Last fall the management company that runs my home rink started running 40-minute freestyle sessions a couple times a week and asked the skating club to support them. Up until now the only people on the weekday sessions have been club skaters and their coaches. It's been running fine for the most part with everyone pretty much on the same level (Pre-Pre to Juvenile range) and adapting. The one squabble we've had is over the sound system but that's a different issue.

This week Management decided that the sessions were "under-utilized" and moved a "freestyle" group class onto the ice with us. It was frankly a disaster.

While the group coach did a good job controlling the class, they just weren't freestyle level skaters; they were working forward and backward wiggles and just starting forward pumping on the circle! Then management allowed one coach (non-club) to bring private students onto the session who were barely able to stand up. The coach then monopolized the center line to teach marching and sliding on two feet. Another coach who had been told she could not give semi-private lessons to more than two skaters at a time saw the group lesson going on and got upset.

I got frustrated myself because I spent the entire 40 minutes pretty much restricted to 1/3 of the ice. The MIF skaters were unable to complete a pattern because of having to dodge either the group lesson people or the kids in helmets marching on the center line. Program run-throughs were impossible.

The director now wants to know if the club skaters will be contracting for the next eight weeks. From those I've talked to, the answer is "no" because it's no longer "freestyle" ice. But if the club skaters walk away, management may turn around and refuse to offer any freestyle ice at all, claiming that club skaters don't support it.

Another problem is that it's January, the start of the heavy club competition season here. Coaches have already filled all their slots on available ice at the local rinks and finding other sessions instead is going to be either impossible or require some major travel.

So we're wondering what to do.

I know this whole post is basically just a rant. Rink management will do whatever they want when they want. I guess I just want sympathy and maybe to hear that other rinks have played the bait-and-switch game with figure skaters coming out on the short end. And I'd like to know what exactly defines "freestyle" ice, since this management doesn't seem to have a clue.

Suggest that an end of the ice be set aside for the LTS group and the lower-level private lessons. Just cone off the end circles for the session.

It screws up the full-ice patterns for moves, dance, and skating programs, but it leaves the freestyle skaters with the lion's share of the ice. Since you're paying a higher price than the group students, that's only proper.

If the freestyle really is underutilized, this will save the session. It's a compromise.

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Ugh, Blue, that sounds quite irritating. I feel for you. At the rinks around here, FS ice is for people who are in FS 1 (USFSA group lessons) or higher. So there can be a wide range of abilities, but no marchers or wigglers. Now, there is a rule that skaters lower than FS 1 who are having a private lesson may skate on an FS session for that lesson, but practice on their own must be on public sessions.

My club runs 2 hours of FS ice a week (2 weekday evenings) and we have a new coach who is teaching a couple of beginner students. Apparently, these kids can't skate on the rink sessions in the aftn b/c of parent schedule so they are skating on our club ice for their lessons. I'm the board liaison to coaches (which means I collect proof of ins each year and send e-mails about club events and schedule changes) and I told the coach they needed to stay out of high-traffic areas (ex: lutz corners), yield to higher level skaters, and they could only skate the session of their lesson. Coach was fine with all that. The kids are brother and sister and she gives them a joint lesson for the full session. So far, it seems to be working.

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Our rink allows private lessons for beginners, but they can only be on the ice with the instructor. They can't skate by themselves, so they're not an obstacle.

But to have a beginner's group on that ice is zany and dangerous.

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The same goes for my rink. Beginners (Tot-Delta skaters) can skate of a freestyle session using a lesson pass (30 mintues); however, they must be taking a lesson and supervised with a coach. We haven't had any issues with either beginner or high-level skaters using this system.

Thanks, all. What bothers me most, I think, is how the director promised all kinds of things over the summer and now, halfway through the season, has renegged on almost all of them. It's tough to build a relationship of trust and cooperation that way.

Management's definition of "under-utilized" is any session that they run that isn't bringing in at least twice the rental rate. That would mean upwards of 40 skaters on a freestyle session, which, for most figure skaters would be dangerously hazardous.

The two-thirds ice compromise might work but I doubt if many of the figure skaters would be willing to pay the full rate for it and I can't see Management reducing the price since they're adamant about keeping prices the same at all the rinks they manage.

The new contract begins next week, so I'm going to have to make a decision before then. My rule-of-thumb for having twice as much practice time as lesson time might have to be set aside.

Depending on how many beginners are in the grp class, they do not need 1/3 ice. When I teach grps, the rink is divided into lanes. One lane at the end of the rink is enough for a low grp. This will leave plenty of room for most FS skills. The area should be coned.

Management will almost always do what they want to bring in $. I have been through many such situations. The best approach is a sensible compromise that does not endanger anyone's safety, hence the cones and small grp area. The objective should be to keep the FS ice until it gains in popularity and brings in more skaters, so a grp is not necessary to bring more $ into the session.

Kay

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OH! THAT'S why the punch cards for our club have 24 half-hour sessions for LTS and 12 hour sessions for club skaters! I always wondered about that.