Adult Skating Nomads

[singerskates]

This is the first year that I will become an adult nomad skater for the fall/winter season going from one ticket ice/city ice/arena to the next just trying to get enough ice time throughout the weak to train. For now, I have no idea what my schedule will be like.

Things that I do like about being a nomad. I only pay when I skate. I get to pic the when and where if it's available. It's much cheaper per hour than club ice. Most of the time there are much less skaters on the ice during the day. If I feel like taking a day off from skating, I don't loose ice time or money.

What I don't like about being a skating nomad is that I have to call the arena(s) to check for cancellations so that I don't waste my time going to the wrong rink and find a hockey game going on. I have to know more than 1 rink schedule. I have to call my coach the night before to tell him where there is ice and hope that he's available to coach me. I may not get to skate at the new arena complex, Windsor Family Credit Union Centre. If testing or doing a competition, I have to send in forms with my coach to my member club to be signed by the club presidient or test chair well in advanced so that I can get these sent in on time.

I'm wondering how other adult skaters or elite skaters or coaches handle the member of a skating club in name only being a skating nomad?

[Debbie S]

In my area, most everyone travels around. Rinks have FS ice on different days, and coaches' schedules and locations vary accordingly. Unfortunately, everyone's choices just decreased with the announcement of 1 area rink closing in 2 weeks. And another rink is only a 'seasonal' rink (open Oct through April) - I'm hoping that the city (who owns that rink) will start keeping it open year round now that the other rink is closing.

There is 1 rink a bit further from the metro area that has ice 7 days a week, and I suspect that rink will get very crowded come September.

[phoenix]

I skate at 3-4 different rinks every week. There is one I still consider my "home" rink, but in reality I skate less there than elsewhere anymore. It's a matter of ice time, my schedule, where my coach happens to be, and how far away the rink is. (I started skating more this summer at a closer rink to save on gas money)

[sk8er1964]

I skate at four different rinks, and none of the ice is club ice. It's all rink ice - either freestyle or open skate. That may change now that I'm working with a new coach - after being individual for a year I'm going to join her club. Even then, I'll probably only skate there the one hour that I'm on the ice with her.

[RachelSk8er]

I skate at several different rinks, and have for a few years now. Synchro team was out of a different rink--heck--in a different state--than me, so I skated there and was an associate member. I skated at the rink down the street from my apartment on city ice in the mornings for dance/freestyle. My home club was 35 min away near my parents' house because that's where my coach was out of and therefore where I tested at (so cheaper test fees by joining there). I did not contract any ice there though because I had my lesson on the rink's non-club early morning pay-as-you-go ice. And there was another rink with city ice between my house and my apartment that had some decent times and I'd skate there when I could. Occasionally I'd get extra lessons from my coach at one of the other two rinks he's at, which are 45 min south of my house.

Thus is the life of an adult skater.

And actually when I was skating synchro here, for the last 3 of my 5 yrs on the senior team, we had to practice at 3 different rinks on a weekly basis just to get enough ice time (one of which my dad and a business partner owned but other than the ice they sold to my team, it was 100% hockey), PLUS we would buy time wherever else we could when we needed extra practice. We didn't actually skate out of our home club more than once in a while because the ice surface was too small (only younger teams practiced there), but the teams had represented that club for so long and so we had the name behind us. And I did my individual skating and worked a part-time job at an entirely different rink.

This year I might actually just skate out of one rink (!). I'm not skating synchro, and I now live back near my home club. I'll still do the weekly rink ice before work on some mornings, but I actually, for the first time since I was a teenager, contracted ice (!) since we have 2 hrs on Saturday mornings and they get too hectic to walk on (and walk on rates just went up).

[patatty]

I'm a total nomad. I have the schedules for about 7 different rinks in my briefcase, and I pick and choose each day based on my work schedule and the rink schedules. I definitely do not have a "home rink" and I almost never skate on my club's ice (very expensive and crowded). I keep pestering my coach to get on staff at more rinks so that I have more flexibility with my lessons too. I'm down to three rinks for the next two weeks because most of the others are closed or on reduced schedules until after Labor Day.

[jazzpants]

I wouldn't say that I'm a skating nomad as much as to say that I do go and visit other rinks on occasions. I usually skate at my home rink but did often go and skate at other rinks b/c of my schedule.

