- Joined
- Jan 10, 2018
Thanks for the opinions! To keep privacy, I deleted the original details.
Ask your daughter if she feels ready to test. If she is ready to test the next level and the coach says another six months, get a different coach at the club, who doesn't push to test before their skaters are ready but also is does not hold back their skaters from testing either. Does your daughter want to compete recreationally, or does she have dreams of going the competitive stream? Talk with your daughter to find out her wishes. After Preliminary the learning curve slows down because the elements tend to get more difficult to learn.As a new skating mom, I need some opinions about my situation with my daughter’s coach and would appreciate your suggestion.
My daughter K started skating late, but she is a very quick learner. It’s not said by me, every coach who taught her said so. We didn’t choose her coach. Instead, she chose K. She was teaching K a group lesson at that time and asked us to start private lesson with her. She is an experienced staff in our club. All coaches stop to say hi to her in the rink. You can tell she is an important person. But she has few students maybe because of her health.
As I said, K is a quick learner and she starts late. So I (and she) hope she can focus and try to go as high level as she can, as soon as she can. Don’t think I am the one who pushes. No, she is natural. K started ballet since 4 and dances in competitions now. She enjoys it. She also has other hobbies. You know, the type of energetic kids, enjoying challenge. Honestly, I didn’t expect her to be professional or go to national competition. But I honestly wish she can reach her potential.
When K finished Freestyle 6, I asked the coach when she can take Pre-Pre MIF. She was unhappy. In the beginning, she said 2 months later. When it’s close, she said 2 months later again. At that time, K was very ready. She kept saying “I don’t want my students to feel hurt from failure. I want to be 100% sure.” Then we waited another 2 months. So in total, it took 4 months for K to take Pre-Pre MIF after she finished freestyle 6. While I know many kids do it when they finish freestyle2. Of course, all judges’ comments are great. K looked much better than other kids who tested there. A couple of moms asked what test K took and surprised she was taking Pre-Pre MIF.
Ok, next step is Pre MIF. The coach can tell that I was not very happy about the 1st test. So she taught K Pre MIF right after the 1st test. Then K got ready after about 1 month. Of course, she’s also learning other jump and spins. The coach said, she could take the test after 6 months. I asked why if she’s ready. The coach said “The goal is not to pass. She could do better.” OK, I agreed. We waited for another 2 months. When K asked me, I asked the coach again. The coach said: “I don’t want you to focus on testing. She should have other fun in skating.” Why did she think K has no fun? She really enjoyed. And she enjoyed testing. Anyway, since then, she kept telling us to practice less. We used to have lessons 2/week and skate 5d/wk. Later she said we don’t need that much practice. I never expect a coach to say that! Anyway, we ended with Pre MIV 6 month after PrePre MIF. Again K got all good comments from judges, nothing marked as “need improvement”.
Now I think we should work for PrePre Free Skate. K will turn 12 this year. But I am more frustrated. She never mention the free skate test or how is K's Axel going. All she repeats is "Learn to be patient in skating.".
From the beginning to now, she asked us to join EVERY show in the club. K had fun the first time, later she was not very interested. So I want to choose one or two to go. But she insisted us to participate all. Also, she told K many times, skating takes long time.
My feeling is that she wants us to slow down. But I don’t understand why. I don’t want to comment on her philosophy of skating. I just want to know, are the schedules for the first couple of tests normal? Is what the coach did common? Am I expecting too much? Should we fit in this slow schedule or look for faster pace?
As a new skating mom, I need some opinions about my situation with my daughter’s coach and would appreciate your suggestion.
My daughter K started skating late, but she is a very quick learner. It’s not said by me, every coach who taught her said so. We didn’t choose her coach. Instead, she chose K. She was teaching K a group lesson at that time and asked us to start private lesson with her. She is an experienced staff in our club. All coaches stop to say hi to her in the rink. You can tell she is an important person. But she has few students maybe because of her health.
