Your coach is your coach

I got the raw end of a very bad situation yesterday, where a mother decided that I was not a child's "real" coach, and told two other coaches that her daughter did not have a regular coach (although she apparently DID tell them that she had "just done a couple of lessons with Xan"), as she arranged to have the child work with someone other than me (all unknown to me). Turns out this person "coached" the child when she was 2, so apparently that makes her the child's "real" coach. Since I had reserved a very desirable lesson time and had to turn away two students who wanted that time, and had just confirmed this with the mother, this came as quite a shock.

I walked into the rink and there was a friend of mine coming off the ice with my student. Further, the actual new coach apparently was out of town and rather than telling the mom, just stay with Xan for now, actually arranged for this third coach to work with the girl. Furthermore, they are now apparently getting ready for testing, which this mom had specifically told me she did not want to do. If she had, I would have told her I was not the right coach for her, because I don't take kids through testing.

I feel like the mother lied to me, by both commission and omission. Both those coaches should have called me first and they know it. My friend feels terrible. The other coach should know better. All of them basically defined me out of the picture to suit their own needs.

So, Skating Parents, listen up:

• If you have arranged more than a one-off with a coach, that person considers him or herself your coach.
• If you have asked for a regular skating time with a certain coach, that is your regular coach.
• If you worked with a certain coach years ago, that person is not your "real" coach. That is your "former" coach. The coach you are currently paying is your "current" coach and deserves the courtesy of being fired in person.

Every one in coaching has experienced the loss of a skater. We can deal with it. It happens all the time. But coaches are colleagues, and we need to be able to get along. If you want to change coaches, well, folks, MAN UP and tell the current coach what's going on. You cannot imagine how awful it feels to walk into a rink and see someone else with YOUR student, when this is the first you've heard of it.

Basic Skills and Learn To Skate, side by side

There are two figure skating curricula for skating schools, designed and sold by the two main organizing structures for ice sports in the US- USFS Basic Skills and ISI Learn to Skate (I believe they actually call it weSkate now, but whatever). US Hockey and USFS also have hockey curricula.

Learn-to-Skate has a very open curriculum, based on outcomes: ("forward crossover" "3 turn"); the Basic Skills curriculum is process oriented, breaking each skill down into components and testing those: (edges on a circle, two foot turns in place, two foot turns moving, before crossovers and 3 turns). Conversely, ISI has very restrictive competition rules, i.e. you must do the moves up to your level, and only up to your level, to very exact standards and use 9 separate judging criteria. Basic Skills competitions have much fewer specific skills requirements, and use only 2 judging criteria.

You'll learn how to skate using either. I've taught in both, and I find the ISI curriculum more teacher-friendly because it allows me to break down the skills in a way that makes sense to me and to each individual class. People swear by Basic Skills because it makes teachers break down the skill in a logical way. Here's the side-by-side:

Basic skating (forward and backward motion, gliding, stopping, falling)

ISI: PreAlpha, PreAlpha 1&2, PreAlpha and PreAlpha Plus etc. (different rinks break them down differently). Gliding forwards for your body height on two feet, and on one foot both sides. Forward and backward swizzles, backward wiggles. This level needs to be fun, because if you lose them here, they're gone. Like in all ISI levels, there are only 6 skills. (My rink also adds basic snowplow stop, two foot hop, and moving dip.) ISI classes will teach proper falling and getting up, but not as a testable skill.

USFS Basic 1 & 2, conversely, has 15 separate testable skills including all of the above including the hop and dip). They then add additional skills including things Rocking Horse (one forward, one backward swizzle over and over, essentially in place), backward two foot glide, turning in place, and half swizzle pumps (slalom) which is a pre-stroking and pre-crossover skill.

Xan's take: ISI teachers will learn that these extra things, like rocking horses and pumps, need to be taught; the USFS advantage is that it's handed to the teacher on a silver platter. There's a curriculum development philosophy called "deskilling" where you write the curriculum in such a way that the teacher doesn't need to have actual knowledge of the subject in order to follow the curriculum (in other words, the teacher doesn't need any skill). This is what Basic Skills feels like to me-- it is extremely restrictive for an experienced teacher, but a godsend if most coaches in the rink are high school students.

