lessons and practice

[sue123]

I haven't taken lessons in a long time, over a year actually, and I haven't had time to skate as often as I would have liked, so a lot of stuff I was able to do before don't exactly happen like htey used to. Me and a friend who also hadnt' taken lessons in a while but used to were thinking of taking semi privates because there is one day during the week when we are done at 12, and there is a rink about 10 mins away from school, so we could take lessons on an empty public session. Thing is, I was just thinking, how beneficial would taking these lessons be if I dont know how much time I would have to practice? Some weeks, I would be able ot skate 3x a week, other weeks, probably no other time except the day we would take lessons on.

So would it be worth to take lessons if some days it might just be more like supervised practice time? I would like to take lessons again, but I don't want to waste ym money if I'm not going to improve because I won't be able to practice regularly.

[Skittl1321]

When I was in ballet, we were explicitly told NOT to practice at home- as we could easily teach ourselves bad habits. As such, if I have money available for "supervised practice" in skating, I'd rather have it than my own practice. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on privates to just be watched practicing, but group lessons, maybe. Now that I am a stronger skater, I do practice on my own, but I have two group lessons that amount to supervised practice, and then a private lesson that adds new things. Then I do two 30 minute practices, and have synchro. I'm having a lot of trouble picking up a few of the synchro moves, so I have asked the coach for a private lesson- even though I know it will amount to her telling me the same things I've told myself. Since I have not been able to figure that skill out, I want to make sure I'm not practicing incorrectly.

Just remember- you won't likely progress as quickly as those skaters at the rink who practice outside of lessons. Don't compare yourself to others.