Coach A is going to be out for the rest of the year, which means that while she’s gone she’s arranged for other coaches to take on her students. I know some of her students are taking a break from lessons while she’s away (injury, mostly) and others were already working with the other coaches. As for me, I’ve gone from one 30-minute lesson a week to three lessons with three different coaches – a spin coach, a moves coach, and a jumps coach. Ha! Suddenly I feel like a serious teenage competitor in training mode, not a shaky adult who’s skating as a hobby.
It’s kind of nice, actually. Not that I ever took skating lightly — I think this is a sport where you hit a point of no return, and after that you’re emotionally committed. So I have been pretty serious about improving my skating even though I’d call myself a recreational skater, even before this latest change. It’s just that there’s a definite increase in commitment level when you’re upping lesson time and working with specialized coaches.
I think I could’ve (should’ve?) increased lesson time with Coach A sooner, but I was hesitating on pulling that trigger because I felt I was progressing at a nice rate and had plenty to work on even with just one weekly lesson. And we would double up anyway when there were specific events to prepare for, like tests or competitions. But committing to extra fixed lessons seemed like a big jump, and most importantly a significant financial decision. On the other hand, while I don’t think I could afford this indefinitely, three months of increased bills seems less onerous.
I’ve just started working with these coaches, two of whom I’d had a passing acquaintance with from seeing them around the rink. My moves coach is a former elite ice dancer (and pretty pricey), and we’ve just started working on the silver moves test; Coach A suggested learning both silver and gold. My 8-step mohawk and spiral patterns are coming along, but everything else is far from ready. Especially back threes.
Spin Coach is the most expensive and thus I’m only doing 15-minute lessons with her, but I do think she’s worth it. She hasn’t said anything completely mind-blowing that I didn’t already know about spinning, but she explains how to fix things in a very clear way. We’re working on basic scratch, back scratch, sit spin, and camel. I’ve had two lessons with her and I feel all of those spins improving already, which is encouraging. It could also be that I’m at a place now where a specialized coach can actually do some good — no use wasting that kind of money if I didn’t know how to spin at all, I suppose.
Jump Coach isn’t strictly confined to just jumps, since she’s the coach who’ll be doing everything aside from spins and moves. But she likes working on jumps and has been tweaking mine, so I look forward to working with her more. Mostly I find it helpful to hear how other people teach a skill, because while nobody’s contradicting each other, things can souns different when worded a different way. I’m happy with Coach A, who’s also very good at explaining things, but in the meantime it’s a bit of an eye-opener to get taught by others. And I’ll be much better when she gets back (fingers crossed)!