Skating school exhibitions that don't make you want to poke your eyes out

Anyone ever been to a 3-hour skating school exhibition?

How about an 8-hour one, where your skater is at 10:30, her best friend is at 11:15, her synchro team is at 1:30, her tot class is at 3 and her best-friends-group is at 6:30. So you have to sit there all day, because heaven-forbid you should miss a single precious moment.

How about the ones that front-load the tots and beginners, and lump all the high level skaters who can actually skate in a single flight starting at 9 p.m., so that the only people left in the stands are the other skaters (even the parents have gone home, let alone the little kids).

It's time for a revolution.

First, if your exhibition goes 2 hours or under, suck it up and sit through the whole thing-- the kids deserve an audience, even the tot who just sits on the ice and cries (there's always one). Personally, I think that "free" exhibitions should have a refundable ticket fee-- but it only gets refunded if you stay through the whole thing. If you come late or leave early, you've just made a donation to the rink.

If your exhibition lasts more than 2 hours, it's time for some creative thinking, because even with a refundable fee, no one is going to sit through three hours of alpha level skaters performing to "Let It Go".

An exhibition can be made interesting, like anything else, by mixing it up. Make sure each flight (defined however you want-- by number of skaters, or by time), has a nice range of skating, and no repeated music. For instance, segments  of 15 (two warm ups), with at least 2 high level skaters and one or two group numbers in each flight to guarantee audience and give people something to watch. Then people can choose which hour to attend. 

Put in some tots, both solo and group, in each flight for the awwww factor.

Make sure there are boys. If you don't have any boys, invite a hockey team to demonstrate drills, or speed skaters to stage a race. (Do this even if you do have boys.) 

If you've got Special Skaters, give them a spot as well.

Finish each couple of flights with a local star, to entice people to come, and to stay. And by star, I mean someone that non-affiliated people would want to see-- the kid who made it to Senior Nationals; the coach who is a former international medalist (if s/he's still skating), the award-winning synchro team. The definition of "star" should be decided by the skating staff, or else every coach is going to want their own "star" to be the "star" even if they're not a "star" and no one cares to see them any more than they want to watch the tots cry.

If you've got a small unusual program-- theater on ice, special disciplines like pairs or ice dance, make sure you highlight them, as well. These kids don't get a lot of credit, and you might help build the program (which is the reason you do exhibitions in the first place).

Sell tickets. Seriously folks, stop with the free exhibitions. Make it $5 for a single flight (at least 45 minutes), and a discount for multiple flights. If you need to make it palatable, use the money to fund skating scholarships.

People will stay and your program will grow.

And no one will want to poke their eyes out.

Beyond Game Day: The Olympics

A wonderful alternative for horrible game day races on the last day of a figure skating session, based on circuit training-- every child does every station, at their own speed. The diagram came from a PSA seminar that I attended a couple of years ago and was created by Carol Rossignol, PSA's Education Director and all around marvelous human being.

Here's how Carol describes the activities (with a few variations of my own):

Olympics Day is designed for 7 stations with about 8 skaters in a group. You need an instructor and an assistant for each station/group. (The instructor can travel with the group or be assigned by station.) Skaters move from station to station in a circuit format, rotating counter clockwise around the rink, with 5 minutes at each station, filling out a 40-minute class. Adjust the amount of time per station, or the number of stations for shorter or longer class periods, remembering to reserve about 5 minutes to organize it at the start.

Station 1: Bobsled. Using cones or drawn circles, have skaters skate half way across the ice and then do a dip as low as possible. Four at each end start at the same time toward each other, doing a splice or pass through. They need to keep their heads up so they don't crash into each other!

Station 2: Speed Skating. Time the skaters to see how fast they can skate around the two red circles at the end of the rink. Skaters skate two at a time, and are timed individually. Each skater's time is recorded. If there is time, have a second round and see if they can improve their time.

Station 3: Curling. Draw curling circles on the ice and make rocks from plastic bottles filled with sand. Four skaters are on a team and each skater slides one rock toward the target to see which team will have the most rocks closest to the center white circle. Teams alternate sliding the rocks.

