Skating myths

An overheard conversation (okay, I was eavesdropping) made me think of misperceptions common among skating parents.

Myth #1: Skating is expensive.
Training for Nationals is expensive. Skating is one of the cheapest entertainments around. Park district skating classes are no more expensive than any other park district classes. Skates, even decent skates, cost less than a bicycle new, and can be extremely cheap used. It's easy to find kid's gently used skates. (More on buying skates.)

Myth #2: If my child start privates, it means I think s/he's going to the Olympics
I've said it before: no one avoids music lessons because the kid isn't destined for Carnegie Hall. No one thinks you believe your kid is ready for Manchester United just because you sign up for soccer. Like anything else, you can skim the surface or dig in deep. Skating lessons are not a lifetime commitment to second mortgages.

Myth #3: Ice dancers can't jump/ice dance lessons detract from "real" skating
Let's explode this one. Ice dance is one of the best ways to learn power and body alignment. Ice dance is not full of skaters who bombed at singles; it is full of skaters who wanted the greater emotional and artistic range tolerated in the discipline. Many ice dancers, my own daughter included, have the full range of double and even triple jumps. Yes, when you get to the higher levels you stop training the other disciplines. But that works both ways. Might as well say "singles skaters can't dance."

Myth #4: Synchro skating ruins your technique
Like ice dance, synchro skating uses different techniques, not "bad" technique. Synchro skating, far from depleting the world of strong singles skaters, is the single most important discipline in skating right now because of the number of kids who now stay in skating so that they can be on the synchro team. Kids that used to quit in high school are now sticking with the sport. In fact, write to the NCAA right now and demand that Synchro be added as an NCAA sport!

Myth #5: Skaters are cliquish and mean
This one actually has a basis in truth, but not because of the skating. It's because middle school girls in general can be cliquish and mean. In fact, skaters, because of the independence and physical discipline required of the sport, tend to be more emotionally mature than their peers. I actually use this myth in teaching, because of a remark my daughter once made, when she said the good skaters looked so snotty. This is because when they skate, they have their noses in the air-- it's not arrogance! It's technique! I now tell kids "let me see 'snotty skater girl' posture!" They all know what I mean.

Myth #6: Figure skating will make my son gay
Just. No. Figure skating, like other artistic disciplines, sometimes attracts gay youth, but trust me, they were there already. Good news is, your gay son won't get married and move away. And he'll go shopping with you.

Myth #7: My coach will make my child starve herself
If your coach is doing weigh-ins and/or checking your child's eating habits, she or he is abusive. It's one thing to note when a child is losing or gaining weight inappropriately. It's fine to instruct a student in healthy eating for athletes and other human beings. Other than insisting on only healthy snacks at the rink, it's entirely wrong for the coach to make eating habits an issue, in the absence of any direct knowledge that the child has bad eating habits. You, as the parent, may concern yourself with the child's eating habits, and I hope you're teaching them how to eat healthy, whole, seasonal foods. But it's your business, not the coach's.

Myth #8: Taking class with a different coach will ruin the primary coach's technique.
Your coach's technique should be strong enough to withstand a once or twice a week class from another perspective. There are lots of different techniques; they all work and the skater should be aware of them all. Knowledge of other techniques does not "ruin" a skater; in terms of life lessons, it's a powerful one to learn that people who respect and get along with each other can disagree.

UPDATE Myth #9: If the skater does not have all the double jumps by the age of 10, it's too late to be competitive.
There are lots and lots of successful skaters who did not start until age 9 or later. Dorothy Hamill started at 9. Kurt Browning started at 13*, and he's Canadian! (How did his parents avoid jail time!) The correlating myth is that there is a specific level a skater "should" be at by a certain age. If your coach is telling you that your skater is behind simply because "at her age she should be in Free style already" or "all my students have an axel by age 7" well, that's about the coach not about the child.
*UPDATE/CORRECTION A reader did some research and learned the Kurt Browning had won some competition at age 11, so he couldn't have started skating when he was 13. He did hockey too, so he wasn't exclusively a figure skater until he was 15 or 16. The source of my information was an old bio-pic on him, but I did not confirm my memory of the statement.

UPDATE (thanks to reader Gordon) Myth #10 I can't skate, I have weak ankles Yeah? How's that walking thing working out for you?

What are some myths that you want exploded?

Summer skating

It's always puzzled me that in the winter when it's freezing cold outside, everyone goes to the freezing cold ice rink, and in the summer, when it's steaming hot outside, everyone goes to the steaming hot beach.

