I was just curious, after a frustrating night at my local rink, if other rinks have policies on right of way in place? I've visited rinks that go so far as to have sashes for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but I don't know if that is common or not. I'm trying to propose that we adopt some sort of right of way policy to cut down on the chaos on FS sessions and would love to hear what other rinks do.

Thanks for your input!

Icesk8er31

Skaters in a lesson get the right of way doing their program. If someone accidently gets in their way the person usually appologizes. The person doing their program should yell "excuse me" or "move please" to let others know they are coming through. If a skater gets repeatedly in the way, the coach may go and talk to the skater, or the skater whos program it was may talk to them. I know I have talked to a few kids about getting out of the way. If they are younger, they usually are just learning o move out of the way. The older ones if they have been skating for a number of years should have no excuse getting in a skaters way.

Some of the rinks in my area have bright orange sashes that skaters wear if they are performing their program. Seems to work well. If the orange-sash-wearing skater is coming through, it is well within the skater's right to yell, "Move!" or "Excuse me." I guess a please would suffice, but that's asking too much. But I'm still amazed at how many people are oblivious.

In my home rink, there is no sash, but most people know each other well and know when a skater's program is being played so they stay out of the way. Unfortunately, in my experience, it's the adults who are clueless when it comes to this. Just this morning, I was practicing my program and an adult and her coach just kept getting in the way, even when i yelled that I was coming through and when i told them that I would be skating around the middle circle, where they happened to be congregating. I found it very jarring.

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Our rink policy is :

Skaters skating to their music have right of way. Most people know each others music.

Skaters in a lesson have second right of way.

Skaters are taught to say "Excuse me " Occasionaly younger kids don't move but they learn fairly quickly or a coach speaks to them. It is taught from day one in group lessons. Even in early fig lessons the coaches purposely put all the kids in only a quarter of the ice to warm up so that they have to learn to be courteous and to avoid each other.


If neither skater is in lesson or on program usually the senior skater has the right of way in other words if you see a dance couple speeding towards you or if you see someone coming in for a triple jump you yield - it just makes common sense.


We have a lot of freelance coaches at our rink so that means. a lot of people are on lesson at the same time. but most skaters/ coaches are courteous - it is the expected behaviour.

Other rinks do it differently which can causes problems
One time I was playing music and there was an "old school" coach who was teaching his lesson in the jump corner. Every time a skater "on program" came to the corner and said "excuse me" he got mad. He came up to me and asked what the policy was and I politely told him . He got mad and said that saying "excuse me " was just the same as telling him to get out of the way and coaches should not be treated that way. I guess I can see his point because someone was paying for a lesson and they kept getting interrupted.

However, all skaters need to be able to run through their programs.
The problem is that everyone only gets their program once per session(whether they are in a lesson or not) and on some sessions with 25 + kids you might go a whole session and not get a turn.

Hi, I'm sorry but I don't think that it's just or predominantly adults who get in the way in my experience. Yes, some do, and it's usually the same 'some' but kids can be just as bad. We ALL have got in the way at some point and, as an adult, I used to skate on patch every morning and rarely had a problem. I have a very good relationship with the kids at the rink and feel that if adults and kids work together then it makes for a really good atmosphere. I may just be lucky but I really enjoy skating on a mixed patch (age wise) and have found the kids to be really great and encouraging.

Anyway .... priority at our rink:

Anyone running their programme/dance with music
Anyone in a lesson
Couples
Singles

We don't have a 'seniority' ruling as some people would just never get to do anything! I've told this story gazillions of times before but it shows that EVERYONE can be courteous ..... I was once skating on a rink with just one other skater, an ex-Olympic Mens Free champion!!! I was on the approach to my (then) crappy loop and BLESS HIM he stood back to let me through

My old coach would yell at us if we got in the way, unfortunately some coaches are less disciplined about this and some little beauties will tell there pupils to 'just push them out of the way REGARDLES of the right of way'!

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Well at our rink skaters with their music on SHOULD have the right of way - that is right - they SHOULD! However it is basically a free-for-all with no-one showing consideration. And the coaches are sometimes the worst offenders.

