Training away or at home?

[newfieskates]

As I get more involved with the skating world I realise that there are a lot of skaters who are really serious about their sport and would do anything for it. I have a lot of friends who travel from home to get better training wether it be half an hour away or out of the country. I just want to see how many people actually do travel for this wonderful sport.

I also know that there is also clubs that have really good training programs and these lucky skaters don't need to go anywhere. So if you have a good training program with your club speak up to and say what type of programs are in place there.

For me, I skated in Nefoundland and I went to Ontario for the summer.....for better training.

[2axel_hopeful]

Well I'm in Washington DC for the summer because, quite frankly, my coaches here are better than my coaches in Ottawa. I used to live down in the states so the people I'm working with now know me well and are very friendly. I went down two weeks in February and am hoping to come down for another two in October, and the same schedule next year. Lots of people I know do this. I think that it really helps to go somewhere to get a new perspective or just a change. :D

[CanAmSk8ter]

I started skating in 1992, and major training centers sprang up within 30 minutes of my house in 1994 and 2000. I started training at one in 1996 and switched to the other in 2002. I have access to really good coaching, and I train with some of the best skaters in the world, so I'm lucky- other than two weeks in Lake Placid just so I could try being away on my own, I've never had to go away to get training. OTOH, I've met skaters who have come from all over the world to train the way we do here. Several of my friends at my rink were born outside of the US and moved here for skating. All told, I've met skaters from, I think, 25 countries and 30-odd states. I'd have done it if I had to, but I feel really lucky not to have had to.

[Sk8Bunny]

I go away every summer to train in Colorado Springs because they have better coaching and skating classes(on and off ice) there. Also, its good to have a break from the regular routine at my home rink. While I love my main coach, when a jump or something doesnt seem to be going well its nice to learn new approaches from my other coaches. I dont go away for the whole summer tho(its too expensive!). Colorado Springs, Lake Placid, California and Delaware seem to be hot spots for skaters training away from home.

[Mrs Redboots]

We go to the training camp associated with the Mountain Cup, which is hard work, and some years we go to the Ice Dance Camp at Bad Reichenhall in October, which is a walk in the park by comparison! The latter is designed for recreational dancers and, at the end of a long competition season, is a time to play with harder dances than we normally skate. I don't think we are going this year, though.

There are other training camps and weekends held in the UK for adult skaters now, but I haven't yet been to them.

[pinkjellybean]

When I was still competing my coach would take me to different places around Canada and the US (during the summers for sure but also during some points in the year). She was a great coach on her own but knew that having input from different people and different ways of doing things would only help us. It was great. If i had a different coach I know I wouldn't have had the same great oppertunities but I probably would have trained somewhere else at somepoint in the summers because of visiting family out of town so I would need to keep skating... but who knows if I would have been able to get in with the top coaches.

[RoaringSkates]

I'm an adult, so things are different for me. I don't travel to train. But I do commute to far rinks. The closest rink I skate at is an hour away. The one I use on Sundays is an hour and fifteen minutes one way.

The closest rink to my house is 45 minutes away, but they don't offer sessions that match my schedule.

[twokidsskatemom]

http://www.fsaf.org/classes2004/ice.htm

this is what the kids and adults do up here, its great !!!!!

[jazzpants]

Depends on what you consider to be an "away" rink...

Where I live I have about a dozen skating rinks within driving distance and at least half of them that I've been to at one time or another.

A year and a half ago, I was skating at a rink 50 miles away from my home rink, but only b/c I have a job there also. Now I'm skating at my home rink and my weekend rink. The weekend rink is about 15-20 miles away. The home rink is about 7 miles from home.

If you're thinking another state, then no, I train at home! :mrgreen:

[Sk8s4Bananas]

I don't really travel to other rinks just to skate. I train in Los Angeles sometimes with my coaches there because the rest of my family is in Los Angeles and we stay there for more than two weeks and I can't go a couple of weeks without skating or having skating lessons. I really don't travel just to train with better coaches. My family doesn't have the money to go out of state just to train with someone and we are very happy with my coach! :) :)

[SkateGuard]

Well, living in Chicago, we don't have to travel...much.

I used to go 45 min to a rink to train because it's where my coach was on staff, passing two rinks on the trip. (At first, I was traveling because of a job, but when I was laid off, I started looking for work near the ice rink, lol.)

However, I now have a dance partner in another state, so we alternate traveling 6-7 hrs each way once a month to skate together. We have good facilities in both cities, as well as coaches.

Only us crazy adults!

Erin
still in awe that two people can "click" on a tryout...