Communication outside of private lessons

[jjane45]

I remember reading in the old forum about skating parents demanding too much of the coach's time outside of lessons and wonder how much is too much?

This week I am starting my first private lesson with one of my favorite coach from group lessons. It will be a mini 15-minute one before his other 1-hour lesson, and I may not get to talk to him much before or afterward the lesson. He does not use email often, while I prefer email or talking in person. So I sat down and typed up a whole page letter about my skating goals, how I perceive my skating and his teaching style.

Granted I won't hand him letters every week lest he drops me (LOL), but I wonder how much off-clock communication is to be reasonably expected? When does a parent or student becomes a nuisance to coaches with respect to this? What are the things that should be discussed during lesson time instead of outside? Will ask the coach for sure but I'd appreciate all tips I could get!!

[ferelu]

Honestly, as long as you don't over analyses every single detail, you can contact your coach as often as you want. It's normal that at the beginning (since you are just starting to take private lessons) that you will have a lot of questions and you will seem to think you are taking a lot of the coach's time, but this is normal and all coaches should be expecting to put in a few more chats with new skaters/parents then with skaters/parents they have been dealing with for a while. Talking about your goals is fine, and it actually very necessary so that you both work towards your goals. Don't worry about taking too much of your coach's time unless you think you are actually being unreasonable.

[jjane45]

Cough cough I think I am being a total jerk.

After a month of great lessons, I sat down to write letter #2 just to express my gratitude and state the "wishlist" for the upcoming lessons (elements to revisit for testing etc). And suddenly instead of 3 sentences I have a half page letter!!

Wish I had this much to say while wring essays!

[phoenix]

Honestly Jane, that's the kind of thing that should be a short discussion while in a lesson. I'll often say to my coach something like "Can we focus on my backwards skating until I'm not on my toepicks anymore?" And we'll go on from there.

Thank you cards are always greatly appreciated though!!