Taking classes with kids

[niupartyangel]

Just curious at what point did you guys start doing private lessons (either supplemented your group classes with them or completely switched over). Also has anyone ever had to take a group class with kids? I started out in an adult/teen basics program but after about a year I "outgrew" it and I was working on ISI FS1 stuff, so the instructor talked to my private lessons coach (--> incidentally who was my first adult class instructor when I went back to taking lessons) and said I really should be moving to the regular freestyle class otherwise I would just get bored at the adults class. So here I was taking class with kids as young as 7 years old for about two years (I'm 27 now). I have completely switched over to private lessons since last summer though. Did anyone have to go through this as well?

[sk8ryellow]

I started Private lessons around the time I learned my loop.

[flo]

I started private lessons from the beginning, first just when I was testing in group lessons, then weekly. I was in adult only classes except for the summer when they were sometimes combined. When I had lessons as part of club, I took the advanced jump and spin class and there were both adults and kids, and were fine.

The most beneficial class, and how I learned to skate was in weekly edge class which was all adults.

[AgnesNitt]

The Big Guy, my ever present skater guy, started taking classes with kids about Gamma level. He's 6'3". He told me that the little kids would come up to him like a big uncle and jabber ("see my new hat!"--"watch me spin!") and the teenagers were always telling him about school. He did make friends with adult ice dancers in the freestyle sessions. They were so glad to see a guy in black boots with toepicks that they tried to absorb him into the ice dance community. Somehow this makes me think of a Lovecraft story.

Ogg Sogoth, dark lord of Cthulu ice dance club, reached his rotting mystical hand through the long depths of the evil darkness that separates his land of dread pain from ours and said: "Come, skater boy, spin for me, dress in pants with spangles. Twirl skater boy, twirl! twirl! Now join me, join me in my mystic land of chunky ice and whiny skater girls who won't jump. Come and feel the pain of.....GOLD TEST! "

Uh, what was the topic again?

[Tessbot]

I did a kid's group class when I was very young, but I stopped for awhile, and forgot everything. I retaught myself later through physics, and don't do the classes thing anymore. It kills all the fun of figuring it out alone.

[fsk8r]

I did the club class for about a year with the kids. Most of the time I was the only adult. The teenagers treated me like a bit teenager and the little kids just showed off. I didn't care. The coaches made no exceptions for me and encouraged me as much as the kids, whilst accepting my limitations. It really helped my skating. I've also now got an 8 year old friend who just calls me "big friend" from doing the class. The only reason I've stopped is that I now do synchro.

[Thin-Ice]

As someone who would have just stood at the wall and watched during group classes when I started, I've always taken private lessons. But I have been in classes during "skate camps" with the kids. Usually they're so wrapped up in their own skating, they don't care how tall or big you are, as long as they stay out of their way!

But I think the dynamic would probably be different if it were an on-going class situation.

On the freestyle sessions when I practice, the regulars (kids and adults) all pretty much treat each other as skaters... no difference based on skill or age level, unless someone is really obnoxious and tries to use the music box all the time or seems to be cutting of everyone who is skating a program or in lesson.. and then one of the coaches will usually take that person aside and re-explain rink etiquette to them... but it doesn't happen very often.

[Audryb]

I am going through it right now. I started in an Adult basic skills class just about 11 months ago. I finished the Adult 1-4 levels in about 4 months, and for freeskate 1 they kept me in the same group with the same coach, but the coach was teaching everything from swizzles to scratch spins and waltz jumps, and it was a little bit hard for her to give everyone the attention they needed, so for the next session I moved to the "normal" freeskate level group lessons with the little kids. (the other adults I started with are still in the basic levels because they basically only skate when the are in class each week)

This is more or less of a problem based on who the kids are in any given class. Right now in my class, there is a little girl, maybe 7 or 8 who doesn't listen to anything and then there is an 8th grader and me. The coach often tells us all to do something and then "works with" the 8 year old. I feel bad more for the 8th grader than for myself because the coach often doesn't see what she's doing, so she doesn't get as much feedback as she might otherwise. The very small class size does make it much less of an issue.

Right now though I'm right at that stage where I really want to switch to private lessons. I just learned a loop and flip (in my other class - jump and spin - where, incidentally I get just as much attention as the kids) and I feel like private lessons would really benefit me at this point. However, since there are 3 more levels of group classes yet (USFS freeskate 4, 5, and 6) I can't justify the expense to myself until I've gotten everything I can out of the cheaper group classes.

