Could a coach wear "Coach" jacket and give business cards?

[Query]

My coach wants more students. She mostly teaches group lessons
at one rink. I think she is a great coach. She is very good at
ice dance, but also teaches low level freestyle well enough for most of us.

The coaches where she teaches don't advertise. No signs on the wall. The rinks and figure
skating clubs don't publish coach bios. People at her group lesson rink recommend more experienced coaches. At another rinks, people who inquiring at the desk are typically recruited by the figure skating director.

I think any coach could recruit students by skating at public sessions while wearing something
conservative enough to resemble a uniform. I'm not any good, but like any adult who can do basic strokes, I am frequently asked at public sessions whether
I'm a coach. Perhaps because I'm older than most competitive athletes, and I often wear
solid colors. They'll even ask me
instead of people there who are much better, including coaches, but who are younger, or wear contrasting clothing, or something with words or decorations.

My coach is petite enough, fit enough, and
and looks young enough, to resemble a competitive athlete more than
a coach. She should wear something that screams "Coach". Her group lesson rink gives coaches cheap rain-coat-yellow jackets to
teach in, which would do. But she won't because the jackets are large enough
for her to swim in. She considers wearing a skating club jacket, but surely a club jacket implies "competitive skater" more than "coach".

I offered to give her a solid colored jacket or sweat suit, that says "Coach" or "Skating
Coach" on the back, in her size. Maybe white lettering on bright red (she has
dark hair). The Lady In Red would surely be noticed.
When people asked, she could hand out business cards, if they
say they have no coach now.

She thinks my idea is too close to "solicitation", and that she would become one of the
coaches that other coaches hate.

What do you think?

[Skittl1321]

I think solicitation rules only cover skaters with coaches, you can't do anything to try to take them away.  
Group lesson skaters do not fall under those rules (unless the rink specifies they do) and neither do private skaters.

My first coach wears his club jacket, and rather than just his name it says Coach X on it.  But it's not a HUGE thing- that would be ackward I think to be wearing a jacket that just screams coach.
He is the only coach at our rink who has business cards and hands them out liberally, to all his LTS class skaters (no one else does that, and then they complain when all the LTS kids go to him), and to anyone  who approaches him.  He has a giant stable of skaters, and I don't think the other coaches do (although he kind of keeps his herd together, and is a full time coach- which might make it more noticeable that he has so many students...I don't really even know who else my coach teaches...)

If your coach doesn't like the idea though, it wouldn't make sense for her to do it.
I felt ackward trying to suggest private lessons to LTS kids- I felt they would ask when the parents were ready.  But it's possible they didn't even know it was an option...skating is kept very secret.

[davincisop]

I know before I coached Basic Skills I'd often get mistaken for a coach because I wore solid black and tended to just carry myself well on the ice even though I'm still not very good (equivalent of around pre-juv/juv). I even got two offers from parents because I'm good with kids and their little ones had never skated before so I just helped them a little bit because the parents didn't know how to get them to stop crying. Which now that I think of it probably wasn't one of the smartest things, but I was also skate guarding and when kids looks scared I like to help them a little bit just to get their confidence up so they have fun rather than be scared the entire time. But I had to turn the parents down and said "I just enjoy helping kids when they look like they're having a little bit of trouble". But In my solid black when I wasn't working I got mistaken, too, by little kids, probably moreso because I look 18 therefore to them I look "old" (I'm 23.... this is good for my future haha!).

My coach has a jacket she wears often, and she wears those swishy track pants. Nothing on her says "coach" but before I started training with her she'd come up to me on the public session and asked me if I had a coach or not and when I said I didn't, she helped me a bit and then gave me her card at the end of the session. If she's recruiting students as long as she asks if they have a private coach or not first then she's ok. Before I started with my current coach I was skating back home and another coach (who later on I went to to help me get fitted for my skates) offered a little help on my half flip. She also though checked whether or not I had a coach first.

At my rink we want to get jackets that say COACH on the back for when we teach basic skills so we all can stand out a bit and that way kids know who is a coach and who isn't. It would also command some authority from them.

