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21

"Yes. Parents want feedback all the time. A liaison could cut back a little on coach/parent time and parents may feel happier chatting about the coach and expectations with a third person."

"Yes. Because I love the children and I feel that at a certain level, the parents should be involved and a part of their children's skating."

"Yes. It will strengthen the parent organization so that you have a strong skating family."

"No. I believe that the parents get too involved as it is. They are not the professionals. A simple input with the coach privately is good enough."

"No. Things at our rink run very smoothly with open communication between almost everyone."

"Not sure. It may be a beneficial thing to offer at a rink. However, I don't feel that it is absolutely necessary to have."

"Yes. I feel that it is important for parents as well as coaches to understand where each are coming from. Therefore, I would completely be in favor of having a 'parent-coach' advisory committee. However, I would not be in favor of having people stand in on my lesson, because if the parent or student does not feel comfortable with being alone on a lesson with me or their coach, they should not be taking with them."

"No. That is the responsibility of the coach."

"Not sure. I don't see this as a big problem. Also the board members are parents and we have [a] 'board-coach' liaison."

"[We] already have one. It really helps to break down communication barriers when problems arise."

"No. There are already too many skating parents, the great majority of us are professionals and the parents need to step back and allow us to do our jobs. There is a reason why we get paid the money we do. I encourage parents to speak freely when and if they have concerns or questions. But for the most part, the less parents, the better. My favorite students are the ones who have trusting parents. As for the others, that's why I screen my incoming home phone calls."

"Yes. [For] better understanding of what goes on on the ice versus what parents are expecting, and just better communication in general."

"Yes. I feel that anything that can help facilitate communication for the benefit of skating students is a positive."

"Not sure. Politics in rinks are rampant, and I would be uncomfortable with the idea that an unsympathetic activist could turn parents against coaches on a whim. I feel that most of my communication lines are open enough that such a person/group is not really necessary. However, I would be in favor of a group that was specifically formed to watch for coaching or parental abuses and then intervene on behalf of the skater."

"Not sure. This is a loaded question. A 'person' such as I think you are describing would need to have many skills. An arbitrator sometimes, a counselor, a confidante, certainly have good technical knowledge. This is probably a good idea but unworkable."

"Yes. It would be very helpful to have a third person who is not directly involved in the relationship."

"Yes. I would like to standardize the practices at the rink at which I teach. Parents would then know there was cohesion among the coaches."

"Not sure. I would rather the parent receive the information directly from the coach so I'm sure they get the proper answers."

"Yes. Sometimes a third party is needed for an objective unbiased opinion."

"Yes. Many parents are extremely ill-informed as to how skating schools are run, especially at the learn-to-skate level. Some of them don't understand why we are teaching the things we teach. I think that sometimes they don't understand why I work on one skill for a long time to get it correct, and think their children should be constantly entertained instead of taught... I think that it would be a nice idea to inform parents of the what, why and how of skating."

"Yes. I believe it would be a great idea because many problems arise and we all need to come to some sort of an agreement, so we need an outsider to help."

"Not sure. I have meetings with my students' parents once a week. So I don't know how anyone else could help because we already have a great system."

"Yes. I think an advisory group would be a good idea, because there are a lot of things that parents and coaches need to talk about, but not during lesson times."

"No. [It would] make it worse."

"Not sure. I think it's difficult, since at my rink, there are many high-level coaches coaching high-level skaters -- how does one address each coach and parent through one liaison when each parent has a different coach?"

"No. Getting parents involved in rink business opens the door to too many problems. They feel they have power at the rink."

"No. Parents wouldn't want interference in their children's skating; it would hinder effective parent-coach communication."

"Not sure. Most coaches at my facility communicate regularly with the parents. I'm not sure that it would be needed."

"No. I am the skating director -- therefore it is my job to deal with these types of things."

"No. I feel that is up to the parent and skater and coach."

"No. I haven't had good experiences with middle people. I prefer to expend the time myself."

