thing we know everyone seems to be down that way. I'm a bit bolder and say, "Excuse me, I'm in a lesson down here" or on public session that's not crowded say "Excuse me, I'm working on this circle here, would you mind working on one of the others, please?" Usually works for me....My last resort is to report the coach to the skating director. I don't confront-I report, usually with the safety issue take on the whole thing. (I've only had to report once and it worked, and I remained anonymous but if you are afraid of repercussions you could call the rink after you leave and complain).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I find myself inclined to agree with Batikat on this one - it may simply have been the lesson plan.

And I'm afraid I do have to say that there is at least one skater at my rink who always practices in exactly the same place, which wouldn't at all matter except that she is invariably right where we want to work on our step sequence! The times she skates, the elite dancers aren't on the ice, which is perhaps a pity, as she would soon learn that she can't spend her entire practice just there.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

We were at our adult session yesterday (yay-it's back on!!!) and one of the skaters said she can only do this one jump at the one spot in the rink-no where else! She cannot. I can't remember what it was (axel, maybe) but she can only jump it in the one section. I thought that was sad.

I remember at the edge workshop at Aston last year when Don Jackson said it would be nice if more people did their lutz in the center ice (people use to do them all over the rink instead of the center). I know people do them in the corner for safety's sake.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I forgot to say ... yep, you should have kept where you were. Why? It's because it was a public session. If it was an coaching session, and if you were priveleged to skate around during the coaching session, then that's a different matter. But since it was a public session, you should have held your ground. And if the coach had said something to you in that public session to move....then all you need to say is 'nope....this is a public session....and I've noticed that you keep following me around and trying to dominate the whole rink....so I recommend that you stop doing that'.

^ I'll disagree with you on that. I take my lessons during public sessions and although I don't follow people around to make them move, if I'm working on something and I need the space then I feel I'm within my right. I move for other people during their lessons, they should move for me on mine. It's also an issue of respect - it's not THAT hard to move to another part of the rink and I'm sure the coach wasn't doing it to be a pain. If you start taking an aggressive attitude towards coaches at your rink it won't get you very far. Be assertive yes - no one should feel harassed but I don't think that the coach was doing this to harass the original poster. But to be aggressive and basically tell the coach to bleep themselves? Uh uh, NO way.

I'm with sunshinepointe on this one. Getting arrogant and/or aggressive with other skaters and their coaches is counter-productive. Coaches do have right of way, whether it's in a freeskate or public session (at least down here), and Dbny is sadly correct in saying that ice time is just too hard to find.

Thin-Ice's suggestion of just asking where the coach is going to be is sensible, because it doesn't allow the situation to get out of hand. Even if the coach was going to harass/torment you to get the upper hand (and how many coaches are there that set out to do this, really??), asking where the coach is going to be stops that behaviour at the pass, because the coach has to make and tell you their decision, and you can work around it. It also provides an opportunity to introduce yourself to the coach and the other skater if you don't know them. This is good, because in general a person will try to be more considerate to someone they know as opposed to someone they don't.

Something like this happened to me once. I was doing 3turns on a hockey line. A coach put his student on the same line when other lines were available. I chalked it up to generally cluelessness. Since other lines were available, I just moved. It was not a coach I saw regularly anyway. Some ppl just walk around oblivious to the world.

Kay

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The situation was said to be a bare rink with only you and that other pair hanging around on the rink. Nobody mentioned anything about being aggressive and telling the coach to do whatever right away. You only stand your ground when that coach is the first to tell you to - as you described it - to bleep off.

I don't recall anyone saying that you need to be aggressive. You should actually be defensive. The circumstances are not your fault if you're on a full size rink during a public....yep...public session, and you're trying to be nice and avoid them all the time, but they come following you around. Now, we're not talking about telling anybody to clear off just for the beginning. You only do that if you're doing your thing, and then that coach tells you to clear off, and that's after you've figured out and determined for certain what that coach had been doing. So it's not about being the aggressor. It is about putting the aggressor back into their place. And the way you find out is to hold your ground....and remember once again, the situation is a full size rink with only you and them on it.

So it's good to not assume that the other coach was harrassing or not harrassing. The situation is that the original poster was getting sufficient information to believe that the coaching may have been following. So in that case, after you believe it to be the case, then you should just stand your ground and see what's really up with the situation.....and remembering that you're on bare ice with just you and that pair on the whole rink.

No aggression needed at all. You just stand your ground under that particular circumstance and only act if they act first. I'm assuming the original poster knew what they were talking about in terms of suspecting something fishy was going on. So I give benefit of the doubt, instead of saying something like 'nahhh.....I reckon that you're clueless and I'm on the coaches side'.

Thank you for all your responses. I think that next time I run into this coach,which probably will not be soon since that is not my primary rink, I will give her benefit of the doubt and ask where they plan to be and just stay away from that area. I was just shocked by it though. I'm used to adult skaters being so friendly and supportive.

Two of my friends love to tell the following story: "We were the ONLY two people on the ice, and we still managed to run into each other!"

Oh, that is one of the Laws of Skating - the fewer people on the ice, the more likely you are to collide with one another! Ask anybody at your rink if they haven't found that to be true. I know I have!

Even this morning, the ice was pretty quiet when we got on (it got busier later), and we had a coming-together with one of the coaches. We knew where she was, and skated to avoid her - only she chose just that instant and second to move towards the music player, and crossed our path! Luckily, all of us stayed on our feet.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Collisions only occur because people are not being careful enough on the ice. When you have 1 skater that thinks that they can skate around backwards or forwards or in a direction that opposes the general flow of traffic - and they do it as if there's absolutely nobody else out there on the ice (that is, being reckless or careless), then that's an accident waiting to happen. If you have 2 of the same types, then that could be even worse.

The problem is just due to carelessness - which means things like lack of communication, lack of planning, lack of attention to what's happening around you before you do something, etc.

I saw a potentially serious accident once.... and I had anticipated it would happen. One particular girl figure skater was skating backwards at speed, preparing for a jump, but was travelling against the general direction of skating in the public session.....while some skater with rental boots on came charging out from the side door and accelerated in a straight line ... somewhat in the general direction of traffic flow...but was really cutting across the end of the rink. The guy was being somewhat of an idiot because he was simply focused on looking straight ahead and powering his way in that direction without bothering to look what's happening around him. So here we have a girl skater skating real fast backwards, and a guy skater skating real fast forwards....both converging toward each other. They collided very hard and both were sprawled on the ground. Luckily they were both ok in the end, but that could have been potentially very serious indeed. This was last year sometime.

Even when top level skaters practise on the ice, you see people colliding with each other. Again, that's just lack of planning.... carelessness. I mean, if people skate around fast doing things like backward moves while other people are also skating fast focusing on their own tricks and routines, what else can we expect? It's an accident waiting to happen.

It must be wonderful knowing everything the way you do.

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