So I wanted partly to vent but also wanted some advice and just general feedback on typical ice rink figure skating culture/atmosphere/environment based on some recent events.
So first the setup. I've been skating for a couple of years now, and am involved with the local rink's Learn to Skate program as a volunteer assistant (not a formal coach). This means I'm not under a formal contract or anything (i.e. coaches there have to sign a formal contract to teach X LTS classes per year and stuff), but I do help out with instructing the Adult LTS classes (Adult 1-6), along with an actual coach. This year with the new Learn to Skate USA thing I did get the Basic Instructor membership for that as well as a background check with my own money, at the rink's request. I'm not a PSA member, nor have I done the formal CER classes to be a coach. I'm not interested in being a coach. I primarily skate at the public sessions, rather than using the freestyle sessions, though I could use them if I wanted (I find the public sessions to be much better bang for my buck even though they're more crowded). I'm male, in my mid-30s, married, no kids.
Anyway, recently the Figure Skating Director at the local rink raised some concerns about my conduct. She doesn't power-trip or anything, so it's not an ego-trip on her part; rather, she's basically the messenger of anonymous feedback, mostly (I assume) either from parents and/or coaches. They boiled down to:
1. I shouldn't be doing coaching-like activities outside of the LTS program. This includes giving tips or feedback on what the students are doing outside of the LTS classes, i.e. during public sessions. The director explicitly said she likes that I want to be helpful and it's fine however I want to interact with "public" (i.e. non-student) skaters at public sessions. However, there were multiple issues with me interacting with LTS students at public sessions. The first is that when I talk to LTS students during public sessions and basically hand out free tips for whatever they're working on, it takes away from coaches being able to take those skaters on as paid private students. Apparently it's happened already where an LTS student canceled lessons with their coach with the reason that they can just ask me questions about what they're working on during public sessions anyway (or at least, according to what the director heard). Now I'm still struggling with back 3-turns and forward outside mohawks myself (working on Adult Silver MIF) so you can imagine the caliber of my advice compared with the coaches who can do axels and whatnot, but that was the concern. The second is that when I talk to students who do have private coaches, I may interrupt whatever technique their coach had laid out for them. I brought up the example of "even if I point out that their axel is severely tilted and that's why they're not landing them" (some students will ask me about higher-level skills that I can't do because they know I'm technically-minded about these skills) and the director said yes, those types of comments are not appropriate because it may cause the students to over-adjust based on my feedback rather than what their coach is having them focus on for a particular jump or skill. Basically that if a student already has a private coach, I shouldn't be giving them advice or tips or feedback on how or what they're doing. The third is a liability problem; when I help out with LTS instruction, during the LTS classes, I'm covered by the LTS insurance if anything should happen. However, during public sessions, I'm not covered, so if any skater happens to get injured and decides to sue, if it's from something I said during these public sessions (or if I was interacting with them at the time during public sessions), I'm personally liable for it. Thus it's a personal risk to be helping out students during public sessions.
2. I shouldn't be giving advice about what coaches students should look for. Because I'm not actually a coach but am a volunteer assistant helping with the instruction in the LTS program, in some ways I'm uniquely positioned on this, because I'm involved with the program so I know the coaches, yet am not a coach so am in some sense "neutral" in terms of my opinion about the different coaches. So from time to time, students and parents may ask me for opinions about if they're looking for a technical coach, or what coach works well with kids, etc., when they're looking for a private coach, and I'll respond honestly to the best of my knowledge about the different coaches. However, the director said that this was not appropriate and that it "simply is not done" at rinks, and that I should instead ask them about their own observations or ask them about who their child likes from the LTS program, etc., rather than give my personal evaluation of what the different coaches are good at.