So basically, I think it's up to your coach if she wants to wear a coaching jacket, but I see nothing wrong with giving out business cards so long as she checks with the person she gives them to that they're not currently training with another coach.

[FigureSpins]

If you're a coach, you need to dress like a coach, as I've heard at a number of coaching seminars.  Athleticwear and a jacket are perfect. 

The PSA sells a well-made jacket that many coaches love and wear with pride.  It's a little expensive because of the embroidery.  Most of the rinks I've taught for in the last ten years require (request?) that the coaches buy a rink jacket.  The facility chipped in a little to offset the cost.  Last fall, the Director said that we were REQUIRED to wear the rink jacket when teaching private lessons, which surprised me because other rinks only required it to be worn for group lessons.  So that's another discussion to have with the Director.

Your coach should talk to the skating director and ask if the program is planning to get jackets this year.  If not, she can buy a PSA jacket or something that's functional for her style and have her name and "skating coach" embroidered on it with a small graphic ice skate.  Make it something discreet and classy, not loud and screaming "COACH."  It should look professional, not promotional.

As for the business cards, she should keep them handy and give them out when someone approaches her about lessons.  That's not soliciting - that's being a business person.

As Skittl said, some skating programs don't allow the instructor to approach parents about privates; they just let it happen or the skating director promotes it for everyone and coordinates the assignments. 

One of the skating directors who presented at an ISI conference actually requires the instructors to make every parent aware of private lesson options.  In her mind, a skater who is struggling in a level needs that "tutoring" to keep up with the others and not lose interest in the lesson program.  Makes sense when you think of it that way.

Again, your coach has to consider the rink's culture before making any changes.  She should observe what the other coaches are doing - what do they wear, do they talk to the parents after classes, are they available at public sessions to answer questions, do they hand out business cards?

[Skittl1321]

I found this statement on the PSA page.  It might make your coach feel more comfortable about getting "out there" and advertising.

"When you advertise yourself in a public domain, you are RECRUITING.  Targeting a skater already established with a coach and suggesting they change to you is SOLICITATION.  Telling a skater already involved in a coaching relationship they will have better results with you is SOLICITATION."
(emphasis theirs)

Recruiting is without a doubt allowed.

[Query]

I hear a lot of great ideas.

All-black professional-looking sports wear, with an embroidered first name and skate, might meet her standards for subtlety. I'll suggest it.

In retrospect, much more professional than my Lady In Red "Skating Coach" concept jacket.

Rain-coat-yellow nylon jackets look more cheap than professional to me, but it is her group lesson rink's standard uniform for group lesson coaches. Not available in petite sizes - maybe she can silk screen the same words on a similar material and color jacket that is her size.

(-: Remember the skating movie where a high-end coach offers to coach the main character after she does well at a competition, and offers to coach her? Perhaps skating movie coaches don't have to meet PSA standards. :-)

[Elsa]

(-: Remember the skating movie where a high-end coach offers to coach the main character after she does well at a competition, and offers to coach her? Perhaps skating movie coaches don't have to meet PSA standards. :-)

Ah, but didn't she go to the girl's coach to ask first?  At least I think that's how it worked in the original - not so sure about the remake.

I would think a club, or other sport type jacket with "Coach Jane" or "Coach Smith" in the name spot on the front of the jacket would be fine.  It would differentiate her from the skaters without being too "look at me! I'm a coach!"

[Query]

Ah, but didn't she go to the girl's coach to ask first?  At least I think that's how it worked in the original - not so sure about the remake.

Not in the version I saw. But what I saw may have been shortened for TV broadcast. I hate that.

---

I saw a coach today dressed in blue jeans with torn knees, and a non-descriptive top. She set an interesting example for her tween aged student, who was dressed about the same, minus the torn knees. Few parents would pay for that example.

[FigureSpins]

My former skating director instituted a dress code at the start of one season.  In November, there was a photo in the local paper showing a skating lesson being taught by a young woman with a belly-baring shirt.  The local paper's message board for parents and sports had a lot of chatter about whether or not that was inappropriate clothing.  My former director's comment?  "Glad that wasn't my rink!"  (The photo was taken at a different rink in the area.)