These days though, I just skate at my home rink. My coaches and choreographer are there. Ice is much better (well, usually much better... we have the infamous DITCH appearing again. :frus: :evil: ) But it really depends on my job situation. There was a period where I was skating at my home rink with my primary coach and a rink about 90 minutes away from my home rink b/c that's where my job was. (And I was also skating at Berkeley on weekends around that time too!!!) I skated a lot with ask8ngcat back then and got yelled at by the same coach (her primary coach, my secondary coach) too! AHHHHH!!! The good 'ol days!!! :mrgreen:

[slusher]

What I don't like about being a skating nomad is that I have to call the arena(s) to check for cancellations

I have to call my coach the night before to tell him where there is ice and hope that he's available to coach me.

I'm wondering how other adult skaters or elite skaters or coaches handle the member of a skating club in name only being a skating nomad?

I had a problem as an adult finding a club that let adults on the ice. For a long time I skated daytime public sessions for my own practice, *** note, in Canada public session is nothing like a US public session, figure skating is usually not allowed but since the 11am sessions are so quiet you can get away with some sort of practice. My coach would book dead ice every so often for just me and that's where I'd get a lesson for the entire time. It was imperative that the coach booked the ice although I paid for it because if it wasn't booked under the umbrella of a club, the coach didn't have any insurance. The coach would not come onto rec publics at all because of insurance issues.

As well, once we got into the main hockey/playoff season, it was impossible to get dead ice because hockey had it booked. I went three weeks one time without being able to get ice and was stuck skating the Sunday afternoon rec skate which is 200 shuffling skaters in a circle.

The lesson ice was fine, my coach kicked my butt, what didn't work was practicing on publics because the pace of the other skaters wasn't the same as club sessions and my skills stagnated. There are adults who skate on these sessions all the time because they can't afford anything else but they are not adults who go to competition. They could, ability-wise, but they're not interested.

I still skate adult recreationals as they're free locally but they're definitely more social than anything else. As soon as I could find a club that allowed adults on Starskate, I joined up and consider the cost well worth it.

[Virtualsk8r]

Slusher - I am glad you brought up the issue of liability insurance for singerskates to consider. In Canada, a coach must be a member of Skate Canada and receives their liability insurance through their membership. However, that liability insurance only covers accidents that occur on Skate Canada ice - that is, ice a Skate Canada club considers to be club ice. If a coach rents private ice at a municipal arena - their insurance does not cover them for accidents. A few years ago, all coaches had to submit an extra ice form signed by a club, if they were to rent ice outside the club schedule. That seems to have gone by the wayside - but then any ice that I rent privately for my students is usually in the arena where the club skates, and so is considered club ice for insurance purposes.

[singerskates]

Slusher - I am glad you brought up the issue of liability insurance for singerskates to consider. In Canada, a coach must be a member of Skate Canada and receives their liability insurance through their membership. However, that liability insurance only covers accidents that occur on Skate Canada ice - that is, ice a Skate Canada club considers to be club ice. If a coach rents private ice at a municipal arena - their insurance does not cover them for accidents. A few years ago, all coaches had to submit an extra ice form signed by a club, if they were to rent ice outside the club schedule. That seems to have gone by the wayside - but then any ice that I rent privately for my students is usually in the arena where the club skates, and so is considered club ice for insurance purposes.

Around here the City (ticket) Ice is only for Skate Canada members. It's not public ice. So yes, the coaches are covered for the City Ice. If you're not a Skate Canada member through a Skate Canada skating club, you can't skate on City Ice. The coaches will not let you on the ice. Usually it is coaches who are working on getting their skill level up or dance level, Competitive and StarSkate kids getting in extra practice for an up coming test or competition or adult StarSkaters like me who have no where else to skate or can't skate on their club ice because of their job schedules. City Ice usually is the best ice in town too; well in the county.

I'm hoping to find out the City Ice schedule for all the arenas near me soon; all 4 of them, Tecumseh Arena, Windsor Family Credit Union Centre, Riverside (only available 'til end of Dec.) and Forest Glade Arena.

[Isk8NYC]

I used to have an Excel worksheet of session times at six to eight rinks. It was nice because I could meet up with different friends, but it was hard to keep a regular schedule. I was an independent USFSA and ISI member, so I had some insurance coverage.

The workbook was how I figured out that my usually-free Thursday nights were a liability because there were NO SESSIONS on Thursday nights. Hockey had reserved that ice time every week; guess they had games when they weren't practicing.

[techskater]

I have schedules for about 7 or 8 rinks around the area. Our home club doesn't have much club ice and it's not really expected that you skate it when they do (they cancelled the 6P Th session due to lack of interest. It used to be really crowded, so I stopped going. :frus:). Most people either have punch cards or contracts at a couple rinks (usually a week day and a weekend rink) in our area. It's not uncommon for people to skate in the morning at one rink and the afternoon at another because one or the other is where their coach is and the other is closer to home.

Our home club got smart and issued blanket permission letters for competition and out of club testing so the officers didn't get frantic last minute faxes or chase downs at their respective jobs anymore. :D

[slusher]

Around here the City (ticket) Ice is only for Skate Canada members.

Is there a website? If for some reason I'm going to Detroit and want to stop in for a skate how would I know where to find these sessions?

[singerskates]

There isn't a website yet but I suppose I could compile one. I'm collecting the info of what is available at each area arena for myself already for the 2008/2009 fall/winter season. Although I have to wait a few weeks to find out the info on most of the rinks that have City Ice (pay as you go ticket ice).

Any skater member or coach who is in good standing with their ISU member association (includes USFSA and Skate Canada along with all the others) is allowed on City Ice with payment for ice.

[Isk8NYC]

I created a new thread for the Michael Phelps/Ice Rink Purchase - interesting story!

Go here: http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=27177 (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=27177)

[Isk8NYC]

There isn't a website yet but I suppose I could compile one. I'm collecting the info of what is available at each area arena for myself already for the 2008/2009 fall/winter season. Although I have to wait a few weeks to find out the info on most of the rinks that have City Ice (pay as you go ticket ice).I would love to help create a "Figure Skaters Scheduler" utility for metro areas. I can compile the data, but I don't have the website development skills.

[Canskater]

I'm in the Toronto area, and am finding that the hunt for appropriate adult skating is becoming increasingly difficult.

My old club has gone from having three 1 hour Adult sessions per week, to one 45 minute sessions for Adults of Canskate 4 or better, and one Learn to Skate. And the prices went way, way up.

Where I skated last year, the prices went sky high and they no longer have any dance coaches.

Many clubs I contacted want little to do with Adults, and the few with strong adult programs (very few) are not feasible due to distance (COS is a rather big area!).

Does anyone know what the protocol would be if a group wished to start an "Adults only" club?

-- sheilagh

[singerskates]

Being that I was looking into starting an adult only club in Canada, I found out a few things. First you have to get the form to start a club from your Section webpage and print it out, then you have to fill it out (I didn't get to that stage because I skipped that stage to find out the proceedure.), then take it to all your city's or town's area skating clubs and have them sign whether they mind you starting a club. Then you have to send in that form to your section. If it gets passed that stage it's then sent to Skate Canada. From there, I'm not sure what goes on.

In anycase the area clubs around here didn't want another skating club starting even though most don't want to deal with us adult skaters or give us enough ice time. This is why I'm now a skating nomad.

[sk8lady]

I only WISH there were 7 or 8 rinks in the area I could skate at!

We have three rinks in our area. The university rink has public skating twice a week during non-holiday periods when the hockey team, or a visiting hockey team, doesn't want the ice. They don't allow any lessons to be given on the ice. There is no public skating on weekends. There is no figure skating ice. They're open almost year round (June through April) but don't have public skating from June till October.

My home rink only has ice from the last week in October till the third week in March. It's city run and uses the same employees who run all the other rec programs so once they start gearing up for baseball they shut the rink down so they can work on the fields.

The third local rink is privately owned and has had serious facility issues for years. Someone new is "renting to own" the rink right now and done some serious work on the ice facilities, so this is the first year the ice actually appears to be safe (no concrete showing or giant slushy pools). The manager would like to keep it open year round but primarily for hockey. There is public skating but only on a month to month basis. I've been skating here since mid-July.

I have to take my lessons at my coach's home rink 80 miles away.(there are no coaches who live in my area other than me.) Between March and July I skate there once or twice a week as there isn't anything closer. When I went to Adult Nationals I had not had a lesson for six weeks and had been able to practice my program on two occasions for 30 minutes each.

The closest rink where I could skate with a partner for ice dance is about 150 miles away (another good reason to put ice dance on the shelf!). I used to skate there once a month but when the price of gas went up I stopped going.

I'm going to start carrying a tent and a sleeping bag with me when I go looking for ice off-season!!!!

[Terri C]

Looks like I'll be getting on the nomad bandwagon this season or already have.
My home rink is really cutting back on their freestyle times this fall and they have stated that if there are not enough skaters on a given session, we will lose that time to hockey. Because of this and the lack of attention to figure skating, I'm only skating there twice a week come September.
The rink where I started skating at and is the closest one to home and work is wrapping up their summer renovations and should be open next week (we can only hope!). I see myself there a lot this upcoming season.
Rink number three is awesome in ice quality and the way they treat their figure skaters. This is where I've been going for my lessons with Secondary Coach since I started with him three weeks ago. However, that rink is 45 minutes away with a bridge tunnel crossing that can get backed up at the drop of a hat.