PSA Code of Ethics

I thought you might be interested in reading the Tenets of Professionalism that Professional Skaters Association members are required to follow. If your coach is testing or has students in USFS competitions, they are required to be members. Group class coaches and coaches who only take students to ISI are not required to be members, but they should be anyway.

Tenets of Professionalism
The purpose of these tenets of professionalism is to provide a framework of conduct above and beyond the minimum standards provided by the Code of Ethics as set forth in the bylaws of the Professional Skaters Association. The Professional Skaters Association is aware that applicable rules of ethics covering professional responsibility generally provide only minimum standards of acceptable conduct. The Professional Skaters Association and its membership aspire to the highest ideals of professionalism and acknowledge that the following tenets of professional conduct should be followed in the performance of professional services provided to those with whom we have contact.

1 .As coaches of skating, we will conduct ourselves in a manner that demonstrates respect for the rules under which our skaters compete and that we will preserve with decorum and integrity of the testing program and competition.
2. Professional Skaters Association recognizes that professional courtesy is consistent with the role of the coach. As members of the Professional Skaters Association, coaches will be civil and courteous to all with whom we come in contact and will endeavor to maintain a collegial relationship with other coaches.
3. As skating coaches, we acknowledge that from time to time the students with whom we work may wish to leave us as the coach and seek coaching elsewhere. We acknowledge that we will cooperate with other coaches when conflicts arise and will be willing to make such changes on behalf of the students as will complement the further performance and progress of that student.
4. When competitions or testing situations arise, we agree to keep our students and the parents of those students well informed and involve them in the decision making that affects their interest while at the same time avoiding emotional attachment to our students and their activities both in skating and out of skating which might impair our ability to render professional service.
5. As professionals, and as members of the Professional Skaters Association, we will honor our promises and our commitments, whether oral or in writing, and strive to build a reputation for dignity, honesty and integrity in the skating profession.
6. As professionals, and members of the Professional Skaters Association, we will not make groundless accusations of impropriety or attribute bad motives to other coaches in bad faith or without good cause.
7. As professionals, and as members of the Professional Skaters Association, we will not engage in any course of conduct designed to harass another coach, skating organization official, another skater or the parent of another skater.
8. As professionals, and as members of the Professional Skaters Association, we will strive to expand our knowledge of skating and to achieve and maintain proficiency in our area of expertise.
9. We will never allow race, gender, religion, age or other suspect classifications of persons to improperly motivate our actions.
10. At all times and in all things when dealing with the skating public, officials and other members of the coaching profession, we will adhere to the proposition that our practices shall be governed by the principals of honesty and integrity.