Station 4: Downhill skiing. Set up obstacle course with cones or other markers. Use sculling or slaloms to run the course.

Station 5: Figure Skating. Have skaters create a mini program consisting of a spin, a jump and a gliding maneuver for a maximum of 20 seconds program duration.

Station 6: Hockey. Set up actual hockey nets at either end. Use soft balls for pucks and plastic or inflatable hockey sticks. Let each skater have a ball and a stick. Four skaters at each end try to hit the balls into the hockey net.

Station 7: Ski Jumping. Draw four or more lines on the ice. Skaters take turns (one after the other) doing a two-foot jump or a bunny hop over each line.

Option Station 8: Medal ceremony. Set up a podium in the lobby (or a couple of them) and have junior coaches handing out medals and taking pictures of all the winners (mom and dad can take pictures, too. Ask them to post them on your rink or club's Facebook page). Participation is optional, and everyone gets a first place medal.

For more Game Day alternatives see Beyond the relay race.

No place like an ice rink for the holidays

We're coming up to the holiday season, with family in town and time off from school. I've already been fielding questions about what skates to buy those new skaters for Hanukkah or Christmas.

It's a great time to think about skating just for fun, or getting a little extra practice time in. A lot of rinks have extra public and practice ice during the holidays, so here's some things to do:

Have a family skate day
Especially if your rink has a "studio" sheet (a smaller sheet of ice, typically 1/3 the size of an NHL standard sheet), think about renting it for the day after Christmas or for New Year's Day or New Year's Eve (or just any random school break day). A skating rink is surprisingly cheap to rent (generally around $100 for studio rinks in the Chicago area, your pricing may vary), and the rink will often also have a package that includes a party room and skate rentals. If you've got family in town that you need to entertain, this is a great all-ages activity. (Some rinks will even let you put Grandma in a chair and push her around!)

Arrange a holiday exhibition
Again, rent the rink and have the young skaters in your family put together a show for the relatives-- they can invite their friends to skate, and even choreograph their own synchro or theater on ice number. Kids as young as 10 can handle this with guidance, and teens can do it on their own (um, using your money...). Probably best to rent the big rink for this, but even that can be surprisingly cost effective, especially if you share the price with other families. And with on-line media, it's really easy to get the word out. Add an auction or a gift bin and donate the proceeds to Toys for Tots.

Arrange for a group lesson with your rink or area's "favorite son"
Does your coach know any famous skaters? (Hint-- yes. We all do, figure skating is a very small world.) See if they could arrange for someone from Jason Brown (at the getting famous end of the spectrum) to Ben Agosto (superstar!) to come and do a group lesson (any level), especially if they know they'll be in town for the holidays, so you're not paying travel costs or accommodations. If you're at this skater's home rink, chances are they'll be at least receptive if not eager to come. (Again, possible rink rental, definitely coaching fee or really really nice gift.) Make sure to have someone to take pictures and arrange for the skater to do autographs.

Add extra practice time
The kids are off school and under foot. Find out if the rink has added additional practice times or is running clinics. Some programs even run all-day mini-camps and clinics the week between Christmas and New Year. If your rink doesn't offer a program, see if your coach can set one up. With 5 or 10 kids in a group, this can be way cheaper than taking the week off work.

Going to a winter holiday?
Bring those skates! If you're heading to Lake Placid, Southern California, Boston, or Denver, you're bound to be near some famous ice rink. Bring your skates and skate on Olympic ice. My friend Adam ended up with a friendly (free) lesson from no less than Brian Orser at Lake Placid recently, just because they happened to be on the ice together.

Take a break
If your competitive skater is "done" with their season-- i.e. didn't make it past Sectionals-- think about offering them this time off. Have them try hockey, or basketball mini-camp, or volunteering in reading corner at the library for a week. Or just let them hang out all day playing video games. Skaters work really hard and need rewards too! (Chances are by Day 3, they'll be begging to go to the rink).

What are you planning with your skating this holiday season?