[sk8lady]

Ogg Sogoth, dark lord of Cthulu ice dance club, reached his rotting mystical hand through the long depths of the evil darkness that separates his land of dread pain from ours and said: "Come, skater boy, spin for me, dress in pants with spangles. Twirl skater boy, twirl! twirl! Now join me, join me in my mystic land of chunky ice and whiny skater girls who won't jump. Come and feel the pain of.....GOLD TEST! "


I would like to meet this Ogg. Can he come up here and partner me for the Hickory and the Willow?

[Isk8NYC]

The group lesson times didn't work for my schedule, so I took semi-privates with my niece (I paid) then moved onto privates.

I took a great Adult Footwork Clinic class with Kathe Baker at Ice Vault one summer.

I heard a rumor that there may be an adult skating camp at Hillsborough this summer, but nothing's been confirmed yet. It was from an adult beginning skater.

[amyvw]

I am currently the only adult in my group lesson class. I find it a bit unnerving. LOL. I tend to move a lot more cautiously than I did when I was last in a group lesson setting 14 years ago (go figure), and the unpredictable movement of some of the kids freaks me out a bit. There is one in particular that seems to have a magnetic attraction to me and she can start off spinning a good 15 feet away from me and by the time I blink, she's almost knocking me over. 8O

My husband thinks I should just do privates. But since I am still trying to get all my limbs functioning properly again after my really long hiatus, I'm not sure if that's the way to go or not.

[looplover]

The group lesson times didn't work for my schedule, so I took semi-privates with my niece (I paid) then moved onto privates.

I took a great Adult Footwork Clinic class with Kathe Baker at Ice Vault one summer.

I heard a rumor that there may be an adult skating camp at Hillsborough this summer, but nothing's been confirmed yet. It was from an adult beginning skater.

Oh yeah that's probably true - they had it in 2007 but I don't think there was a huge turnout. I'd just moved here and didn't go, too pricey. I'd be up for going this year I think (Unless the scary townhall meeting that is coming up at my job goes the way I fear it might).

[Mel On Ice]

Where I skated in suburban St. Louis was pretty awesome and offered group lessons up to ISI 5, as well as turns, stroking, choreography, moves in the field and adult ballet. The bonus was if you took the class, you could buy discounted freestyle passes, an hour for $5. So yes, I took group lessons probably right up to the time I moved back to Michigan.

It was a great opportunity to meet some of the kids and their parents, and make some friends for life. These dollbabies loved showing off and having a parental figure on the ice with them. It's so nice, because some of the younger girls are teenagers/young adults and it's wonderufl to see what wonderful people they've become on and off the ice.

[Query]

My experiences with group lessons with kids (both taking with, and volunteering to help teach) have been mixed, some good, some bad.

It depends a great deal on your learning style. Also on the class - there is a tremendous variation in skill levels of groups of students at the same level.

Typical kids (there is a lot of variation) tend to learn many things faster than adults. You may need to retake the class more than they do, though they often do too at freestyle levels. The teacher will cover each skill quickly, and repeat them every session. You may feel they haven't really covered anything, and that you can't remember everything.

The teacher will teach by demonstration, sometimes by physically pushing kids through motions. Not many words, and relatively little correction if you do something wrong. They may not be sure if they can physically push you through motions too, so encourage them.

The teacher will probably demonstrate moves at full speed, while you may want it slowed down, and may break things down less than you want.

Most athletic kids have little fear of jumping, falling, and don't mind getting dizzy. They mostly don't need to be tricked into doing what instincts fight, like you may.

Most of the kids will be more flexible than typical adults, but some will be less strong in certain ways. They use finesse more than strength. You should try to too. In other words, move smoothly, and avoid using external muscles (the ones you can feel, because they are next to the skin) too much - they squish down on all the other layers of tissue, and make it hard to move smoothly, and reduce your range of motion. You use them only to freeze joints to hold a pose. If you feel mostly relaxed, it means you are mostly using internal muscles. They don't need to think this through like that.

They are likely to be more fit. Though you may be stronger some ways, they still run and sort-of dance and jump a lot. So you may be pushing the limits of your strength and ability to move on some things, which makes it hard to move smoothly.

A lot of time will be babysitting. Some discipline and keeping order, though by freestyle level, most of the attention deficit kids will have been weeded out.

