Whatever happened to ETHICS?

[snowflake]

it seems as if this sport has lost its ethics. no one cares about how one's actions may affect another's, only caring about what will benefit oneself. "what can i gain if i make this decision?" or "how happy will I be when i do 'this'?" all too often selfish decisions are made. its sad but true. very unfortunate for the person who is hurt.

i understand why teams break up due to various circumstances or why a student leaves a coach and so on and so forth, but i think there are better ways to handle such decisions. im not just saying that all of the break ups and coach switching, etc.. have been unethical, but some have and there is no excuse.

there is life beyond skating, don't let it diminish your morals and what you as a person stand for; its not worth it.

[Lee]

Skaters have to decide what's best for them. If a partnership is not working, for whatever reason, and one partner wants out, nothing or no one has the right to demand they stay together.

Same goes for coaching changes. Skaters pay a great deal of money to their coaches, and if the situation is not working for the skater, they are perfectly within their rights to change coaches. Ethically, all they owe the old coach is any money that's due and to be given some sort of notice before the skater starts working with a new coach.

Ethics (or the lack thereof) very rarely has anything to do with such decisions.

[IdmaIjan]

Leaving a coach, breaking up with a partner...it's not always as it seems face value.

Sometimes it's difficult to leave a coach because they are controling. Or it may be difficult to leave a partner because you care about that person. Or maybe the coach is someone the skater really loves working with and feels that person has their best interest at heart. And the partner is just awful...doesn't work and doesn't give a rats a** about the effort involved. Or there may be a host of other factors involved. Who knows unless they are there?

I'd have to say that a high percentage of those who post on this board are not competitive skaters. Unless you've been there you can't begin to imagine what is involved in these skating *partnerships*. The time, the change in life style....what else do you think these kids do except skate? their family life? , the money, schooling?

But back to ethics. I have to agree...the coaches seem to have no ethics. Very few are concerned about what is best for the skater, especially in dance, they seem more concerned about what will advance their coaching career. The PSA certainly doesn't have the skaters best interest at heart. They only seem to be interested in what is best for the coach.

That is why so many get out of the sport. Eventually they see, get out of it what you can and move on.

[supersk8er]

Originally posted by snowflake there is life beyond skating, don't let it diminish your morals and what you as a person stand for; its not worth it.


The choices's a skater makes does not "diminish" their morals...Sometimes decisions need to be made simply to make a change...Yes, there are often hurt feelings, but if a skater isn't going to make decisions that are best for themselves, and they only make decisions that please others...then they will be forever unhappy in skating!!

Also...I believe a skater doesn't need an excuse to make a change...regardless of what they stand for...changes are good things, and they are not selfish.

[snowflake]

what i meant by diminishing morals wasnt toward all decisions, but decisions that are immoral. as a skater myself, i know that making decisions is very self-centered; however, there are good ways and bad ways to carry out those choices. all im saying is to think things through before decisions are made and take into account the other person who will be affected. i just think the other person is all to often forgotten, like he/she won't "react" after a split.

[kayskate]

Originally posted by snowflake
all im saying is to think things through before decisions are made and take into account the other person who will be affected. i just think the other person is all to often forgotten, like he/she won't "react" after a split.

Making decisions is part of life. Leaving a job, dumping a boy/girlfriend, getting a divorce, moving away etc. are all part of life. Yes, people get hurt and react. However, no one should stay in a bad situation. Yes, the actual break-up can be handled with compassion, but there are limits to how responsible one can be for a former partner's reaction. Does the cliche "We can still be friends" really mean anything to anyone?

Kay

[JKlink]

When you talk ethics and the PSA, you have to remember that the PSA is the coach’s organization. They do have an ethics/professional standards page, but they also have another page called tenets of professionalism, which contains a set of recommendations that would make a better set of ethics. This is a sentence from that page: "The Professional Skaters Association is aware that applicable rules of ethics covering professional responsibility generally provide only minimum standards of acceptable conduct."

I have heard that the Canadian system for coaches is different, can anybody fill us in on how the system works in Canada? JK

[Mazurka Girl]

Both skaters & coaches have a right to make changes. But I don't think it's necessarily these changes that snowflake was referring to, but rather the sneaky backstabbing, dishonest methods a lot of them use to do it. Conducting business in an honest & direct manner is best, & it gets harder & harder these days to find the coaches who conduct themselves in that manner.

When a coach is being paid to coach a skater all year & works on future plans with that individual, while at the same time working behind the scenes with the skater's partner to plan a DIFFERENT arrangement that doesn't include the other skater, that is not a professional way to manage the business. There is a direct conflict of interest with the coach accepting payment for the student while not working in the student's best interests or being open & honest about arrangements. And things like this go on all the time in skating.

[Mazurka Girl]

Originally posted by JKlink
When you talk ethics and the PSA, you have to remember that the PSA is the coach’s organization. They do have an ethics/professional standards page, but they also have another page called tenets of professionalism, which contains a set of recommendations that would make a better set of ethics. This is a sentence from that page: "The Professional Skaters Association is aware that applicable rules of ethics covering professional responsibility generally provide only minimum standards of acceptable conduct."
The PSA information seems much more concerned about coaches soliciting from each other & financial issues that arise from it, than it does about ethics & responsibilities in regards to students or truly effective leadership & teaching capabilities.

[xyzzy]

Mazurka Girl hit the nail on the head. The coach is a paid consultant to the skater and his/her parents. It's time they acted with responsibility toward that relationship. I've worked professionally with a number of coaches, helping them set themselves up as "businesses" and they all complain about how parents refuse to let them run their "business" like a business. Maybe they should act towards their clients like it is a business and remember who pays the bills.