Working and skating

[sue123]

OK, so I'm majorly procrastinating right now because I don't want to do my take home advanced inorganic chem exam, but graduating in May and starting teaching in Sept. has got me thinking. When do you have time to skate and work? Right now, I skate during the day when I have a break. But working in a school, I can't do that. I was thinking most people probably go before work, but I'll be living in Brooklyn, and working somewhere in NYC. Right now, I go to school in LI and there are about 4 rinks within a half hour. So driving from Brooklyn to LI and back to NYC doesn't seem very feasible.

I know there is Sky Rink, and a bunch of outdoor rinks, but it's just not so convenient. At least I'll only be working for a year before going back to school.

[Skate@Delaware]

I skate with two teachers. They skate on Friday afternoons and on the weekends. They might occasionally add a Tuesday afternoon (we have sessions that start at 4pm). I guess you do what ya have ta do. It depends on when you get off of work, how long it takes to get to the rink and geared up.

[skaternum]

Many adults skate before work. I usually skate from 7-8 am and get to work by 9. There's some ice on Saturday here, but it's insanely crowded and not conducive to getting much done, in my opinion.

[Terri C]

I'm fortunate enough to get off work at 3-3:30, so I'm on the ice from 4:20-5:50 three/ four days a week. We do have one 50 minute freestyle on Saturdays, but like skaternum's rink, it can get insanely crowded.
Now, I'm dying to see our rink's April schedule to see if we will be denied afternoon freestyles because of spring break.:frus: :roll:

[jp1andOnly]

I skate in the early evenings. I work about an hour from home (by transit) and the arena is close to my work. On a normal day I'm up at 5:30am and if I have skating after work, then I usually get home by 8pm. Makes for very longs days for sure.

Weekends are also great for skating. I usually skate Sat and take sunday off

[coskater64]

When I taught middle school full-time and skated it was not very easy. I managed 3 days a week and skated the 5-7am sessions at a rink about 1/2 an hour away. Luckily 2 days a week we had club ice from 6-8 am and that rink was 3 minutes away and I'd leave @ 7.30 a to get to work by 8. I got up at 4 am for those MWF sessions and 5.30 am for the TR that lasted for about 2 years, you do get used to it over time.

[Debbie S]

I was a teacher for 2 years in a former professional life, lol, but that was before I started skating. I don't know if I could have managed skating with all of the demands of teaching (after school, weekend planning time, etc). But I think I could have been OK if I was strict about managing my time and set boundaries. As a new teacher, it's easy to want to stay late and spend lots of time on planning and grading and such. My advice to you is to set a schedule of when you will skate and make sure to leave school by the time you need to. Parent conferences and such can be on days when you're not skating (unless it's an emergency, but it really never is).

You didn't say, but if you are teaching in an NYC public school, the teacher's union contract stipulates that all professional development must take place during school hours (hence schools just close for half day) and when I was a student-teacher there (pre-service masters at Columbia U), I remember that the teaches went to great lengths to schedule conferences during school hours. As for planning and grading, use your time during the school day well, and put a limit as to how much time you will spend on it during the weekends, for your sanity.:)

For the past couple of years, I was a full-time student in an MBA program so I was able to skate during the day at near-empty FS sessions. Now that I'm working, I miss those, although having money to pay for skating (and other things) makes up for that. ;) Now, I skate Mon and Thurs nights and a weekend morning (usually Sat). My work hours are about 8 to 5, although on days when I skate I leave at 4:30. Don't worry, I'm not doing anything bad - I tried to shift my hours a bit earlier so that I could officially leave at 4:30 (and the HR person who gave me the job offer said one of the benefits was flex time) but my boss wasn't too keen on me leaving every day before 5 so she said on the days I needed to leave early I could (note: when she asked me why I wanted to change my hours, I told her that I needed to leave earlier on a couple of days b/c I had things I did after work - I did not specifically mention it was skating, and I recommend you be as general as possible when it comes to time conflict issues).

[Isk8NYC]

Didn't you say you'd be TEMPing for the school system, or am I thinking of someone else? If so, you really don't know which school you'll be assigned to on a given day, unless you have an in somewhere.

Living in Brooklyn gives you a number of options for skating other than Sky Rink. Transportation is a factor, however - not every rink is easy to reach by mass transit.

