Heaven!

[dbny]

Our outdoor rink has been open for a while now, but I just started going recently. This week we don't have group lessons, but I have been signing up people for the next term like crazy, and picking up private lessons all the time. The private lessons are so much fun. Today I got a 4 year old boy going on his own, and his mom signed him, his sister, and herself for group lessons. I also got a very scared adult over her fear and actually doing very nice swizzles!

I can't tell you how many kid's skates I have laced or how many lace hooks the shop has sold because of my work, but people really respond to even a little show of interest, and I love teaching them about skates and skating. We are going to ask the rink management (city Parks Dept) if we can do a free demo on how to properly lace skates. That should be fun too, and sell a few more lace hooks for them in the process.

My own skating has been miserable lately, but I'm getting so much pleasure from the teaching that it is keeping me going.

[FigureSk8writer]

Originally posted by dbny
Our outdoor rink has been open for a while now, but I just started going recently. This week we don't have group lessons, but I have been signing up people for the next term like crazy, and picking up private lessons all the time. The private lessons are so much fun. Today I got a 4 year old boy going on his own, and his mom signed him, his sister, and herself for group lessons. I also got a very scared adult over her fear and actually doing very nice swizzles!

I can't tell you how many kid's skates I have laced or how many lace hooks the shop has sold because of my work, but people really respond to even a little show of interest, and I love teaching them about skates and skating. We are going to ask the rink management (city Parks Dept) if we can do a free demo on how to properly lace skates. That should be fun too, and sell a few more lace hooks for them in the process.

My own skating has been miserable lately, but I'm getting so much pleasure from the teaching that it is keeping me going.

Congrats!!! You sound very happy! Nothing like teaching the youth of America and Canada.

[Elsy2]

At this time of year you see alot of little ones with new skates they got for Christmas on public session. I notice most don't lace up properly....I talked one dad into tightening up one little girl's laces. She could barely walk in her new skates, much less skate, mostly because of those loose laces.

How nice that you have an outdoor rink! My daughter has never skated outdoors....I call her a "hothouse skater" ;) I'd love to have her experience outdoor skating sometime!

[CanAmSk8ter]

I see mostly the opposite problem... I don't know if it's a hockey skate vs. figure skates thing or what (often it's little girls in figure skates whose hockey fathers have tied the skates), but I have kids come into lessons all the time in new skates that are just yanked way too tight. Of course, if we're talking department store skates, tight may help a bit to make up for the lack of support, but I've actually had to have my assistant take my class for a minute while I loosen up skates.

Nothing will beat one of my students last year, though. In ISI Gamma, she was still skating in those CCM Gold Medals, which are about the worst skates made. I explained to her mom that she was probably not going to be able to learn to do mohawks and three-turns properly in them, so after three weeks mom took her out and got her a pair of used Riedells. The kid's feet were a size four-and-a-half, and the skates they were sold were a six. Riedells run big, so the skates would have been correct for someone who wore more like a size seven shoe. To top it off, the high school hockey kid who sold them the skates told them to tie them really tight at first :roll:

And these rinks allow the hockey boys to recommend and fit figure skates WHY? The rink where they got the skates wasn't the one I teach at, or they would have gotten an earful from me (and probably our learn-to-skate director too).

[flippet]

Oh, dbny, I'm so jealous....if only you could see me salivating right now! I haven't skated in so long... :( One of my favorite parts of this sport is teaching it to others, whether skating tips, or equipment tips. I just love helping people to learn to love skating, and if comfy skates is what it takes, well, I'm just thrilled. I've never had the opportunity to really 'teach', or even help with the tots...the rink I skated at had a director who liked to keep tight control over those things, and I guess you had to be on the right 'list' or something. If I only had more time, I'd go up to my new, nearby indoor/outdoor rink (outdoor with a roof that they'll enclose eventually) and beg to be allowed to help out in some way. But I'm so rusty now, having not skated in so long, that I'm too timid to do it now. :(

Wow. You go, girl. :D

[dbny]

Originally posted by flippet
I've never had the opportunity to really 'teach', or even help with the tots...the rink I skated at had a director who liked to keep tight control over those things, and I guess you had to be on the right 'list' or something.

I've been there too. I was very lucky that a coach I knew only very casually was starting a school in my area and asked my coach if she was interested. My coach told her that she didn't have the time, and that she thought someone to handle the desk and help manage the business would be more useful than another coach, since there were already two of them getting the contract together. My coach then recommended me! From the desk, I was encouraged to teach the tots groups, and my new friend/employer helped me a lot, at first having me work with her, and then by myself. She would have me fill in whenever a coach was absent or when a student needed some extra help. Meanwhile, to keep my programming skills alive, I wrote a Windows program to help manage the school, and it has been very useful. I was given another break after asking if I could observe the Mommy & Me class at another school and being allowed to assist. This season they called me and asked me to help teach the class.

As for the stuck up directors etc, the contract at our outdoor rink was in the hands of a pair of them for the last 5 years. They were pretty stifling, and this year the contract was offered to my mentor, so I now work at three schools and have gained much needed confidence and experience. Whenever I give private lessons, I look for the opportunity to suggest group lessons when appropriate, so as not to bite the hand that feeds me. I would have been a real asset to the previous school, but they saw me as both a threat and as someone who was not accomplished enough to coach. Their loss.

Keep your hopes up, things can change, and all you have to do is get your foot in the door. I feel exactly the same way you do about skating, sharing my love for it is a thrill.

Originally posted by flippet
Wow. You go, girl. :D

Thank you :D

I am going to have to start all over after my upcoming move, but at least I will have references, experience, and new-found confidence to take with me.

[Isk8NYC]

I think you're right about directors leaning towards people they know. Some of it is trust, some of it is the laid back attitude that accompanies small businesses. Sometimes, you have to be in the right place at the right time. I had sent a resume and cover letter to someone I knew from skating that had become a director at another rink. Never heard a word from her, not even a "thanks, but no thanks." Then again, a lot of corporations are like that nowadays.

Just a footnote: one of the reasons I was able to get back into teaching was because of the last Winter Olympics. The class registrations were very high because of "Olympic Fever." The rink needed more instructors to fill demand. When I called to talk to my friend about lessons for my kids, she remembered that I had taught earlier. After a discussion, I was asked to teach, and I love it more now than I did when I taught in the early 1990's. The rink is well-kept, the people are friendly, and everyone is very generous with time and lessons.

So, if you're "rusty" and thinking about teaching, make a plan to get ready to teach after the next Olympics! As DBNY mentioned, volunteer to help out or observe, so that they get to know your face. You need to look into insurance and memberships, too. Do it early, so you can be ready to jump in with both feet.