this came to mind because of the other thread about the 4 1/2 year old taking private lessons...i am truly confused about this. Is it even necessary for a kid that young to be in competitions? is it healthy? i am not saying it is not...i am asking for opinions...my own kid started "late" and is now a pretty competitive just-turned-12 intermediate...i often wonder where she'd be now if we'd started when she was 3, or even 6, instead of 9. She somtimes wonders this too, as in "i maybe would be a junior now! or a 12-year-old senior like Beatrisa Liang!!" And I wonder if that is healthy, either.

I started at age 4 but did not do any competitions until I was 11. Most kids don't compete that young. In Canada we have Canskate competitions...some are included with regular comps while others are held seperately. That allows for those skaters who have tkaen private lessons and have a 1 min program to compete. some of the kiddies are so cute, and some just cry. But if ya hate Disney music, best avoid the rink that day

My daughter started skating at 2 (family skating with her older brother and sister). By 4, in real figure skates, she was off and running. At 5 she joined Canskate but didn't compete until she was 8 in pre-preliminary with a 1 minute 30 second solo. There were 16 skaters.(She won her first gold). All the kids in her level seemed to have fun; most got beanie babies or a stuffed animal, flowers, candy, photos taken.

Some of the advanced canskaters, who were younger, competed with 1 minute solos, 2 skaters performing at the same time on half ice. There was a first place, second place and I think all the rest came third. Pretty painless. However, in recent years, I've seen skaters as young as 5 compete at summer sectionals, which is considered a bigger comp. , some of them trying axels.They are getting younger skating at the summer schools, competing in several competitions a year. They are so cute but it shouldn't get too serious at that age. JMO I'm not sure where they will be at 12 though.

Presently, in my area, most of the 12 year olds (girls) are competing at pre-novice (intermedialte) and stay there for a few years since there's no age limit. They try to make the cut for Eastern/Western Challenge competitions, and then, hopefully, the cut for Junior Nationals. By the time they are 14/15, they may move to Novice. If they don't pass the pre-novice test by the age of 12, they compete Test Stream in Senior Bronze or Junior Silver. I don't know of any 12 year olds in my area competing in Junior.

General skating lessons:
Our learn to skate program, which starts at age 4 always fills up right away. 75% of the kids there are learning to skate for hockey which starts at age 5.

If they stick with figureskating, they do Canskate for a year (age 5), Advanced Canskate (age 6) and then pre-preliminary (age 7), usually doing one or two competitions a year (Stars and Interclub).

Figure skating lessons, with no previous skating experience:

The keen ones are 6 or 7, but most are age 8 and higher.

So you end up with skaters at the same age, but some have competed for 3 years, with cute one minute programs (cue: Aladdin..........)

Boys:

Either they're from a skating family which means they're out there at age 6 or 7, or they play hockey for a couple of years and start at age 10-11. They drift into figure skating because they take power skating - from the figure skating coach. The ones that start later do the same as the early ones, except, and I'll emphasize this, their programs are more loose and natural. There's just something about the little boys that start early, all their programs are over costumed and over choreographed. (cue: Star Wars.......) My personal opinion.

Surely it depends on the child, and on the competition? I have known children as young as 6 compete very happily in local competitions, and often do very well. I'm sorry I shan't see a 6-year-old friend of mine competing in the forthcoming Lambeth Festival - she hasn't done a programme before, but her big sister (aged about 10) is now a relatively experienced competitive skater, and young P**** is very keen on having a go. Her mother (also a skater, but only competes in show numbers) reckons she's up for it.

These competitions are all artistic, rather than technical, so the children don't have to skate very well in order to portray a character. And young P**** makes a very convincing "Ugly Duckling"....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

My daughter started skating at 4 1/2. There are good things about that and bad things about that. My daughter is very secure and fearless on the ice. On the other hand, since she didn't start out taking lessons seriously, she didn't develop the kind of work ethic the kids who started older have. Her work ethic sometimes holds her back, IMO.

It's hard to know what difference an early start ultimately makes to a skater because talent isn't standard issue. My daughter has advanced very well. She might have been in exactly the same spot no matter when she started. She's been in love with skating for 5 1/2 years, though. That is a good thing that has come out of her early start.

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Babyskater's Mom

I started skating at 5, started private lessons at 7 and started competing at 9. At 4 1/2, I think it's too early to start private lessons. I think that skaters should have a year or two to develop a feel for the ice, and get their feet under them. Same goes for competing. I think the only exception to this is when a skater develops at a rapid rate, and is showing much potential to be a competitive skater. Then the lessons and competitions are beneficial to their development, but only if they're totally in love with the sport.

My philosophy is start them young with group lessons, Mommy & Me and supervised public session skating. As young as 3 if they're ready.

But make the kid BEG for it. No privates until the kid wants more, no team until the kids wants it, etc.

