Not to derail this thread, but from what I read of the rule change, the issue was that it was considered a restraint on trade, according to the FTC, b/c it prevented coaches from advertising their services and discussing their services with anyone else's student until they officially left their coach. There was a doc published by the PSA that spelled out what was now allowed and also cautioned coaches to be professional and respect their fellow coaches as they themselves would want to be respected.
Soliciting takes many forms. The behavior that the previous rule was trying to prevent was the more covert kind - coaches (either themselves or through a 3rd party, usually an adult student or kid student's parent) approaching skaters or parents to badmouth that skater's current coach and try to convince the skater that they'd do so much better with another coach, i.e. them. I've known a couple of coaches who did this and their behavior (solicitation and other bad stuff) got them kicked out of rinks. Often, the soliciting was part of a calculated vendetta against another coach who they didn't like or were mad at for whatever reason. That kind of behavior leads to a toxic rink environment, and no one wants to coach or skate at a rink where the coaches are at each other's throats or putting skaters in the middle of their personal gripes.
So the general expectation among coaches, even with the new solicitation guidelines, is that coaches will respect each other and won't actively try to steal a particular student away. It's one thing to post your brochure or flyer in the rink and another to approach a skater personally who has never contacted you about lessons. I would be very cautious about any coach who personally solicits skaters who have never expressed an interest in working with that coach before....the coaching world is like a fraternity, and if one coach seems to be on the outs or an adversary to the other coaches at the rink, beware.
