Well, the best way to find the answers to your questions is to visit all the ice rinks you are prepared to travel to for your child to be coached, and talk to coaches themselves. Watching coaches in action can be a good indication of how they work with students and also you can see what kind of standard their students have attained under their guidance. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to skaters or skaters' parents who are at the arena, and explain you are seeking a new coach either for yourself/your child. They may be able to give you their views, especially on their coach and you can obtain an idea from their views too.

The vast majority of skaters change coach once, twice or maybe even more in their lives so if you have come to the conclusion it is time for you/your child to move on to better things then take your time to fully research before jumping into the unknown. We will continue talking as if you, the reader, are a parent searching for their child for simplicities sake. So maybe you feel like your child is starting to out-grow their coach? Maybe they have been taking test after test lately and passing with flying colours, and their current pro maybe doesn't have the knowledge to teach them much more and develop their skills further. Changing coaches as we mentioned above is not un-common practice in this sport and usually this can be done in amicable style - it is never a good idea to make enemies. Much as mentioned above, probably the best way to find out about a possible new coach is to talk to them, watch them work, and talk to students to see what their opinions of the person (the coach) and of their technique is. Checking to see if the club has a website, and a page about coaches is also a good idea. Often on skating club sites their is a section about the pro's who work there and a list of their acheivements. Check the clubs pages to find the club that applies to you.

Money can be a big factor in the whole business of coaching too. Obviously the higher qualified the coach the higher the price, just as it cost's more to buy a jacket from Gucci than from Walmart, the quality has to be considered and only the skater/skaters parents if the skater is too young, can understand and decide what s/he needs to be able to progress to their full potential. Some coaches charge 30 dollars per hour, whereas high-level coaches who have taken american ladies to senior nationals and even international events can charge as much as 140 dollars per hour.

Ultimately, great care should be given to finding a first time coach, or a coach to which you are planning to move. Remember nothing is set in stone, so if you feel after a small while that you and your chosen coach are infact incompatible then you can of course change to someone else. It is however, not the best option to change coach everytime a skater cannot land a certain jump, or gets bad results at a competition. There are lots of reasons a skater may not be advancing to his/her potential in sport such as stress at home or in school, bodyshape changing as skater goes through puberty and other such things.

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