Your best bet is to go on Arenamaps.com and locate the rinks near work and home. Then, check out their schedules and work around them. Some NYC rinks have nice afternoon public sessions that aren't too crowded.

Now, go finish that exam and turn it in!

[sue123]

Didn't you say you'd be TEMPing for the school system, or am I thinking of someone else? If so, you really don't know which school you'll be assigned to on a given day, unless you have an in somewhere.

Living in Brooklyn gives you a number of options for skating other than Sky Rink. Transportation is a factor, however - not every rink is easy to reach by mass transit.

Your best bet is to go on Arenamaps.com and locate the rinks near work and home. Then, check out their schedules and work around them. Some NYC rinks have nice afternoon public sessions that aren't too crowded.

Now, go finish that exam and turn it in!

I thought I was going to be subbing, and then I found out that I could work full time. Apparently, you have 5 years to get a masters. It's better I think to work full time since then I'd have insurance, which me, being the klutz that I am, need insurance. I just thought before that I wouldn't be able to since I'm not an education major. But my mom brought me the book from the dept. of ed that has all the requirements to teach, and she talked to one of her friends that works there who confirmed that I could teach, and if I took a competency (sp?) in biology or chemistry, I'd have no problems getting a job, since science teachers are in high demand.

So what I thought was going to be a sub turned out that I would be full time teaching for a year and then (hopefully) go to med school. And I did finish my exam, sort of. I found out that we would be getting an extension on it. One of my friends saw our professor at the admitted students day we had yesterday adn said there would be no way he could finish this exam in time, and she said it was fine, she was going to ask us on Monday if we wanted extra time.

[Skittl1321]

(note: when she asked me why I wanted to change my hours, I told her that I needed to leave earlier on a couple of days b/c I had things I did after work - I did not specifically mention it was skating, and I recommend you be as general as possible when it comes to time conflict issues).

I'm going to give the opposite advice. Judge what kind of relationship you have with your boss and then decide to be specific or general. I also take advantage of flex-time at my job (I am a teacher by degree, but currently in an editorial job because teachers are not in high demand in the state I moved to b/c of my husbands job). I work 7:30-4:00 on normal days and on skating days 10:00-6:00 on skating days. I asked my boss if she minded if I came in a few hours late once a week and made up the time and she said no problem and asked why. I told her I wanted to be able to ice skate before work and she said that it sounded like great fun. Now when I call to let her know I am in the office (she works in a different branch of the company) she always asks me how my practice went.

When I was student teaching I arranged my ballet classes around known meetings at school. Really I found it easier than a normal job to do things "after school" because we got out so much earlier than an 8-5, even with bus duty and team meetings. So if you can find rinks with evening hours, just keep an up to date schedule of all the rinks near you. Then arrange your lessons around your teaching schedule. Keep at least one day a week where you know you can't stay late and then don't schedule conferences or team meetings for it.

[Debbie S]

I'm going to give the opposite advice. Well, it sounds like you are in a good situation with your boss. The advice I gave is just based upon the general rule that says to keep your personal and recreational life to yourself as much as possible while at work. Generally, in the corporate world, managers are concerned with the bottom line and might consider someone wanting to leave work for a hobby (and depending on their view of figure skating, maybe not a hobby they respect) to be less dedicated to their job or the company. This is true even for companies that promote a work-life balance - balance in their mind usually means family/child care issues and not personal fulfillment. And like I said, opinions about figure skating (and adults taking up the sport) vary widely and you just don't want to be in a situation where the people you work with think you're a nutcase. I'm just saying be careful - I agree that you should judge the relationship you have with your boss, but even if you do have a good relationship with them, you may still get a weird reaction.

Teaching is obviously not the corporate world, but the same principles apply. When you are hired for a job, your boss expects your priority to be your job and the company/school - if it publicly appears your priorities are elsewhere, things could get bad for you.

Sue, did you get the OPD license yet? They take FOREVER to process (I don't have personal experience with that, but I've heard about others' experiences) so get it now if you haven't already. Yes, you will spend all day waiting in various lines at the Board of Ed - take some books and get some studying done. :)

[Skittl1321]

. Generally, in the corporate world, managers are concerned with the bottom line and might consider someone wanting to leave work for a hobby

Which is why I said to gauge what kind of boss you have. My boss knows that I am much more likely to put in 20 hours of overtime (a regular occurence) if I can come in 2 hours late one day. It's very much a bottom line sort of thing. I am happy with my company because they are flexible, and therefore willing to not complain when I work all weekend.