Forward skating: cross overs and stroking

ISI Alpha: Forward stroking, forward crossovers, snowplow stop. That's it.
USFS Basic 3: Forward stroking, half swizzle pumps on circle, moving turns, backwards one-foot glides, forward slaloms, two-foot spin, plus part of Basic 4: forward edges on a circle, forward crossovers

Xan's take: ISI Alpha makes sense to a customer. When you or your kid passes Alpha, you know exactly what's been learned. Crossovers. Stroking. If you don't pass Alpha, it's easy to see why. Basic Skills 3 feels like a "non" level--you have to explain every single skill in it to a non-skater. To a layman, the skills in it don't relate to recognizable skills like "crossover." Basic Skills takes an awfully long time to get to crossovers-- four levels-- and it mixes in skills that kids will need two and three levels on (by which time, by the way, they will have forgotten them). As a skating instructor, I can see the sense in the Basic Skills curriculum, and in fact I use these skills within the ISI structure to teach the named skills like crossovers and the various turns. But I think it would be hard for a parent to understand exactly why Suzy in the ISI program down the street is already doing crossovers, while my Johnny, who has been skating the same amount of time, is only doing something called "slaloms" and isn't that for skiing?

Backward skating: cross overs and backward stroking (backwards one-foot glides)

ISI Beta: Backward stroking, backward crossovers from lift, T-stop.
Basic 4: backward half-swizzle pumps on circle, backward stroking, hockey backward snowplow stops, and part of 5: backward edges on circle, backward crossovers from cut-back, one-foot spin with optional entry, side toe hop. (lost yet? And I left out some stuff for the next level.)

Xan's take: You start to see the problem. Basic Skills teaches necessary things, but they are all things that you have to teach anyway. When kids learn backward crossovers, they learn how to balance (i.e. one-foot glide) going backwards. If you can't do it, you can't do the crossover. No need to test it separately. Teach, yes. Test, no. Backwards glides are an integral part of backwards crossovers and stroking, and one-foot turns. For me it's like testing spelling by learning half a word at a time.

Turns

ISI Gamma and Delta: 3-turns inside and outside, forward inside open mohawks and mohawk combination (essentially skating into the turn), forward inside and outside edges on serpentine pattern, bunny hop, lunge, shoot-the-duck
Basic 4, forward outside three turn on half circle (they call it "from stand still" but they mean on half circle); Basic 6 forward inside three turn on half circle, moving backward two-foot three turn, lunge, bunny hop, spiral, T-stop; Basic 7 forward inside open mohawk, back outside to forward outside step on a circle (this is the same step that is part of the ISI mohawk combination), back crossovers to landing position (back one-foot glide with free foot extended), inside pivots.

Xan's take: At this level, I start to like Basic Skills better. There are fun skills mixed in with the difficult ones, like mohawks, and the progression from half-circle three turns to moving three-turns is nice. But you can see the problem-- parents can understand "three turn" and "combination" but everything else in this level is very wordy. You have to be a skater to understand the skills. I also disagree with taking the alternating forward edges out of the curriculum. This is skill left over from the old School Figures days, and is the first place where kids have to really think about precise upper body control in a considered way. (That's supposed to happen with turning skills, but it really doesn't.) Again, however, ISI is much more customer friendly-- you can really understand exactly what you need to do to pass, and the skills have short, familiar names.

Getting ready for freestyle

ISI: ISI does not have a formal transitional level, which I think is a failure of this curriculum. At the freestyle levels, they are still teaching skills in isolation, rather than making kids move into them. Many rinks add a "pre-freestyle" or "delta plus" level to overcome this omission, using patterns from USFS Moves, or making up their own, and adding in specific testable freestyle skills like Waltz Jumps, two-foot spins from backward crossover entry, etc.
USFS Basic 8: This includes Waltz Jumps, Mazurka (also known as an Albright or Scissor, essentially a backward-entry bunny hop from an outside edge. It's my favorite jump.) moving three turns on a circle, and a mohawk combination move (crossover into mohawk, forward step).

Xan's take: Basic Skills finally gets it right. ISI needs to add a pre-freestyle level.

Update: Here's a discussion from FSUniverse that brought up this post!

Have you taught or learned in either or both? Which did you like better?

Wordless Wednesday: Why I Do This

Summer Skating

School is out today or tomorrow in most districts. Summer's here and with it all those conflicting treats: sunshine and vacation, the beach or the pool, tennis and baseball and hiking. The last thing you're thinking about is skating when the sun is high.

But skating is a great thing to do in the summer, for lots of reasons.

First of all, it's cool. And no, I don't mean the in-crowd does it, I mean it's cool, as in, not stifling hot. Nothing like walking in to a lovely cool ice rink on a 90 degree day. Most places they don't keep it freezing either, so you can comfortably skate in your shirt sleeves.

Second, especially on public skating times, no one is there. You know those hideous crowded sessions in the middle of winter? Gone. There will now be maybe 30 people there on Sunday public, on a crowded day. Classes are smaller, and in some places even practice ice has fewer people.

If you're a competitive skater, summer is "Pre Season" when you solidify the new jump, clean up that Level 4 spin, learn and refine your new program, and design a new costume (fun!). You're gearing up for the late summer "non-qualifying" competitions. Every region has a big competition where you'll find the top skaters trying out their new programs-- Alissa Czisny skated in the DuPage Open (click on DuPage Open in the sidebar-- you'll see Alissa at the top of the board and my daughter at the bottom for 2006. Oh well. She was a mostly an ice dancer.) here in the Chicago area every year right up until her Nationals win. The annual Lake Placid competition is the place to be seen for ice dancers-- a lot of top teams skate.

If you're not a competitive skater, think about attending one of these just to watch. Ask your coach or skating director what the big club competition is in your region, or check the USFS events page. Top skaters often show up at these, and you can watch for free (they'll also often have exhibition fundraisers at the end of the competition, but even these are easy to get tickets to and relatively cheap).

You should set a goal for summer skating. It can be a standard goal--pass a level, land a jump, learn a jump--or a special one, like "start private lessons," "no rules skating" (i.e. skate a lot, but just for fun), "teach my mom to skate," or "make up a program with my best friend."

If you decide just to stick with classes for the summer, don't forget to leave a skating bag in the car with a light sweater or sweatshirt, leggings, socks and gloves. Look into camp options at local rinks-- some have special skating camps, and many include skating as part of the regular camp program if there is a rink in the district. Do your girl scout or boy scout skating badge in the summer-- there's more and emptier ice, and it's a topsy-turvey thing to do--everyone will enjoy the idea of skating in the summer!

Summer is my favorite time to skate. There's an exciting kind of buzz in the air around the competitive kids as they gear up, and everyone there is there because they love skating and no other reason.

Plus, like I said? It's nice and cool.

What are your goals and plans for the summer?

The competitive kids

There are major training centers throughout North America where the elite coaches work their magic- Southern California, Florida, Toronto, Detroit, Delaware, Boston, Colorado. If you've got an ambitious skater and you're lucky enough to live near one of these facilities, a lot of the anxiety created by travel, lack of resources (monetary, physical/facility, and human), and their associated costs will be allayed.

But you can develop national talent outside these centers as well, and frankly you have to, because simply not every national medal winner is going to magically come from a family near these places. (There are 480 skaters/teams competing for 90 national medals in the US, remember; it's not just about Olympic gold. Five levels Juvenile through Senior compete nationally, with 24 finalists in each discipline reaching for 4 medals awarded starting with 4th place Pewter.) A lot of them move to the training centers eventually, especially at the Junior and Senior levels, but they start out in Your Hometown USA.

So what happens when you suddenly find yourself with a nationals skater? You freak out, that's what, if my experience is anything to go by. Here's where the freak out happens, and what to do about it.

Coach just got me to nationals, now she wants a raise. This is perfectly reasonable; you reward your employees for merit, and you give them cost-of-living increases as well. In fact, if you did not come up with the concept of a bonus for the coach after your kid won, shame on you. If the coach increases her rates, don't use the request as an opportunity for threats or blackmail (i.e. "if you charge more we'll go with someone else"). You're in Backwater, Vermont, remember? There is no one else. But you can negotiate, because the coach does not want to lose her national skaters.

We used to work with a coach four hours a week, now he wants us to work 10 hours per week. Yup. Spotlight's on you folks, you better deliver in year two or it's all over.

But he wants to charge us for all the extra time! He won't do it for the same money as 4 hours! Um, hello, what? Personally I don't think coaches of elite skaters should be giving more than about a 25% break in cost anyway (sort of a volume discount). It's just not fair to them, because the coaching time that your skater is using is coaching time he can't sell to someone else at full price. If your coach offers you a deal that seems too good to be true, it is. Paying a coach too little is going to cause resentment and a feeling of entitlement on the coach's side, and a painful increase in costs for you when she realizes that she cannot afford to do this anymore, or when you decide to go skate with Brian Orser and find out that he does NOT do volume discounts.

The coach has started being "mean" to my kid. This is where I went hugely wrong (among other things. I was like a textbook for "how not to prepare for nationals"). I did not understand the difference between strict and adult, and mean, and I let my kid know it, so she lost her respect for the coach. Skating in a national competition is a very adult thing to do. Immature kids, and touchy parents, don't cut it. If your skater (or you) cannot handle criticism without the sugar coating, find a different activity. Best thing you can do if it bothers you is get out of the arena. Stop watching.

The coach won't listen to me no matter how much I scream at her in the lobby. Unfortunately, everyone else is listening, and possibly writing it down, so they can post it to Facebook later.

This other coach told me that our coach is [fill in inappropriate interference here]. You are in violation of USFS Parents Responsibilties (at the national level they make you sign them) for engaging in this conversation, and Other Coach is in violation of every principal of ethics there is. Turn him off or turn him in.

This other mom told me that our coach is [fill in inappropriate interference here]. Stop sitting with that mom. If you can't avoid her, just smile and nod smile and nod smile and nod.

There's a major pre-season competition coming up, but we always go to California for the three weeks just before. We can just work with someone down there, right? Or skate a whole bunch when we come home. Nope. The competition schedule now rules your lives. Adapt. There's this time of year called "Rest" when the coach will kick you out of the rink. That is now your vacation time. Rework the schedule.

My kid wants to start skating at 5:30 because the ice is more empty then. I don't want to get up! (Corollary- the coach found better ice, but it's almost an hour's drive and that's too far. Additional corollary- we just got tickets to Billy Elliott during his regular practice, so we won't be there tomorrow.) Now I'm not even listening to you. Notice that look of utter incredulity on the kid's and the coach's faces? It's because you're not getting it yet. But they are. This is now your skater's job. And just like your job, you are not in charge of the schedule.

I have no one to talk to about my anxiety and concerns. Okay, now I AM listening. Because this is the hardest part. At one of the big training centers, there are lots of skaters on national tracks. Once you hit the podium at Novice, USFS puts you on the team envelope, which means additional training and competitions for the kids, and therefore contact with other parents in the same boat for you, as well as seminars put on by USFS Parent Committee. But right now, you feel really isolated, and you are. You can't talk to parents of less successful skaters, because it looks like bragging, or fishing, plus they won't really understand what you're going through. It's awkward to talk to parents of equally successful skaters whom you know. It's against the rules to complain to another coach.

Here's what one mother of an elite skater told me:

"It is difficult to speak to parents without emotional involvement. Someone is going to get their feelings hurt. [At the lower levels especially,] they have such a LONG way to go in this sport. While the kids may get along, parents who get over-involved usually are the result of [a skater's stalled career or a team's breakup]. But there are parents out there who have been there, done that. There are sources through PSA and USFS parents' committee, too. Just know that some things [the coach and their friends] can control and some [they] can't. Either way, there is no win-win. You're either going to get involved more than you want or you're going to have to step back. So much depends on them, not on [the people around them]."

But there are things you can do before you reach that level, and trust me, if you don't do them, you won't reach that level.

• Read the blogs. There's a couple of great ones from parents who have done this. Check out Life on the Edge by Allison Scott, mother of Jeremy Abbott. Allison's wisdom, courage, and spirit are inspirational. Especially go back and read the posts about Jeremy's road to the Olympics, and read this wonderful post (hoping that you don't recognize yourself). Deb Chitwood, mother of a former national US pairs skater and a current UK world team ice dancer writes Raising Figure Skaters, another great source of insight into the world of elite skater parenting.

• Find other parents in your area who have been there and done. Go out for coffee, far away from the rink, and vent. You'll find that, first, what you're experiencing is not unique, and second, that they'll have good advice (some of which may hurt) because they'll have the perspective of distance.

• Get in touch with your local representative of the Parents Committee at US Figure Skating (or its Canadian counterpoint if you're in Canada) and ask them if there are resources in your area, or if you can just relay your concerns to them.

Your skater is one of fewer than 500 kids who has done what 50,000 little girls and boys in UnderArmour leggings dream every single day. You and your skater are unique, lucky, and blessed. That road can dump you on what could have been, or it can take you on an empowering journey for your whole family.

On behalf of those of us who missed the turnoff, don't blow it.

Getting things to change

I'm a squeaky wheel, although my experience has been more that they keep letting the air out of me, than that I get greased.

I'm a big advocate of talking, asking, demanding, writing letters, and getting petitions going. I'm an inveterate writer-to-my-congresscritter. There is almost certainly an FBI file on me somewhere, not to mention a personnel file full of memos about what a troublemaker I am. It's important to let the powers-that-be know when you're dissatisfied. You have to do it gently, most of the time, and you have to be willing to bear the consequences of both the complaint and the change.

But you can complain, safely, and things can change. I hear about dissatisfaction from many parents, both at the rink and through this blog. I'm happy to be an outlet for the venting, but if you really want change, do it right.

Before you march into your skating director's office with guns blazing, here's some things to consider:

Is there really a problem? Think about the situation that you don't like. Try to step outside it and decide if it really requires systemic change. If you don't like the way practice ice is run, is it because it's run badly, or because you got annoyed one day and decided it was someone else's fault? (Harsh but true.)

Are you the problem? More home truths. You want the ice show changed, because your daughter is tired of being stuck at the same level. Is the problem that the ice show should be changed, or that your skater should work more effectively toward the goal of passing that level before the next ice show (i.e. more practice or additional lessons, which might mean giving up something else)?

How will the change that I am proposing affect the rest of the program? Will my solution create new problems? The problem you are experiencing may have been recognized and considered by the powers that be already. That thing you're complaining about may actually have been the solution to an entirely different problem. If you want your skater to be able to jump on moves ice, the kids working on moves are going to start doing moves on freestyle ice. Trust me, you don't want the Senior sustained edge step charging through the spin circle.

If you're sure that none of these apply to you, I still want you to keep that pistol holstered. Try these steps:

Talk to the people directly involved: Do you have an issue with the way a coach is running practice or class? Talk to the coach, not the skating director. Is the monitor favoring one skater over another? Go to the monitor, or the volunteer coordinator, first. Is your child not doing well at auditions? This is not the skating director's problem, or fault, or purview for that matter. This is probably the kid. Talk to her.

Talk to the skating director in private first, and explain your concern. Ask her what you can do to help alleviate the problem, and if any solutions have ever been proposed. You might find out that the current situation was the solution and that it used to be worse. Send her a note or an email afterwards thanking her for her time. If you're not satisfied, warn her that you'll be sending a letter, because you're still not comfortable with the situation.

Write a letter that clearly states the problem, and frame it in terms that benefit the entire program and not just your child. Express your desire to be part of the team that works for a new solution, and that you will accept the solution that the team decides on.

Ask other families to sign the letter. If they won't, take a step back and think about it. Either there isn't a big enough problem, or they don't like your solution.

Don't threaten to leave the program if your demand is not met. The response to threats, 100% of the time (in private anyway), will be, ok buh-bye! This is blackmail, and will instantly put the person you're trying to influence on the defensive, and take them forever out of your camp.

Don't expect instant change. There are needs and systems of which you are completely unaware. Many park district programs have insanely long lead times for changes to the program schedule. The one I work at requires changes TWO sessions ahead. So any class or date changes set in motion now will not show up until the spring 2011 book.

Don't expect any change. First, your proposal may not be realistic. Second, your proposal may have been tried and discarded. Third, the skating director may not like your proposal, and she has the final word.

Don't expect to be kept in the loop. You don't work there.

Finally, unless the safety of a child is at stake, do NOT contact the press, the alderman, the mayor, your sister-in-law's cousin who used to work for a U.S. Senator, or anyone else not involved. If you're just pissed that your kid didn't get a good solo in the ice show, or failed the FS7 test, well, my goodness, get a life. It ain't world peace we're talking about here.

Motivation

The fantastic post on motivating kids over at Icemom today (i.e. to bribe or not to bribe), got me thinking about all the different people who need motivating in raising a figure skater.

