Hi,

I am new here and looking for suggestions on what path to take regarding private lessons. My 9 y/o daughter is currently in a learn to skate program. We live in the US and she is in a USFSA program. She just completed the Basic 4 class and will be moving up to basic 5 in a week and 1/2. She currently skates 1-2 days a week. I am hoping to get her to the rink more often, but that hasn't been possible yet. I intend to keep her in the learn to skate program until she finishes all of the levels, but when would be a good time to start private lessons? My daughter has a good friend whose coach says the earlier the better if the student is serious about continuing on in the sport. She feels it is easier to catch bad habits early on rather then trying to correct them later on. What would some of you suggest?

My daughter is outgrowing her current skates(Riedell Blue Ribbon 21). I had been looking at upgrading her to a Reidell Bronze Medallion boot. However, it has been suggested to me that we stick with the same boot she currently uses. Her current boot doesn't have any creasing(other then by the tongue). She's been very comfortable in her current skate, so I am not against buying the same skate again(heck it would save me some money! LOL), but I want to make sure I won't be needing to replace her skates in 6 months should she begin skating more frequently. I would take her to a skate shop if there was one available to me, but I do not know of any local shops. The rink she skates at offers Riedell skates and there is one sporting goods store 30 minute away that carries Jackson skates, but their selection is slim and the employees know very little about figure skating. SO I am stuck with searching on the internet and ordering them online. Any suggestions? Do I stick with the same model of boot or do I upgrade?

TIA

I kind of agree if you want your daughter/or if she wants to be serious and continue with the sport then i woudl do privates. They can really get a lot out of it. Its nice to see the attention they get and the small things they can fix in a private that they dont get in group lessons.

I would definetly stick with the group as you are saying.. But maybe just start out with privates for like once a week and 20 minutes. Or even just do every other week! Good luck.. I have no experience with skates.. sorry

The Bronze Medallions are perfect for Basic 5.

Start thinking about privates by watching the coaches work - which one would be the best choice for your daughter? Then take a few "trial" lessons with him/her, just to make sure they work well together. 9 years old is a good age for privates - the kids can concentrate during the lesson and practice on their own for a while. If she likes the group lessons (many kids do for the friends they make), think about a short (20 m?) private once a week.

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ITA. It's actually not a bad idea to continue group and start short private lessons. That way, your daughter learns new skills in the group and receives additional instruction on the finer points in her private lesson. If possible, have the group and private lessons on different days.

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I can't give any advice about the boots, but in terms of the lessons...I would maybe have her take group lessons through the end of the basics, then start some limited privates. Then, if she is still loving it, find a permanent coach (it could be the same group lesson coach or another). I think that a lot of it comes down to what is the goal?

Also, make sure to pay attention to the group lessons, because generally, I find with kids, that there comes to be a point where group lessons aren't necessarily effective any more...

Thanks. My daughter's friend's coach also suggested if we did not want to start private lessons yet, that we could sign her up for 2 classes of group lessons. I'm toying with that idea. She'd only be able to go every other week to the second class, due to another commitment. If we did that, I would probably pick another day for her to have a private lesson on the week she attended only one group lesson. She loves sjating right now. I don't know how far she wants to go. I do know she wants to continue on in the group lessons. She wants to participate inthe Learn to Skate competition they will be holding in January and she participated in the ice show they had in April. She also plans to skate in this coming April's ice show. Right now, thisis something she enjoys. I don't know how long she will continue in the sport, other then I know she has no intentions of quitting anytime soon. :-)

[QUOTE=Isk8NYC;340258]The Bronze Medallions are perfect for Basic 5.

Thanks! I apprpeciate your reply. I may end up keeping her in the same model she is currently using, but I am happy to know Bronze Medallions are a good choice should we go that route as well. Thanks again!

I had my twins in the Bronze Med's for two years. I moved them up to Jackson Freestyles last year when they started working on Freeskate/Freestyle elements.

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Thanks! Sorry, I just realized there is a section for parents of skaters here too!

My daughter's friend is going to be moving into freestyle 6 and has been practicing landing her axel(she's 8). She just started competing as well. She wears the Riedell Gold Medallions with a professional type blade right now(something like that!). I looked at the Jackson Freestyle when we were at the sporting goods store last week. That was the high end boot they had available. I knew it would be too stiff for my daughter at this stage, not to mention, they didn't carry a 2. The other boots they had were equivilant or lower then the one she currently uses, so we didn't look too closely at them at the time. I've heard Jacksons are good skates. :-)

I agree about starting coaching earlier then later, I started skating when I was 5yrs old and I got through all 7 levels in one year. I started getting lessons once I got to level 4 or 5, so I think you should start getting your daughter private lessons if this really is what she wants. It really does help with not having any bad habits because I have never had one except for not wanting to ever leave the rink!!