The principal at the school I was at for student teaching (which I know is not like a real job- but we did do a full semester, with 2 six weeks of full responsibility) was very interested in teachers outside lives. I guess you didn't have to share them with him, but he would remember that this teacher took Yoga on Wednesdays, or that I did ballet 3 times a week. When he found out that many of the teachers did aerobics he arranged to have after school step aerobics classes in the gym for teachers- and even filed a grant to get money to pay for it. That way we all had the option of going to step aerobics after bus/carpool duty and before a weekly faculty meeting. If teachers hadn't shared their personal interests that would have never happen. I've been told the grant program has been expanded to also be offered to children who are able to stay after school.

It just depends on your situation.

[MusicSkateFan]

Well I am a Music Teacher (Band Director). I dont have a lot of papers to grade but I have a fair amount of other things. My middle school starts early so I can usually get out of work by 3:30pm and catch some freestyle sessions during the week. I get up early on the weekends for freestyle sessions and do later evening sessions during the week. I am hoping the new rink that opens in may will have 6am freestyle beacuse it is about 5 min away from my school!

[Rusty Blades]

I am in a great situation when it comes to my skating.

First, I have been with the company long enough to have more vacation time than I can use.

Second, my boss is the sweetest man you could ever meet who knows I'll do whatever has to be done to get the work done on schedule, even if it means working all night or through the weekend. So when I say I need personal time, they are anxious to keep me happy.

But the trump card is that the company I work for is a HUGE sponsor of amateur sport and sponsored the Manitoba WInter Games this year.

I haven't told my boss (oops!, I mean "asked") that I wont be in 3 afternoons a week through July and August 'cause I'll be at Summer Skate School ;)

[Kristin]

I work 40-50 hours a week as an Engineer and I skate mornings 4 days/week, 1 hour per day (sometimes 1 1/2 hours). I have to get up at 5:15am, shower, get dressed in my skating clothes, then drive to the rink and be on the ice at 6:30am. After my session, I get dressed & clean up at the rink in the bathroom at 7:45am, then off to work and get to work by 8:30am. I work till 5:30pm (sometimes 6), then go home (I live 5 minutes from work), make some quick dinner, then am in bed by 9pm.

I have 2 twenty minute lessons/week & compete/test too.

It's reality, it's skating, and I love it.
Kristin

[Skate@Delaware]

I am pretty lucky with my schedule. I work 32 hours a week and get to flex my hours at work. I make one day supershort (3 hours) so I can duck out and skate at a daytime session. My boss knows I skate and knows when the season runs. When ice is gone, my hours go back to a "normal" schedule.

I also bring in "proof" to show him---my skatebag, skates, and recently, pictures and my medals. He's impressed because he is a big guy and won't get on the ice (afraid of falling).:roll:

[techskater]

Like Kristin, I work a very demanding job as a manufacturing manager. I get up at 4:30 every day and skate T-F from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM and Sa from 6:00 to 7:30 AM and Su from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM. Mondays I generally go to work early. I work 50-60 hours a week on top of it. You make choices.

[doubletoe]

I HATE HATE HATE getting up early, but I tell myself I'm not getting up early, I''m just changing time zones. ;) Since I work from 9am to 6pm every weekday, I skate from 6:30am-7:30am, stretch out, change clothes, and drive to work. On Thursdays and Fridays I'll sometimes skate the 7:00-8:00pm freestyle as well, right after work. On Sundays I skate for 2-3 hours at a rink that's 25 miles away because they have 2 Sunday morning freestyle sessions followed by a public session.

[WhisperSung]

I'm pretty lucky with my work. I generally work 37.5 hours a week (paid for 40 through an incentive program). I make my own schedule. I can work anytime on Mon-Thurs from 7a.m. to 9p.m., Friday from 7a.m. to 5p.m. and Saturday from 8a.m. to 2p.m. I do have to work a certain amount of evening hours (28 hours of evening/weekend every 2 weeks), but I can also work split shifts, so each week I gauge when I want to skate and then schedule myself to work around it.

