It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas...

[jazzpants]

And the seasonal public session crowds are back in droves again!!! AUGH!!! :evil: :x And could someone explain why everyone decides to have birthday parties at the rink between October and February/March?!?!?!? :?? :frus:

Today I broke down and started attending the Sat. morning freestyle sessions at my weekend rink. (Shhhhh! Don't tell my secondary coach that I intentionally want to avoid going to Club Ice b/c I want to avoid her power class right after Club Ice...) ;) :P I wanted an emptier (and much saner) ice sessions on the weekends and this is probably the best deal I'm gonna get. I still will attend the public session on Sundays, but only in the mornings though. If I have plans Sunday mornings, I don't skate Sundays! :giveup:

So all you public session skaters... how do you cope with the holiday public session crowds? Are you just skating around them or are you moving to freestyle sessions until the crowds disappear again?

Thanks for your info!

[Figureskates]

Sure does...we got almost 6"of snow last night...Ho Ho Ho.

[Debbie S]

... how do you cope with the holiday public session crowds? Are you just skating around them or are you moving to freestyle sessions until the crowds disappear again?


I really don't skate at public sessions. Once I got to Basic 4 or 5, it got too frustrating to dodge the crowds. I'd stay in the coned circle designated for practice, but all these little kids (and their parents, too) would come careening though it (occasionally with those metal bar things) w/o giving any thought as to why the cones were there (hello?). Or they would use it as a place to stand around and talk. :roll: I finally gave up and decided it was better to fork over the money for FS sessions.

[CaraSkates]

My rink has no freestyle sessions...it's one of 2 small rinks in a somewhat small town. Our public sessions are usually like freestyle sessions, meaning that it's mostly the figure skaters. Now that we're starting to get more public skaters I don't know what's going to happen. I've only been skating for 7 months so I wasn't around last year. I'd love if we'd get freestyle sessions but I would have to adjust to paying $10 or more for my ice time instead of it being free with the MIF/Freestyle class I'm taking!

<----loves her public sessions with 7-15 figure skaters and 1-10 public skaters!

[jazzpants]

Our public sessions are usually like freestyle sessions, meaning that it's mostly the figure skaters.This pretty much describes my weekend rink during the summer!!! Around that time, it's essentially a freestyle session w/a few skaters here and there. One of my home rink's public session is essentially a freestyle session with a few hockey and "date night" skaters mixed in there. (We even have at least one speed skate skater too... he's our regular ice guard on Monday nights! And he's definitely a sweetie with the women!) :P

Speaking of Monday nights, that's gonna be crowded pretty soon too! Oy vei! :roll: (I hope I spelled it right, dbny...) ;)

But... I GIVE UP!!! No more Sat. public sessions for the rest of this year -- and probably limited Sunday morning's public session too! :giveup: (I'm REALLY SICK of fighting the public session crowds!!!)

[Terri C]

My rink will not allow jumps or spins on public sessions and have you tried MIF??? My advice, don't!

Jazz, I know how you feel about the power class. I decided to try the one that my club is offering on Friday afternoons that started yesterday. Well, I didn't even last 10 minutes on that one.
When I thought about it later, I figured power stroking classes are nice, but what I really need right now is to focus on technique on crossovers, as my power comes naturally.

[sue123]

i know exactly how you feel. i went to a public session, after being spoiled by an empty rink. see, my rink has tuesday morning sessions, and friday afternoon sessions, while all the kiddies are still in school. i've been going to those, but i had a craving for ice today. big mistake. it's even worse on weekends because what they do is make the center cones smaller, then they block off both ends of the rink for skating lessons, so everyone who is just skating is crammed into this tiny space, meaning they're going to go into the cones. it's crazy. there's no room to move. and with so many people, the ice gets so nasty after maybe 20 mintues.

i think i'll stick to the near empty tuesday and friday "public" sessions.

[vintagefreak]

Our rink has always had very crowded weekend public sessions and ew, only 1 hour of freestyle starting at 5:30am sat. I basically don't skate on weekends.

I don't know why things pick up tho during the holidays because you would think it would be more fun to skate in the summer and get cool, rather than go from the cold outside during the winter to the cold ice rink. Makes lotsa sense!

~AF

[mikawendy]

Our rink has always had very crowded weekend public sessions and ew, only 1 hour of freestyle starting at 5:30am sat
~AF

Yoiks! 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday? That makes the 7:30 figures patch ice avaiable at a rink near me look like positively sleeping in! I've never made it to that patch even though one of flo's friends kindly offered to help me (I've never done figures)--I've never been able to rouse myself out of bed that early!!

[vintagefreak]

MikaWendy,

Yep, nasty, eh?

In fact, all through the week there are f/s sessions starting at 5:30 am and lasting until 11ish. There aren't as many f/s sessions in the PM because hockey is a priority at our wonderful rink.

[NCSkater02]

There aren't as many f/s sessions in the PM because hockey is a priority at our wonderful rink.

My rink(s) too. I think it's pretty much universal. :frus:

[jazzpants]

Ehh.... then I better not complain about the Sat. FS hours at my weekend rink ... it's from 8:45-9:30am and 9:45am-10:30am! :oops:

My home rink has LOTS of FS sessions (both mornings and afternoons)... the problem is that my job is nowhere near an ice rink!!! (The closest rink is a good 20-25 minutes drive.) :x I still couldn't work out the Sunday afternoon public session too, other than to come in right when it opens and before the crowds starts pouring in around 1pm. I would skate Monday mornings, since it tends to be pretty dead around then. The problem is I'm already skating Monday nights and I really don't feel like doing a double session on the same day! (Though I know of one skater that does do that... she has a lesson Monday mornings and Monday night sessions is her "social skating" practice session.)

[Mrs Redboots]

Goodness, no, Jazzpants - you do get a serious lie-in at the weekend! Our weekend teaching ice is from 6.00 am (in theory - in practice, on a Sunday, it's 7.00 am) to 9.00 am, then there are learn-to-skate classes until 10.30. On weekdays, except Mondays, we have teaching ice again from 6.00 to 10.30 am. This means there is a major clear-out at 8.00, when those children who go to school (we have one or two home-schoolers, just not quite homogenous enough in age and ability to make it worth-while starting a Small School for them) have to leave. Then on Tuesday and Thursday evenings there ice ice from 4.30 pm to 7.00 pm, followed on Tuesday by an hour of Figure Club and on Thursday by an hour of Dance Club. On Wednesdays there is, I believe, an hour of teaching ice from 7.00 to 8.00 pm, but I've never used it. And on Fridays it's from 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm, followed by Junior Disco, which some of the kids stay on for.

However, I do take everyone's point about Christmas. Our Winter Festival is on 10 December. This consists of free skating competitions for the children, a semi-artistic, semi-technical competition for adults, and two group competitions, one for adults and one for kids. So teaching ice and Figure Club Ice are full of small groups being Absolutely Fabulous, doing the Time Warp Again (actually, every skater in the place does the "jump to the left, step to the right" bit, not just the three girls who are doing it), going Off to see the Wizard, finding Lipstick on their Collars, demanding of Chick-chick-chick-chicken to "Lay a little egg for me", and even two cats waltzing (and fighting), which is me and Husband!

Added to this interesting medley, and, arguably rather more importantly, we have five couples planning to dance at the British Championships on 3 December, one Primary, two Junior and two Senior. One of the Senior couples is even in with a chance of representing their country in the Europeans.

On top of all of which, my coach and his wife are off to Paris for the weekend with some of their skaters to watch the Trophée Lalique, and of course, everybody is planning a trip to the British Championships in Nottingham. This is two lessons up the spout....

Can you say stress?