Just curious. My students do not seem to practice much at all. My home rink includes a 1/2 hr of practice w each 1/2 hr lesson. From what I can tell, many of them do not even take that.

Kay

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It is my experience that most LTS kids below Basic 5 or so do not practice often. Our rink provides 1 free session per lesson (8 total) plus 3 guest passes. From what I can tell, most of the lower Basic skills kids might use 1 or 2 of those, throughout the entire session. The upper basic skills kids I'm more likely to see use 5 or 6 of the passes.

When I was in Basic Skills I practiced 1 hour per lesson. I had kids complaining to me that it wasn't fair when I passed a test that they didn't- but they never skated outside of class.

Especially for the lower levels its a matter of parental involvement. The parents want a once a week skating lesson. They don't want to drive to the rink again. I think thats okay, as long as they realize their children won't progress without practice. For those who want to skate "for real", then it won't work.

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Our rink gives them free public sessions along with their classes - I forget how many they get. I do see some of them practicing at the public session that follows their classes, so I voted for that, but agree that most of them don't take advantage of the free practice sessions. Very few come more than one day a week.

The rink that I, my partner and our daughter take our skateUK at give us a half hour lesson followed by 1 hour of ice time. This is time set aside purely for the lessons and there are no public on there, giving more space to practice. I always make sure I use the time to practice, afterall it's what I'm there for.

I see alot of people standing around on the ice gossiping instead of practising and then you can't help but dissaprove when they are struggling with basic things that they would be able to do if they practiced instead of talking.

They get a 30-minute lesson and 30 minutes of practice time. They are also given 2 passes to a public skate. Most of them go unused as the Friday & Saturday nights are killer sessions (wild & crazy) not conducive to little kids learning; while the Sunday daytime session just doesn't seem to be very popular.

I try to remind them to practice and tell them they will improve MUCH faster with MORE practice but they don't get it (i.e. parents are soooo busy etc).

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

I don't understand that, but that's purely because I love any time I can get on the ice and would spend all day every day there if I could.

What is their response when you tell them they'll progress faster if they use the free ice time?

The LTS kids I teach either:
1.) practice during the free hour session included in their class enrollment
2.) practice about a half hour, given they take a half hour private lesson and end up skating a whole session
3.) don't practice at all

It varies with kid to kid, often because of various reasons (parents can't get them to the rink outside of scheduled classes, pure lack of interest--or strong interest, etc.)

I answered how we were when my daughter was in LTS. She would do the practice after the lesson (1 hr in our rink) plus we would make it to the rink at least one other time during the week for a public session, sometimes twice. But I know that we were the exception to the rule. Most kids only got to skate on their lesson day even though we get a card that gives you 4 free public sessions. We always used ours up and and to start paying for publics. Most parents we knew didn't take their kids more than once a week. Kids are involved in so many activities these days that it's not surprising. I think the reason we were different is my daughter was so enthusiastic she was begging to go, and I eventually started skating myself so I wanted to go as well.

My situation was similar. In LTS classes we got a pass for three public sessions per lesson block (6 weeks?), and we used them up, skating the lesson plus its free half hour of practice and two public sessions most weeks. By the time we did our last group lessons, we were usually doing three publics, a carefully supervised freestyle session with a private lesson on part of it, plus the hour class/practice session. Like your daughter, my son was always clamoring for more ice time, which is probably why he's where he's at today, almost exactly four years after his first group lesson, working on his junior moves, doubles and pre-silver dance. I stuck with it too, but haven't made quite as much progress...

Rob

My daughter is LTS but also does privates.

She skates her 15 min practice day of lesson. And always uses her free skating pass each week for at least an hour. Plus has a private lesson for a half hour. But most weeks she usually skates 3 times. For prob total of 3 or more hours.

A lot of LTS kids stay for the public session following LTS classes, but very very rarely do I see them at the rink on other days of the week. It seems a bit unusual, especially since they are given an unlimitied public skate pass good for about 7 weeks. It's an incredible deal that I wish more people would use.

I'm in LTS still, but because of AOSS I skate for at least 3 hours a week.

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Yes, but we're adults and we're hooked! For kids, ice-skating is often one activity among many and has to be fitted in alongside ballet and Brownies and swimming lessons and violin lessons....

When we were in the classes, you could stay on until the end of the public session (back then, several hours), and I think you had an hour's practice time before then. We always stayed on, as did some of the kids whose lesson finished earlier - it was quite common to see people doing homework in the café while waiting for the practice session - but, of course, not everybody either could or wanted to.

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At our rink some of the LTS adults are just as guilty! They go along to the lesson, stay on afterwards for a bit, but don't go again until the next lesson and then say how it took them months and months to get x! If they lessons are cancelled for whatever reason they don't go that week. Maybe I'm just totally hooked because the thought of that just doesn't appeal to me whatsoever.

Our rink gives you one free public session per lesson, and I try to make sure that my daughter attends at least a few public sessions per lesson series. She actually loves practicing on her own more than being in a lesson, and usually will skate for an hour, sometimes more.

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Our rink doesn't give away free public session passes or anything, but because it's a town rink the public session prices for residents (which the vast majority of our students are) are very reasonable.

Our coaches are all on the same page as far as encouraging the kids to practice between lessons. Any parent who wants to know, what can I do to help their child/why didnt my child pass/why are the other kids doing things my child can't do, is going to get them same answer regardless of which coach they talk to- bring your child in between lessons. (I personally also check their skates for support, fit, and sharp blades). We have public skate every day after school AND on weekends. And yet, it's amazing how many of our kids DON'T practice.