I must say that people very quickly get to know my music because I say "excuse me" very loudly.

However for those of us who regularly attend the sessions and are considerate, we do watch out for others when they do their music. You get to know who they are. Personally as soon as I hear music being played I watch out for the person who looks like they are skating to music if I am not sure who it belongs to.

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Two kids collided last night and actually knocked each other over. Both were in a lesson. I was completely unsurprised because one has been pretty oblivious and the other quite aggressive. And the one coach never really knows what's going on around them; in fact, this coach nearly backed into a poor kid (very polite kid, in fact) who was trying to do her back inside edges.

Too many coaches ignore everyone else on the ice and as a result constantly interfere with other skaters' programs or lessons. Last week, one coach was meandering across the ice, I had my program music on, and had to stop as she was exactly in my path. There was no excuse for that, it was just rude.

Our "rules," if you can call them that, are pretty much what other people have stated. But in my experience, many coaches pay no attention to the skater whose music is on, unless they are worried that the skater may plow into them.

So, no solution, just venting, from me!
Pat
(edited to correct a typo)

Our rules are pretty much the same as mentioned elsewhere with the following addition, the rink is broken into zones. The center zone (between the lines) is for spinning and the ends are for jumping. Kids in program pretty much spin and jump wherever and people working on moves can push the spinners out a little, but it seems to work ok.

Hugs!
Danielle

ps) I had a former world bronze medalist step aside for my still crappy lutz! ;-)

Our rink really doesn't post any rules and lots of times no one really seems to follow any. It's partly because sometimes on a freestyle session there will be some *very* beginner skaters, who sometimes can't even do crossovers. Even if they are aware that they might be in the way, they can't get out of the way very quickly. It's actually quite dangerous at times because usually the skater is looking straight at the ice and has no clue what's going on around them. They don't look where they are going, even when going forward. Usually the "offenders" are young kids who are just learning to skate. What's really irritating about this is that the coaches of these skaters witness them getting in others' way and really creating a hazard, and still do nothing about it. I have even seen parents of these kids actually get on the ice in their shoes and stand there and videotape or "coach". This can also be a hazard to someone trying to work on a moves or dance pattern that requires them to skate into the ends of the rink.

Once I was skating around, I think I may have been working on moves in the field, when a little girl skated right up to me, stopped (causing me to have to quickly stop) and asked me to put on her music. This same little girl's father once stopped someone else's program music mid-program to put on his daughter's music. Obviously they do not teach etiquette in the learn-to-skate program at this rink!

The more experienced skaters do a pretty good job of yielding right-of-way. However, I have heard before that it is the more advanced skater that is required to yield to a more beginner skater, not the other way around.

At my club rink, we have a bright orange vest that people doing their programs wear. (The rule at that rink is music, then lessons, then everyone else as far as right of way.) One thing that I've seen done several times that works out very well is that one coach who has a student working on senior moves (something most of us haven't done) will put her in an orange vest and turn dance music on when she's working on the diagonal pattern in her lesson. That way we all know what she's doing.

At another rink I've been to, the rule seems to be that the program director's students get right of way no matter what anyone else is doing, even if they're just taking up space . Needless to say, I avoid those sessions, but I may be stuck going there over the summer because weekday open skates are taken over by hockey kids.

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Our rink sounds a lot like Spreadeagle's. We do have the standard rules of program gets the right of way and lessons get the next right of way, and the kids are *supposed* to be FS 1 to even be on a freestyle. Neither of these is very strictly enforced. Most of the coaches who have been at our rink for awhile have taught their kids to stay out of the way of a program, and we rarely have a problem with them. It's the new coaches teaching brand-new skaters that are the problem. I blame the coaches for this - the kids aren't born knowing the rules of a freestyle!

We used to have brightly colored belts, and obnoxious neon green vests before that, but they all have "disappeared" so it is pretty much a matter of paying attention, for those of us that bother or care to.

