Basic Skill private lessons - definition and requirements?

[Query]

The USFSA Coach's Requirements Chart says that registered Basic Skill instructors can teach group and private Basic Skills lessons, and that a Basic Skills membership includes Sports Accident insurance.

But "private Basic Skills lesson" is not defined.

1. Would you interpret it to mean

  A. A lesson confined to the skills in the Basic Skills program

or

  B. The coach must follow the Basic Skills Curricula, and not teach any skill until all the skills of prior BS levels have been mastered?

2. Would you interpret it to mean that the student must be registered in a Basic Skills program?

3. In relation to insurance, do you think they are talking about the Basic Skills membership that a coach can get (one of the ways of being registered as a Basic Skills coach), or the Basic Skills membership that a student can get?

4. If I could only teach beginning level skaters, but only charge half the local going rate, would other coaches resent it? [Many local rinks require coaches to teach group lessons at that rink, so the most probable rink where is where I am a volunteer instructor a (free) group lesson program, but I might look elsewhere too.]

[jlspink22]

My daughter takes groups at one rink and privates at another, both basic skills.

We do this because (a) time/schedule of groups and (b) some places don't allow you to pay a parent fee to participate in practice time set aside in group lessons. My daughter wants me on the ice with her.

Her Basic skills private lessons are taken from the skating director at a club at the "better" rink closer to our home in the AM on freestyle ice. He does a few things:
(1) fixes previous skills so they are mastered, for example, her backwards swizzles, skating she was dragging her toe pick.
(2) Introduces new skills (some not necessarily in order but just to keep it interesting).
(3) Reinforces what she is learning in groups.
(4) Builds her a flexible program based on the level she has mastered (ie her level is B3-B4 now but her program is B2 because that is what she has mastered).

In my area, a lot of the same skaters/lower level coaches float rinks as needed to fit schedules. More $ coaches stick to their club's home rink.  Does this help?

[Clarice]

My rink requires that private coaches have their own liability insurance.  The coverage under the Basic Skills program is not sufficient.  I would check with whatever rink you're planning to teach at.

[davincisop]

Back when I was a basic skills instructor, I was also working on my PSA certifications to do private lessons. With the basic skills private lessons (which I didn't really end up doing because I taught tots), it would basically be lessons for children in your class one on one if they were having trouble mastering a skill.

In my case, more like paid babysitting haha. But if one of my tots was having trouble with doing a dip. Parent could hire me for a 15 minute private lesson outside of class time and I could work with the kid one on one on dips.

[sarahspins]

My rink requires that private coaches have their own liability insurance.  The coverage under the Basic Skills program is not sufficient.

Ditto this, and you effectively cannot operate as an independent contractor with only a BS Instructor membership, which is how a vast majority of rinks expect private lessons to be handled, which means in most places you simply can't teach private lessons as a BS Instructor unless you are also a fully covered coach as well.  Without your own liability insurance, BS students would need to pay the rink, not you directly, and you would then be paid by the rink.  Essentially that's why it works for group classes (even if you are volunteering your time), because those skaters aren't paying you, they pay the rink, and you as an employee are in turn covered under the rink's insurance policy.

[Query]

Indeed, sigh, my rink requires liability insurance. Looks like Sports Accident Insurance doesn't cover liability at all.

Insurance through PSA requires costs 90, and I would at least require an associate membership (for 5 hours teaching/week tops), which would cost $90, pro-rated to this point in the year. They ask a lot of questions about tests and experience, and don't indicate what the minimums are.

Insurance through USFSA is $94. I think, but am not sure my Basic Skills membership, through the rink at which I volunteer, would be sufficient. But again, they don't list the requirements. It's an on-line form, and you have to go through it before you can see the whole thing.

It clearly isn't meant to be easy or cheap.

No wonder organizations the hockey and the speed skating organizations created their own systems. Most of the hockey coaches are parent/volunteers, and wouldn't go through such hoops.

As far as teaching for money through a group lesson program - there are a fair number of high level skaters available in this area, so the rinks at which I have asked require instructors to be Gold test level.

[sarahspins]

As far as teaching for money through a group lesson program - there are a fair number of high level skaters available in this area, so the rinks at which I have asked require instructors to be Gold test level.

Honestly, even though I don't meet this requirement, in a more competitive area I feel that it's a reasonable one to have if you expect the most of your instructors and in turn, skaters.  I've heard of rinks that require all instructors to be at least Juvenile moves level. My rink has relatively lax requirements in comparison, but we have neither an excess of coaches (ours keep moving away, and we simply don't have enough coaches to enforce a high level requirement if we want enough on staff to teach a full set of classes) or a lot of high level skaters to pull new coaches from. Most of the coaches at my rink who teach private lessons do have at least one gold test, but not all of them do.

Neither PSA or USFS have "level" requirements to be a coach - you can register as a coach and teach students even if you have never passed a single USFS skating test.  We have a choreographer at our rink who I am pretty sure has never taken any tests... and it's not a big deal, since she doesn't teach group lessons.  She does have her CER A so she can put skaters on the ice at qualifying comps.

Likewise as far as USFS is concerned there are no qualifications to be a BS Instructor beyond passing the background check.

[CaraSkates]

Without your own liability insurance, BS students would need to pay the rink, not you directly, and you would then be paid by the rink.  Essentially that's why it works for group classes (even if you are volunteering your time), because those skaters aren't paying you, they pay the rink, and you as an employee are in turn covered under the rink's insurance policy.

