Just as a footnote, I'm not sure if everyone has the same knowledge of skating schools. I go way back to the 1980's as a young adult. I know, not that far back, but there is a history before then that's interesting.

Back then, in my area, the schools were basically crapshoots. If you had a great school director, s/he would set up levels and tell the instructors what to teach during the sessions. If you weren't so lucky, the guy in the office handed you a long roster and said "group them by age." Private lessons were for the gifted kids whose parents had money. The Skating Clubs (then only USFSA) often offered group and private lessons on their ice rental time, which brought them new members. (Those group lessons were usually well-structured.)

When the ISI set up the curriculum for rinks to using in running skating schools, they designed it to "feed" the rink's public, freestyle and hockey sessions and offer an alternative path for skaters who weren't able to compete in USFSA. They didn't want to lose any skaters, regardless of age, wealth, or skills. That's why their levels are both restrictive and challenging at the same time - to keep skaters interested in skating. They are a participatory competitions. If you don't get the gold this competition, just try again - no qualifiers needed. Plus, the ISI offered insurance as part of their membership fees. Many rinks became ISI members for that reason alone! To keep the instructors on the same page, the ISI offers FREE education seminars each fall for their instructor members, along with judging test prep that helps them understand how to teach better. Smart, except that everyone gets stuck at some level because of some move on an ISI Freestyle test.

The USFSA's Basic Skills program didn't exist until the early 1990's. It was designed to provide the same opportunities and feeders that the ISI had been draining away. The USFSA was smart: they decided to build a progressive curriculum that leads toward the standard tests tracks. (The MITF was introduced around this time in response to the dropping of compulsory figures in competitions. That's why skaters don't usually get "stuck" in the "Basic 8" levels - everything's more or less at the same level of difficulty within a Basic Skills test. There are some instructor seminars, but I haven't caught any of them. (As discussed before - are they free?)

Both of these LTS programs offer rewards, incentives, participatory competitions and test registrations. The difference is in the structure and how each rink implements it.

PSA membership has no impact on either LTS program - they're both preset curriculum. The difference is in the school's Director and how they train their incoming coaches, experienced or not. When you're ready to start taking ISI Freestyle or USFSA adult- or standard-track tests, absolutely, you want an experienced coach. But to teach "march, march, march, glide?" I want a good teacher that's going to keep that family coming back because they had a great experience.

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Well, this applies if the person giving the advice is a PSA member. In that situation, the person is a coach and yes, making comments to another coach's student would be considered solicitation. For example, if a coach goes up to a skater coached by another coach and tells that skater, who might be new to competitive skating, that their coach is taking advantage of them by charging a particular fee that is a standard coaching fee for comps, and suggests that the skater get a new coach (and then sends one of their students to that skater to suggest his/herself as the skater's new coach - called 3rd party solicitation and another PSA violation), then that would be considered poaching. Or if the coach sends 3rd party to tell a skater that their coach isn't skilled enough to teach them, that is definitely a rule violation. Repeated behavior like this on the part of a coach often draws the ire of the rink management, and can lead to the coach getting kicked out of the rink.

In the case of offering advice to fellow skaters, when neither is a coach, I think Skate@Del and vesperholly made good points. It's better to give advice only when asked for it, or if you have a friendly relationship with someone, skate with them often, and they've given you advice in the past. In that context, advice is considered a friendly, well-meaning gesture. But only give advice if it's within your means - about a year ago, another adult skater (a few years younger than me) who was working on Pre-Bronze-level moves, called over to me as I was skating and asked if she could give me a tip. I happened to be breaking in new skates that day, and decided to do the Bronze forward and back perim stroking patterns after spending 15 minutes doing crossover figure 8s and getting bored out of my mind. I'm sure that the Bronze moves didn't look too good, as I was struggling to bend my ankles, but this woman rarely skated the same sessions as me and didn't know much about how my skating usually looked or that I had just gotten new skates.

I was a bit annoyed that someone who barely knew me (or my situation) decided after watching me skate one pattern that I was advice-needy, but what I found really annoying is this person didn't even know (or had ever practiced) the moves I was working on, and her skills were quite a bit lower than mine, so how the heck did she think she was qualified to give me advice? I politely declined. But I've taken advice from some higher-level adult skaters, b/c I know they know what they're talking about and I admire their skating ability, and I know they are well-meaning....and their advice usually works.

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Gold Moves, here I come!

It was pretty common when I shared ice with the kids to share tips. Most of us have the same coach and it helped relations between the kids and adults which was usually pretty good, so we didn't worry about PSA ethics or paoching. One of the kids was Kimmie, and she and the others were great - givingand taking. Unless it's really disruptive, I usually listen to the kid. None of us were really teaching, just helping out.

I have taught, and encourage folks to be responsible in their teaching, that is not teach beyond their means, and don't be afraid to refer to another person.

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I think a big part of sharing advice is also the spirit in which it is given. In the case of the adult skater who I gave a ride home, it almost sounded like (to me, and maybe I was reading it wrong or am remembering wrong) she was offering the advice in the spirit of "You're not doing this right, and I know it, and I know I'm right, because I have xxx fancy coach, and you should take the advice, because I can fix what you're doing." That struck me as a touch patronizing, and a lot different from, "Gosh, you look a bit frustrated, could I offer a few pointers on what helped me learn to do that?"

And Skittl1321, I hope your arrangement at the rink works out! Have fun working with the tots!

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