.... where you could do anything but train athletes because the size of the pad (about 1/3 of a standard rink), what kind of activities would you put there, I wonder?

Well, public skating comes naturally to mind, and learn-to-skate classes, but what else?

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My other car is a Zamboni

My backyard rink is 50 x 75 feet, well less than 1/3 of an NHL ice surface, and we have had a couple of nice skating parties here over the Christmas holidays and I have used it mainly for working on moves. Due to some extreme cold weather this month it hasn't been as active as I had hoped.

Are you building a rink?

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

Can you play broomball on a small rink? Broomball is fun.

Other than that I'd say LTS works. And spin classes.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

You can indeed - the home of broomball in this country is on the first (and longest-open) seasonal rink, at Broadgate, which is circular. It is a bit larger than most hockey circles, but at times it doesn't feel like it!

Sceptique, is this to do with the prize your club won?

I hope there will be exhibitions and lots of things to encourage people to learn to skate and to join LTS classes at your main rink.

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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 would ban hockey! (or make them skate in the wee hours)

Well, since the powerball jackpot is at 240 million I guess if (I mean When!) I win.......

I would buy a sprawling estate in the DC area and have my own full size indoor rink built! It would have windows down one side and a mirror area to watch myself go by during a spiral!(tee hee). This would include a full time staff to keep the ice in tip top shape. I would use the rink for my own training as well as sponsoring a couple of upper level skaters who have the ability but not the $ for full time training.

I would of course have skating parties and maybe even make it the official Washington FSC Adult Training Site!

I think that would be cool!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

I'd be happy with this size

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Tim David's Website

I would mirror the walls and use it for LTS, Artistry and Movement classes, maybe broomball, and spinning lessons.
Definitely power stroking and crossovers since you'd have to stay in control to manage the tight space.

I think it would be too small for MITF, other than the width-axis patterns. Still, you could do Figures and have remedial/intro "Three Turns" "Mohawks" and other footwork elements.

Interesting, I went to a rink in Bridgewater, New Jersey this weekend. They had schedules out for their "Blue" and "Red" rinks. Both are standard size. They have a *HUGE* off-ice play and snack bar area in the back with a climbing structure, game room, and laser tag arena. As I was exploring (and seeking a restroom), I found a third rink! It was very tiny, but there was a hockey practice/scrimmage taking place on it with full-grown men! It must be very different to play hockey on a crowded surface without any 'runaway' pucks to chase. (They couldn't have gotten far - the ice was too small.)

ETA: I just found out that Bridgewater uses that rink for upscale parties! They include a one-hour private skating session on that rink for their "birthday extravaganza" and "hockey extravaganza" with goalnets (BYO Equip) parties. It's $275/hr for the private rental. Interesting.

You could host small on-ice skating seminars. The problem with the big rinks is that it's hard to hear what the presenters are saying, unless they use a cordless mic. In a small rink, it would be much more productive to have a spin workshop, or a coaches' training seminar.

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Broomball.... sounds interesting. I thought about it and I will certainly try to research more.

Well... since the cat is going to get out of the hat anyway....

I have accepted the job of a Rink Manager at a new recreational rink in West Midlands which is opening next week.

Now, tell me about a hobby that got out of control..........

So now I'm on a hunt for fresh ideas, especially from over the Pond - something that you think can be brought over to UK and tried out on a smaller-size rink.

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My other car is a Zamboni

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Hi

If I had my own rink, I wouldnt let anybody on it Id skate on it myself all day every day and no one else would be able to come near. It would be too fantastic to have the ice completely to myself , something I have never had lol

Andrea

Sling used to talk about program hardening or toughening or some such nonsense. How about a party where you take turns practicing your program and people at the sides (waiting for their turn) get to throw snow balls at you!
Talk to the show skaters - most shows the ice is partly taken up by extra seats and some show arenas are teenie tiny! This would be a blast for theater on ice and I think that dancing on the ice like ballet or HipHop would look even better on a small rink.
Lyle
p.s. I think that the calories per hour are much higher for a FS skater - I average 600-800 kcal an hour most days.

Lyle: LMAO!!! Maybe we should have Sling take his turn and we throw snowballs at him!!! (Johns???)

WOW!!! I would love to win that type of jackpot! I would buy Berkeley Iceland, knock it down ala "Extreme Makeover" Home Edition... and rebuild a brand new ice rink that's up to code with dedicated party rooms (so skaters don't have to step on FOOD with their blades ) a ballet room, provide his and hers (two hers actually) locker rooms with showers, locker, etc (ala Chelsea Piers.)

I would love to get in a new rink manager in. I would like a clone of the rink manager at my home rink please! She knows what she's doing and would make sure that the place is clean, painted, has a REAL snack bar, regular ice maintanance including the annual melt down, repaint and rebuild. In addition she's coaching the synch team, doing Christmas shows and whatever else that's going on at our rink! AND she still does it with a SMILE on her lovely face too! Bravo to her!!!

I would also put in a real gym (ala Artesia or the Hack) upstairs with qualified trainers and a small pilates/gyrotonic gym!!!

As for skating coaches... since this is MY rink... there will be a set of regular coaches hired by the rink but visiting coaches are welcome!!! Very small fee for visiting coaches... except for my coaches, who I will forgo the visitors fee (and I'll even throw in the one hour coaches fee for the hour that you're coaching me!) There should be a very strong adult figure skating curriculum and support in my rink. Any heard saying "well, you're just an adult skater" will be used as hockey puck target practice!!!

But since the original post for a much smaller rink... public sessions, LTS, Theatre On Ice, broom ball, hockey drill classes, beginning group edge classes...

Congrats to you on your new job, sceptique!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Funny! In the Unofficial Guide to DisneyWorld, one reader wrote in to suggest that each rider on "It's a Small World" be given a bucket of softballs at the start of the ride! LOL

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Lol, I was offered that position before Christmas!

John

I used to skate in Hingham, MA, at the Pilgrim arena where they had new regular NHL sized rinks and a smaller rink that was originally built for curling -- about 1/3 the size of the other two rinks. They used it for figures back then, but one time I went there in the evening and they were having regular freestyle session on that ice -- there must have been 20 kids plus a few lessons. I don't know how they did it, but I saw a tall young man working on his double axel on that session, so I think, "Where there is a will, there's a way". No reason not to have regular sessions I guess. Everyone just adjusts...

Have a great time. Yes, your hobby has gotten out of control, but hey, why not??

As far as what I would do if I won the lottery... take all of your ideas, and add a horse stable and riding facility to the mix and you would have my "super-dream" rink (and riding facility!).

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

Congratulations, Olga!

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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!

Don't rule out hockey, my husband has the best legs and butt because of it

http://www.thezonetraining.ca/
It's a sports store and they installed a rink 45 x 85 in the store. They run a goalie school and it looks like it works pretty well. My backyard rink was bigger than that.

Dunno, but I've been lusting after my neighbor's pond all week. . . it just *might* be cold enough for the ice to have gotten thick enough. . .

I echo the suggestions for spin classes, moves, LTS, figures, artistry on ice, show development. . . sounds like fun. Enjoy the job!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You might want to check out a rink in northern California called "Winter Lodge". It's owned by the city of Palo Alto and has one teeny, tiny studio rink and one slightly larger rink used for shows and lessons and LTS classes. I'm sure if you Google it, you can get more details. Talk to the directors there.. they have a wildly successful program on very small ice, and sell out their annual shows (tickets sell for about $15-20 each) with people begging for tickets... or for the rink to add more shows. They don't do competitive events.. so the atmosphere there is very supportive for everyone... and they do have some kids who go through their programs who are also high-level skaters.. including one girl who has just missed going to US Nationals as a Junior lady a couple of times. I'll also see if I can find a link for you.. but good luck.. that sounds like a wonderful challenge but at least you'll make it a fun place to go to work!!!

Lake Placid also has a studio rink. I think it is called the Lussi rink. I believe segments of the Lussi vids were filmed there. I skated a crowded public on it once when I was on vacation.

If I had my own studio rink, I would become a great skater. I would truncate dance and MITF patterns so I would not forget how to cover the ice. I would also go to a full sz rink regularly to get complete ice coverage for dance and MITF patterns.

Kay

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

The other place you might want to visit for ideas is the Michael Sobell rink in north London - it's even smaller than Kateskate's rink, but fields a superb team of show skaters, the So Belles. I don't know who you could contact there, but my coach will know (they joined up with us one year for Team Challenge), so let me know and I can PM you the details if you wish.

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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!

Good to know there is somewhere smaller than my little rink!

Amazingly for our rink (which had management that is obsessed with us being a leisure complex not a skating training facility) we don't seem to use the ice for anything other than skating. No novelty activities. I daren't suggest it or they will just ban skating in favour of other activities.

The rink at Hemel may be worth a visit or investigate for ideas too - the one with the island in the middle.

If I had my own rink it would be an olympic size, nice mirrored walls along one side with a ballet/pilates room. Kept at a nice temp, I'd use fuel cell technology and even though it would be difficult to make the rink profitable, I could run small FS and dance sessions with a limited number for a slightly higher price since we have a large number of skaters in this state and getting ice time is sometime difficult because hockey is so dominant. The main problem would be finding a good location. No hockey for sure!

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

Link to Winter Lodge

Been there a few times! Obviously not my home rink but love the rink!!! Has a NICE WARM fireplace too! It opens Sept. to April! I believe it gets converted to a tennis court in the summer.

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!