I have never skated at a rink that ran a Coffee Club, but may now have to opportunity to introduce it at my home rink. Of course, I need to know all about it first, like what exactly is a Coffee Club session, what is included, are they adults only, etc?

__________________

The rink I skated at in Dayton had "coffee club". It was a 2 hour session for adults only (18 and up) that included a cup of coffee at the coffee bar. That was all. You could take lessons on the ice, or just rec skate.

It ranged from people who could barely stand up to a college girl doing doubles. There was a mutual respect during the session and freestylers understood they did not have right of way. They also had a few dances play, for those inclined.

We have a coffee club here. I believe coffee is included from Panera (there is one in the mall) but otherwise it's just an adults only skate once a week

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

Our club runs an adult session once a week, with a potluck lunch and coffee session afterwards. All the old members of the club attend, even if they no longer skate, and the younger adults are introduced to some wonderful old timers! Often, some of the coaches pop in for coffee and a sandwich or treat - and sometimes for longer.

Of course, there are Christmas lunches and other special occasions. Many adult skaters stay for a bit of the lunch and then pop back to work.

When I was growing up, our club ran a 'ladies session' twice a week, sometimes with babysitting. As the babies grew older, the mothers still skated and gathered at a restaurant once a week for coffee. Many of the ladies earned their Gold dances and freedances along the way!

It's a great tradition!

The ones I have been to consisted of a 1/2-hour lesson for the attendees, followed by a adults-only session. Of course coffee, as well as donuts/pastries, were also included. The lesson would be geared more towards "fun stuff": footwork sequences, showy spirals, basic figures, etc. depending on the general level of the skaters who were there.

This is not a club that would sponsor the session, but the arena itself. Since there is a food court, no outside food is allowed.

What do the rinks generally charge? It is the same as a public session?

__________________

I think here it is the same but Panera helps sponsor it (because who can resist a nice bagel with their free cup of coffee)

In Kettering it was the same price as public session- but public sessions were much longer and this was just 1 hour. The rink had a snack bar that provided the coffee.

I googled ice skating coffee club and came up with tons of hits that described different rinks take on the idea.

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

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I have heard that our new rink manager was proposing an adults-only session, and the addition of coffee could only help make it more successful, in my opinion!

If it is just an "adults only" session, then the price is usually not higher than a public session, but if there is a lesson included, then yes, the price is usually a few dollars higher, to cover the cost of the instructor.

I've very much enjoyed the coffe clubs I've attended ... wish my current rink had one!

__________________
3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

Mine has coffee and probably the best donuts I've had since I was a little kid eating a LOT of donuts. We do have a snack bar AND are associated with Mo's Grill (i.e. no outside foods outside of the cake at b-day parties on the public session...) But the rink IS allowed to bring in the coffee and donuts for the coffee club session b/c Mo's is not open at the time of the session. Our coffee club session is once a week from 10-11:30am. It IS adults only... but the majority are part of the Senior Skate b/c the young'ums are usually at work anyway.

It does include a half hour group lesson and it's usually a group lesson. However, given that my lesson with primary coach is at the same time as those group lessons, I don't take them. Most of the work is on gliding and edges. I have yet to see them do a lesson on jumps and spins, b/c I think this session tends to attract the ice dance more than the FS crowd.

(Olympic skater alert: Beata (Hendra) is coaching during this session and I hear she's an EXCELLENT ice dance coach!!! No, she's NOT teaching the group lessons!!! )

__________________
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!!!

Here is a link to the coffee skate page from our rink (the site is run by a couple of avid skaters, rather than the rink )

http://uqconnect.net/~zzkelvin/coffeeskate/index.html

basically it includes your entry (ice time) for 1.5 hours, skate hire, plus a coffee at the end of the session. You can do what you please, and this is where I started taking my daughter when she had first started skating because they are not as crazy as a public session.

This is some of the upsides:
· "Quiet" Public Session
· Coaches available for group or private lessons
· Beginner's Ice Dance segment - 12:00 to 12:30
· Social environment
· Free admission for 3-5 year olds skating with parents

Hope this helps!

__________________
AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

I know a couple of rinks with Coffee Clubs. They are very popular, but need to be advertised. They are very useful for attracting the public into skating, so are usually priced competitively.

The Clubs usually take place on a weekday morning public session. They include a half-hour group lesson, followed by public skating, and a voucher for coffee from the cafe.

The skating standard is very diverse, so skaters are split into 2 or 3 groups for the lesson.

The cost is "public session price" plus a pound or two to cover the instructor's fee.

There are really two basic types:
(1) adults only (mainly housewives and shiftworkers) and
(2) parent and toddler (this latter is usually more of a beginners' level).
.

Thanks to all who replied!

__________________

Yipee! Just got an email from my skating director asking what I thought about a morning adults only session! I didn't even have to suggest it. I my job.

__________________