The skater of course, needs motivation--to learn the next thing, to try again after a bad fall, to compete against someone they fear is better than they.

But it's not just the skater that needs motivation. Parents also can lose their mojo in this sport. The kid cries, the bills pile up, and if you have to face those skating moms just one more day you won't be responsible for your actions.

The coach needs a little push every now and then too. One of the strange things about teaching is the time warp sensation. You move a skater on, but there's another one coming up who reminds you so strongly of the one that just left it's as though time is standing still. To go in, day after day and teach the stupid axel (or the stupid crossover or the stupid bracket) year after year to kid after kid making the same old mistake after the same old mistake...well.

Here are some ways to motivate skaters. More on motivation for the coach and the parents in future posts.

First of all, there's a difference between a reward and a bribe. A reward can have a slightly longer time frame, although immediate rewards are also important, as you'll see below. A reward focuses on the skater; the person sponsoring the reward has no stake in the outcome. It's simply an acknowledgment of effort or accomplishment.

A bribe on the other hand is much more two-way. You get this reward; I get that behavior. A bribe for landing a specific jump is therefore suspect at the outcome. The kid knows that it hardly affects your life if you land the stupid axel, so she's going to wonder what's really motivating you. Are you ashamed that she can't land it? Are you trying to get bragging rights? Kids aren't stupid; they figure this stuff out.

On the other hand, if you're just tired of certain behavior at the rink and you want some peace today, I see nothing wrong with telling the kid, "for pity's sake if you just get through this session without anyone yelling at me over your behavior I'll buy you pizza for dinner." A little sob at the end of this statement will also help. Don't waste your bribes on axels; there's a reason we call them stupid. Save your bribery for stuff that really makes your life better.

Motivating the learner, especially children, means you have to understand what gets that person going. With kids, it's often simply about developmental levels. You can't tell a 6 year old that she'll get a prize when she lands the axel, because unless she lands it RIGHT NOW there's no connection between the reward and the accomplishment--they're just too far apart for that to be meaningful. For younger children the reward must be concrete and immediate "ice cream after your lesson" or "5 minutes free time with no adults nattering at you." This also cannot be linked to complex requirements or additional conditions such as the lesson or kid must be "good", a certain number of skills must be executed at a certain level, etc. Also, no one but the awarder can have the power to withhold it, i.e. the coach cannot say "well, she didn't listen or he didn't do that last spin very well so no reward" because that is forcing you to renege on your promise, as well as forcing the parent to take sides.

A better way to motivate a skater, especially a very young skater, is to keep the reward ON THE ICE. My daughter used to get a sticker on her boot for every clean double. This meant the cheated ones and the falls became unimportant, and when her boots got covered with stickers she could see how good she was every time she laced them up. You can also put the skater in charge--ask them what they are going to do on the ice today, just before the step out there. And not "I'm going to land my axel" but rather "I'm going to attempt 10 axels, or I'm going stroke around 8 times in two minutes or I'm going to increase the rotations on my camel."

Rewards can fall into several different categories: gift, fun, challenge.

• The "gift" type reward is easy to understand: quid pro quo. It is better to tie this sort of thing into effort rather than a specific outcome (strong practice session as opposed to land xx # of such-and-such jump). You want the skater to get the reward. If the reward is too remote, or too hard to achieve, it loses its appeal. For major milestones: landed axel, got to nationals, first place at competition, there can be a longer term major reward, but this cannot be used as a motivating force, i.e. a bribe, because too many things are out of the control of all parties.

• "Fun" rewards are immediate: for older kids this might be good practice session on the 3 p.m. ice means no adult interference on the 4 p.m. ice no matter what. The first couple of times expect to be tested-- kid gets off the ice, kid doesn't skate, kid spends the whole time talking. But once they figure out you mean it, this can be an extremely effective reward. For younger kids it can be work now and last 5 or 10 minutes of lesson are free time.

• Challenge rewards take something the skater does well and gets them to improve it as a game-- who can do the most waltz jumps in a row, adding rotations or features to spins, putting together a jump combo or sequence, etc.

The point of rewards, bribes, and other motivating tactics is not to guarantee a behavior, attitude or outcome, but rather to make the skater feel successful, to let him define what success means and to give him the power to achieve it.