3. I shouldn't be video-taping other students. This is partially related to #1, though is also its own issue. Obviously (if you can't tell from these forums) I do a lot of analysis using video, and I have lots and lots of videos of myself working on the different skills. However, I'm not good enough at spotting problems in real-time by watching skaters do them, especially jumps, since they go by so quickly. So when skaters ask me for example "how is my air position during axels" I basically take a video of them doing it, then show it to them in slow-motion to point out that their arms are flying out or they're opening up too early or whatever. So this is related to #1, that it seems like coaching-like activities, but the other problem is that now I as an adult male in his mid-30's have videos of underage girls doing skating stuff like spirals, spins, etc. where they may be in a "compromising" position so to speak. So this is more of a SafeSport concern. I asked the director about what if I have their parents' permission (since for some I did explicitly ask for permission, and others I've sent those videos to the parents and stuff (i.e. "your kid was doing these nice axels in public session today, good job!" so they're well aware of it; obviously I know the parents well enough to have their emails to do this). The director replied that unless I have express written permission from their parents to video record their kids, I shouldn't be doing it, to avoid the perception of it being inappropriate because of SafeSport. I don't know if this was actually a concern raised by others or if it was just something that came up as we were talking, since it was something that just came up as we were talking. The suggestion (that I brought up) was what about videotaping the students using their own phones, the director said that would be fine, but I still have the issues of #1. Obviously, even though parents have verbally said it's okay for me to do it, it seems a bit strange for me to have to whip out a form for them to sign to give me permission to video record their kids.
Anyway. I can be somewhat understanding of #3, although the parents of the students that I do video record are aware that I'm doing it. To what extent though is it because I'm a male in my mid-30s video recording underage girls? (I.e. would there be similar SafeSport concerns with a mid-30's female doing the same thing with underage girls or boys? Is this the type of bureaucracy that's expected for video recording?) Is it really common in rinks for students and volunteers and coaches to not point out obvious issues with skating technique like flutzing to each other, and just let the skater/coach find that out from tests and stuff? (I obviously am not able to point out subtle issues with skating technique, and only know about the obvious ones like flutzing or under-rotation.) Is it really the case that, outside of the LTS classes, volunteers and coaches are not supposed to be giving advice to students (except as a paid-for private lesson)? Is it really the case that people involved with the LTS program are not supposed to comment on the teaching abilities and specialties of the different coaches to students? I'm wondering if I really am overstepping the bounds of common decent behavior at rinks, or if this is particular to the culture at this particular rink.
So first the setup. I've been skating for a couple of years now, and am involved with the local rink's Learn to Skate program as a volunteer assistant (not a formal coach). This means I'm not under a formal contract or anything (i.e. coaches there have to sign a formal contract to teach X LTS classes per year and stuff), but I do help out with instructing the Adult LTS classes (Adult 1-6), along with an actual coach. This year with the new Learn to Skate USA thing I did get the Basic Instructor membership for that as well as a background check with my own money, at the rink's request. I'm not a PSA member, nor have I done the formal CER classes to be a coach. I'm not interested in being a coach. I primarily skate at the public sessions, rather than using the freestyle sessions, though I could use them if I wanted (I find the public sessions to be much better bang for my buck even though they're more crowded). I'm male, in my mid-30s, married, no kids.
Anyway, recently the Figure Skating Director at the local rink raised some concerns about my conduct. She doesn't power-trip or anything, so it's not an ego-trip on her part; rather, she's basically the messenger of anonymous feedback, mostly (I assume) either from parents and/or coaches. They boiled down to:
1. I shouldn't be doing coaching-like activities outside of the LTS program. This includes giving tips or feedback on what the students are doing outside of the LTS classes, i.e. during public sessions. The director explicitly said she likes that I want to be helpful and it's fine however I want to interact with "public" (i.e. non-student) skaters at public sessions. However, there were multiple issues with me interacting with LTS students at public sessions. The first is that when I talk to LTS students during public sessions and basically hand out free tips for whatever they're working on, it takes away from coaches being able to take those skaters on as paid private students. Apparently it's happened already where an LTS student canceled lessons with their coach with the reason that they can just ask me questions about what they're working on during public sessions anyway (or at least, according to what the director heard). Now I'm still struggling with back 3-turns and forward outside mohawks myself (working on Adult Silver MIF) so you can imagine the caliber of my advice compared with the coaches who can do axels and whatnot, but that was the concern. The second is that when I talk to students who do have private coaches, I may interrupt whatever technique their coach had laid out for them. I brought up the example of "even if I point out that their axel is severely tilted and that's why they're not landing them" (some students will ask me about higher-level skills that I can't do because they know I'm technically-minded about these skills) and the director said yes, those types of comments are not appropriate because it may cause the students to over-adjust based on my feedback rather than what their coach is having them focus on for a particular jump or skill. Basically that if a student already has a private coach, I shouldn't be giving them advice or tips or feedback on how or what they're doing. The third is a liability problem; when I help out with LTS instruction, during the LTS classes, I'm covered by the LTS insurance if anything should happen. However, during public sessions, I'm not covered, so if any skater happens to get injured and decides to sue, if it's from something I said during these public sessions (or if I was interacting with them at the time during public sessions), I'm personally liable for it. Thus it's a personal risk to be helping out students during public sessions.