Our rinks are pretty much the same. My club sessions have designated "program time" where all skaters are asked to give special consideration to the skater in a program. If a skater has a lesson earlier, they are of course welcome to run through their program. We usually don't have too many problems at club. At the other rinks the sessions seem to have been more crowed with really low level skaters, and that can be more difficult. As far as the adults, most are really fine. There will always be a few kids or adults who are totally oblivious. We use to have a little one who would play chicken with us when we were practicing pairs. There's one tall adult who told me he thinks he can move like a master level skater and never yields. What he does not get is a high level skater (which he's not) can maneuver, but would always be aware of their surroundings. And the bigger you are....

We might be bringing the sashes back at my rink because the younger kids just don't pay any attention. They know that they have to move, they will just often stand in the middle of a busy freestyle and talk or play. It's very annoying. Skaters in programs and skaters in lessons have the right of way. Also, common sense is that the higher level skaters get right of way, but it's not like a rule.

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We use brightly colored vests at our local rink - there are 2-3 different colored ones, so the girls who want to skate their programs just queue up, put on a vest, and have their music played.

Most of the other skaters give them the right of way, although a few times a less experienced skater will just freeze on accident, especially when one of our junior/senior level girls gets going.

But at another rink that we go to, they rarely use the vests, no one is proctoring, and the coaches have to waste time cueing (sp?) the music up themselves. My daughter's coach had to pull one of her students out of the way of a skater doing a triple salchow - the jumper was at the wrong end of the rink for jumps, she was not doing a program, and wasn't even having a lesson. The problem at this rink is that they have a lot of high level skaters, but allow near-beginners on the ice at the same time!

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Everyone makes an effort at my rink to be respectful of programs, lessons and skaters in general. However, like mentioned, moments happen from time to time. There does seem to be a few "problem" skaters at my rink. Usually, it's just a newer skater who doesn't recognize move patterns, jumps, or a program. Saying that, there are a few who skate in a world totally of their own. The best advice is to watch them like a hawk! Like already mentioned, even the very best, can be very polite. I had a lesson on the same ice with 2 ex-Olympians about a year ago and they moved over for me! I worked on axels and they practiced their program. =-0 Even my coach commented at the time that it was an experience to remember.

Chico

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ours is skaters with music first, lessons second then everyone else.
My dd is always the youngest and has no promlems. in fact right now she is supposed to be working on backwards stroking for her new program, and she is afraid of running into the ice dancers we have at our rink.She will stay in her part of the ice and not bother them when they are on the ice.

As a guard on a public skate session, my rule has always been the better skater should get out of the way of the weaker skater. I think it's a good general rule...a Junior lady can stop on a dime, while a pre-pre may not. (Obviously during public, it's to prevent the hockey kids from using the first-timers as bowling pins.)

At my rink, anything goes during freestyle. The better skaters know to get out of the way during a program or lesson, but sometimes they think that they own the ice.

I think NoVa Sk8ter's issue with adults is simple: beginning adults get a bit deer-in-the-headlights when they start freestyles. And they really cannot move out of the way. Now if they're Golds, hanging out and sipping their coffee, I'm sorry. That doesn't happen at our rink!

There is a coach in the area that I will not work on dance if she's on the ice because she stands right in the middle of my pattern...and she's a DANCE COACH. It's not like I'm working on the Golden Waltz!

Erin
OK, Kris Draper scored...the Wings are tied. Phew!

Right of way at my rink:
1. Skaters in lesson with their music on
2. Skaters with their music
3. Skaters in lesson
Unfortunately, the club got rid of the neon pink hairband things that were used to put on the arm when someone is doing their program. They worked, but now it's like a free for all. Quite bad actually, because in the spring, we have another club come because they don't get ice in the spring or summer, so it's twice as crowded.

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Until later,
*Lily*

I have a little story for you all. Last week after my lesson I went and put my program on I skated half of it then stopped it. So I skate away from the tape player and my coach comes up to me and says this other coach told her if I get too close to her students one more time she is gonna go and yell at me. I was just appalued and so was my coach. This other coach has the nerve to go up to my coach and talk about me and not directly to me. I was the one who's music was playing if she can't get her student to move then they shouldn't be on that session. I don't remember skating to close to them, of course I wouldn't do it on purpose. I know she is picking on me and my coach says she respects this lady as a coach and a person, and I just think that is disgusting!