When to break up...

I found a fun article on CNN on "When to Break up with your Personal Trainer." While it's written for general Physical Fitness training and not Figure Skating, some of the points made are just the same!

#1: Your Coach doesn't seem interested in your Goals. Oh, yes. When your Coach isn't checking in with you about your goals, or how you feel about your progress towards your goals, it's a sign. When there's no discussion about your skating progress or future, you start to question if you're making any or if you have one.

#6: You spend more time talking to your coach than skating. Oh. Wow. Yes. The skating lesson is just that; A Skating Lesson. It is not time to gab about Rink Politics, or Coach's Personal Life or (the worst) Coach's Other Students. If Coach wants to have a friendly chat about these things, that is fine, but not during your lesson time. You are not paying for the pleasure of their company, you are paying for a skating lesson that is 100% yours.

#7: Your Coach frequently compares you to other Students. Why are we talking about other people? This is your lesson and your time that you have paid for. CNN is right, an occasional anecdote is fine, but expounding on the glory of some 15 year old kid's crossroll technique while making you watch her is unprofessional. Again, this is your skating lesson and your time that should be 100% about you.

#8: Your coach is constantly on the phone during your lesson. This includes texting and is an immediate cause for dismissal in my book. And I don't want to hear, "But this is important," because this isn't how true professionals function (and it infers that you are not important.) True Professionals focus on the task at hand and learn to budget their time appropriately.

For the last time, Smart Phones don't make you Smart.

Also, this monkey is cute.

#9: Your coach barely watches you while you skate, and doesn't give positive reinforcement. This goes back to the concept of "time you have paid for." If you look to your coach while you're skating and you see them chitchatting with another coach or another skater, or they are just watching other people when they should be watching you, time to re-evaluate.


Sometimes it just doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be, and it's not a reflection on you. Unprofessional behavior carries across students, so chances are really good they've done it to other people, too.

Just don't stay in a situation where you feel stuck, or as second string to "the better" skaters. You pay just as much for that coach's time, so giving you the same quality of instruction isn't doing you a favor, it's the coach's job. If they can't do their job, *shrug.*