My son took basic skills 1 thru 4 group lessons at ages 5 and 6. By the end of Basic 4 he was done....it's possible if he had been older he might have had the maturity to stick with it longer. Or maybe it just wasn't something he was ever to love enough to stick with.

I think its hard to say if my daughter started earlier if she would have progressed faster. I think maybe not. At age 7, almost 8, she took her first group lessons and didn't want to continue. We didn't pursue it again for another year or so. She went back to basic skills classes at age 9, was hit by a car and broke her leg. She was off 6 months, returning a few months before she turned 10. We laugh about it now because she skated way better when she came back than before the accident. Maybe she was just more physically and mentally able to progress as she grew older. By age 14 she was at Intermediate, but had suffered some back problems that held her back along the way.

I guess my point is each child is different. For some an early start is too much too soon. For others it works just fine.

There's a reason you don't see the Tots category at very many competitions. It's because a lot of organizers & coaches think it's ridiculous to have competing at a very young age.

I don't know... my rink had a competition last week, and I had student in Tot 3 who just turned 5. She had a blast. She won her event, albeit skating against the book. What I think gets ridiculous is when you have parents driving all over creation so that a Tot-level kid can compete four, five, six times a year. But I've been at my current rink for three years now, and we've had preschoolers competing every year, and they all seem to have such a great time. This year we had a three-and-a-half-year-old competing in Pre-Alpha. I know the kid (I've taught her in group), I know the family- no psycho parents here, just a kid who likes to skate and get dressed up and have an audience. I'm not sure the kids this young even understand the concept of "competition" and of winning and losing, unless the parents are really pushing it.

Edited to add, there certainly are parents who get carried away with competition, even with kids this age. At least in my area, it's not much of an issue because we seldom have enough tots for them to actually compete against each other rather than against the book.

My daughter started skating when she was 3.

Her first competition was a small regional one occured when she was 7,

Her first out of town, stay over night competition occured when she was 8. She loved to go and see the other skaters - especially their dresses. Neither her nor I took the competitions seriously. We had fun and went shopping, in addition to her skating the 1.5 minute solo.

She also began taking private lessons at the age of 8. Before that it was group lessons.

I started skating when i was 2 1/2, and started competitions at the age of 7. I was doing good up until this year when my coach quit, (for money reasons), and we only had a level 1 coach teaching group lessons. last year, with the coach i've had for all of my skating career, i managed to get the only gold medal for my town, for the 2002 nfld and lab Winter Games. This year i got 2 medals (3 and 2) because there were only 3 people in those categories. I WANT MY COACH BACK!

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~*jo*~

My daughter started skating at 3 mostly as an outlet for all her excess energy. Little did I know what it would become! Of course, I wanted her to play hockey!

She started in private lessons because she tends to learn better in a one on one situation, and naturally she just progressed into ISI competitions. Which, for her, is just fine since she LOVES to perform.

Both my children were introduced to the ice very young as I took each of them along to the mums and toddlers classes when they were 2. Both started having lessons when they were 4 1/2 years old, but my eldest who is now 8 has dyspraxia so her progress has been very slow, and my son is not yet 6 so is still pretty young. I certainly can't say that starting them early has given them the edge, but the one thing I can say is that neither are afraid to fall and both jump back up after even what looks to be a big fall, and never make a fuss like a lot of the kids who started at a later age.

Nicki

I started my son in learn to skate at just shy of 4. He did three classes, then moved over to that other ice sport - hockey - at age 5. He's 8 now, and he's usually one of the best skaters on his team each year (if only I could get him to figure skate....sigh).

my daughter started private lessons at 3 1/2 basically because she didn't have the attention span for a group lesson. The one-on-one time worked for her. Now at 4 1/2 she loves skating and competing. She is constantly skating around our family room and currently skates 2 hours a day, twice a week. her coach makes it fun for her. She has agroup lesson with another 41/2 year old at the same level and she loves beign with the other skaters. I have to say her first competition was an eye opener. She was in a category were all they could do was bunny hops and 2 foot jumps. She basically wanted the toys that she saw being thrown at the skaters on TV. There were kids in this category who were in it for the 2nd year! They should have been in a higher category but were there to win. I just wanted her to have funa and not do any illegal elements (which was what happened) She got 4th, went home with a trophy and wanted to know when she could do it again. I guess time will tell if thsi is the best approach but its working for now

It's true that if your rink has long classes, or large class sizes, privates may be more fun for a preschooler. I frequently teach the tots at my rink, and I've found that about half of them start to mentally "check out" after about twenty minutes. The classes, however, are thirty minutes long. I always try to spend the last five-ten minutes playing games. As for size, my rink is lucky to have several girls in the 12-15 y.o. age range who can't officially coach yet, but are happy to come help out. I've never had to teach more than maybe five preschoolers without a helper. But, having had this experience, I would definitely agree that at some rinks, privates would be a better option for a tot.

I've noticed that they start very young (not always but just a general observation). If you notice the amount of kids registering for those "Basic Skills" competitions and the lower level competitions - they are usually flooded with kids!!!

I personally don't mind them starting early so long as it's not the parents reasons to get them a gold medal at 16 I can see it being very enjoyable and not different than tap classes, music lessons or dance classes. So long as it continues to be fun - start them as early as you want Heck.. my favorite is someone smaller than the height of the boards just bowl me over with a gorgeous smile, spunky attitude and a reason to be there. I saw this many times where you have a kid going "I wanna skate to I can show off my dress!!!!" or "I love my program!! It's fun!!".. so long as that language continues.. why not?

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Latino International Skating Coalition

My dd started at 3.75 and my son at 3.They both love to skate, my dd has competed in isi and both are going to skate in a family spotlight in march.
Both my kids are hams and love the ice. They have group lessons and my dd has privates too.They have no fear, are poised and spend as much time as they can on the ice. we arent pushing it but its their passion, not ours.Wherever they go with this, its their choice.My dd is working on bunny hops, lunges, spirials, and piviots.She is 4.75 now.We hope she picks something else after a few years but if this is her passion, then it is her passion.

Are test sessions only allow children from 5years and older to join.
I started skating at the age of 11 im 13 in 2 monthes and im working on doubles.

I think to put your child on skates would be any time over the age of 2 but not in lessons.

I think that at our rink you have to be 4 to join the classes, but children do start younger, usually relations of present skaters, or teachers.

My own daughter was 14 when she started which, she said, was just the wrong age as she wasn't old enough to compete in adult competitions, where she could have been competitive after a year or so, but was totally not competitive against most skaters her age.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I think physical and emotional maturity and desire to skate have more to do with a successful start than age does. I've seen four year olds who just don't have the muscle tone yet to handle themselves safely on the ice, three year olds who are literally scared stiff, and kids aged three through six who just don't want to let go of mommy. Some kids also don't have the attention span required to focus on where their body parts are in space long enough to be successful. I often recommend a few short (usually twenty minute)private lessons for tots before joining a group. It's enough to discover if the little one is ready to skate, thus avoiding the tearful scenes that make everyone feel so bad when a group begins.

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Most skaters I know started around age 3-5. But I've done things a bit backwards.

My parents put me in Canskate when I was 6 so I wouldn't have to cling to the boards when we went skating as a class in school. I'm not sure why they decided to keep registering me in it every winter--perhaps just so I would have a winter activity that wasn't swimming, which I HATED--because I can remember NOT wanting to go to skating more days than wanting to go. I had major shyness issues when I was young, so it was a few years before I participated in our club carnival, in the Canskate group number.

I started precision when I was 11, and continued in Canskate until I was 12. I was a big chicken when it came to jumps, so I was in no hurry to try and move up to a higher level!! The head coach finally suggested that I and another girl who was my age move up to Canfigure. After that season, I did precision during the winter, and Canfigure during the spring session for a couple of years. When I was about 14 or 15 I dropped Canfigure and just did precision.

I continued with precision until 2001 ("synchro" by then!), took a year off when my team folded, then started synchro again in the fall of 2002 in a new city. And last May, at age 22, I had my first ever private lesson!!

I have flown through my dance tests and am also working on skills. However, I think that if I had started dance and skills at an earlier age, I would not have been nearly as successful. Even though I've been skating for 17 years, I am more fearless now than when I was younger. Then again, you never know. Perhaps with the right coach when I was younger, and some individual attention, I would have achieved what I have now much earlier. But I'm happy with the way things have gone.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

We wanted to wait with our son, since his sister didnt start till she was 3.75, almost a year ago. we told him he had to wait till he was 3. i didnt think he would push it but he did !!! a new session started two weeks before his 3 bday and we put him in it. he loved it from the get go, just like she did.
that was 2 months ago, and he is sailing along. He is doing thing she didnt do after two months, but then he is a big as she is.They are both active kids, jumping off anything we let them.She didnt have the muscles and had to work harder, but then she got a bit bigger and all of a sudden was doing great strokes, just like over night.She amazes us, how happy she is out there, how graceful and fluid.She will be great at inteptive when she is older.they want to skate together but who knows.
She understands at 4.5 that she might not win next month, and there are always winners and people better than she is now.She wants to compete.She had a chance to either be in an ice show this month or compete in march and this is what She wanted.I know some people might not get that idea, but she is the one who skates, not us.
She will do a 1.10 peice herself, she and her bro are doing a family spotlight for 1.45 I think, she will do stroking and then they put her on a spiral team.The other kids on the team are much older, but they are very very sweet to both kids.