They may find your presence amusing. The teacher may be a little unsure how to handle you in the context of the class of kids. Don't volunteer too much - let the kids have the fun of that, and you could intimidate them - teenagers especially are often shy to stand out.

Each coach will likely teach a radically different style of motion, and insist any other style is completely wrong. Most kids adapt. Live with it.

Please, please have a child-like sense of humour. Don't expect too much. ISI group lessons are meant to be fun, not too serious.

Many adults view group lessons as relatively inexpensive supervised practice time. If you keep that sense of humour, and don't get too frustrated by the limitations, you'll be fine.

[niupartyangel]

I was fine with the group classes up until about the 3rd or 4th time I took FS 2 (it was that dang one foot spin)...a lot of kids in my class also had to repeat this level. There were two student instructors who assisted the main coach with corrections and stuff, but I still feel that I would have gotten more out of it if the main instructor paid us more individual attention..but of course she couldn't help it because she had about 8 kids in the class, hence she needed the other two teenagers' help. Although thse two girls were fine FS skaters, I can see that they are still "training" to teach so I didn't feel like I got as good instruction from them than from the main coach. Anyway even though I know that I shouldn't compare myself to some of my classmates, since I was obviously older and had different skating goals (mine was for fun and for ice shows, some of them were going for synchro or competing), I was frustrated that I was slowly getting left behind while everyone else moved to FS3. By then I decided I definitely needed more individual attention so I completely switched over to private lessons to the same coach that I wa shaving 15 minute supplemental privates with. She was able to pinpoint what I was doing wrong (which in the group classes the instructors couldn't see clearly). I also liked the fact that I wasn't held back from learning higher level jumps just because I was officially in FS 2 coz of the spin. My privates coach knew I would get bored and probably even quit cuz I wasn't progressing in other ways. So while we were refining my spin, she taught me the salchow and toe loop. If i stayed in group lessons, I never would have gotten the opportunity to learn these jumps until I officially passed FS 2 and would still be stuck wtih half lutzes and the ballet jump. Since I have made the decision to take the pre-bronze test this year (Freestyle hopefully by end of the year), at least I already have these jumps.

The kids were pretty good, I am in fact buddies with one of the 11 year olds whose mom I was in the same adult class with (she is still there). The other kids' parents think that I am very brave and gutsy for skating, evne though they said I look young anyway (i could pass for 18 yrs old). it's just kinda disappointing that there's not a lot of adult skaters in my rink that are in my age range...they are all above 30's and they'r ein the adults class so i don't know get to know them, and we have some that are still teenagers 14-16 years old. No one in their 20's that I could pal around with. At the freestyle session that I have my privates in, there is one adult skater who is probably in ISI FS 6 or so, he is really good but haven't had the chance to talk to him. Everyone else, the younger kids are pretty cool about sharing the ice with us and the same rules to everyone applies.

[niupartyangel]

One thing I also noticed from the kids' classes....kids love to do the lunges, even the kids who are beginners...let me begin to say that I hate the lunge! It was only after 3 years of skating that I was finally brave enough to do them on both legs one after the other. Before I could only muster enough courage to go down on my left knee, and half the time I would freak out and wobble and then collapse unless I get back up quickly (which my coach would say it didn't count cuz I stood back up so quickly LOL) :twisted: but then I notice that adults seem naturally pretty good at spirals...must be the core strength or something, but even the beginners who can't get their leg up by hip height, don't do the "airplane" and wobble side to side like the kids do....but the kids are very brave about trying to raise their leg up higher right away.

[Rob Dean]

Just curious at what point did you guys start doing private lesson? ... Also has anyone ever had to take a group class with kids?... I have completely switched over to private lessons since last summer though.

I started almost five years ago by taking group lessons along with my son (then 10). I seem to recall being the only adult in that particular class, although there were a few more mixed in with the kids at higher LTS levels. At that time that rink did not have adult-only classes. After that first class session, due to schedule problems with the classes, we did a few months of the two of us taking a private lesson together, then did two more sessions of group classes supplemented with private lessons together. After that, we came to the conclusion that the lessons were a lot more useful than the classes, and we didn't look back. Being around kids was never an issue for me, but I had my own there, of course. These days we seldom skate on the same freestyle sessions, since he's considerably more advanced than I am, although it happens once in a while. We do share one coach, but don't have simultaneous lessons anymore. :)

[Deb in Oz]

There are no adult classes at my rink, so I started with private lessons from the beginning. I just couldn't face learning with kids as young as my own kids! I also couldn't fit the kids classes into my schedule, as I have toddlers at home of my own who I couldn't bring to the rink for the after school kids classes. I am glad, because I feel I have progressed much faster than I would have in the classes. My daughter has started skating too now, and I have started her with private lessons too for the same reason. I just wish she could get some more practice time in!

