How to pick a club to take lessons?

[Gaela]

I'm wanting to take my first adult class this summer, and am not sure how to pick a club. There are various community centre courses that offer skating class cheap, but I think it's best to go with a club--should have the better quality class?

There's one club fairly close by, then there's another I've heard of--I'm in Vancouver, and it's the Vancouver Skating Club in North Van; I think Karen Magnussen teaches there. Not that this makes any difference, though.

I'm giving myself the chance that I might acutally enjoy it and want to continue, not just fall flat on my butt and quit after one group of lessons. So, I'd appreciate any tips in choosing a club.

[BittyBug]

Actually, the cheap group lessons might not be a bad way to get your feet under you. I think that more important than the quality of the lessons would be the quality of the rental skates (assuming you don't have your own equipment). If you go for the cheapie lessons, the worst that can happen is you'll hate it and then you can try a club without feeling like you've wasted a lot of money. In my neck of the woods, a lot of the coaches that teach at clubs also pick up a little extra cash by teaching group lessons through community programs. If you're just starting out, it's hard to go wrong, so go for convenience and decent skates.

[flippet]

I agree...if you're starting from complete scratch, even a community class ought to be just fine. They all teach the same things, and when you're starting from swizzles and two-foot glides, variances in teaching techniques don't matter much at all.

If you're a competent recreational skater, and expect to pass the basic levels rapidly, it might make a bit more sense to go with a club, but even so, it certainly won't hurt a bit to take one less-expensive session just to see. Besides, it's entirely possible that you'll find more adults in a community class than in a club class, so if the social aspect is important to you, try the community class first, and then perhaps you can recruit the more addicted of your classmates to defect to a club, if necessary! ;) Besides, the community center is probably unlikely to teach classes past the basics anyway, so they might have some good leads on clubs you might want to try.

At any rate, good luck and have fun! :)

[sk8er1964]

If you can, check with other adult skaters. Are they happy with the lessons? Do they think they are getting their money's worth (for the more expensive club) or for the less expensive club, do they think they are getting a good experience.

Don't knock less expensive - my (private lesson) coach is young and therefore charges a lot less than other coaches in the area. However, he is really good and, if he keeps it up, has the potential to go very far as a coach. The fee is not always a good indicator of the quality of the instruction.

[star_gazer11]

Gaela check your PMs.

[singerskates]

Originally posted by Gaela
I'm wanting to take my first adult class this summer, and am not sure how to pick a club. There are various community centre courses that offer skating class cheap, but I think it's best to go with a club--should have the better quality class?

There's one club fairly close by, then there's another I've heard of--I'm in Vancouver, and it's the Vancouver Skating Club in North Van; I think Karen Magnussen teaches there. Not that this makes any difference, though.

I'm giving myself the chance that I might acutally enjoy it and want to continue, not just fall flat on my butt and quit after one group of lessons. So, I'd appreciate any tips in choosing a club.

NOt all clubs are operating this summer. But you can first check for the ones that are operating Spring Skating schools by first going to http://www.skatinginbc.com/links.htm and then scroll down to Skating Clubs In BC. Some of these should give you the details you need to know. If I were just starting out, I'd pick an adult session that is mixed with beginner adults up to the adults who compete. Later on if you are really addicted and feel up to it you can register to skate with the kids on their sessions. Adult ice is usually offered 1 to 2 times a week.

Riverside SC (WOS) where I skate has it once a week for this spring. I skate on the adult ice on Wednesdays and on Thursdays and Saturdays I skate on the kids/test/competitive ice on the intermediate sessions.

Don't use rentals unless they are real figure skates (not Canadian Tire Skates) because they have no support in them at all. Best to buy a low end real figure skate from a proshop for about $129. You have some support and a better blade than the Walmart or Canadian Tire skate. Stay away from National Sport and Sports Chex. Their skates are not very good. Plus you need to find out what type of foot you have and they haven't a clue.

Brigitte