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals

When I was a kid, I didn't start private lessons until I got to Freestyle 1 (in ISI). I wish, wish, wish I could've had private lessons sooner. I spent years in group lessons working on the basic levels, and really needed the one-on-one attention from a private lesson. I think I would've progressed a lot further in my skating when I was younger had I taken private lessons earlier. It definitely won't hurt to get private lessons at a lower level!

We try to push booster private lessons in our Learn to Skate program around basic 4-5 because that is when it starts getting harder and takes longer to get through and kids often get discouraged because they have to repeat the session and drop out.

j

Thanks! What do you mean by "booster"? Do you mean a lesson here or there? Or short sessions?

Thanks.

Angie

Thanks! I think my daughter would be in level 6 or 7 had we not taken nearly 3 months off this summer. I haven't had a discussion with her about how far she wants to take this because I figured we would do that as we go. That said, before we begin private lessons, we will have a discussion about what she wants to get out of skating. Then I can tell from there where we should go.

Angie

No problem I'm always here to help. After all I've been a dedicated figure skater for 7 years (holy moly that's a long time when I'm only 12, it's my 8th year of skating wow!!).

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals

My DD wore Blue Ribbons through FS1 and only switched to Bronze Medallions in FS2 to get a better blade. The Bronze Medallion boot still worked for her in FS5, though we moved to a Coronation Ace blade by then. She has never broken down a boot before outgrowing it. However she has never skated more than 5 or 6 hours a week either. Her coach recommends blade by level, but prefers to keep her students in the lowest level boot that lasts until they outgrow it. We did switch from Bronze Medallion to Gold Medallion this last time because of the padded top roll, but some of DDs friends at the same level are in Silver Stars already because of how much more quickly they break boots down.

Jacksons are good skates if you have the right kind of foot. DD tried Freestyles briefly and hated them. We ended up going back to Riedell after two months. She has a Riedell foot, I guess.

If she likes the type of skates she has been using she should stick with them but in a bigger size of course. I also highly recommend SP Teri's just because I've really enjoyed them, they're the first skates of mine I actually really like, I usually hate the skates I get!! They are good for when your daughter gets to harder levels, jumps, and spins also, they've worked for me for death drops and double axels!

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals

That is more or less what my son and I did. We were taking a half-hour shared lesson per week, as I recall, and I managed to stay working on the same skills with him through Basic 5. After that, there was no keeping up, and we ended up dropping the classes and just going to private lessons for the equivalent of Basic 6 on.

Rob

Well at our club, coaches can't give lessons to non-club members... but booster lessons are a package deal with some of our junior coaches for either public ice, or club ice. It's just a set amount, cheaper than regular lessons and ice time, and after that you are expected to join the club if you want more lessons. I think though as long as you are in LTS, you can have so many booster lessons per session. We've kind of dropped the ball there so I'm not sure how it works now.

j

My dd, who is 9, and only 50lbs, has outgowned her blue ribbon F21's. She just passed basic 6 (she is one of those that took a number of times of basic 4/5/6). I was just going to get her another pair of F21's and maybe upgrade the Blade, but thought about the Bronze Medallon. They are more money though. I also never know if she will just decide to "quit", as kids that age can be fickle.
The big thing is because of her size, is getting a higher end skate worth it. I heard that since she is small, the F21's might still be good.

Thanks!

Figure skating is an expensive sport, so please be mindful of your budget as you think about private lessons and competitions.

At that size, the Blue Ribbons might enough for her. See what her coach and/or your local fitter think, but while I'd reccommend most Basic 6's go to the Medallion, I'd think twice about it for a 50-pounder. I agree that you'll probably want to upgrade the blade, though.

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

We ended up ordering the F21's again, but did the blade upgrade. Waiting for the skates to come in. After talking to coaches this seemed like a good idea.

Wiser words were never spoken.

A private coach can cost anywhere from around $40-$80/hour depending on the rink & their qualifications. That does not include ice time. As an adult skater who takes two 25-min lessons with a private coach each week & skates 4 days a week (total of 5 hours of skating time per week), here is how much I have to pay:

two 25-min. lessons/week: $44
5 hours of ice time/week: $40

Total per month: $84 x 4 weeks = $336/month training cost on-ice.

Keep in mind that I am an adult skater consistently landing all my single jumps thru lutz & have passed the first 3 USFSA tests for freestyle, field moves, and dance & I am not in basic skills. But if you go with a private coach, you will be looking at a very similar cost to what I pay. The kids make way more progress than the adults, and it isn't too long before your kid will be at the rink 4 days a week minimum. Keep in mind too that once your kid advances, there will be dresses to buy, test fees when they test (USFSA tests are not free, unlike the basic skills testing), and specially-fitted skates.

I don't post this to scare you, but just to give you a realistic idea of typical training costs.

Yes. Absolutely. It's difficult when skaters get to higher levels and then start taking private lessons. Most of the first few lessons have to be spent relearning basics, and it's very frustrating, especially for the skater!

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- Ashley