I have always told my current coach I was talking to another coach first - except when I hadn't taken a lesson from them in a long while, so they weren't really my current coach. And I have told most of my private coaches that I might take group lessons from someone else at the same time. I like group lessons.
But that was just a courtesy. I can't see that it should be required.
I guess the only problem is whether the coach you want to switch to will accept you as a student...there are some coaches here who do NOT accept anyone who asks be it for room purposes or that they only teach certain profiles....so you are saying you should risk being coachless?
Huh? I'm not quite clear what you are saying. Could you reword that?
It is unfortunate if coaches hate students who consider switching. A mature coach should appreciate that their particular teaching style won't work for everyone.
It must be a fairly unusual part of the culture of figure skating that the the employee is considered to own the employer, and considers such ownership ethical.
When I was taking private whitewater kayak lessons, I was approached by another instructor about taking from him. I think that is pretty common in that world. I honestly don't know if there are many worlds where the figure skating attitude is common.
If you were contracting to have something built, and weren't happy, wouldn't you feel free to talk to others, without informing the current contractor you were doing so? If you were diagnosed with a medical illness, wouldn't you feel it reasonable to seek a second opinion without asking the current doctor? If your child took lessons in math from a private tutor, and the child didn't advance fast enough, wouldn't it be reasonable to try a lesson with another tutor before telling the first one? Wouldn't you feel OK switching to a new professor for your next college course, if it is also available from the current one?
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I do regret one situation.
I was taking from a private ice dance coach, who like me was a guy, so we couldn't partner. He was a very good coach, with a strong competitive background, who coached many strongly competitive dance couples. (He was new to the area. He no longer accepts non-competitive students.)
The rink made a deal with that coach. They created many Ice Dance sessions. He taught a group lesson, and would arrange for his nationally competitive students to teach 15 minute private lessons to the group lesson students, at $1/minute. This arrangement attracted many students to the group lesson who were already taking lessons from one private coach or another, but took the opportunity to take the short private lessons from his competitive students. He told his competitive students it would be good experience towards become coaches in their own right. I took the group lessons, while continuing the privates, and started taking lessons with one of his competitive students too, who was a gal, so she could dance with me.
I don't think I knew about anti-poaching standards at the time.
Some time later I became discouraged about skating, and quit taking lessons for a while. But I later took lessons with the student again, without consulting with the first coach. It only later occurred to me that that might have been awkward for both her and the original coach, who continued to be her coach.
The first coach wasn't bad. But it is very hard to learn low level ice dance from a coach you can't dance with. Plus her English was good enough to explain things to me, as his was not.
In retrospect the arrangement the rink pushed had the potential to create awkward situations, one of which I allowed to happen. I don't know whether or not the other group lessons students knew about anti-poaching standards either. A lot of skating students don't.
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Given anti-poaching standards, it is a good thing for students to know about them.
But I still can't see how such standards are good things. You should be able to take lessons from anyone you want who is willing to teach you.
Topic: Skater relationship with a coach (Read 30284 times)