Buffet of Coaches vs Monodiet

[Aimless]

I note a distinct trend emerging for skaters to sample coaches and move on, or to work with a coach or team of coaches for specific purposes or set period of time. Not very long ago you could count on a skater staying with a coach for a period of years, and parting ways seemed indicative of "something wrong." Am I correct that those day are over or do you think the coach-sampling trend will die off? Is coach sampling clearly positive, clearly negative, or do losses and gains end up more or less in balance?

Consider Nicole Bobek's eligible career. The perception was that her constant changing of coaches was a pathology of sorts and created some of her problems or indicated them. Would her actions be viewed this way now?

Kwan leaving Carol and Cohen parting with Tarasova are of course the high profile moves that demonstrate this trend, which is going on throughout elite skating. These moves provoked endless speculation, but as more of them occur the more acceptable and natural they become.

Not being any kind of skater myself, I wonder if coach hopping is a good idea. There must be something to be said for consistent training, for an intimate and long term understanding and communication between coach and skater. Or am I just being a silly puritan? Is this an old fashioned idea? I do understand that great skating is made up of many different skills, and surely each coach is more effective at one or the other.

I'd be interested in opinions from those of you skate or who are closer to the rinks and skaters.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Interesting topic. As someone who's switched coaches quite a few times, not always by choice (more than once it's been because my coach was moving) I think it's all too easy for non-skaters to misunderstand what goes into that decision. This is kind of long, but I think it'll give some insight into what goes into deciding to change coaches. I left out some identifying details.

I changed coaches recently and, rereading my diary last week, I found that I had first written about the possibility of going to my new coach TWO YEARS ago. When I first switched to my last coach (out of necessity; he was, at the time, the only dance coach in the area whose schedule even remotely meshed with mine) I made a lot of progress right away. Eight weeks after going to him, I passed a dance I had failed with my old coach four times. We communicated well and everything was great. He had a lot of adult students, and I liked that he treated me like an adult, letting me make my own final decisions about testing and competitions and stuff. Within a year or so, though, things started to go down hill. Schedulewise, things were very difficult. The rink where I was taking lessons is often very crowded, and all of my friends there had either quit skating, moved away, or started skating at another rink. Soon I started training mainly at that rink too, going to my old rink only for lessons.

To make a long story short, two things happened. First, I was miserable at the rink where I was taking lessons because I didn't really have any friends there any more. I had trained there for six years, but it wasn't fun anymore, and I had made a lot of new friends at the other rink. Second, I felt like my goals and my coach's goals weren't really in the same place. I was used to training with highly competitive skaters and I felt like my coach thought of me as... not recreational exactly, but not like I really wanted to be pushed and told "This is what you need to do to start placing at this level", and that was what I was starting to think I wanted- and needed, if I were going to get the results I saw my friends getting. I saw how my friends at the new rink interacted with their coaches and I wanted to be pushed that way too. At the same time, I really liked my old coach and wasn't sure changing to a new coach was something I wanted to do. It really is scary, especially if youre looking at changing to someone who does push their students hard. What if I switched and realized I couldn't handle the way the new coach trained students? What if I switched and din't get along with the new coach? I think especially in dance and pairs, because there aren't as many really good coaches for those disciplines as for singles, and because they're more likely to involve relocating, it's scary to worry about what will happen if things don't work out.

Finally, I was so miserable and frustrated that I was thinking of quitting. I wasn't sure changing coaches again was the best thing to do. Was it worth it to switch and get used to a whole new way of training, etc. at this point, when, after all, I'm not getting any younger? My friends at my new rink, many of whom had trained with the coach I was thinking of working with, convinced me to give it a shot. I owe them so much. They all told me I'd be crazy to quit without trying this change. I was testing in a couple weeks, so I told my coach that I didn't know what I wanted to do, but that if I were to continue skating after the test it would be at the other rink. He knew how unhappy I was at the rink where I was taking lessons, so we talked and he was cool with it. Anyway, I failed the test, but by the smallest possible margin, and I decided my friends were right- I was too close to give up without at least trying a coaching/rink change first. So I went to the new coach, and it's worked better than I ever would have imagined. I'm training in an environment where there's a very small group of competitive-level skaters, but we're all close in age and we're all good friends. My new coach pushes me super hard, but it's been great to feel like I'm training the same way my friends do, and within two weeks my friends and their parents were saying they could see the improvement. My new coach and I are both kind of perfectionists which, in a weird way, helps, because I don't have any self-doubt or confidence issues like I have for so many years. I know if he says something looks good, it really does. So even though it was a long, hard choice, it definitely worked out for the best.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to switching coaches frequently. One way in which I feel it's helped me is in my own coaching. When I'm teaching basic skills, I know multiple techniques for a lot of different things. If one method isn't working for a student, chances are I had a coach at one time or another who taught it slightly differently. Maybe that method will work for this skater. I've also heard lots of different verbal cues for the same concepts. Sometimes it's a matter of conveying the same idea with different words to get something to "click" for a certain skater.

OTOH, I know skaters who have been with multiple coaches ala Nicole Bobek who have trouble mastering certain things, jump technique in particular, because each coach they go to will change things slightly. If they change coaches frequently, it's very hard to develop any kind of muscle memory, and I would think that the more times you do it, the harder it gets. The fact that Nicole was able to achieve what she did despite all the coaching changes and apparently not being the hardest worker (until going to Callaghan) speaks volumes about her natural talent.

[WeBeEducated]

I think it can be helpful emotionally to sample other coaching techniques as well as helpful technically.
I dont think skaters owe any coach loyalty, but I do think they owe them respect and honesty.
I believe the old days of "stay with one coach" involved a bit of tyranny and manipulation by the coaches. Skaters were intimidated.
Hopefully, those days are waning.

[passion]

This is a very good question that I am currently grappling with myself. I am still taking lessons with my coach I had from day one, but this week I had my very first lesson with another coach. I liked the way she teachs the layback spin and already after one lesson it has improved. But I didn't find her teaching my two jumps helpful or any different than what my old coach has been teaching me. So should I take off after I've mastered my layback spin (is that rude?)? I've also noticed another coach at my rink who teaches a certain spin that I've always wanted to do. Her student is doing very well at that particular spin. Would it be unethical for me to go to her just to learn that spin and then take off? And finally, when is it time to move on to a different coach and how does one break it gently? (I still want to be with my old coach, but just for future reference).

[skatepixie]

I think people leave coaches for diffrent reasons. Here are some (but not all) of the very valid reasons to leave a coach.

~One of you moves.

~You feel someone else will help you grow.

~The coach is nasty/abusive/mean.

~The rink doesnt meet your needs.

~The coach retires (this is kind of a given. I mean...you would have no choice but to switch.)

~You "click" with someone else.

However, constant changes arent a good thing. However, one never knows the real reasons behind it.

Some people find a coach early in the skating life that they do well with and never find the need to switch. Nicole found that in Carlo Fassi and when he left for Italy, she had to find a new coach. I think that simply none of them worked for her as well as Carlo. She went back to him when he returned to the US, and when he died she went back to "coach sampling".