First of all, almost everyone I've met who teaches skating at a professional level is an incredibly good athlete. Take a look at the Bios various clubs post. It seems like everyone has won regional competitions, or made it to Nationals of one country or another, or has USFSA gold test levels in freestyle and dance, or toured or choreographed with Disney On Ice, Stars on Ice, etc. They are all so high above most of us, maybe exactly how how shouldn't be a major criteria, especially if we don't expect to win major league competitions.
As an almost new skater, I asked a club "pro liason" who would be a good ice dance coach. She was trying to recruit world class ice dancers to come and coach, so she gave me the name of one of the coaches whose services she had recruited - a Russian former Olympian by the name of
Genrikh Sretenski. Some skaters and skating fans say he was among the finest male ice dancers in history. At the time three Olympic hopeful Dance teams were taking from him.
That appealed to me in part because I had happily taken kayak lessons from a world class kayaker, who was one of the best teachers in any subject I had ever met. The kayaker was equally good at teaching other competitive athletes, and klutzes like me. So I naturally assumed all world class athletes were great teachers too, for everyone.
Genrickh charged the highest rates in the area. But for a year or two I used him. I initially assumed world class athlete meant he would teach the "right" style, and taking from him would make it easy to partner with ladies. But he emphasized a highly idiosyncratic style - which I didn't recognize. So when I tried to partner with ladies in the club, I was doing all the wrong things, moving my body in opposite ways from the American norm. He did push a lot for speed and other things that were good, and I still practice a lot of his drills, but his English was imperfect, and I had a lot of trouble distinguishing what was supposed to be drill technique, and what was supposed to be good skating technique. He also always used Show, when I needed a lot of Tell. And I wasn't going to practice partnering with another male. (For a while I simultaneously took lessons from one of his competitive ladies,
Caitlin Obremski, with whom I could partner.)
After realizing I wasn't getting better very fast, and was spending a lot of time [20 hours/week] and money on it, I quit with him. And yet, three of my other coaches (including Caitlin), with whom I had better luck, took from him as
their coach, and were quite happy with him. So he is a great coach, and I believe he still coaches a number of great competitive skaters - just not for me.
In the end, as a non-athlete trying to do athletic things, I need a coach who is able to analyze exactly how to do things, can demonstrate well, can explain well, can sometimes move my body to the positions needed, can explain how to train, and has a detailed technical knowledge of what you need to do to make the body move well, not just the innate ability to do those things. At my skating level, that doesn't take a world class skater, it takes a world class teacher, one better adapted to my needs.
If for some reason you need a new coach, I encourage you to try out someone outstanding. He/she might work very well for you, and it can be quite inspiring. But also look at coaches that seem to be outstanding teachers.
On the other hand, switching coaches usually creates a lot of problems, as you have to get used to their teaching and skating style. You might be better off staying with your current coach.
I think a good way to experiment is to take a group lesson from someone good. Say, an ice dance or edge clinic. If you are up front with your current coach about that, it doesn't have to mean burning your bridges with your current coach.
- Just my view
Topic: Skating with a Star (Read 10387 times)