Other coaches I know of, tell the late skater they'll only get a partial lesson, or they move a student already on the ice into the late student's session and the late student either waits around or loses a lesson. None of these are my coaches. My coaches have all put me and my schedule at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to a late skater ahead of me.
If there's someone who has to move a lesson, or lose time. Guess who it is? The adult student. Every coach I've had who's had 'laters' always moves my lesson around willy-nilly because the kid students have some precious schedule to keep to. Maybe it happens to other kid students too, but it makes me grind my teeth when it happens to me.
I can say this: I remain flexible to my coaches' needs, but I hate being the one who always has to shift around. Also, I think giving priority to the late student is sending the wrong message to the parents. I don't know if coaches are afraid the parents will stomp off and find another coach, but this is another one of those things that need to be laid out when taking on a student.
So if by chance you are a skater parent, let me give you some advice: the lesson start time is when your child is supposed to be on the ice. It's not the time you show up. It's not the time you start putting the boots on. And if your precious is a little hockey boy, don't show up at the rink and start dressing him at lesson start time. You have to show up, pay your freestyle fee, give the card to the monitor, and get the kid dressed and booted up. Show up a half hour early. Your kid must be stepping on the ice at lesson time.
You don't do that, there will be a short, elderly woman skater with an evil glare staring at you.
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| I hate you lazy parents who can't plan ahead. Get your butt in gear. EDIT:  jerk my schedule around either |
I'm glad I am not the only one this happens to; and it's not just late students, my lesson time gets bumped whenever a younger student wants my time slot! I went from having my lesson at 1pm to having it at 2:30pm, not by choice. Coaches reasoning (excuse) is that the parents don't want the kids to have to wait around after group lessons until their private lesson starts.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had that happen too. Or the girl whose parents forgot that there was something else to do and wants to move a lesson at the last minute.
DeleteGrrrr.
I think your wrath should be directed to the coaches, not the late students.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSo I put in an edit. My wrath is mighty at last minute lesson changes.
DeleteActually the exact opposite seems to be happening with me this year - as my coach is picking up new students my lesson times seem to keep getting earlier and earlier. I think because he knows I will show up on time, and I don't have to come as far, whereas other people are habitually 10 minutes late... And, well, I don't mind - the earlier I get there, the less crowded it is. And sometimes I get a bit longer lesson because other people are late. So, yay for me.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in your position though, I would be very annoyed with both the coach and the other students. Are you getting charged for the time you are losing? Or will the coach make it up at another time? These are things to consider as well if this keeps happening, and you might want to discuss your frustrations with your coach.
I don't have to pay if the lesson is shortened. And just for clarity, this happened with every coach I've had. It's not peculiar to one coach.
DeleteThis is why I prefer coaches who say "your lesson is from X to Y" rather than "you get the first lesson on the session".
ReplyDeleteI know coaches who do it both ways. The first plan screws you over when the Zamboni takes too long or starts late. The second plan screws you over if you're the last lesson on a session and other people ran late.
As the mom of a hockey player, I completely agree! Students need to be on the ice and ready to go when their lesson starts. No excuses. As an adult skater, my coach has always made me feel like I'm just as much a priority for him as his competitive skaters. My lessons don't get pushed around because of his other students and if he does run into scheduling conflicts, he's great about working them out fairly. The more I hear of other skaters' experience the more I appreciate that about him.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally random, but were you interviewed in Skating magazine recently?
ReplyDeleteYou're right. That is random.
ReplyDeleteMost coaches around here have a pretty low tolerance for this type of thing. If you do not call to cancel they will bill you for the lesson, if you are late they will not give you your full length of lesson but they will certainly bill you for the entire lesson as if you had been on the ice. If you pull this stunt too many times they will even "fire" you as a student. Cutting someone else's lesson short is unethical and unprofessional. I did have a coach that did this several years ago, the more I got to know her the more I realized she was being disrespectful to me as an adult, I eventually fired her and have found a much more respectful and professional team of coaches.
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 things that would make me quit a coach. One of them would make me quit pretty much on the spot. But that's a separate blog topic.
DeleteI don't think any of the coaches locally have a deep enough stable of students to feel at ease firing a student. We're pretty much an ice backwater. I think the coaches want to keep all of their students and this leads to juggling.