2. I shouldn't be giving advice about what coaches students should look for. Because I'm not actually a coach but am a volunteer assistant helping with the instruction in the LTS program, in some ways I'm uniquely positioned on this, because I'm involved with the program so I know the coaches, yet am not a coach so am in some sense "neutral" in terms of my opinion about the different coaches. So from time to time, students and parents may ask me for opinions about if they're looking for a technical coach, or what coach works well with kids, etc., when they're looking for a private coach, and I'll respond honestly to the best of my knowledge about the different coaches. However, the director said that this was not appropriate and that it "simply is not done" at rinks, and that I should instead ask them about their own observations or ask them about who their child likes from the LTS program, etc., rather than give my personal evaluation of what the different coaches are good at.
3. I shouldn't be video-taping other students. This is partially related to #1, though is also its own issue. Obviously (if you can't tell from these forums) I do a lot of analysis using video, and I have lots and lots of videos of myself working on the different skills. However, I'm not good enough at spotting problems in real-time by watching skaters do them, especially jumps, since they go by so quickly. So when skaters ask me for example "how is my air position during axels" I basically take a video of them doing it, then show it to them in slow-motion to point out that their arms are flying out or they're opening up too early or whatever. So this is related to #1, that it seems like coaching-like activities, but the other problem is that now I as an adult male in his mid-30's have videos of underage girls doing skating stuff like spirals, spins, etc. where they may be in a "compromising" position so to speak. So this is more of a SafeSport concern. I asked the director about what if I have their parents' permission (since for some I did explicitly ask for permission, and others I've sent those videos to the parents and stuff (i.e. "your kid was doing these nice axels in public session today, good job!" so they're well aware of it; obviously I know the parents well enough to have their emails to do this). The director replied that unless I have express written permission from their parents to video record their kids, I shouldn't be doing it, to avoid the perception of it being inappropriate because of SafeSport. I don't know if this was actually a concern raised by others or if it was just something that came up as we were talking, since it was something that just came up as we were talking. The suggestion (that I brought up) was what about videotaping the students using their own phones, the director said that would be fine, but I still have the issues of #1. Obviously, even though parents have verbally said it's okay for me to do it, it seems a bit strange for me to have to whip out a form for them to sign to give me permission to video record their kids.
Anyway. I can be somewhat understanding of #3, although the parents of the students that I do video record are aware that I'm doing it. To what extent though is it because I'm a male in my mid-30s video recording underage girls? (I.e. would there be similar SafeSport concerns with a mid-30's female doing the same thing with underage girls or boys? Is this the type of bureaucracy that's expected for video recording?) Is it really common in rinks for students and volunteers and coaches to not point out obvious issues with skating technique like flutzing to each other, and just let the skater/coach find that out from tests and stuff? (I obviously am not able to point out subtle issues with skating technique, and only know about the obvious ones like flutzing or under-rotation.) Is it really the case that, outside of the LTS classes, volunteers and coaches are not supposed to be giving advice to students (except as a paid-for private lesson)? Is it really the case that people involved with the LTS program are not supposed to comment on the teaching abilities and specialties of the different coaches to students? I'm wondering if I really am overstepping the bounds of common decent behavior at rinks, or if this is particular to the culture at this particular rink.
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