By the time they get to Freestyle, we make it clear that we expect them to practice. Most of them, by that point, do, although a lot of them stay for the public right after their class and that's it. But at that level, we don't hesitate to not pass kids who don't deserve to pass, and eventually most of them figure out that they're not going to master the skills unless they come in more than once a week.

When I was in Learn-to-Skate and starting to pass by kids who had been skating longer (in some cases, a lot longer) than I had, other parents were asking my mom what we were doing. They were shocked when they heard I skated two or three times a week. The rink where I took lessons didn't have any public sessions, and you had to have finished Basic 6 to be on freestyle sessions without a coach, so once or twice a week my mom would take me to a rink up the street from where she worked. The time from my first lesson to the time I finished Basic 6 (no Basic 7 and 8 at that point)? Nine months exactly. I was eleven years old and had been skating recreationally since age 6, so I don't know if that would transfer to a younger, brand-new skater, but I know it would have taken me a lot longer if I had skated once a week like the other kids.

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I was guilty when I first started. I only did my lesson and practice session and that was it. I know first-hand you won't get better without more practice. Not that it takes HOURS but QUALITY practice. Sometimes you only need an extra 30 minutes per week to make a difference.

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

Ok Kids.....let me explain a little bit to why I marked what I marked. I marked 1 1/2hrs. and here's why. From the way my Skating is. Were I only go every other Sat. Or when my staff can take me. I can problily say that I am around that. Plus I mostly on one day only have like 45min. So I had to round it off with no option for that. So,LOL,that's me Kids.

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FSWer

At my rink and neighbouring ones, I see about three different kinds of kids and adults.
1. The kind who only goes to lessons. After like five years of skating (ice rinks are usually only open 6 months a year here) they might land their first salchow or so.
2. The kind who goes to lessons and puts in a lot of practice time on public sessions, like around 3-5 hours a week (next to 2 hours of group class). This is usually girls in their late teens and early 20's (the only adult skaters we have around here), most go from doing the first mohawk or 3-turn to doing the first loop jump and 1 foot spin within 1 or 2 years of lessons (6-12 months of lessons)
3. The kind of kid which mom wants to become a famous figure skater, who take private lessons in Belgium next to the group lessons and skate like 2 hours a week there, and don't seem to advance all that much faster than group 2.

But you did a practice session- what's wrong with that? That's skating outside of the lesson- isn't it?

Our rink doesn't attach any practice ice time to lessons- you can just go to any public skate. There is a public session immediatly following the lesson block, if you want to go to that, but not many kids stick around for it. It doesn't start until 7:00 and the first lesson group (there are 3) is off the ice at 5:45. Mom's don't want to wait around at dinner time.

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I have heard from coaches that the kids don't use their free publics (that come with all of the classes - UNLIMITED free publics!) but I have seen some kids use this time - usually with mom there too!

I finally signed up for a class at my rink (MITF class) and I LOVE having all of my publics free - yeah, it's public, but often during the day the sessions are pretty empty, even though it's a mall rink.

(Did I call this rink "my rink"? - looks like I am successfully pulling away from "my old crappola hockey rink" - yea! - wish my coach would just move from there...)

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I have 3 LtS kids. My baby boy is 3 and just started Snowplow 1. You can't drag him off the ice without him kicking and screaming. He sits more than half the time, but he's at the rink as often as I am-about 5 hours a week. My 6 year old daughter is Basic 4, and will only practiuce during class. She goes to one public skate a week, but spends most of the time playing tag with the other kids. My 9 year old daughter is Basic 1, and she' on the ice almost the entire time she stays with me-about 6 weeks out of the year. Rule of thumb for my kids-I let them spend as much time on the ice as they want, and I don't force them to practice unless they're doing a competition. They learn just as much from playing as from practicing.

On that note, we play a lot of games, like tag, Simon Says, copy me, and Mommy Monster (where I follow them around like a zombie and they skate circles around me).

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deannathegeek
"It's like trying to do a toe loop in hockey skates-you have to have the right tools for the job."

I wish i had all the waisted extra public session passes out there! We would use them!! lol

My daughter and son currently skate an additional 2-3 times a week in addition to their LTS class. That said, my daughter also takes private lessons and my son also does too(not weekly). PLUS in our case, we skate as a family so going to the rink is just as much fun for us as it is for our kids!

When my daughter started skating in Oct. '06, she skated once or twice a week. We would have taken her more, but we could not get her to the rink as often as we would have liked to get her there. Plus, at the time, she was the only one who was skating regularly. My son started skating in Oct. '07 and a couple months later, we started skating as a family. He has progressed much faster then my daughter did and I think it is because he has had a lot more ice time then she had when she started skating. Even my oldest who does not take LTS lessons, skates MUCH better then he did when we started skating as a family. He definately can hold his own when he is out on the ice. :-)

I would LOVE an unlimited public skate pass!! We get 5 free public skate passes which works out great for us. 4 out of 5 of us take LTS classes, so it makes going skating cheap for us! If we could skate for free... holy cow we'd all be in heaven! We're considering buying a yr membership at the rink which would allow us to skate at any public skate session all yr long. The membership is 245 for a family pass. That works out to be 49.00 per each member in my family for a YR of skating. It works out to be just over 4.00 a person per month. We skate a lot, so that is a HUGE savings. Anyway... I can't believe more people don't take advantage of FREE ice time. Our rink has a bridge program. After every 6 week session, they have on night during our week off, where your family can come skate for free. That's actually how we all got into doing this as a family... we took advantage of FREE ice time and we all became HOOKED. Hee hee