Ice rinks are great in the summertime. Nice and cool, and often, empty. They often turn over the ice to the figure skaters all morning and the hockey players all afternoon (or vice versa), and you can basically spend all day in skates. Many rinks run skating camps, at both learn to skate and freestyle levels, or you skate on your own; take your coach's summer program if she or he has one, sign up for one of the many sleep-away skating camps, or just come once in a while for fun.

For skaters who want to compete, summer is pre-season, one of the most critical training periods. You want to make sure you're at the correct test level, start solidifying the new programs, make sure you have all the latest rules updates incorporated into your choreography, and strengthen your newest elements. Serious off ice endurance and strength training starts building up in the summer too.

Even for non-competitive skaters, you can use summer as your pre-season push. Maybe there are synchro or ice show auditions in the fall, or you're trying to make it up a level or two in class. This is the time to learn a new jump or spin, even if you're not planning to compete, just because there's so much ice available.

By May you're going to want to have had a conversation with your coach about your goals for the summer and the coming year, so you know how much ice to sign up for and what the training arc is going to be. Find out which competitions the coach is expecting you to do, what costumes you're going to need, and what the requirements are for your various goals. Here are some of the summer skating options:

Sleep-away camp
Like any sleep away camps, there are serious highly competitive ones for "career" skaters like Ice Castles (although anyone with the cash can go if I'm not mistaken) or USFS camps for the current Team Envelope members. But there are also many many quality camps for skaters from serious to recreational. Ask your coach, club rep, or local USFS or PSA area representative how to find a skating camp that matches your skater's goals and level.

Local skating camps
Many rinks have both interim skating seminars and summer-long camps, ranging from half to full day. These camps usually consist of on ice and off ice components and may include things you won't get during the school year season. At my own rink we offer ice dance, figures, moves, and choreography as part of the summer program, as well as off-ice components that include ballet and jazz dance, pilates, soccer, arts and crafts and field trips to do things like roller blading or swimming. These camps are extremely cost-effective; often you don't have to sign up for the entire time, or even for every day, but can create your own schedule according to your vacation schedule, finances, and other activities.

Coach-led camps
Many coaches will set up their own summer programs, if their rink allows them to. You'll pay the coach a retainer-type fee based on the number of participants and hours, plus you'll pay the rink directly (in most cases) for ice time. Depending on how many skaters your coach gets involved, this can be the cheapest option, and easily incorporates your private lesson time into the ice schedule. Not all rinks allow coaches to do this; if your regular rink does not, you may need to follow the coach to a different rink for the summer. Many coaches will allow only their own students into these camps, even if you are not taking from someone else.

On your own
You can also set up your own training schedule without a supervising camp structure, but I would recommend this only for older and very self-directed kids. It is extremely difficult to maintain your own practice when you feel like the odd one out, where everyone else is in a program and you're just on your own. A couple/few times a week it will be just like school year skating, but if you want to try to skate every day, I would recommend finding a program to be part of, for the social aspect and the supervisory safety if nothing else.

Just for fun
Summer is also a great time to just take a break from structured lessons. At many rinks, practice ice is much emptier in the summer, and at every rink public sessions are very very sparse. Just come and skate for fun. Then go to the beach or the pool, where it's hot and sunny.

Me? I'll be waiting for you in the nice cool rink.

Starting private lessons

I'm a big advocate for group classes for figure skaters at every level, and I truly believe that you can achieve solid technique and a full repertoire of skating skills, through doubles, in a strong group program, backed up by practicing on your own. I've taught double lutzes in group class. And pairs skills, and dance.

But private lessons are a big part of figure skating culture, and if you can afford the time, emotion and monetary commitment it's also a great thing to do.

Parents usually want to know the appropriate timing, or if their skater is someone who "should" take privates. There's a perception that it's an elite, even snobbish or arrogant thing to do, and that taking private lessons commits you to crack-of-dawn lessons, mean girls, and second mortgages.

A better way to approach it is to ask yourself a series of "why" and "how" questions, which will help you get to the answer you really need, which is, are private lessons the right choice for you or your child.

First off, get rid of your preconceptions about private lessons. No one ever withheld private music lessons from their child because the kid would never go to Juilliard. First and foremost private lessons are for achieving goals that you and your skater have identified. So here's the family conference:

Most important: Can you afford it.
At a lot of rinks, you'll take your private lessons on "practice ice" which is ice set aside for lessons and free style practice, with admission limited by skating level and with a maximum number of skaters. It is therefore more expensive, anywhere from $7-8 to $18 or more depending on your region and how available it is. If you take a private lesson, you really should also sign up for at least one practice, so you're adding 2 hours of ice, at a minimum weekly cost of $16.

