The Coach Hog in Group

I'm enjoying myself back in the wide open spaces of Basic Skills. Six people in all levels sharing a third of the rink--how delightful! Meanwhile there's 10 people in Freeskate sharing a single hockey circle.

I occupy an awkward niche at the rink. I'm the lowest level skater in Freeskate, but the highest level skater (by a long ways) in Basic Skills. I don't expect the group coach to pay much attention to me. I'm just there for the ice time. He's got 3 people in Basic 2, and two hockey guys who are in some Basic Skill level that exists only in their own mind; They prowl up and down the middle, and never look where they're going while skating backwards.

So Group Coach finally gets a chance to come over to me while I'm working on back-3s. He's standing facing me, and telling me what he wants me to do. Suddenly one of the hockey students comes over, grabs his arm and turns the group coach to face him and stats yakking about some hockey thing.

There's always one of these in a group class, the student who thinks it's a private class and hogs the coach's time.

 I stand there, waiting to see if the group coach tells the hockey guy to wait. Nope. The coach skates away with the hockey guy and that's the last I see of him for five minutes.

I move on with my life, and a few minutes later the group coach glances my way and yells, "Very nice." at what I was skating.

I'll be frank. The hockey guy pulling the coach aside as if I'm invisible is typical guy shit. The fact that the coach let him pull him away--typical guy shit.

I'll just wait until it happens again. No smack-down. No rudeness.

"Hey, hockey guy. You need to learn to take your turn and wait until Coach has finished with me. Now be a good boy, and practice on your own until Coach is finished." delivered in the sweetest primary school teacher voice. Life is less stressful if you treat people like the kid they're acting like, instead of the adult they are.

Meh, and if that doesn't work, so what? I'm just there for the ice time!  There's plenty of space, I'll work on my mazurka and my waltz jump. There NO SPACE FOR THAT IN FREESKATE! Mwah-ha-ha!

{As I was leaving the rink I said "Hi!" to my buds in Freeskate and they told me they missed me. I said, "Hey, LTS has a third of the rink and only 6 people, I've got plenty of room to skate. How about you?"

And for the first time, they realized what was going on. Gold Skater said, "Wait, you've got all that space to spread out in?"

I nodded, I'd watched the 10 skaters in freeskate sharing a corner of the rink. It was miserable over there.

Then Miss Bunhead said, "We ought to talk to someone about that!"

ODG, I need to stop gloating.}