- Joined
- Jan 24, 2013
I'm in a dilemma. I've been attending a group adult class, as well as taking private lessons with my primary coach. I've been stuck on elements with my primary coach, and have found some corrections by the coaches in the group adult class to be helpful. While my primary coach's technique aligns more with what more top-level coaches advocate, the corrections by the group class coaches have helped me more in my elements, despite their techniques being different from the primary coach's. So I asked my primary coach if I could take extra lessons with the other coaches to accelerate my progress. My plan was, learn the technique from the primary coach, and have the other coaches work on corrections, as needed, that my primary coach couldn't provide. The other coaches also have cheaper rates and are fine with shorter lessons on an as-needed basis, so financially, this works for me.
The problem is: primary coach refused. She also did not want me to take skating skills classes with the dance coach at my rink. In a nutshell, she said it's better if I just take lessons with her.
I learn best with multiple sources of information (I know how to work around conflicting techniques -- at the end of the day, it's about which would work most efficiently for my body), unless my coach has excellent technique and really matches my learning style (and that has happened only with one former coach many years ago, so very rare for me). I don't know about the coaches' politics (I try to stay away from it), but I find the exclusivity thing exasperating. Do I keep my coach who can show me how something should be done but has difficulty pointing out why I can't do it? Or do I switch to a coach who is very good at pointing out why something is not working, but whose technique is less efficient than the primary coach? I don't see why I can't keep both if they have available time slots.
Is this really what skating culture is like?
EDIT: I realized it may be weird to imagine how I can use corrections from a coach with a different technique to another. So just as an example: group class coach teaches the loop jump to be a shallower edge with a twist rather than a deep edge at takeoff (the latter is more efficient for me), but she was able to point out my free leg swinging and how I can correct that.
The problem is: primary coach refused. She also did not want me to take skating skills classes with the dance coach at my rink. In a nutshell, she said it's better if I just take lessons with her.
I learn best with multiple sources of information (I know how to work around conflicting techniques -- at the end of the day, it's about which would work most efficiently for my body), unless my coach has excellent technique and really matches my learning style (and that has happened only with one former coach many years ago, so very rare for me). I don't know about the coaches' politics (I try to stay away from it), but I find the exclusivity thing exasperating. Do I keep my coach who can show me how something should be done but has difficulty pointing out why I can't do it? Or do I switch to a coach who is very good at pointing out why something is not working, but whose technique is less efficient than the primary coach? I don't see why I can't keep both if they have available time slots.
Is this really what skating culture is like?
EDIT: I realized it may be weird to imagine how I can use corrections from a coach with a different technique to another. So just as an example: group class coach teaches the loop jump to be a shallower edge with a twist rather than a deep edge at takeoff (the latter is more efficient for me), but she was able to point out my free leg swinging and how I can correct that.
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