The coach's fee will be another $25 for a younger coach to $40 for a very experienced coach with a strong competitive record for his/her skaters. (Helicoptor Mom shares that in her region, the range is higher $35 to $55 for a half hour, and that people adapt to this higher cost through, for instance, 20-minute lessons.)

It seems venal to make this the number one question, but discomfort with the cost is the most common area for conflict--with the skater, the coach, and your spouse. Understand and accept the cost as affordable and you will save yourself a lot of heartache later on. If you can't afford it, see if you can find one or two other skaters with whom you can share lessons. You'll still have to pay full freight for the ice, but you'll cut the coaching fee. Most coaches will do semi-private lessons. All the skaters need to be a similar levels and ages.

Second question: are both parents and the skater willing to commit the time
If your heart is set on a specific coach, you're going to have to come when that coach can take you. Most common email I get from parents? "I can't make our regular lesson next Monday at 3, so we'll be there Sunday at 10:30 mkay?" Well, no, there's a hockey game on the ice on Sunday at 10:30. Or there's a different student. Or I don't work on Sunday morning. The lesson time is the lesson time. Most coaches will charge you for a missed lesson that you don't attempt to make up, no matter what the excuse is, even illness. If you decide to take private lessons, there are early mornings in your future, it's unavoidable, because that's when there's ice, especially for beginners.

Now, about the why and the who?

Some common reasons for starting privates include:

• Having trouble with a specific skill, like the mohawk, or a certain spin, or of course the stupid axel (that is the official name by the way).
• Having trouble getting through a level
• Desire to progress faster
• Actual fast progression. I will often recommend private lessons to a student who progresses very quickly in group classes.
• A specific goal, such as trying to qualify for an ice show solo by a certain date, or wanting to catch up to a friend
• Desire to start testing or competing
• "All my friends are doing it" (I consider this a perfectly acceptable reason to take privates. Contrary to popular depictions, skaters are nice, mature, and exactly the kinds of kids you want your kids hanging out with. Well, for the most part.)

Which of course brings us to the most fraught decision in figure skating-- how do I choose a coach? Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

How to be a skating parent, the real story

All humor aside, parenting a committed skater is the most thankless and misunderstood factor in the equation. And you don't have to be the parent of a skater who is legitimately heading to nationals to feel the brunt of the disdain for skating parents that is systemic to the profession, and tolerated or even encouraged by a lot of rinks and coaches.

If your child considers skating one of his or her main activities, you are a skating parent whether or not the child takes private lessons. It is the child's relationship to the sport that defines your role. Never let anyone denigrate your, your child's, or your family's commitment just because you choose not to take private lessons. And the reason for that is no one's business but your own. It might be time, it might be money, it might be dumblebunny. It's nobody's business unless you choose to share it.

Your decision to go group classes or synchro or privates, to test ISI or USFS, and whether or not to compete should be informed from the outset by one thing-- what can you afford. "Afford" means not just money, but also time and emotional investment. You can walk into it with a decision matrix at your back, where you've weighed every factor you can think of, or you can slide into it, as most of us do, suddenly finding yourself with an serious figure skater. But either way, always be aware of what you're spending, how much time you're giving, and how your skater is dealing with the various pressures of the sport, physical, emotional, and social.

Your skater's reasons for skating are another personal decision, and this is where a lot of parents and coaches get it wrong. I was the parent of an extremely gifted skater who did not like to compete. We pushed her into it, and she did quite well, but finally told us "done" when she was just sixteen. Whatever it is that skaters get from winning competitions, she just didn't care enough about the Gold, removing a lot of the motivation from the onerous training. Ironically, after she quit competing, she increased her training schedule. Because now she was doing it for her own reasons.

The reason for skating can change, as I've discussed before (search "goals" in the tag cloud). A skater doesn't have to make the decision to be an Olympian when they're five. A coach that tells you he'll get your 5 year old to the Olympics, or even to her Senior test, is talking through his hat. You can go with the flow and still not miss out on anything.

Start taking privates, if you do at all, when it feels right for you. In a strong program, a skater can learn an axel and a couple of doubles in class with extra practice. Privates will get them there faster, and probably with stronger technique, but it's not the only route. Again, let your emotions, your finances, and your schedule guide you. When you decide on privates, hire the coach that your skater likes. Don't worry too much about the end game. As you learn the discipline from the parent's point of view, you'll start learning how to recognize the signs that you need a new coach (ooo--great post topic, watch this space).

One place where I would resist the child's desire or lead is quitting. A lot of kids hit a snag, or have a fight with a friend at the rink, or get stuck at a skill and decide they want to quit. This is one of those times when I would push that child up that hill and help them see the vista from the top. They may decide to quit after all, but kids, especially young teens, are easily discouraged and then get embarrassed by their own discouragement. Help them through this. Remember that especially at the basic skills level (through Freestyle 1), and with kids younger than 9 or 10, you can quit and come back without losing much momentum; ditto with advanced skaters. They can pick up more or less where they left off. The danger zone is young teens in FS 3-6, where the difficulty jumps exponentially just as the hormones kick in. Without a compelling alternative, keep them in skating until they settle back down.

It's all too easy to slide into stereotype, to become a Stage Mother to your skater. Step outside yourself and watch. If you observe behavior that would make you cringe if you observed it in someone else, you've fallen for the evil stereotype.

Be the skating parent that makes all the coaches wish they had your kid.

Practice or lesson?

An anonymous reader asks a great question:

My mum's worried that if I [drop one class to practice on my own], it'll be bad because I'm not having a lesson then, but I'm more concerned that if I go to the two lessons, my skating time will be too minimal for me to progress anywhere.

Is it better to have one hour of group lesson and one hour of practice per week, or a half hour group lesson and 2.5 hours of practice?

I'll have some specific advice for anon at the end of the post, but in the meantime, with a couple of exceptions, it's always better to have at least some practice on your own, so you can start finding your own "language" of skating.

Stay with me, there's a point at the end of my rambles
I often tell my students that we're working on "positions not found in nature" by which I mean we ask our bodies to stand, not in impossible stances, but in counter-intuitive ones. For instance, when learning cross-overs everyone begins by "defaulting" to hips and shoulders square; what I call "airplane" position, one arm straight out to one side, and one arm straight out to the other side. Proper crossovers, however, need your upper body turned towards the circle. It looks weird and it feels weird and it's one of the hardest things for new skaters to learn.

I try lots of different ways of getting this across-- put your outside arm inside the circle. Hug the circle. Pretend the circle is a beach ball and you're holding it. Turn your belly button to the center of the circle. Pretend there's a rail inside the circle and you have to hold it. The most successful skaters will find a phrase that resonates with them, and the most successful of those will have come up with it on their own. In fact, a lot of the phrases I use were suggested to me by students.

If you can create your own image, you'll learn faster and the best place to find your own image is in your own solo practice session.

"I don't want her to just go out there and play"
As my daughter, a triple gold skater, once told a coach who was criticizing her for having fun, "hey, if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be doing this."

Getting kids to practice on their own is one of the hardest things to do. Parents often think that kids won't work, and there's some truth in that, but especially for beginners, you don't need to "work," to practice specific skills all that much, you just need to get comfortable skating. And since it's boring just skating around and around, even the least self-directed kid is going to start trying other stuff.

Generally I would say that for children under the age of 8 at lower levels, an emphasis on classes is fine, but I like to see them come just to play once a week. Parents don't have to skate, too, but they should be in the stands. For high level kids under age 8 (a 10-year old just won US Nationals at the Novice level), the coach can guide you. Older children should always be encouraged to work on their own, not just in skating but in everything. Kids need to learn how to manage their own time and set their own goals, without some adult always telling them what to do. Children these days are scandalously helpless in self-management. It makes me worry.

But what should the commenter do?
The commenter lives far from the rink and can only get there twice. For her, since she's at the beginning levels, I would recommend just one class, and lots of practice; either option she proposes would work. However, I'd like to suggest that she see if her mom will pay for one 20 minute private or semi-private lesson on that practice ice. I like the idea of being able to practice on your own right after or right before each class or lesson. If you practice just before, you'll remember what you're having trouble with. If you practice just after, you'll be able to apply what you've learned.

For my general formula on how much to skate, check out this post.

5 a.m.

I was going to call this post "The Downsides of Privates" but I think "5 a.m." says it all in a nutshell.

I would have to say that the early morning start is my number 1 least favorite thing about private lessons, and I'm a morning person. But getting up in the wee hours, sitting around in your pjs with a cuppa is a very different thing from getting dressed, going out in the freezing cold air to the freezing cold ice rink.

Flippancy aside, private lessons do have their problems. Scheduling. Cost. Go back and read "how to choose a figure skating coach" (parts 1 and 2). Follow that advice and many problems will never manifest.

Some of the less tangible downsides to privates involve interpersonal relationships. Coaches and parents can get jealous of the skater's relationship to the other, as can siblings. If one of a coach's students is more successful than another, resentment can flair, and I'm not talking about the skaters, I'm talking about the parents. Remember to leave competitiveness at the competition. Training is about personal best, and furthermore has little or nothing to do with the parent. Being jealous of the coach, the other skaters, the other parents, and/or the other coaches is pointless.

Going into this, I thought the downsides post was going to be easier to write than the upsides one, but it's not. A lot of the problems in coaching relationships are terribly specific to circumstance. It's an "everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten" sort of thing. If you follow good general practices about paying on time, knowing what you're paying for, showing up at lessons and working hard (both coach and student), avoiding gossip where possible, you will nip the downsides in the bud.

The Upsides of Private Lessons

There’s a huge amount of anxiety-inducing myth associated with private figure skating lessons, engendered, I suppose, by the tales of intrigue and abuse promoted in figure skating media. Like other childhood activities that have adult counterparts (modeling, other high-performance sports, etc.) we tend to focus on the rare elites, and not on the huge number of recreational and casual patrons.

So once you’ve made that decision for your child to take private figure skating lessons (or to take them yourself, for any adult skaters reading this), what should you expect?

For me and my daughter, the biggest benefit of private lessons was not the skills improvement or success, but the close friendships both she and I developed with the various coaches.

The close relationship that coach and skater develop is one of the key features of a good coaching match. Each gets emotionally invested in the other; these are not just friendships, they are nearly familial in their intensity. In fact the closeness of this relationship can also create the downsides—discomfort or abuse of the financial aspect, and jealously, the parent of the coach and vice versa. A good coach develops a deep understanding of his or her student; this understanding extends off the ice. This is true not just of multi-lesson competitors, but even of recreational skaters taking lessons once a week.

I think this may have something to do with the isolation of a coaching session—it’s a rare place where a child has a non-parental adult all to themselves.

Parents and coaches also develop a bond. The worst thing a parent can do is fight this, or try to assert themselves too much as being in charge. It is given that the parent is in charge; it’s their kid, it’s their money. But if you accept the coach’s authority over the skating, the other relationship can grow into true friendship with a common goal. It’s a beautiful thing.

But enough with the mushy stuff. Private lessons are great because you get to be a better skater. Even kids who don’t take it very seriously are going to improve more and faster through private lessons.

Privates also open a door to peer friendships—with the other kids hanging out at the rink and with that coach’s other students. I often laugh at the scary “girl gangs” who own the hallways at the rink. Sometimes this goes off the rails as one gang tries to be the “cool” kids, but somehow this dynamic isn’t as effective at the rink as it is in school or at the mall.

Private lessons also give you ownership to place. There’s a common marketing concept of the “third place.” Everyone supposedly has three “places”—some combination of home, workplace, place of worship are usually two of these. Marketers want their place to be your “third” place, and a skating rink, where you might spend hours and hours every week, often falls into this category. I’ll often see the younger siblings of skaters running around rinks, completely at home. It can be a little scary, because they feel so utterly safe that they tend to wander off without telling anyone. “Oh, we were playing dark tag in the dressing room.” Yeah, kid, nice heart attack you gave us when we couldn’t find you.

I'm a terribly negative person. I tend to dwell on the downsides, and I've had some major dips in my relationship with this sport. But overall, I've gotten so many more benefits than faults. I'll have to give the win to the upsides.

How to choose a figure skating coach, part 2

Some things to remember:
Ice time is limited, especially at the Learn To Skate/Basic Skills levels. Many rinks have restrictions on lessons during public skate, plus public skate in the winter is so crowded that lessons can be problematic. Be willing to work with the coach to find an acceptable time, which might include early morning, or skating at a different rink. Be open to it.

Know the cost. Private lessons include the coach's fee and the ice fee. The ice fee is the price of admission, essentially; what it costs to step on the ice. For public skating this will be anywhere from $3 to $7 depending on the rink. For "practice ice" (non-recreational ice set aside for lessons and practice), the fee will be higher, $6 to $20 depending on various factors. If you've got a Learn to Skate student, you'll be looking for cheaper ice and cheaper lessons. A high competitive coach will charge upwards of $40 or $50 for a half-hour lesson. Nothing wrong with hiring this coach if the match feels right, but you might want to think about other coaches who charge less (seldom lower than $25 per half hour). You can also ask about sharing lessons. I'll take group lessons as long as the students are no more than 4 years apart in age and/or span 3 or fewer skill levels.

High test and impressive competitive credentials are not the best indicator of good teaching. Conversely, a coach's record with students is a good indication. A coach who gets kids through high tests and whose kids do well in competition (relative to how much they practice) is someone to consider. If you're not looking for a so-called competitive coach, take this metric to the class level-- is this coach getting kids through class tests? Are her or his classes well organized and fun?

Look for coaches with students at your child's skill level (not ability, but skill level). If all of a coach's students seem to be at a much higher level, either that coach is pushing his/her kids through the levels too fast, or doesn't really work well with lower level students. Some coaches will tell you that they only take freestyle students. Good for them. (Works the other way 'round, as well. For instance, I only take students from beginner through Freestyle 2-3.)

You wouldn't obsess or worry about a violin or piano teacher, and it's really not that much different.

How to choose a figure skating coach, part 1

In my apparent role as the go-to coach for "things I'm reluctant to ask someone else about" at my rink, one of the discussions I get is about how to choose a coach for the first time. ("Hey, Xan, we think you're great and Susie really loves you and we're thinking about getting private lessons. Who would be a good coach for her?" I'm not kidding. Um...me?)

Well, not really. I'm glad to be here to field these questions, and I don't take many private students, focusing on the purely recreational group.

So how do you choose a coach?

The first thing to know is what short term and long term outcomes you want. Short term-- learn a specific skill, move up a level, perform in the rink's exhibition or show. Long term-- keep skating through high school, get a solo in the ice show, take the USFS tests, compete. Find a coach who supports these goals.

There's lots of advice about this on the internet, starting at the US Figure Skating site, in their section for parents. But they, and many others, really zero in on choosing a coach for a competitive career. (Some of the questions USFS suggest you ask: "What are your greatest coaching accomplishments? What is your skating background? Do you specialize in coaching certain disciplines (singles, pairs, dance, synchronized skating)? What levels have you passed? Did you skate competitively?"

If you've got a 9-year old Beta or Gamma student who thinks they might want to get better faster, is it really important that her first coach competed at a high level or not? How about a coach who specializes in beginners? It's not even on US Figure Skating's list.

A better place to start is by watching a particular coach's interaction on and off the ice with the kids, with the parents, and with the other coaches. That last thing is a huge indicator of a well-rounded person, let alone coach. Does the coach isolate him or herself from everyone but his/her cronies, students and parents? Does the coach come off the ice after class and talk to a lot of different families, or only some families? Does he or she interact with each student in the class, with none, or with only some?

And of course, most important, does your child respond to this coach. Especially if you are starting lessons before freestyle levels, the single most important skill the coach needs is the ability to respond to your child.


As the old Human Resources trope goes-- Hire the Smile.

Privates!

It's one of the most fraught decisions in the world. Should I get my child private figure skating lessons? It sounds so elitist, even vain. After all, you're not one of those pushy moms.

Well, if you are, don't worry about it, just don't kid yourself. It's okay to be pushy on behalf of your child. Well, up to a point. But I digress. Just because you want, or your child wants, private lessons, is nothing to either brag or be ashamed about. It's tricky, because lots of kids take private lessons (think piano), but private sport lessons are something that "rich kids do"-- tennis or horseback riding come to mind. But there are all sorts of reasons to take privates other than keeping up with the Joneses. Is your child struggling in class, but really wants to do better? Take a few privates. Is your child progressing quite fast; does she seem like she might be talented? That's another reason for privates. If she or he wants to compete, even just in our numerous small local, "non-qualifying*" competitions, or go through the ISI or US Figure Skating test structure, that kid will need to take private lessons.

Some rinks have a culture that supports private lessons, i.e. pretty much everyone takes them, so it feels fairly normal. Other rinks have a much more casual approach, and it might be more unusual to see kids in privates. Don't worry about it. Do what feels right for your child.

More about how to choose a coach in a future post. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear tales about your experience with private lessons.



*a "non-qualifying" competition is one that is generally run by a local rink or club, or is run under the Ice Skating Institute and does not have a mechanism for qualifying skaters to compete at Sectionals (in the Midwest we call our Sectionals "Mids"), National, or International competitions. Only U.S. Figure Skating runs qualifying competitions in the U.S. These are the ones just listed, plus Regionals.