Fresh Eyes

A few weeks ago I had a lesson with a coach I'd never had before. It was a one off lesson, just to focus on basic skating. I was thrilled that he was happy with my basics, said I skated as if I'd skated as a child and restarted as an adult (instead of starting at the old age of 23!) because I had fixed most of the hard mistakes to fix but still made the easy-to-fix ones, and that he could tell I'd had good coaches.

Having a coach who doesn't know you look at your skating is a great chance to break it down, and see what is good about it and what is bad. They will have a slightly different focus to your regular coach (all coaches do), and don't know what you're capable of until you show them, so they have no pre-conceived expectations about you or your skating.

Your regular coach knows you. They know that you struggled for months to get forward crossovers at all, or that you have an irrational fear of hitting the barrier on backwards edges, or that you do funny arm positions in spins. And because they know you, maybe they concentrate on improving the speed of your crossovers rather than worry about the toe pushing right now, or getting you to do backwards edges at all, or getting rid of the stop before your spin. They notice the other things but they're not their priority to fix right now.

A fresh pair of eyes notices all these things and has an impulse to fix them! Doesn't even have to be someone who doesn't know you! I had my first coach for nine months. When I visited her about six months after she stopped coaching me, she said that she couldn't look at my mohawks every day because they were so scrappy! My regular coach by then was concentrating on getting me to do them at any kind of speed, but a while later I got told they need to be neater (and months later, I'm still getting told this...).

Normally, the only time skaters get to see what someone new thinks of their skating is in a test or a competition, so having a one off lesson with another coach is a great opportunity to get another perspective without the drama of pass or fail, win or lose.

P.S. don't have a lesson with anyone without your coach's approval

Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to my coach.
I promise to show up on time for all my lessons, ready to skate and willing to learn.
I promise to remember that coaching is your income, and to pay all my bills promptly.
I promise to practice in between my lessons to develop the skills you've taught me.
If I don't practice, I promise not to whine if I don't make progress.
I promise to trust your decision on whether I'm ready for a test or competition.
If I disagree with your decision, I will discuss it with you, not the gossip brigade.
Equally, if I have any issue with you at all, I will speak to you first.
I promise never to badmouth you to anyone, I will only say good things.
I promise to represent you well by being courteous to all other ice users
Even if they're not always courteous in return.
I promise to always try my best, even (especially) when it's hard.
I promise that if my best isn't good enough right now, I won't blame you and I will try not to kick the ice.
I promise that you are my coach and I am your skater.
I pledge allegiance to my coach.