"No. Because it is hard enough to get proper communication between a skater (a coach) and a non-skater (a parent) and adding a third person would just add confusion."

"No. I feel that I can handle communications with my students' parents on my own."

"No. I think it is the coach's responsibility to make the parent-coach relationship a positive one. Adding a third party would make things even more difficult."

"Yes. It is always good to protect yourself from any confrontations that might happen along the way."

"Not sure. I don't know what this group would be responsible for. If it was an unbiased representative who would express the concerns of parents without being the 'busybody' of the rink, I think it would be great."

"Not sure. I feel that sometimes it is very helpful to have opinions outside of the coaching staff, but I also feel it can cause a lot of harm. There are so many parents that are more worried about what they can get for their own skater rather than the skaters as a whole."

"No. [I] have dealt with groups such as this before, and most do not have the skills to be effective liaisons."

"Yes. Too much misinformation gets spread among the parents sitting in the stands. A parent advisory group could answer any questions or concerns."

"Yes. I would be interested in serving on such an advisory group."

"Yes. I feel that it would lower the complaints about the staff or facility."

"No. It is the job of the coach to communicate with their students and their families."

"Not sure. I have fairly good communication with the parents of my students, and don't feel that they would need a liaison."

"Yes. Because skating is so new in the area I teach, I think that a lot of problems would be handled better if done through a liaison who is impartial to the situation. What I grew up with as normal, is sometimes questioned from parents. It is hard coming from a well-established club to a brand new one."

"No. The communication level [at my facility] is fantastic."

"No. I like to deal with my parents one-on-one."

"Not sure that my rink needs one at this time."

"No. Part of being a coach is learning how to communicate with parents. PSA at times has given me tools to work with. I feel it would be another reason to talk too much about nothing."

"Yes. It gives a parent or coach a third independent party to help with communication. The group could help educate parents about skating, which can be very time-consuming for the coach."

"Yes. Parents should be informed of what goes on at the rink and this will increase the parent-coach relationship, which the skater will benefit from."

"No. If someone is having a concern about me or my motives and techniques,
I would not want a third party trying to explain me to someone else...in psychology we call this "co-dependent behavior." The third party often gets involved in "taking sides" or it becomes a "guessing game" as to what everyone "really" means! It is much better for two individuals to face one another openly and learn to communicate...it is sadly lacking in our society. It boils down to
organic relationship versus mechanical dissemination of information. After all, we are working with people...A coach cannot just "give information." He/she must sometimes express personal reasons for certain actions, opinions, techniques...coaching is a personal relationship on a professional level and it requires personal communication."

"Yes. The parents need help in knowing what to do when there is a problem."

"No. I don't see much purpose of doing so."

"No. I am capable of communicating with my students and their parents without an intermediate."

"Yes. It would be good communication."

"Yes. I think it is important for parents to have a say in how their child is taught, and how the coach should handle different problems with that child along the way."

"Yes. It would be nice to have someone to confer with that is not emotionally involved with the student."

"No. A lot of the information discussed between a coach and a parent is very personal and doesn't need to have another person involved."

"No. I work very hard at keeping these lines of communication open and I would not wish to bring a third party into the picture. I feel the best way about approaching difficult problems is one-on-one and as quickly as possible."

"Not sure. We have tossed around several different ideas concerning the coach/parent issues here and have yet to come up with what we all think is a viable solution. Our Coaches Council has made great leaps in communication thus creating a better atmosphere for the coaches, the parents and the students... however, we have more work to do. An 'ethics packet' for coaches and parents is one item on our agenda. The idea of a parent advisory committee may work if it is comprised of knowledgeable people from several different rinks or clubs."

"[We] already have one. I am the skating director and serve informally as that person, as I have been at my rink for 25 years and most of the other coaches are former students of mine, it seems that the parents of their students come to me with all their concerns. It has worked well. I have been able to salvage many relationships and clear up many misconceptions."

"Not sure. I am not convinced that we need this type of advisory at our facility."