This is how BS privates work at my rink - if a group lesson student is looking for extra help passing a level or element, or when we have a 2-3 week break from classes, they can sign up for a lesson with any of the group lesson instructors. The fee is paid to the rink and then the rink adds it in on the coach's next paycheck. These lessons are a fixed rate and are an inexpensive way to try privates. If a student is looking to join the club, start privates in order to test or compete, then they will be paired with a staff coach (some of who also teach in the LTS program). They can take 6 lessons at the reduced rate and then they have to pay the coaches full fee.

As far as instructor qualifications, the program I teach at requires you to be 16 and have completed 50 classes of "shadowing", essentially working with another coach. You can start shadowing at 14 but the rink won't put you on payroll till 16 and finished your hours. This is just for the group lesson program.

[sarahspins]

As far as instructor qualifications, the program I teach at requires you to be 16 and have completed 50 classes of "shadowing", essentially working with another coach. You can start shadowing at 14 but the rink won't put you on payroll till 16 and finished your hours. This is just for the group lesson program.

That is essentially the same system our rink implemented about a year ago.  It's also rewards based, so kids who aren't yet rink employees (either due to age or lack of asking) can earn free ice time in exchange for their hours spent shadowing (and it also trains them to be in the habit of recording their time).  It's honestly a HUGE help since we have a lot of people shadowing now and you almost always get a helper (or two or three) for your class now, which is really nice.

[fsk8r]

Neither PSA or USFS have "level" requirements to be a coach - you can register as a coach and teach students even if you have never passed a single USFS skating test. 

I find this quite worrying. How does a new parent know the ability of the coach to actually teach skating?
I can be confident in the UK of the minimum level all coaches have achieved if they're coaching privates as they must be licensed by NISA. At LTS level there can be lower level skaters coaching (must have a minimum of the first test level), but they are not allowed to coach anything more  than group classes.

[Query]

I find this quite worrying. How does a new parent know the ability of the coach to actually teach skating?

The PSA and USFSA (also called USFS) have "Ratings" and "Rankings" systems. Those are supposed to fill that need.

But the main way to judge a teacher in any field has always been to watch them teach, and to ask other people for their opinions - in this case to ask good skaters. You don't need to know the subject to judge teaching effectiveness. It's also not hard to find a good figure skater - just look for speed, grace, and control.

I think that someone who plans to be a high level competitive skater should be taught by someone who is very good, more or less from the start, so they don't get bad habits.

But most people just casually come to rinks to have a little fun. The main thing for them is to be safe, stop being afraid of simple things, and to understand the basics. Just as you don't need to be a certified school teacher or a Nobel prize winner to teach an academic subject, you don't need to be a high level athlete to teach entry level athletics to the masses. Some of the best people in both academic and athletic fields turn out to be poor teachers, or only understand how to teach a small subset of students.

Some of your fellow students, who learned yesterday what you are trying to learn today, are far better at teaching it than most of those with high formal qualifications.

I'd like to think that I am good at teaching what I know, better than many of those with higher qualifications. I also know where my limits are, and wouldn't wouldn't mis-represent myself as a high level skater. If a student was likely to go past those limits any time soon, I would of course advise him or her to find a teacher with better skating skills, but who is still a good teacher for the student's individual learning style.

I have known for some time that teaching figure skating for money was impractical for most skaters, because there were a lot of barriers to entry. I just wondered whether the registration of us volunteers as USFSA BS Instructors would make a difference. But there are still a lot of barriers to entry. No big surprise: All certification programs exist mainly to make money for those who certify, but also to maintain higher pay rates for those that have the resources to get past the barriers, by keeping out the masses.

[Clarice]

I have known for some time that teaching figure skating for money was impractical for most skaters, because there were a lot of barriers to entry. I just wondered whether the registration of us volunteers as USFSA BS Instructors would make a difference. But there are still a lot of barriers to entry. No big surprise: All certification programs exist mainly to make money for those who certify, but also to maintain higher pay rates for those that have the resources to get past the barriers, by keeping out the masses.

It can be done, though, if you're serious and want to put in the time and effort.  I'm an adult skater who began in my late 30s.  Along the way, I started helping with the tot classes in our LTS program, and was pretty good at it - partly because I'm also a mom and a certified teacher.  I worked on my own skating, passed Gold MIF and Silver Free, switched to dance, and am on my Pre-Silvers.  I do some private teaching now - like you, I know my limits and pass students on when they've reached them.  I registered as a USFS coach, joined the PSA, bought liability insurance, passed the tests needed to put skaters on the ice for competitions and testing, and just passed my first PSA ratings exam.  Do I make money teaching skating?  Enough to pay for everything I need to do to be a coach and have some left to subsidize my own skating.  Not enough to quit my day job!  But it's worth it to me because I love doing it, and because I can serve as a good entry-level coach for those just starting private lessons.  Because I'm not a high level skater, I believe the credentials are very important to demonstrate that I'm serious about what I'm doing and that I've taken the time to learn to do it as well as I can.

[Query]

Clarice, I think it is great that you have achieved those things!


Do I guess correctly that you did a fair bit of athletics as a child - including Dance or Gymnastics? Also that you have always been more flexible, especially in opening your hips and bending your spine (i.e., hip flexor flexibility) than most of your peers?

When I see almost any "Senior" level skater, especially a lady, there is a smoothness and flow and body awareness to the way their body moves that I don't think can be learned as an adult. To some extant men can substitute strength for flow, but I think there is something about childhood dance-type training that restructures joints and muscles to move differently from mortals like me, and that leads to a degree of body awareness and hip flexor flexibility that also can't be learned later. And you may be physiologically special to sustain that flexibility.