As I said, K is a quick learner and she starts late. So I (and she) hope she can focus and try to go as high level as she can, as soon as she can. Don’t think I am the one who pushes. No, she is natural. K started ballet since 4 and dances in competitions now. She enjoys it. She also has other hobbies. You know, the type of energetic kids, enjoying challenge. Honestly, I didn’t expect her to be professional or go to national competition. But I honestly wish she can reach her potential.
When K finished Freestyle 6, I asked the coach when she can take Pre-Pre MIF. She was unhappy. In the beginning, she said 2 months later. When it’s close, she said 2 months later again. At that time, K was very ready. She kept saying “I don’t want my students to feel hurt from failure. I want to be 100% sure.” Then we waited another 2 months. So in total, it took 4 months for K to take Pre-Pre MIF after she finished freestyle 6. While I know many kids do it when they finish freestyle2. Of course, all judges’ comments are great. K looked much better than other kids who tested there. A couple of moms asked what test K took and surprised she was taking Pre-Pre MIF.
Ok, next step is Pre MIF. The coach can tell that I was not very happy about the 1st test. So she taught K Pre MIF right after the 1st test. Then K got ready after about 1 month. Of course, she’s also learning other jump and spins. The coach said, she could take the test after 6 months. I asked why if she’s ready. The coach said “The goal is not to pass. She could do better.” OK, I agreed. We waited for another 2 months. When K asked me, I asked the coach again. The coach said: “I don’t want you to focus on testing. She should have other fun in skating.” Why did she think K has no fun? She really enjoyed. And she enjoyed testing. Anyway, since then, she kept telling us to practice less. We used to have lessons 2/week and skate 5d/wk. Later she said we don’t need that much practice. I never expect a coach to say that! Anyway, we ended with Pre MIV 6 month after PrePre MIF. Again K got all good comments from judges, nothing marked as “need improvement”.
Now I think we should work for PrePre Free Skate. K will turn 12 this year. But I am more frustrated. She never mention the free skate test or how is K's Axel going. All she repeats is "Learn to be patient in skating.".
From the beginning to now, she asked us to join EVERY show in the club. K had fun the first time, later she was not very interested. So I want to choose one or two to go. But she insisted us to participate all. Also, she told K many times, skating takes long time.
My feeling is that she wants us to slow down. But I don’t understand why. I don’t want to comment on her philosophy of skating. I just want to know, are the schedules for the first couple of tests normal? Is what the coach did common? Am I expecting too much? Should we fit in this slow schedule or look for faster pace?
Ask your daughter if she feels ready to test. If she is ready to test the next level and the coach says another six months, get a different coach at the club, who doesn't push to test before their skaters are ready but also is does not hold back their skaters from testing either. Does your daughter want to compete recreationally, or does she have dreams of going the competitive stream? Talk with your daughter to find out her wishes. After Preliminary the learning curve slows down because the elements tend to get more difficult to learn.
As a former competitive elite, and now a pro, I can see it both ways. First, your coach may be trying to slow her down because way too many skaters rush through their tests to pass and don’t acquire the real hallmarks of the sport (great deep smooth edges, proper techniques and stylings, etc). So she may be wanting her to focus more on that.
The other way I see is it is, she may be slowing her down so she doesn’t progress quickly and past her point of being able to coach her, which means she’d lose her to a higher ranked coach that can. Without knowing the coach (and no you don’t have to mention who), I can’t form an opinion on that for sure.
The lack of wanting her to practice though is a huge red flag for me. Practice never hurts. Yes, you can over do it, but it doesn’t sound like that is what your child is doing at all.
Sit down and have a chat with your daughter and see what she wants to do. Then perhaps have a chat with your clubs skating director and then with coach.
Good luck.
BTW, is changing coach normal? Because she is experienced and respected in the rink, if I talk to other coaches to look for chance, will it annoy her and have bad influence on my daughter?
Login with your daughter's member number on your country's figure skating association website and look up the next level up of tests your daughter is working on now. It's not good to be kept in the dark for you or your daughter.My daughter wants to compete. I think competing recreationally/locally is more realistic. We can't tell whether she is ready or not until the coach tell us what's the test requires. But now she doesn't tell me anymore. She doesn't talk about test to me at all.
BTW, is changing coach normal? Because she is experienced and respected in the rink, if I talk to other coaches to look for chance, will it annoy her and have bad influence on my daughter?
Is changing coaches normal? It depends on what your daughter's dreams are. You're the Mom and the boss who hires the coach for your daughter. Is her coach doing the job to you and your daughter's satisfaction?My daughter wants to compete. I think competing recreationally/locally is more realistic. We can't tell whether she is ready or not until the coach tell us what's the test requires. But now she doesn't tell me anymore. She doesn't talk about test to me at all.
BTW, is changing coach normal? Because she is experienced and respected in the rink, if I talk to other coaches to look for chance, will it annoy her and have bad influence on my daughter?
My daughter wants to compete. I think competing recreationally/locally is more realistic. We can't tell whether she is ready or not until the coach tell us what's the test requires. But now she doesn't tell me anymore. She doesn't talk about test to me at all.
BTW, is changing coach normal? Because she is experienced and respected in the rink, if I talk to other coaches to look for chance, will it annoy her and have bad influence on my daughter?
Does this coach have other students who are testing at higher levels and competing at USFS levels beyond learn to skate?
If that's what your daughter's goals are, she should be working with a coach who is experienced in those areas. If this is not the right coach for her goals, then find someone who is.
If yes, then, as others have mentioned above, it may be that this coach is trying to establish a firm technical foundation at the lower levels rather than rushing through the tests only to get stuck later on.
Also, skaters who are interested in competing usually test several levels ahead in MIF before testing freestyle because they want to have strong skating skills for that level, and usually to be attempting at least the average jump content for that level, not the minimum required on the test.
Some coaches who aim to build strong competitors want their students to take their time learning skills correctly, passing tests with higher than the minimum standards, and competing at levels where they will look strong for their level (but not so strong it appears that they're sandbagging).
However, coaches who are interested in building strong competitors for the long term by taking things slow at the beginning usually do not spend a lot of time on show programs and usually do want their skaters to increase practice time. So it's worth checking out what your coaches other students seem to be focusing on, and if necessary asking her directly when she thinks your daughter should aim to enter a no-test or pre-preliminary competition, if that's what your daughter is most interested in.
Meanwhile, you might also want to get to know other parents at your club with slightly more advanced skaters and ask how much time their kids spent on each test, how long they stayed at each competitive level, which coaches seem most focus on excellence or on getting out in competition often or passing tests as quickly as possible or performing in shows, and figure out which of the local coaches have goals (your current coach or someone else) might align better with your daughter's.
Don't just listen to one other parent, who might have their own agenda, but get a several different perspectives and make your own decision.
You also might want to get to know the test chair at your club and volunteer to help out at test sessions, which would give you a chance to see the general standards of what passes and doesn't pass at each level, maybe get to know some judges and get some general feedback on what they're looking for. (But don't bombard them with questions when they're busy judging or trying to relax.)
If there is a nearby competition coming up in a few months, tell your coach that your daughter would be interested in preparing to compete there. (If it's your own club's competition, you might also want to volunteer to help plan it, or at least volunteer to check in skaters or some similar task for a couple of hours on competition day.)
The more you get involved with your local skating community, the better sense you'll have of how things are usually done, what kinds of options and approaches are available, and how your coach fits in, rather than relying on one person for all your information about skating.
What does your daughter say? Does she want to change coaches?
Is there a chance she communicating different things to you than to her coach? I mean, could you have a perception that your daughter wants to advance more quickly and compete whereas coach has the perception that your daughter wants figure skating to be more just for recreation?