Private Lesson Length

[SkatingOnClouds]

I'm wondering how long everyone's private lessons are, particularly the adults here.

Mine are 15 minutes, 20+ years ago I had 1/2 hour on figures, 1/2 hour on free skating. (Back then we had to do an hour practice on figures before freeskating)

15 minutes seems so short, especially as most of it is taken up with edges (:roll: I know I need this work, but oh, I just want to jump and spin !!!), and it always feels so rushed.

Perhaps it is a symptom of advancing age, as I feel I need to pick things to pieces and really understand them so I can work on them properly myself.

How long do others think is the optimum lesson length?

[sk8_4fun]

Hi, I usually have 15 minutes. I have had 30 minutes but I find that 15 is better for me because I can then go and practice what weve been doing. any longer and I forget! maybe as I progress and work on harder stuff I may need longer. My coach is so precise, Ive usually had enough by then!!!!

[Rusty Blades]

It depends on how busy my coaches are.

With my winter coach, through the winter, most sessions were one or two 15 minute blocks per hour. Sometimes I'd get another session in the second hour. I was also skating 4 hours practice per week without a coach, so that was only 15 or 30 minutes per 6 hours ice time.

At Spring School my winter coach was giving me 15 minutes per hour. (She finally took me seriously that I wanted to enter the Nationals.)

At Summer School, my summer coach was doing the same (15 minutes per hour) sometimes but, if she didn't have another skater on that session, I'd be bless with her coaching for 45 minutes of each hour session - oh joy! That's INTENSE! :roll:

Going into the fall and winter seasons, my winter coach wants 4 hours/week together - she said "You WILL be ready for Nationals!" - LOL! What have I DONE??!! 8O

[jenlyon60]

30 minute lessons. The first 10 minutes or so focuses on stroking and power (heck, sometimes the whole lesson is nothing but stroking drills), and the remainder is normally focused on whatever dance I am currently working on.

For me, anything less and not much gets accomplished. Or so my mind thinks.

[Evelina]

Mine are usually 45 mins, but if I feel I need to really work on something I ask my coach for an hour. It never seems long enough no matter how long they are!

[Scarlett]

Usually mine are 30 minutes. Frequently am the last student of the day or the last student before a break so if we are working on something and it seems that I am close to a breakthrough we will sometimes go to 45 minutes. I usually have one private a week but occassionally I can fit two into my schedule.

[sarahg]

My private lessons tend to be 30 minutes. I find that 15 minutes is too short and I'm just beginning to get something and we have to move on whereas in the 30 minute lesson we can cover most of the things we need to in a fair amount of depth. There is a LOT of information that comes my way, but I find that in a lesson I tend to focus and concentrate more than usual and I seem to take all of it in.

I don't think I could do more than 30 minutes though, I just don't have the stamina to skate that intensely :roll:

[phoenix]

Typically 30 minutes. I've done as long as an hour, but usually I'd be so exhausted by the end I could barely stagger off the ice! My coach can very easily kill me in 30, then I go home to recover & get back to practice the next day.

[VegasGirl]

My private lessons always lasted 30 minutes and I tried to schedule them during a skate session that would allow me to practice for an additional hour before or after the lesson. I would've preferred to have hour long private lessons but couldn't afford it.

[Debbie S]

Mine are 20 minutes.

[Mrs Redboots]

Our couples' lesson is 30 minutes, as is my solo lesson, but the Husband only has 15 minutes' solo lesson, and, frankly, I don't think it's enough. He does, though....

[Laura H]

30 minutes for group, as well as the occasional private lesson - usually this length seems about right - and of course there is always the occasional lesson when nothing goes right and 30 minutes seems way too long!!! :twisted:

[quarkiki2]

30 minutes, every other week. When my MIF class is in session, it's 30 minutes every week. And 45 minutes of Synchro a week (not nearly enough!)

[xofivebyfive]

45-60 minutes. Depends. I have 3 or 4 of those a week.

[NoVa Sk8r]

30 or 45 minutes, depending on if my coach shows up on time (!) and if I get too involved in those pesky gold moves. If I am working on the bracket move or FO-BI double 3's, I KNOW it will be a 45-minute lesson.

[Terri C]

If I am working on the bracket move or FO-BI double 3's, I KNOW it will be a 45-minute lesson.

Uh, half of my 20 minute lesson yesterday was on RFO power threes!:roll:
Primary coach's lessons are 20 minutes in length. Secondary coach's lessons are sometimes 20 minutes (like for the next two weeks) but sometimes 30.

[NoVa Sk8r]

The nice thing about working on moves (besides the fact that, er, they strengthen the overall foundation of one's skating) is that when I'm done with them in the lesson, I am doubly happy to work on *any* freestyle element!

[Terri C]

True, but some of my freestyle elements (mostly the loop) have taken vacation while working on moves!

[phoenix]

Uh, half of my 20 minute lesson yesterday was on RFO power threes!:roll:


I've got you both beat---ALL of my 30 minute lesson last week was spent on forward stroking!! :lol:

[jenlyon60]

Yep. Sounds familiar. All of at least 1 of my lessons last week was stroking-related. Actually I think all of both of them were focusing on stroking.

And most of yesterday's also.