[sk8lady]

When I first took group lessons in the then-Skate with US program (the precursor to Basic Skills through the USFS) there was no adult curriculum. There was one other adult in the class and a bunch of kids. I was a lot younger then and it didn't bother me too much. Nowadays there are so few adult skaters in my area--and only one or two at about my level who are actually working on their skating rather than coaching exclusively--that if I want to take a class, usually during the summer camp, other than social dance it has to be with kids. It used to bother me but by now most of the kids know the crazy old skating lady!

[stepherroo444]

This is my 3rd year of Figure Skating.

I progressed pretty quickly, when I was 13 I started out with the little kids who were begginers, but I moved up 6 levels in a year and ended up with like 11 year olds.

Last year I moved up to level 7, and then this year I am still in Level.7 with intermediate level one of my lesson days.

I just started getting private coaching like.....a couple months ago? right before christmas, and I have improved SOO much!:D

[Sessy]

I've done nothing but take group classes with kids. I found that adult determination and focus did make up for their quicker study. I was actually better than the kids at the crossovers and the edges and such - much better - because I had the patience to practice them outside of the lessons and the kids didn't do that, even if they were on the ice outside of the lessons they were more prone to be chatting or frolicking around. At some point the coaches were giving me edge exercises the other kids were getting jealous of. That felt good! (Of course, I'm jealous of how quickly they all learned the sit spin...)

There was one girl my age in the group class the last year (not the first year I took lessons) and one girl 10 years older before that - but she wasn't in my group, she was just in a group that was on the ice at the same time as my group. Other than that... All kids under 12.
I found it very refreshing and challenging. It also kept me unafraid of things, because I so easily absorbed into their careless ways. In fact sometimes the coaches stopped to ask just how old it was that I was again, cuz I was behaving like an 11 year old, lol. Most kids thought I was 15 or so, when in fact I was 22 - they were majorly surprised when they found out I had a driver's license (and nearly talked me into parking the coach's car on the other side of the parking lot, but that's a different story all together). They totally treated me like somebody of their age too, so it was very easy to fall into teenage behave patterns. I found that only helped my skating, by the way.

Nothing wrong with taking classes with kids. Oh and by the way, one of the 8 year old girls or so confided in me that she thought X was very ugly. I told her X was in fact a perfectly fine looking 32 year old - and she was very surprised to hear it. She thought X was 18 or so at most, probably younger...
So the thing I'm trying to say here is, the kids don't really see the difference in age the same way we do. As long as you dress in figure skating clothes and don't have gray hair or major wrinkling going on and aren't especially chubby, they probably won't even think you're all THAT much older than they are, unless you tell them.
One of the reasons for that is that the ice lights you from below with reflection light. Lighting from below makes people look younger. Really. Plus, there's those figure skating skirts. They make everyone look younger.

Now the coaches - there's a different matter. Some take adults just as seriously as the kids skaters, where as many have the attitude of "Hey she's not going anywhere with this skating anyway". It can be very frustrating to work with those coaches. I did manage to get both the coaches that treated me that way to take me seriously. It did take some major work though. Essentially I had to out-do the kids in order to get taken seriously - one coach started treating me seriously after I did a biellmann spiral where everyone else was practicing normal ones, the other coach eventually became respectful after I kept going down on each jump, getting back up right away and trying again until I started landing them - something the kids didn't do, they'd stop to whine, wrub their butts and hang by the railing checking everyone else out. To the credit - two other coaches from my club, although ones we hardly ever had, were respectful right away and asked no less of me than they asked of kids - in fact, they asked more of me.

[SkatEn]

As long as you dress in figure skating clothes and don't have gray hair or major wrinkling going on and aren't especially chubby, they probably won't even think you're all THAT much older than they are, unless you tell them.
One of the reasons for that is that the ice lights you from below with reflection light. Lighting from below makes people look younger. Really. Plus, there's those figure skating skirts. They make everyone look younger.


:lol: Now I know why...:lol: