What do you think about young skaters skating all year round? Spring school ended the last of May and there are some skaters in my town still skating on a daily basis until summer school begins the first of July. Is this the norm. for all competitive skaters everywhere?

I'm not sure what I "think" about it... but my daughter (6) skates year round. Her skating actually intensifies during the summer, with a weeks vacation in the middle and two weeks at the end with absolutely NO skating.

I thought all competitive skaters practiced year-round. I guess I look at it like doing ballet or playing a musical instrument, things that require regular, consistent practice. This really is a seasonless sport (unless you're unlucky enough to be in a place without summer ice).

Once school lets out, most of the kids I know step up the amount of skating they do, rather than backing off. Taz Jr. will skate about double the amount of hours per week that she does during the school year. It's a good time for setting goals, getting jumps consistent, getting through Moves tests (hopefully the 3rd try will be the charm for her Juv moves, ugh ) without also having to worry about the upcoming Math test.

Yep, competitive skaters skate all year. This really is not a sport where you can take extended breaks and expect to maintain your level of proficiency. I suppose it's possible, but not the norm at our rink for sure. Daughter is having a two week break, then starting summer skating, and the only reason she's breaking for two weeks is because the rink is closed. Usually we would seek ice elsewhere, but not this year. I don't know what I think about it either...I'm just used to it, and understand that time off can mean losing ground on what you've worked so hard to achieve.

I definitely agree that many skaters intensify during the summer. Especially in AZ, it's a nice break from the summer heat, but beyond that there are different sessions times added to accomodate the skaters. Skaters that can only skate in the mornings because of parents working later, or vice versa, now are able to because they do not have school or homework to worry about.

I have noticed with some students, however, that their coaches leave for the summer to go on vacation for extended periods of time or go to seminars around the country. I guess I wonder if this is fair to the students of these coaches, since summer IS the time for them to practice more... any thoughts?

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

My daughter is a mess after a weekend without skating. I can't imagine a whole summer off! We have reached the "if it doesn't work, whine" phase of skater development. Self preservation will keep me getting up and taking my skater to the rink all summer. Even our family vacation this summer will include skating. In our area, the bulk of the competitions for the year are in the summer so skating is definitely increased during those months.

Taz, Jr, keep your chin up! We'll be rooting for you! You'll pass those juvenile moves. The double threes are evil aren't they? Good luck!!

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Babyskater's Mom

Our coaches don't take extended breaks in the summer. We have a 8 week summer skating program that we all pay for in advance. It is our most intense training period of the year really. Skaters will test in the spring and summer to move up for the coming season. By now most have their new programs which they will perfect all summer. Between now and regionals, they may attend 3 or 4 competitions. Summer is definitely not a time to back off training if you are preparing for regionals.

Our coaches all work very cooperatively together for the most part. If one is not available, there is usually another coach who will fill in if they have time on their schedule.

Ugh, I wish you would talk to the board at my club. I'm the co-chair of the ice cmt which is responsible for scheduling, but I just started in this job and the summer ice has been set since last year. Our summer ice cuts down BIG TIME, which is so stupid since it's the cheapest ice available and the best time for intensive training. I feel like I'm shouting into the wind... Don't even get me started...

http://www.amherstskatingclub.com/sum_sch.htm is our schedule if anyone is interested.

Jocelyn

I see what you mean Jocelyn. There aren't very many opportunities for anyone below junior to practice on club ice. Do the lower level kids have somewhere else to practice? I sure hope so. Does your club have freestyle sessions by level year round? I would like that! (But that is another topic... ) Is all of your freestyle ice controlled by the club? If it is, I hope you are successful in getting summer ice increased. Little ones need to practice, too!

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Babyskater's Mom

Most of the rinks in my town take the ice off at the end of May when the hockey season ends, with only one rink keeping it on. Many of the competitive skaters (those Juv. and over) train away from home at the bigger training centres. They usually board with skating families from the area. The younger kids (pre juv. and under) train here, most of them for 6 weeks starting mid-July and each session is usually finished by noon. There's not enough skaters to keep the program running from June throughout August as the competitive skaters want to train with higher level coaches away from home. They really do improve too which is good since they are spending a small fortune for travel/board/ice and coach/choreographer, etc., who charge much more than the local coaches. Most of the younger ones want to play soccer (it's big here) and take some swimming lessons as well as skate. Probably a good idea too because all that jumping and falling can't be good for those little bones which are still growing. I guess when they get at a higher level they will have to skate more if they want to stay competitive. The majority of skaters here are in canskate with the smallest number of skaters at the competitive level. They seem to drop off after pre-novice.

Oh, no no :-) Our ice is called "Junior" for No-Test to Prelim skaters, and "Senior" for Pre-Juvenile and up skaters. I am frustrated because we have had an explosion of Senior skaters lately, and no one seems willing to change it to Juvenile and up (where it should be). Due to our residency problem and the hierarchy we have been forced to create, we are going to end up with little Pre-Juvs knocking Novice-level skaters off the Senior sessions.

Jocelyn

OOoh! I misunderstood! Thank goodness! I was thinking as the parent of a juvenile skater that I would be miffed if my child had no ice time. She would lose way too much of what she has worked hard to learn. Summer is where the most growth as a skater occurs for my daughter. I'm glad I was wrong!

I like that, at least, there are no itty bitty beginners on senior sessions. I would so welcome that.

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Babyskater's Mom

Thanks!! To be honest, we really weren't expecting her to pass the first time. They really weren't quite ready, but she was already there testing Pre-Juv FS so her coach figured it would be a good opportunity to get feedback, if nothing else. Second try was only a month later and they really hadn't improved a whole lot. She did have one judge pass that test, but had the misfortune to have one particular judge on the panel who has flat-out told Jr's coach she doesn't like my daughter's stroking. Ouch - not the person she'd want to have on a moves panel, then! I haven't looked at the test papers in awhile, but I believe the one hanging her up was the cross strokes. Ugh. Those are on the Adult Silver test - I hate those things!!

Looks like she will be shooting for another try on these during July. She has been working a lot on power and the cross strokes are better, plus we just changed to a different club and the aforementioned judge doesn't judge the new club's sessions. I'm not one of those parents who automatically blames the judges - honest! - but I can't see how one judge can give .2 or .3 over passing and another one give .2 or .3 below. It's like they weren't even watching the same test!

I'm relieved too - I read the schedule the same way Babyskates' mom did!

I hear you. I didn't reply to your other thread on the subject, because, well, I don't have any good suggestions. I do sympathize, though. You're really in a bind if rink management won't do anything to help the situation. We've been there too, and it's not fun. The parents of the little kids think the big kids are trying to run them down on purpose, and the big kids get frustrated because they have to keep bailing out of their programs because nobody makes the little kids follow the rules.

I just have to share this. I'm in a lesson, (and I'm a "really big kid", ie adult). Going into my straight line footwork from my program - and there's a 6 year old sitting on the ice, not moving. I bail (at what feels like 90 miles an hour) to avoid hitting the tot - and all of my mother instincts are screaming at me.

I miss my Intermediate ice (pre-juv and above) where this kind of thing doesn't happen because everyone knows the rules (like we don't sit on the ice.....)

It saddens me sometimes to think that my kid HAS to skate every day M-F this summer in order to stay competetive. Then there's off ice classes, ballet, gymnastics. Everything is skate, skate, skate. Some days I wonder how we (I) got "sucked" into this sport. Think about it -- for the vast majority of skaters, once they graduate from high school, it's over unless they're exceptionally good. And the cost is very high, pricewise and childhoodwise. What happened to childhoods where you hung out with friends and rode bikes to the ice cream shop and went swimming whenever you could. Those are fleeting moments. Ice skating is demanding and from a parent's standpoint, it's not "fun." Just my opinion.

We're taking the summer off mainly because the ice that is available is too far away and too expensive to justify what it will get us. Tired and broke, is what I think it will get us.

So, it's R&R time, rest and reflection. We'll be back on ice towards the end of August, and will have spent the summer working on fitness, listening to music and maybe taking some dance lessons. We need to work on musicality for the greatest amount of improvement.

As a parent, I worry a little bit about the other kids I see skating all summer. Will they be further ahead? Learned more tricks? Have more polished programs? Aaargh! If I was rich my kids would be skating year round at Mariposa I guess, but we have to work with what we have.

I'd like to share from the point of view of a former child competitive skater (age 6-15). I grew up in an ice rink, and those are some of my best childhood memories. We were thrilled when the rink decided to stay open during the summer so we could skate year 'round! It was a city owned rink, so we used to go right from the ice rink to the swimming pool - it was great! I still get a good feeling walking from the cold rink to the hot outside in the summer.

As far as enjoying a childhood outside of skating, when I was 15 I decided that I wanted to spend more time on school-related activities, so I quit skating at the end of that season. It was my time, and I don't regret it for a minute - just as I don' regret one second of the time I spent in the rink all those years. I had a lot of fun in both periods of my childhood, making lifelong friends along the way.

Also, children who figure skate are generally respectful, well behaved, goal oriented and determined. They grow up to be hard working, goal oriented, successful adults. And who knows? If they quit in high school they may end up being drawn back to the sport as an adult (I did at age 37), to fall in love with it all over again. My son and I even joke about how we both are living at the ice rink! (He plays hockey).

So, what I guess I am saying is I wouldn't worry about your child losing something. As long as he/she loves the sport (and you can afford it ), then they're really gaining something. The kids I worry about are the ones who don't want to skate and are instead being pushed by their parents, but that's a different topic....

Depends what you want out of skating.

The serious competitors who are aiming to compete nationally and internationally will put in as much time as they can on the ice, including more lessons and more time in the summer, cross-training, dance classes, etc., and may have to rearrange everything else in their lives including schooling to accommodate training and give up on the normal kinds of free time or recreational activities that most kids enjoy.

That kind of life isn't for everybody, for all sorts of reasons.

There's no reason why one can't skate half as often, progress approximately half as fast, and still enjoy improving one's skills and learning new ones, passing tests, entering club competitions, entering qualifying competitions without expecting to advance, skating in club shows, making friends at the rink, etc.

Only the skater herself and her family (or his, as the case may be) can determine whether they're in it for best possible competitive placements, whatever it takes, or as a serious hobby including competition but still secondary to family life and education, or as a casual hobby . . . There isn't only one right way to be "a skater."

I very much appreciate the post from Sk8er1964. I have also thought about what this is taking from my child. She skates before school somedays, after school every day and on Saturdays most weekends. As Ellyn put it, she is a serious competitor. She just turned 10.

I have been doing some things to encourage my daughter to have a life off the ice. She goes to public school (although there are some concessions made for her - she arrives a few minutes late some days and leaves early a couple of days). I have arranged her after school lessons so that they all occur on M, W and F. She walks home with a little girl who lives on our street on Tuesday and Thursday. They do their homework together and play a little before we head off to the rink for 4:00 to practice. My daughter loses a little ice time that way but this is important to her. She tries to make up for it by working hard with the time she has. I like that compromise.

Although my daughter will skate more in the summer, the bulk of her days will be spent away from the rink. I scheduled her summer lessons to all happen on a single session each day. She will have maybe 2 other sessions a day so it's really only a couple of hours a day at the rink. (No matter how competitive the skater is, there is a limit to how much they should do. At 10, I think it is counter productive to skate more than a couple of hours a day. There comes the point that all they are getting out of it is tired.) She will have time to run her lemonade stand with the little girl up the street. (believe it or not, we live in a neighborhood where kids can and do do things like that.) She will get to the movies, ride her bike, visit friends, have hair brushing and nail polishing sleep overs (she's such a girl!) and generally be a regular kid as much as possible. I'm really looking forward to summer.

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Babyskater's Mom

I think too many parents think their kids have to skate hours every day. I went to a clinic with Doug Leigh, and he said that the worst thing happening is that parents of kids under 12 have their kids on the ice for hours. His elite skaters (Takeshi Honda, etc) only skate two hours a day, and spend 1-2 hours off ice. That is it! He said it is more important for them to have a life, and as long as they work hard, that is all that is needed. He even requires them to take a vacation - and you know what - their skills do not diminish.
Doug Leigh recommended less than 2 hours a day for all levels, decreasing slightly with each level below senior. He said little kids (under 10) should skate an hour to 1 1/2 at the most. But, what does he know! He only has some of the best skaters worldwide!
So, go have your kids knock themselves out! But don't complain when they drop out at age 14.

The thing isn't so much how long you spend at the rink, as what you do when you're there. If your kid is concentrating, working hard, practising what they've been told to practice, and only playing for (say) the last ten minutes (and come on, we all need to play on the ice!), then I'm sure they don't need to spend the whole day there, unless they are actually working there for pocket money. And, as Skater1964 said, the nicest feeling in the world is coming out of a cold rink into a hot day!

If you schedule your skating for the early mornings, then your skater has the rest of the day for the normal summer activities of swimming, cycling, enjoying themselves - and eating ice cream! (Although perhaps that is better done in the rink since it will melt less quickly!).

And don't think that just because a skater goes off to university that is the end - I've just won my third international Gold - for Ladies Age Group III (46-55) Interpretive skating. Being an Olympic skater is not, and should not be, everybody's goal - being good enough to compete against their peers, and have enormous fun doing so, is another story.

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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 agree with Doug Leigh, have also heard that from other high level coaches. Our club is getting squeezed for ice time and we had to reduce the time of some sessions so we got opinions on how much time a "senior" skater really needed and it was much less than what we had. It DID not go over well with the parents who equate on-ice time with success in the sport.

That the off ice part of skating is just as important as on ice is a message that we are having a hard time getting across to parents.

Wow - I'm glad to see I'm not getting killed for my post.
At our rink, I get so disgusted hearing people (even coaches, and other moms) tell parents of new skaters that they have to be there several hours a day to make it (to the Olympics is usually the unrealistic goal as well).
We have 5 year olds purchasing unlimited session punch cards (you pay a large fee to skate as much as you want for the month) and then getting to the rink at 6:30 am, as well as after school (or for the ones not in Kgarten, earlier than that). It's getting to the point where there are no sessions where the advanced skaters don't have to avoid these kids (our rink allows learn to skate levels through Senior on the same sessions - we also do not have high/low sessions).
I feel like saying - wake up. Your kid is not going to the Olympics unless they have doubles at age 7. One of the better skaters we had, had all her doubles by 8, made it to JN's (but didn't make it to final round) at Juv & Int, and has hit a wall at Novice. Internationally, kids are doing triples at age 8. Even nationally, the competition is fierce. Parents think that just because little Susie is great locally, they will make it to the Oly's some day. Usually, they don't even get to nationals.
So, like the other poster said - it's quality, not quantity.
Let your kid have a life in the summer. It won't kill their prospects of becoming Sarah Hughes.