In fact, come to think about it, I think all of us got stroking exercises/lessons last week. I know that at least one of my coach's senior teams spent at least 2 days of their post-Placid return to ice working on stroking and unison.

[jazzpants]

Uh-huh! 30 minute stroking lessons SUUUUURE sounds familiar! :twisted: I definitely had those! And crossovers lessons too!!! I'm still trying to learn forward progressives too!!! (It's for my own good though. It should double my power and speed when I get it right and I'm already fast as is for Bronze Moves...)

jenlyon60: Beware of coaches going to seminars or a competition... when they come home, they ALWAYS learn something new... and use their students as guinea pigs! :twisted:

Original thread:

30 minutes primary coach
30 minutes secondary coach

And BOTH coaches worked on nothing but moves for a while... except the occasional lesson breather to work on jumps/spins (primary coach) or something evil (secondary coach...) :twisted:

[PattyP]

20 minutes

[doubletoe]

They are supposed to be 20 minutes but they kept creeping to 30, so I've just accepted it. I think 20 would be enough, but only because I'm having 2 lessons per week. My bi-weekly moves-in-the-field lessons are just 20 minutes, but we only work on about 2 moves each time.

[Isk8NYC]

jenlyon60: Beware of coaches going to seminars or a competition... when they come home, they ALWAYS learn something new... and use their students as guinea pigs! :twisted: It's so true! :oops: I've been using Champion Cords on my students since the conference I went to in June. Prior to that, I knew about them but didn't know HOW to use them.

Because it's so unusual in our rink, the kids are embarrassed to get hooked up and they refer to them as "leashes!" :lol: Hey - if it gets them to start synching up their arms and legs, and stops the flapping, I'll do whatever it takes. (As long as it's not cruel or illegal.) :twisted:

[icedancer2]

With dance coach: usually 30 minutes, sometimes 25 -- depends on how cramped he gets with the lessons.

Primary coach -- she used to save me until last and then give me whatever time she had -- sometimes it would be over an hour! Now she's busier and I'm really liking the 15-minutes we spend together -- somehow the instruction is more digestible. Plus I've been with her for such a long time, she knows all of my problems, I understand her language and she can just zero in on stuff really well. We might do it twice a week, which is also nice. I like the continual feedback.

[kateskate]

I have 30min lessons know - occassionally 45mins if we need to finish choreographing a routine or something.

I started off with a 15min free skating lesson a week but it got to the stage where I always wanted to carry on at the end of the lessson. So after about 9mths I asked for 30mins. I then started doing dance. I had 15mins a week for about 6mths again. Then went up to half an hour. That stayed as it was for about 2 years.

I have only increased that to 2 half an hour lessons for free and dance in the last 18mths.

30mins is just about the right length for me. Long enough to not feel I've only just managed to warm up and start skating but not so long that I get tired or forget what I'm supposed to practise.

And 30mins is fine if you end up doing forward skating for the entire time - if it was 45mins or an hour of forward skating I would go crazy. And believe me my dance teacher would make me do that. I spend large portions of lessons skating forwards....

[froggy]

officially 30min but my coach is real sweet and many many times gives me up to 45min

[Skate@Delaware]

30 minutes once a week; I'm her last student of the night (suits me fine) so she can take the little kids first. She always has me do stroking and crossovers (both directions) and moves first. Then she asks me what I want to work on (she usually gives me a choice, depending on our timetable for competitions).

At the beginning of the season and periodically, we discuss goals (mine and hers for me). It has become very beneficial to do this, as it tends to ground me and remind me I'm really not Dorothy Hamill (yet :frus: ).

[LilJen]

I just finished a session of 1/2 hr/week (group lessons) but i"m just about beyond the group lesson ability (for adults anyway--dunno if they'd let me in any of the kiddos group lessons--would be cheaper!). I think I'm going to go with a 15-minute lesson/week for now, since I can only skate 1 or 2 times a week, that should give me enough to work on and enough $$ out of the wallet.

The nice thing about the Wed afternoon session I attend is that our quasi-Rink Ambassador (don't know what else to call him; not employed by the rink but always there skating and always really nice and encouraging; dances with the dance students) usually takes me for a few dance-type turns around the rink. Typically it's just stroking & crossovers in the various holds, but last week he taught me a few steps from a something-or-other tango ditty. So it counts as my free 3-minute dance lesson for each week!

Delaware, I laughed at your Hamill comment--'cause I *totally* wanted to be Dorothy Hamill way back when. . . ah, the Olympics, where skating dreams are born (and then lie dormant for 30 years, in my case).

[Hannah]

About 30 minutes. My lessons are during one of the adult skate sessions, and because my coach is the same person who teaches nearly all of the adult skaters at the rink, my lesson might be longer or shorter depending on who else is there (she'll correct another student if she sees them doing something wrong, whether it is their lesson time or not!). Yesterday morning, several of the adults were all talking about something (and not skating) and she yelled at them all to get practicing! (Nicely of course...). So I have one official 30ish minute lesson, and then a few other 30 second lessons during the week!

The Learn to Skate group lesson is also 30 minutes.

[techskater]

I have 2 30 minute lessons a week, 30 minute off ice class, and an hour of power/moves