Hi,

I'm new to the forum (just discovered it today!) and I started skating about a month ago, I am 29. I skated a little when I was young (very little) but was a gymnast and did Horse Vaulting competitively, so far I seem to be making progress quickly and am working on front and back crossovers and doing backwards one foot glides. (forwards are going much better! hehe)

A friend of mine used to skate competively when she was younger and we would like to find time to skate together. There is a 6:30am to 7:30am Saturday morning Freestyle session at a local rink that would be perfect, but I am nervious that we don't belong in a Freestyle session? I called the rink and the person there couldn't really answer my question, he just said that it was more expensive ($7.50 for an hour) and not much on anything else.

The information that I found on a Freestyle session on Skating Addict FAQ's was that it is a session for practicing jumps, spins, MITF, etc. stroking, crossovers are both part of the adult MTIF.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

The skating director would probably have been able to answer your question better. I would call back and talk to her or him. The skating director should know what sessions are high level, low level, crowded, good for adults, etc.

You should go one day and just watch. It's possible that a freestyle session at this time on a Saturday would be just fine because there may not be very many people on it.

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Most free style sessions are leveled. Some allow Beginners so skaters in Basic skills, some require free skating skills meaning jumps and spins and the ability to move quickly and deftly, higher sessions are for those proficent in singles and mastering doubles, etc. The session might also be for Dance, or moves only.

As stated above check w/ the skating director, and you will have to have a coach sign off on the "contract form" if that is a session you want to routinely skate on.

Please note all rinks are different, yours will vary most likely.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Thank you all for your quick responses and information!

I sent an email to the rink hoping that it will get forwarded to the right person that way. I also think that I will go visit tomorrow morning, that's a great suggestion BTW, and the best way to find out what kind of Freestyle session it is - their website doesn't say anything other than "Freestyle".

Again, thank you for all the great information, I'm sure that I will have more questions to come, though there are already a lot of really great threads here!

well, i don't know about your rink, but at my rink, if you're paying you can go to any session. I've seen beginners at freestyle sessions just because they want the emptier ice and the more careful skaters around them as opposed to at public sessions. I'd check, but if your rink is not centered around figure skaters they probably wont care. As long as you can watch where your going and not get in they way they probably won't care.

Our 'patches' used to have a minimum test level requirement.

I agree with going to have a look, though, especially if they don't have a minimum standard of skating as it can be quite hairy on there as people are doing programmes, going in opposite directions etc. I didn't realise how many close calls there were till I sat up in the stands and thought "holy ****" seeing how everyone interacted We also had mixed patches (dance and free and sometimes pairs) which made it even more difficult

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The best whisper is a click

Our freestyle session isn't broken down into levels (we have only one) but the minimum requirement is proficiency in back crossovers OR working with a coach (figure or hockey). However, since only the kids at the front counter are there at that time, it hasn't stopped other people from showing up and working on stuff. As long as they plunk down their money. Most of the time it is adults working on edges and 3-turns, etc. who don't want to work on it during crowded public sessions. It's a good session for moves.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Up here, as a re-beginner, I have totally avoided "public" sessions but I skate all the club ice I can get - Dance, Free, Open, ANYTHING! I just keep my eyes open and stay out of the way of anybody working on programs. Of course at 5' 9" and 200 Lbs, NOBODY wants to run into ME - LOL!!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

At my rink, basically freestyle is open to any figure skater who wants to practice. The perks are that there are way fewer skaters on the other pad (usually 5 or less), and the ice stays alot cleaner than the public session. Plus, you dont have to deal with the 16 y/o hockey kids or new skaters that constantly skate too close to you while practicing jumps or spinning--everyone keeps their space.

The downfall for me is that its a bit more expensive, and I'm intimidated by the other skater who are doing double jumps, when I'm working on my single salchow, which I can hardly exicute, know what I mean? But I say, who cares! Do it!

Firstly, do check out whether there is a minimum standard on the training session you want to use - arena reception should have some sort of timetable listing the session levels. This is for everybody's protection - you can't have tiny tots on the ice with competitive freeskaters. Generally, the absolute minimum standard is that you own your own figure skating boots - shows you are a serious skater. Secondly, there are various "rules of the road" on training sessions, and it takes a while to get the hang of them. Broadly speaking, they are:

1. Don't wander round aimlessly chatting with other adults - this is a serious working session; public sessions are for chatting.

2. Order of priority is: firstly skaters on a lesson who also have their programme music playing, then skaters on a lesson (not on music), then skaters not in a lesson but on the music. Keep an eye out when the music changes, so that you know who is on the music.

3. You have to apply sensible consideration and give way where appropriate; so you have to be a good enough skater to move out of the way fast if necessary. If there are any dance or pair couples on the ice, they have less control and all-round vision than a singles skater, so you should generally keep out of their way, especially if they are doing lifts. Similarly, there are standard places where more advanced skaters will place their moves - the main one to avoid lingering in is the "lutz corner", which is the two corners at 10 O'clock and 4 O'clock if you have your shoulders aligned along the long axis of the rink.

4. Aside from this, you need to create a presence on the ice and commit to your movements, so that other skaters know where you are going. The main thing is to look in the direction that you are travelling in.

I have just re-read your post, and if you have only been skating a month, I must be VERY honest, and say that IMHO, you really don't belong on a freestyle session. You should have probably done all the first 5 or 6 rink grades before you consider it. That means: all your forward and backward edges and crossovers, forward three turns and mohawks, and most important of all - be able to stop quickly and securely. Or have a lesson booked, with a coach on the same ice. However, don't let this stop you from coming along to the rink to check the session out.

When I was starting, I used to really enjoy the Saturday and Sunday morning public sessions - they had the right combination of sociability, shared activities and no strobe lights or blaring music. As Rusty blades mentioned, club ice is also good. Weekday morning public session ice is nice and clear, with more adult skaters.


Have fun!

I was once in the same situation and it was HIGHLY recommended that I drop in to the freestyle session at my rink. Because of the lack of crowds. I was very easily intimitated by every other skater. I dropped in a few times and decided to join the skating club for more ice time (talk about intimidation).

Of course, freestyle sessions at my rink are not leveled and the back crossovers is just a suggestion. Since it was the skating director (my coach at the time) that suggested it, I had her blessing.

Fairly empty ice is wonderful for an adult skater to work on without having to worry about little kids and hockey boys (and their dads).

I recommend you check out if you are allowed and drop in if it's fairly empty. Another perk is being able to ask someone who is higher level than you to check out a move you are making if it doesn't seem right. Most skaters are more than happy to help out (very briefly) as long as they are not in lessons or working on programs. Some of my best helpers are the 9-14 year old skaters (who are much, much better than I am).

Don't give up!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I would say you aren't ready for a freestyle session. At my rink (which is near you, I saw from your location, but not the closest to San Jose) the minimum for freestyle sessions is about FS 2 or 3. I don't think that's stated anywhere, just how it is. You need to be able to move fast, basically. And a Saturday morning session WILL be crowded; my rink's 7:30 am on Saturdays is usually the most crowded session of the week.

As an alternative, you might be able to find a daytime session or early afternoon that is less crowded than the typical evening or weekend. My rink offers daytime sessions (at 1/2 price admission) that maybe have 15 people (and that's considered crowded).

Another alternative is to join the local skating club. Then you belong and can skate on their ice, and they usually have accomodating schedules.

(Our club might be going to high/low sessions next year if they can get more ice time. Not sure how they will determine who is high/low....last I heard all adult skaters who are not coaches will be considered low Yeah, right. I just wish they would enforce the rules we have now )

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Just because you belong to the club does not necessarily mean you can skate on club FS times. Our club has minimum restrictions on several of our FS sessions at the different rinks we contract with during the week. For one it's Axel or higher, another is double jumps or higher, and a third is loop or higher. You really need to determine whether it's a good fit or not.

I went and checked at the rink on Saturday morning (it's the rink in Cupertino at Vallco) and they said that as long as you are figure skating, it's fine. (at least that's what they told me when I asked...) I would be the only adult out there, at least judging from what I observed while I was there, and it wasn't crowded at all. (it's the 6:30am session)

I am currently skating on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Fremont at lunch, they have an adults only public session that I very much enjoy and I have been getting help from several of my fellow skaters.

my problem is that I would like to be skating 3 times a week and when I have gone to public sessions in either San Jose at Logitech Ice or Fremont at Sharks Ice, they seem to be more crowded than I am comfortable with.

I was feeling better about it after having gone to check it out, now I am feeling like maybe it would be better to wait so that I am not a liability to everyone else on the ice, as many of you have said that I should wait till I am working on 3 turns and mowhawks.....

One of the most important things if you do choose to skate on this session, as a low-level skater is to be OBSERVANT and ready to quickly move out of the way. Being able to start and stop moving quickly also helps.

At a minimum, you should be able to quickly move out of the way of a high level skater doing a run-through or setting up for a multi-revolution jump. Or if there's dancers on the session working on compulsory dances, be observant of their patterns.

I skate regularly on early morning FS/Dance sessions and we have a coach who teaches private lesson Learn to skate lessons on these sessions. Her students (young children) are often so focused on their elements that they are practically oblivious to when my coach and I are coming through, skating the compulsory dances that I'm working on, to the music. Even if one of us gives a warning a few feet away, they will often not be paying attention (focused on their elements) or won't know where to go. (Sometimes close to the barrier is not the optimum place to go.) We've had several very close calls, especially near test/competition time when I'm focusing on both technical and performance aspects, so I'm not as observant of beginner skaters.

Sometimes I will go up to the child or their parents afterwards and explain what can happen (injury-wise) if the skater isn't paying attention to what is going on around them.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Good for you, Jen! There is one oblivious little skater in particular that I was almost ready to say something like that to on Saturday. This kid is a low-level freestyle skater (no-test) who has absolutely no concept of space. She's so focused on her own elements that she frequently goes into a spin or jump right in someone's path or cuts through a small space between a couple of skaters to do a camel or something else - so that she almost kicks the skaters around her with her free leg. When she's gotten in my path when I'm doing moves patterns, I've called out the standard "excuse me" warning and she has just stood there and glared at me with an exasperated sort of look - hmmm, a diva in the making? At the end of the session on Saturday, I saw her skate through the crowd of skaters that was lined up waiting to step off the ice and she just flew past them (she's small, so she didn't knock into anyone, but it was close) and off the ice w/o even stopping. Definitely an accident waiting to happen.

I have also been very frustrated with people not watching where they are going on freestyle sessions. It makes me very annoyed when people don't know the rules and when they need to yield. Basically, now, if I'm doing a program with my coach I just do what i gotta do and if i knock some stupid person down, i don't care if they are 3, 60, of 45, if you don't know the rules get off the ice, especially at freestyle sessions. becasue I wear the gold ribbon that shows I'm doing a program and i'm with my coach. i am tired of having people get in my way.


On the other hand, if someone is doing their program with a coach, or just in a lesson with a coach when I'm just practicing an element. I will yield to them without question.

I say, if you know the rules, can quickly stop and move out of the way, and watch out for other skaters...you can be on a freestyle session.

Have you checked out the Belmont rink? Depending on where you are in San Jose, it can be a bit of a drive, but they have great public sessions on weekends, especially during the summer months. I've seen public sessions on Sundays (12-5ish) with no more than 10 people on the ice. $7 to skate for five hours is worth the drive, IMO!

I've skated at Logitech during their afternoon and weekend public sessions and would avoid them at all costs. Between hockey players zooming around, competitive skaters practicing high doubles and triples, other skaters in lessons doing programs, and the large school groups, it can be too crowded. Practicing figure skating can be impossible if you're not fully in control, comfortable with large crowds, and also aggressive enough to take command of the ice.

I've only been to Vallco once, so I don't know what it's like there. I can suggest Belmont as a decent alternative if you're willing to make the drive.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

I think I will go ahead and try. I have enough control to get out of the way quickly and stop, or turn if I need to. Thank you for the instructions on which corners are the Lutz corners (I knew about Lutz corners, just not how to tell which they were). My sessions in Fremont at lunch aren't actually too different from Freestyle it sounds like and we often have even more crazyness going on, we have to watch out for each other carefully too because we are all doing different things.

Sounds like as long as I watch where I am going, and get out of the way for who has priority at the moment, I should be ok. I didn't see any ice dancers on Saturday, there were 4 girls doing individual routines in the middle of the ice, 2 who looked like they were practicing synchro and one more would was just working on her jumps.

Belmont is a little far (I am 7 minutes from Logitech), talking to the folks in Fremont, that rink is also very quiet on the weekends in the summer - it's just crazy right now, so later in the year it may be the same as Belmont and it's only a 20 minute drive. I may come up there at some point though - thanks for the suggestion!

If the 6:30am Saturday session is not crowded, you can probably stay out of people's way as long as you are alert. My rule of thumb is, if you hear music, someone is usually skating to it, so look up every 5 seconds and spot where she is on the ice. The less skilled a skater you are, the more time you will have to give yourself to spot her coming your way and get out of the way. Sometimes if I am skating and I suddenly look up to see someone heading my direction but I'm not sure where she's going, I'll just rush over to the closest stationary skater (like a coach standing there explaining something to a student) and stand right next to her until the skater passes. The skater skating her program has already seen the stationary skater and has made plans to skate around them anyway, so this way she won't have to do more than one detour!

Actually, those are for counterclockwise jumpers. But for clockwise jumpers, the other two corners are needed. So really, all four corners are lutz corners depending on who is skating. And then there are also skaters like me, who place lutzes down the middle between both corners. General conscensus: no place is safe, and if you go on a freestyle session you take the responsibility of not putting anyone in danger beyond any unpreventable accidents. Personally I agree that a person who's been skating for a month would be entirely uncapable of that.

I can't believe how many of your rinks don't provide leveled freestyles. That's incredibly dangerous. I'd never skate an open. It's not freestyle, it's free-for-all.

I also would really reccommend AGAINST this unless you want everyone on your new sessions to avoid you like the plague in the future (except if you have friends that you know really well on these sessions like the one you mentioned you'd bring along). If you're on a freestyle session, then it's assumed you have a coach because freestyles are for training- and you can't train by yourself. I personally think it's really rude to interrupt someone's training (even if they aren't doing anything, for all you know they're doing visualization work or talking themselves down from something and you'd be disrupting them) to ask them for free advice. If you want someone to look at your elements, you have to ask a pro, and you have to pay. Any skater at my rink who'd even try to teach an element or correct something for another skater would get kicked off the ice by coaches because of every rink's liability risks- skaters aren't insured like coaches are. Plus it pisses everyone off when a newcomer comes to leech off of the knowledge they spent thousands of dollars learning. If somebody is up at 6am on a freestyle session to skate, then you can assume they've got some work to do of their own.

The people most likely to be willing to help you are people who aren't very skilled and probably not working with a coach either (and thus who sympathize) and then you might get bad advice and form bad habits. And while sometimes the little kids are willing to help out the older people (they get all excited to be able to help someone who they're supposed to look up to) really...who'd take technique advice from a 9 year old? Even if they're decent skaters they just don't have the knowledge of teaching to be able to relay the skills they're trying to explain properly. It's a lose/lose situation and everyone gets their time wasted. If you wanna skate up to people and ask for help, that's really a public session type of thing.

Well, actually, I asked a 10-year-old once for advice on alt 3's when I was working on my Pre-Bronze moves. But this occurred off the ice and her response to me was "um, I just did them" - lol. This kid and I went through group lessons together so we knew each other well - she recently passed Novice MIF and is looking to test Juv FS in time for Regionals, while I toil away in Bronze Moves Purgatory. Sigh.

But seriously, I agree that the key is how well you know a person before asking for advice or sharing tips, etc. I've had other adult skaters who are friends comment on things I'm doing and give me a tip or two, but I don't mind that b/c I know them well and I know they know what they're talking about - and they'll ask me for feedback too. It works both ways. I've seen kids that are friends give each other advice or feedback (nothing major) or practice elements together and challenge each other to do various things - kind of like a game. They're enjoying themselves - and shouldn't skating be fun? In fact, I know of at least one coach that will recommend her students practice certain things together (mostly MIF and such that she knows they're using the same technique for b/c she taught each of them) to be able to correct any problems a kid might not know they're having (like if they're not lifting their leg high enough on their spirals or something like that) so they don't have to wait for their lesson to correct something simple.

If you don't know a person, then I agree you shouldn't ask for advice or try to give it. You'll come across as jerky, like a college-age kid did once to me (this was the last week of Dec when some other rinks cancelled their FS sessions due to either extra publics or hockey tournaments, so there were some skaters I hadn't see before at this particular FS session). This girl called out to me as I skated by her practicing a moves pattern (I should have just ignored her but it was a reflex reaction) and I went over to her and she asked me (and keep in mind I had never seen this person before and didn't even know her name, much less her skill level - and thankfully, I've never seen her since) if she could "fix" my crossovers b/c she had been watching me and saw my skating needed "fixing", and that whenever she sees adults skating she sees "all these problems I just want to fix". She then wanted to know the name of my coach. I told her in the most polite way I could to buzz off and mind her own business.