The right coach for you

[emitche]

How do you know when you have found the right instructor for you? If you have a coach or instructor you really like, what specific experiences made you feel like it was a good fit? How long did you try out lessons with a coach before deciding to work with them long-term? How do you determine whether an instructor's philosophy on skating matches with you own? How do you determine if it is a good long-term match?

I've started working with a coach that I like, but am also feeling a lot more inspired in my group lessons. (Could just be that I' m just less peppy in the early AM.) However, I need private lessons to really focus on elements and improving and she does a great job at laser focusing on elements.

Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[littlerain]

I don't have any concrete advice to offer, but I think that is great that your group classes are inspiring you - I think that is a great place to start!

Fwiw, I decided to work with my coach bc she made me feel comfortable, and I appreciated her attention to detail when it came to technique. Both things I needed at that time!

[littlerain]

Oh, and I do think private lessons really help progress at any level

[emitche]

Thanks, littlerain!

[TreSk8sAZ]

This is a hard question as coaching is so personal. What one person looks for, another person might not like at all. But, I've made a coaching switch within the past couple of years, so I have a small perspective on what I look for. Take it with a grain of salt.

When I first started with old coach, I really liked her. I was coming back from 4 years off ice due to injury, and she had a style that helped me get my feet back under me. But I never felt like there was a long-term plan. There was no structure to the competition season, or pre-season. Advanced elements I just got frustrated on because the communication wasn't there anymore. I guess I feel like she was more of a teacher, where she was good at teaching the individual things.

My new coach is more of a coach versus a teacher. She's very good at teaching elements, but there's always a specific end game and everything builds on each other. If I'm having trouble with an element, she figures out an exercise that I can warm-up with in order to strengthen the underlying skills. Each competition season, we map out what we are doing, where we want to be at each point, and how we are going to get there. She and I work well together because we are both driven and she understands how my mind works. She treats me no differently than her competitive kids, in essence, and I appreciate that because that's how I'm wired. She also is constantly perfecting the details of everything, and makes sure that what I perform plays to my strengths while still challenging me at first.

The only way I figured all of this out, though, was by working with her as my jump coach first. The contrast between the two coaching styles became really apparent then. If I hadn't actively started working with new coach in that setting, I might honestly still be with old coach. Maybe not. But for me, looking forward to my lessons, to each new season, being able to communicate with my coach honestly, and feeling like I'm finally improving are all indications that this is a good match. She pushes me to try things I might be scared of and I trust her to know when I'm ready.

I think coaching relationships also evolve though. You can't guarantee that it will be a good long-term match as your skills as goals change. But if you can find someone you're comfortable with, can take constructive criticism from, and feel like you are improving, that's a pretty good start.

[mamabear]

I decided to switch to private lessons after the group adult lessons were getting pretty crowded and attempting to teach multiple levels at a time.  I felt like it wasn't working that well not because of the coach but because of the situation.  I stayed with the same coach for private that I had for the group lessons because I was comfortable with her-I had worked in one capacity or another (either they were a sub for a class or we worked on a show group program) and so I kind of felt like I knew the styles of most of the coaches.  I felt like I could work well with several of them.  Here are several things I really like-

1) We talked about a plan early on and then we've stayed with that.  It gave me some direction as far as what I was working on and I felt like that was needed.
2) She seems to have an uncanny sense of when I just can't work on an element anymore and switches to something else and then we come back.
3) Crazy amounts of patience.  I did not do sports as a kid (a year of gymnastics and of track in middle school-that's it) and while I listen and really want to do what she says-it takes a lot of repetition.  This does not come naturally to me AT ALL!  But, she's willing to work with that!

[emitche]

Thanks, tresk8 and mamabear. I think I am going to just enjoy the private lessons for now and see where I go and how I grow over time. Consistency is most important for me right now. Thanks, each of you, for your perspectives and input. It sounds like it is an individual choice based on level of comfort, goals, and how you are growing. This helps.