Right now, I have contract ice at my home club from 3-4p.m. every Thursday. I work from 8-2p.m. on Thursdays and come back if need be from 5-9p.m. Kind of nice. :)

[vesperholly]

When I worked a 9-5, I skated Monday and Wednesday nights at 6:30pm, and Saturday mornings at 10am and Sunday nights at another club. Sometimes if I had a test or competition coming up, I would pick up ice at the other club on Tuesday or Thursday nights.

Now that I work nights (5:30pm to 1:30am), I have the best skating schedule on the planet. I skate club ice from 2:30-3:30pm Monday and Wednesday, which is for higher-level skaters and usually has 8-10 skaters on it. If I could afford it, I could skate 2:30-4:30 and go right to work from the rink, but leaving at 3:30 to home, shower and get ready for work is just the right amount of time.

The rink has $3 public sessions specifically for figure skaters MW 1:30-2:15 and TRF 1:30-3:15, so on Tuesdays and Fridays I skate that ice. The only bad thing is that we can't get lessons (some dumb club/rink/town dispute) but there are hardly any skaters on it. It's a four-rink complex so during the day, they can't even give the ice away. :D Also, the sessions will get cancelled if there are hockey tournaments, unlike club ice which is guaranteed, and the schedule is only month-by-month (April schedule will literally come out March 31) so it's harder to plan with.

Though my job requires working weekends (I usually work Sun-Thurs, but a lot of times my days off are Mon/Sat, or even Mon/Tues :evil: ), I am partially reticent about getting a new job because I'd lose all my awesome ice!!

[Thin-Ice]

I HATE HATE HATE getting up early, but I tell myself I'm not getting up early, I''m just changing time zones. ;)

I LOVE this!

I work an overnight shift (11:30pm-7am and skate afterwards) but I try to convince my body I'm just on European time!:D

[sceptique]

I skate Sat and Sun mornings at my home rink and some Weds or Thurs at a rink in Germany, about 30 min drive from my project location. Main problem with my job is that, first, I never know how long I'm going to work in a particular place, and second, it's considered "bad teamwork" to spend less than 10 hours in the office (well, I knew what I got myself into... thanks goodness, it's 10, not 16!).

[blisspix]

I have one evening shift per week that starts at 2pm, so I skate that morning. I also skate Saturday mornings when I am not working. I am not taking lessons right now.

I nominally work 35 hours a week but I am on a lot of committees for my professional association that increase that time by about another 10 hours a week.

Constant shift rotation in my old job meant I quit skating for 5 years because I couldn't find a regular time. My new job is a lot more regular. But without a car, I need a lot of time between rink and work to get between them. I don't have time to skate AM because I leave for work at 7:30 (I live 1.5 hours by train away from my job).

Because of distance and scheduling etc. I bump up my expercise by doing ballet once a week and yoga once a week. Luckily, yoga is a work program so I don't have to travel for it.

Also travelling for holidays, conferences etc takes about 2 months a year out of my skating.

[nigrafeles]

I skate 6-7 am two days a week, then change and go to work (rink is close, work is about 45 minutes away). Course I'm one of those crazy morning people that wakes up at 5 anyways. The session I'm on has about 15 people during the school year, but goes down to about 2-3 during summer vacation (whooohoooo!). None of the rinks close to my house have afternoon sessions that I can make. I'm lucky that I work a flex schedule, so I can be at work at 8 those two days and 6:30 the rest of the week and still get in my hours before afternoon traffic gets too bad.

[blue111moon]

The main reason I joined my skating club (some 20-odd years ago!) was to have access to club ice which was held early evenings during the week and on weekends so I could skate outside of work. It's more expensive than daytime public skating but less crowded (max of 22 skaters allowed by club bylaws) and the schedule rarely changes.

[Terri C]

I'm fortunate enough to get off work at 3-3:30, so I'm on the ice from 4:20-5:50 three/ four days a week. We do have one 50 minute freestyle on Saturdays, but like skaternum's rink, it can get insanely crowded.
Now, I'm dying to see our rink's April schedule to see if we will be denied afternoon freestyles because of spring break.:frus: :roll:

Well, it's Spring Break week here and there is afternoon ice, but this summer is going to suck!
Our rink will only have freestyles from 7-10 am Monday- Friday, with a session on Saturday. Unless I transfer jobs within my company, it looks as though I'll be involuntarily taking the summer off. so much for re-taking and trying to pass Bronze moves this summer!:( :frus: :evil: