It's fall of senior year. You're filling out college applications, and trying to stay in your seat, knowing that by March you can phone it in. Senioritis is creeping up. You're done. You're about to turn 18 and the world is opening up.
If you are a skater, what you are apparently NOT doing is now clear: you're not going to Nationals. You're not going to skate on the top competitive Synchro team because you're leaving town. You're not going to land all your triples.
So what ARE you going to do with your skating during that Senior year? You've invested a lot of time, energy, money, and fights with mom in this and you love it. Is this it? How can you be done, at the age of 17, with something you love so much (continue this in teenage girl fashion, "it isn't fair, and it's all your fault, mom!") (jk)
Actually, there are lots of things you can still do, and if you've been listening to your Xanboni, you know how to set and adapt a goal. Here's some ideas:
Make a serious commitment to moving up the USFS test structure. If you're only tested through Juvenile, try to get through Intermediate Moves and FS, and even Novice. With an Intermediate Freeskating test you qualify to teach at just about any rink in the U.S. If you're at Novice or Junior, commit to getting through the Senior test by the end of your last summer at home. With a Senior test, you're putting yourself, at the age of 18, in the top pay bracket at many skating schools.
Ask the synchro coach and skating director at your rink if you can start a "baby synchro" team, for kids in the Learn to Skate levels. Even strong PreAlpha skaters can do a lot of synchro moves. Make the project a Senior year Independent Study for credit. If your Synchro coach has a PSA Master rating, join the PSA (more about that in a minute), and make the project an official PSA Apprenticeship. (A good resume builder for that skating job!)
Join the PSA, the Professional Skaters Association. If you're going to be looking for skating jobs, PSA membership is another big sign saying "this is a serious coach." You can sign on as an Intern (ages 16 and 17), or Associate or Full Member once you're 18. Go to local PSA training seminars, take the Basic Accreditation and the Sports Science Exams (on line), and start working toward your first ratings. Commit to having a couple of ratings by the end of college. (Doing the ratings exams is a great summer project for a college-age skater.)
Don't like Synchro? Do an independent study by arranging, promoting, directing and skating in your own year-end skating exhibition. Ask the rink to donate the ice, and find local sponsors to cover photocopying and other costs. Invite all the seniors at the rink, the synchro team, and selected other skaters (for instance, everyone who skates with your coach). If there's a "name" skater at your rink (i.e. someone who's made it past regionals), or one of the coaches is a well-known skater (we've got a former World Champ at our rink, for instance, and this is not uncommon), ask them to skate as the Special Guest skater.
Tired of training? How about learning hockey or speedskating? Figure skaters who switch to hockey absolutely kill, because their skating skills are so far superior to the kids who have come up just through hockey. Plus, that's where all the boys are. But hockey is not the only ice discipline you can switch to. If you've already got your Senior Moves and Freeskating tests, think about trying to test as many of the compulsory dances as you can. (While you still can. They just got rid of compulsories at the Qualifying levels.)
Are your parents cool? Tell them you want to do a "gap year" (or three, ahem) and skate in a show on a cruise line, or with one of the traveling shows like Disney on Ice. There are always ads in the PSA and USFS magazines, or ask around your rink and see if any of the coaches are former show skaters who still have connections. (Most shows require tests of just Novice or above, and two solid doubles. Show skaters with double axels are superstars; it's not that common in shows.) Put in the college apps as planned; most colleges will defer admission for one or two years or more. (My daughter's college was still trying to get her to come after three years-- in fact, they were willing to defer not only the admission, but the aid package as well.)
Find out if you can do Junior coaching at your rink, either through an established program, or as the assistant of one or more of the staff coaches, for both classes and privates.
You could also do skills goals, like "land a triple jump" but I think these are harder to pursue when there's a specific calendar date by which it must happen.
The point is, the goal-setting doesn't end with the dream. If you're a talented, competitive skater who hasn't made it out of Regionals by your sophomore year, you already know that you're done.
But, remember, you're only done with that. Skating is a huge world involving all ages and abilities. Old ice skaters never die, they just glide away.
Jul 23, 2010
Jul 19, 2010
Suzie's going to Nationals! I think all she needs to do is skate in 10 ISI competitions, right?
Don't laugh. I'm pretty sure there are parents who think that's how you do it. As the competitive season gears up, it's important for parents and skaters to understand the relative importance of the various competitions, and what participation in them means.
Information gathering is enormously important for figure skating parents. Educate yourself about the sport and know what people are asking you and your skater to do. Check out sources like IceMom, who has a great post up full of definitions, About.com's Jo Ann Schneider-Farris for encyclopedic knowledge of all aspects of the sport, and of course the USFS and ISI websites, especially the parents' pages.
There is a hierarchy to competitions, and I'm going to go rogue here and tell you which ones you should get your knickers in a twist about, and which ones you should just do for fun. Often, the coach will not tell you that there is a level of seriousness about various types of competitions. Some coaches play up just the concept of competition, or don't put the brakes on parents who get too caught up. It might be ego, but more likely coaches just don't get what parents don't understand. When we were just starting out, I thought that you somehow had to gain "points" by going to a lot of competitions (otherwise why were we dragging her around to all these damned competitions--8 or 9 a season). I had no idea what Regionals was; I thought you had to be invited by someone on high, since we never went. Turned out that the coach had just tracked my daughter (who ended up, with a different coach, at Junior Nationals) into his non-competitive group, without ever asking us. Other parents reinforced this by saying things like "oh, weren't you invited to go to Regionals? (smirk snark)"
There's a quality, a career, and an emotional difference among the different types of competitions. Basic Skills and ISI competitions are for fun-- these are not on any sort of track, are open and accessible to skaters of all levels and abilities, and are geared to younger and lower level skaters. ISI also has a "Nationals" and even a "World" competition, but anyone can go by signing up. Qualification equals "write a check." Individual skating clubs run the so-called non-qualifying competitions. These are often the "regular calendar" competitions that everyone in your region goes to. In northern Illinois it's Southport Invitational, Chicago Open, Ladybug, WIM, Northern Blast, Rockford Open and a couple of others. There are also major club competitions that anyone can go to but that have greater prestige, attract serious competitive skaters, and are considered critical to the training calendar. These include competitions like the DuPage Open, the Broadmoor Open, the Detroit Open, the Lake Placid Ice Dance competition, etc. But again, the only qualification is the proper level skating test, and the price of admission.
The qualifying competitions are Regionals and Sectionals, at which you are trying to qualify for Nationals (by coming in first, second, third or fourth/alternate). Anyone who has the proper tests can sign up for Regionals-- there's no qualifier for Regionals. From there you have to advance based on placement.
Update: A commenter found a link for a very helpful .pdf on the competition structure at USFS (I have seen this before and forgot about it. Thanks, commenter!)
Don't let parents of extremely active coaches make you feel like you're doing something wrong because you don't do competitions, or you don't do certain competitions. Through Regionals, you get to go to competition by paying a fee. That's it. No one competition is better than any other. You go to the "big" club competitions like Detroit in order to get on the ice with the up-and-comers, and you'll probably get a better quality of judge and technical specialist, but other than that, it just depends on how much you want to spend.
So here I go, off the reservation:
So how do you know what track you're on? How do you know whether or not your coach is thinking about working toward Nationals? First of all, if your coach hasn't talked to you about it, you're not on a track toward Nationals. Your are also not on that track if:
Yes, you have to start somewhere, like your own rink's ISI or Basic Skills competition, and just about every skater does. But where parents should start is by understanding the terms, educating themselves, and not getting snookered by a coach who can make just as much money dragging you from competition to competition as she/he can by actually cluing you in.
Information gathering is enormously important for figure skating parents. Educate yourself about the sport and know what people are asking you and your skater to do. Check out sources like IceMom, who has a great post up full of definitions, About.com's Jo Ann Schneider-Farris for encyclopedic knowledge of all aspects of the sport, and of course the USFS and ISI websites, especially the parents' pages.
There is a hierarchy to competitions, and I'm going to go rogue here and tell you which ones you should get your knickers in a twist about, and which ones you should just do for fun. Often, the coach will not tell you that there is a level of seriousness about various types of competitions. Some coaches play up just the concept of competition, or don't put the brakes on parents who get too caught up. It might be ego, but more likely coaches just don't get what parents don't understand. When we were just starting out, I thought that you somehow had to gain "points" by going to a lot of competitions (otherwise why were we dragging her around to all these damned competitions--8 or 9 a season). I had no idea what Regionals was; I thought you had to be invited by someone on high, since we never went. Turned out that the coach had just tracked my daughter (who ended up, with a different coach, at Junior Nationals) into his non-competitive group, without ever asking us. Other parents reinforced this by saying things like "oh, weren't you invited to go to Regionals? (smirk snark)"
There's a quality, a career, and an emotional difference among the different types of competitions. Basic Skills and ISI competitions are for fun-- these are not on any sort of track, are open and accessible to skaters of all levels and abilities, and are geared to younger and lower level skaters. ISI also has a "Nationals" and even a "World" competition, but anyone can go by signing up. Qualification equals "write a check." Individual skating clubs run the so-called non-qualifying competitions. These are often the "regular calendar" competitions that everyone in your region goes to. In northern Illinois it's Southport Invitational, Chicago Open, Ladybug, WIM, Northern Blast, Rockford Open and a couple of others. There are also major club competitions that anyone can go to but that have greater prestige, attract serious competitive skaters, and are considered critical to the training calendar. These include competitions like the DuPage Open, the Broadmoor Open, the Detroit Open, the Lake Placid Ice Dance competition, etc. But again, the only qualification is the proper level skating test, and the price of admission.
The qualifying competitions are Regionals and Sectionals, at which you are trying to qualify for Nationals (by coming in first, second, third or fourth/alternate). Anyone who has the proper tests can sign up for Regionals-- there's no qualifier for Regionals. From there you have to advance based on placement.
Update: A commenter found a link for a very helpful .pdf on the competition structure at USFS (I have seen this before and forgot about it. Thanks, commenter!)
Don't let parents of extremely active coaches make you feel like you're doing something wrong because you don't do competitions, or you don't do certain competitions. Through Regionals, you get to go to competition by paying a fee. That's it. No one competition is better than any other. You go to the "big" club competitions like Detroit in order to get on the ice with the up-and-comers, and you'll probably get a better quality of judge and technical specialist, but other than that, it just depends on how much you want to spend.
So here I go, off the reservation:
The only competitions you should spend serious money and emotional commitment on are the Qualifying competitions: Regionals, Sectionals, Nationals.These are the competitions that put your name in lights. Nearly all the other competitions are for recreational skaters, including very serious recreational skaters, and "tourists" (i.e. no chance of winning, but out to skate with the big dogs). Yes, highly competitive skaters compete at some Club competitions, but mostly at those few select non-qualifying club competitions.
So how do you know what track you're on? How do you know whether or not your coach is thinking about working toward Nationals? First of all, if your coach hasn't talked to you about it, you're not on a track toward Nationals. Your are also not on that track if:
- your skater only skates in local or regional nonqualifying competitions, especially if your skater is 13 or younger and tested Preliminary through Intermediate.
- your skater is older than 13 and is tested only Juvenile or under, or older than 16 and only at Intermediate. They have "aged out" of those levels and cannot skate in qualifying competition until they take the Intermediate and higher tests.
- your skater has never taken a USFS free skating test.
- you don't know what the prior statement means.
- your coach has never taken you to Regionals.
- your coach has never talked to you about Regionals.
- you have no idea what "Regionals" is.
- you have never had a conversation with your coach about how to become a serious competitive figure skater, (including the "should" your skater do this).
Yes, you have to start somewhere, like your own rink's ISI or Basic Skills competition, and just about every skater does. But where parents should start is by understanding the terms, educating themselves, and not getting snookered by a coach who can make just as much money dragging you from competition to competition as she/he can by actually cluing you in.
Jul 16, 2010
Fall ice
To most people, summer is just hitting its high, with the hottest days and the August vacations still to come.
For skaters, it's time to start thinking about autumn ice.
For competitive skaters summer is what we call "early pre-season." It's the time to choose music, work on the new program, nail the new jump and create that perfect level IV spin. You're working hard, but the goal right now is simply working hard. Late pre-season starts in August, when you're revving up the intensity of your work outs, starting run throughs, and putting the finishing touches on the costume. The first significant non-qualifying club competitions are in August, and Regionals comes in late autumn.
Seriously competitive skaters already have their schedules and their training plans in place, but what about the rest of us? From once-a-week class participants to recreational competitors (who don't necessarily go to Regionals, or haven't a prayer of getting any farther than that), it's also time to start thinking about the fall. Here are some things to line up:
What's your goal for this year?
This can be to master a skill like a jump or a spin. You might be aiming to pass a level (or more) in class, or to take (or starting taking) tests, whether USFS or ISI. It can be to skate a certain number of hours per week, or to start private lessons. Whatever it is, you should define it, and work towards it. If the skater is a young child (8 or under) you can guide this goal, but the skater has to own it, even a very young one (for skaters this young, call it a "promise"). For tweens, 9 to 13, the parent and coach can start the conversation, but the skater has to set the goal. Teenagers might be given a nudge to think about it, but most of the process has to come from them.
Goal setting for skating is one of those skating-teaches-life-lessons things, and aside from knowing your budget is the most important thing you'll do in skating each year. If you can afford either private lessons or synchro, but not both, you've got to think hard about what your goals are, and be happy with your choice.
What else are you doing, besides skating?
This is critical to understand for many reasons. First, the other things you're doing take up time. Other sports, school government, church, mosque, or temple responsibilities, college applications all require commitment. Know where these commitments will balance with skating, where they'll take precedence, and where they can be deemphasized. Check the schedule for conflicts and resolve them now, including letting the coach know.
What's your family up to?
Are there vacations planned? Is grandma coming for a visit? Are there going to be transportation issues? All these things will affect your skating schedule and progress; if you understand upfront what's going on in the rest of your life, your skating life will run more smoothly, and you'll be able to adjust your expectations (both up and down).
What can you afford?
This should probably be first on the list, because along with time, it's the thing that somehow seems to creep up on skating families. Have a skating budget ("we can afford $$ per week for ALL skating expenses), but also have a contingency budget so that if an uexpected expense (let's call it an opportunity) comes up, you can cover it guilt-free. We take all the singles out of our wallets every night and set them aside. You will be amazed at how quickly this adds up. Remember that skating expenses includes not just classes, lessons and practice ice, but also off-ice training, training clothes, synchro fee, USFS & ISI membership, competition fees, costume, and travel (even a competition across town is probably going to involve a meal), etc. Don't be afraid to tell the coach exactly what your budget is, and how much flexibility you're likely to have.
And finally, the most important question for a skater to ask themselves, now certainly, but also at every step of the way:
Are you still having fun?
For skaters, it's time to start thinking about autumn ice.
For competitive skaters summer is what we call "early pre-season." It's the time to choose music, work on the new program, nail the new jump and create that perfect level IV spin. You're working hard, but the goal right now is simply working hard. Late pre-season starts in August, when you're revving up the intensity of your work outs, starting run throughs, and putting the finishing touches on the costume. The first significant non-qualifying club competitions are in August, and Regionals comes in late autumn.
Seriously competitive skaters already have their schedules and their training plans in place, but what about the rest of us? From once-a-week class participants to recreational competitors (who don't necessarily go to Regionals, or haven't a prayer of getting any farther than that), it's also time to start thinking about the fall. Here are some things to line up:
What's your goal for this year?
This can be to master a skill like a jump or a spin. You might be aiming to pass a level (or more) in class, or to take (or starting taking) tests, whether USFS or ISI. It can be to skate a certain number of hours per week, or to start private lessons. Whatever it is, you should define it, and work towards it. If the skater is a young child (8 or under) you can guide this goal, but the skater has to own it, even a very young one (for skaters this young, call it a "promise"). For tweens, 9 to 13, the parent and coach can start the conversation, but the skater has to set the goal. Teenagers might be given a nudge to think about it, but most of the process has to come from them.
Goal setting for skating is one of those skating-teaches-life-lessons things, and aside from knowing your budget is the most important thing you'll do in skating each year. If you can afford either private lessons or synchro, but not both, you've got to think hard about what your goals are, and be happy with your choice.
What else are you doing, besides skating?
This is critical to understand for many reasons. First, the other things you're doing take up time. Other sports, school government, church, mosque, or temple responsibilities, college applications all require commitment. Know where these commitments will balance with skating, where they'll take precedence, and where they can be deemphasized. Check the schedule for conflicts and resolve them now, including letting the coach know.
What's your family up to?
Are there vacations planned? Is grandma coming for a visit? Are there going to be transportation issues? All these things will affect your skating schedule and progress; if you understand upfront what's going on in the rest of your life, your skating life will run more smoothly, and you'll be able to adjust your expectations (both up and down).
What can you afford?
This should probably be first on the list, because along with time, it's the thing that somehow seems to creep up on skating families. Have a skating budget ("we can afford $$ per week for ALL skating expenses), but also have a contingency budget so that if an uexpected expense (let's call it an opportunity) comes up, you can cover it guilt-free. We take all the singles out of our wallets every night and set them aside. You will be amazed at how quickly this adds up. Remember that skating expenses includes not just classes, lessons and practice ice, but also off-ice training, training clothes, synchro fee, USFS & ISI membership, competition fees, costume, and travel (even a competition across town is probably going to involve a meal), etc. Don't be afraid to tell the coach exactly what your budget is, and how much flexibility you're likely to have.
And finally, the most important question for a skater to ask themselves, now certainly, but also at every step of the way:
Are you still having fun?
Jul 11, 2010
Don't be this parent
I just got back from our annual ISI competition today. ISI is the figure skating federation that focuses on the recreational skaters-- the ones who now, and probably only and always, do it just for fun and the love of the sport. Don't get me wrong, there are some very talented, motivated skaters in ISI, and their top levels- Freestyle, Dance, and Pairs 10- have more challenging tests than the comparable USFS tests.
But the focus is fun.
One of the ways we make sure of this is the "everybody gets a medal, and all tots win first place" philosophy. Flights are small-- 1 to 5 people-- so that you can credibly do this. I love hearing all the clinking hardware at the end of an ISI competition, or see the kids juggling mulitple trophies. Sometimes the kids will brag "I got a First AND a second AND a third AND a fourth" as though it's a collection. Tots get first place no matter what, so that they (and their parents) get a big shiny trophy. For a 3-year-old, this is huge.
That's the set up.
Today, we had a wonderful 3-year-old skater. She did an entire program from memory, covering the entire ice, doing what I can only call a well-balanced program: a lot of different elements, responsive to the music, with energy and personality. But the coach had changed the music, and the mother forgot that this had happened, having sent the child skating only with the nanny for the past two months.
When the music came on, the mother flipped. First she stormed into the music booth and attempted to physically remove the CD while the child was skating, screaming at the announcer the whole time. Then she went into the lobby, where she was verbally abusive of the skating director (mind you, the child is still skating; mom is not watching, she's too busy flipping out over the 3-year-old's music). When the child was done, the mother got abusive with her relatives who were trying to calm her down. Then she moved on to the child's coach, and then to another coach who tried to ask her to please tone it down (we're talking screaming f-bombs in the lobby) as there were a lot of children present.
I want to emphasize that this was a Tot 1 program for 3 year olds at a local ISI competition.
There is never any excuse for this sort of behavior.
This was not the case here, but there are probably scenarios that we could come up with where heads should roll in figure skating. Maybe the coach blows off a major competition. Or says something inappropriate to a student or parent at a competition. I don't know. I guess you could come up with reasons to be publicly upset at a competition.
It is never okay to run with that. If you feel you must, calmly remove your child from the venue, explaining "something came up, I'm sorry, we have to go." Text the coach and let the competition director know you're withdrawing. Or let the child skate, pick up your trophy and take her home, then call and let the coach or the skating director have it, when the skater and other skaters/parents/judges/coaches/innocent bystanders are not there to observe.
There were coaches who felt that ISI should be called and have this family banned from competition. Imagine that? Your child banned from competition because you could not act like an adult? Others felt it unduly punished the child, but the coach in the music booth said he was seriously considering calling the police before he managed to get the mother to leave.
There is no competition so important--not at the local rink, not at the Olympics--that responsible behavior and appropriate ethics, not to say morals, are optional. And you know the worst part? She entirely missed seeing her beautiful daughter's adorable and excellent program. (Really, the program was excellent. One of the best tot programs I've seen.)
Think about this mother--abusive, out of perspective, and out of control-- next time you get upset at a competition. Don't be the parent that everyone talks about for the rest of the day.
But the focus is fun.
One of the ways we make sure of this is the "everybody gets a medal, and all tots win first place" philosophy. Flights are small-- 1 to 5 people-- so that you can credibly do this. I love hearing all the clinking hardware at the end of an ISI competition, or see the kids juggling mulitple trophies. Sometimes the kids will brag "I got a First AND a second AND a third AND a fourth" as though it's a collection. Tots get first place no matter what, so that they (and their parents) get a big shiny trophy. For a 3-year-old, this is huge.
That's the set up.
Today, we had a wonderful 3-year-old skater. She did an entire program from memory, covering the entire ice, doing what I can only call a well-balanced program: a lot of different elements, responsive to the music, with energy and personality. But the coach had changed the music, and the mother forgot that this had happened, having sent the child skating only with the nanny for the past two months.
When the music came on, the mother flipped. First she stormed into the music booth and attempted to physically remove the CD while the child was skating, screaming at the announcer the whole time. Then she went into the lobby, where she was verbally abusive of the skating director (mind you, the child is still skating; mom is not watching, she's too busy flipping out over the 3-year-old's music). When the child was done, the mother got abusive with her relatives who were trying to calm her down. Then she moved on to the child's coach, and then to another coach who tried to ask her to please tone it down (we're talking screaming f-bombs in the lobby) as there were a lot of children present.
I want to emphasize that this was a Tot 1 program for 3 year olds at a local ISI competition.
There is never any excuse for this sort of behavior.
This was not the case here, but there are probably scenarios that we could come up with where heads should roll in figure skating. Maybe the coach blows off a major competition. Or says something inappropriate to a student or parent at a competition. I don't know. I guess you could come up with reasons to be publicly upset at a competition.
It is never okay to run with that. If you feel you must, calmly remove your child from the venue, explaining "something came up, I'm sorry, we have to go." Text the coach and let the competition director know you're withdrawing. Or let the child skate, pick up your trophy and take her home, then call and let the coach or the skating director have it, when the skater and other skaters/parents/judges/coaches/innocent bystanders are not there to observe.
There were coaches who felt that ISI should be called and have this family banned from competition. Imagine that? Your child banned from competition because you could not act like an adult? Others felt it unduly punished the child, but the coach in the music booth said he was seriously considering calling the police before he managed to get the mother to leave.
There is no competition so important--not at the local rink, not at the Olympics--that responsible behavior and appropriate ethics, not to say morals, are optional. And you know the worst part? She entirely missed seeing her beautiful daughter's adorable and excellent program. (Really, the program was excellent. One of the best tot programs I've seen.)
Think about this mother--abusive, out of perspective, and out of control-- next time you get upset at a competition. Don't be the parent that everyone talks about for the rest of the day.
Jun 24, 2010
How does the skater plan for the lesson?
Last week I talked about how coaches lay out a lesson: the planners, the spanners, the fanners, and the xanners.
But can skaters help prepare for lessons as well?
You may well ask. (okay, I'll stop being cute now. Okay, no I won't). Of course they can. Let's call them the taggers, the braggers and the draggers.
Taggers take notes. You'll see them at the boards during lessons and practice writing down what the coach says, keeping charts of what they've worked on, and checking things off to make sure they're done. I've found that you can really motivate any 9 year old girl by getting her a cool blank book to put her skating notes in; you can make it even more special by forbidding her mother to look in it. Coach and skater only! This will have the added benefit of making her mother INSANE with curiosity. Taggers practice well, and come to lessons prepared, but spend a lot of time at the boards taking notes and drawing ponies. In skates.
The braggers "already know how to do that." They'll race through the stuff they're supposed to be preparing so that they can do 47 program run-throughs and attempt axels even though they're only in FS3. Advantages of these kids is that they are fearless, because they want to learn the next thing. The disadvantage is that they will brush off the polish of elements that they "know" because they don't understand how skating skills build on each other; it just seems like a waste of time. But they tend to be consistent, if not particularly effective workers, because they'll just keep making attempts until they get it.
The draggers think everything is hard or boring (imagine 15 year old, eyes rolling, whining) or "I can't do that." When they're not whining they are attempting to engage you in gossip, so that they can hang out at the boards, or having spin contests with their buddies, which at least looks like work, anyway. They prepare for lessons by taking 25 minutes to put their skates on, getting on the ice late, doing one program run through (but no jumps, because "people kept getting in my way"). They mostly want praise and attention, and my philosophy, particularly for a recreational skater, is to give it to them. Up to a point I'll indulge this behavior; kids who make something they love, like skating, into a chore, have other issues that need to be addressed. The skating is secondary, and it's no skin off your nose to let a teenager have a place where she can whine and not be judged or criticized for it. (Draggers are always teenagers. The little kids are still relying on their adorableness for attention.)
So, gear up your rhyming skills. Who have I missed?
But can skaters help prepare for lessons as well?
You may well ask. (okay, I'll stop being cute now. Okay, no I won't). Of course they can. Let's call them the taggers, the braggers and the draggers.
Taggers take notes. You'll see them at the boards during lessons and practice writing down what the coach says, keeping charts of what they've worked on, and checking things off to make sure they're done. I've found that you can really motivate any 9 year old girl by getting her a cool blank book to put her skating notes in; you can make it even more special by forbidding her mother to look in it. Coach and skater only! This will have the added benefit of making her mother INSANE with curiosity. Taggers practice well, and come to lessons prepared, but spend a lot of time at the boards taking notes and drawing ponies. In skates.
The braggers "already know how to do that." They'll race through the stuff they're supposed to be preparing so that they can do 47 program run-throughs and attempt axels even though they're only in FS3. Advantages of these kids is that they are fearless, because they want to learn the next thing. The disadvantage is that they will brush off the polish of elements that they "know" because they don't understand how skating skills build on each other; it just seems like a waste of time. But they tend to be consistent, if not particularly effective workers, because they'll just keep making attempts until they get it.
The draggers think everything is hard or boring (imagine 15 year old, eyes rolling, whining) or "I can't do that." When they're not whining they are attempting to engage you in gossip, so that they can hang out at the boards, or having spin contests with their buddies, which at least looks like work, anyway. They prepare for lessons by taking 25 minutes to put their skates on, getting on the ice late, doing one program run through (but no jumps, because "people kept getting in my way"). They mostly want praise and attention, and my philosophy, particularly for a recreational skater, is to give it to them. Up to a point I'll indulge this behavior; kids who make something they love, like skating, into a chore, have other issues that need to be addressed. The skating is secondary, and it's no skin off your nose to let a teenager have a place where she can whine and not be judged or criticized for it. (Draggers are always teenagers. The little kids are still relying on their adorableness for attention.)
So, gear up your rhyming skills. Who have I missed?
Jun 23, 2010
Planning a figure skating lesson
As Icemom pointed out, a lot of planning goes into getting a skater to his or her lessons, but what about the lessons themselves? What's the plan?
There is no standard curriculum for private lessons, of course. You proceed according to the skater's needs and goals. But individual coaches do fall into categories, and you can spot the differences from the stands, by style, if not by outcome.
Some coaches have a standard lesson plan that they follow with every skater. Call them the planners. Others like to have an outcome in mind and build toward that by increments or leaps (the spanners?). There are coaches who are really good at some single skills-- jumps or gliding maneuvers or spins-- and will focus on those things (the fanners!). Some will be a little more fluid and see what happens lesson to lesson (oh, let's call them the xanners, just for sh*ts and giggles).
The planners
Every lesson follows the same pattern, for instance: 10 minutes of moves warm up with technique secondary and the focus on power, building endurance, and ice coverage; 5 minutes of jump drills like back-scratch to loop, one foot hops, check-position drills; run through jumps up to highest mastered, then do some number of repetitions of the most solid jump, and then some number of repetitions of your problem jump. Program run through, then finish with spins. Every lesson will follow this plan.
The pros: The student knows exactly what to expect from every lesson, so the coach focuses on quick, targeted comments and spends no time laying out the lesson plan. The mystique is removed from the difficult move, because it's just part of the plan. The goal here is not to finally get the jump, but simply to move through the familiar lesson. The skater has a fair amount of autonomy with this plan. These kids are always moving, which looks really good to the parents in the stands. It's a great way to run freestyle group lessons, especially where there's a wide range of age, talent or ability.
The cons: It is tempting for the coach to check out, because no one is pushing the envelope. This plan works best mid pre-season, when new things are already solidifying and the pressure is least. In some ways, this is not a lesson; it's more of a supervised practice. The skater is not getting a lot of specific technical advice. Students under this sort of tutelage run the risk of then putting their unsupervised practice on automatic pilot, and feeling like they've accomplished something simply by completing the lesson plan, without actually working on anything other than moving from item to item.
These coaches develop strong camaraderie with and among their students, and solid, workaday skaters.
The spanners
This coach knows exactly what should be mastered by when, and will step up the intensity on a given problem area, or focus area to stay with the calendar he or she has set. Not only the lesson content, but the pedagogical approach and the lesson attitude may be wildly different from week to week or even lesson to lesson with this sort of coaching.
The pros: this coach is intensely engaged in the student's progress, and will be able to zero in on problem areas while letting solid parts of the skill and program work themselves out. A coach who follows a span of progress spends a lot of off-ice time working out lesson plans. You will be able to track progress easily; further it allows both coach and student to know when to abandon something that isn't working.
The cons: the skater gets very little autonomy with a coach like this, and parent input is unheard of. Skaters will spend a lot of time at the boards getting instruction, because each lesson is different. Parents can misinterpret this as "hanging around at the boards." This coach is also likely to work either on many different things, or intensely at a geek level on one thing in a lesson, making it hard for parents in the stands to keep track of what's going on.
In my observation, these are the coaches with the champions.
The fanners
Fanners (because they're fans of one skill) will have kids who are absolutely fantastic at, for instance, spins or spirals. They'll spend a lot of time helping their kids perfect these skills, and will revert to Planner-type lessons for other skills.
The pros: The favored skill will be brilliant, and especially at the lower levels of competition, one brilliant skill will often catapult a mediocre skater up the ranks. Kids get a huge burst of confidence from their mastery of this skill, which colors their approach to everything else. Huge bragging rights to the parents of these kids-- "did you see that spiral! She's only 6!"
The cons: These coaches sometimes neglect other skills, and especially basic skating like stroking and crossovers. The skaters can't do anything else, or don't do other skills up to par. You'll get sloppy or heedless skating with this one flash of brilliance. If your skater doesn't naturally excel at the selected skill, she'll have a difficult time with this coach.
These coaches will often be seen teaching the skill to other coach's skaters, having developed a specialty niche.
The xanners
This coach has a general idea about what the skater is learning (Alpha, Basic 7, axel, etc.) but will move through the lesson more at seeming random, adjusting the intensity and type of exercise to a skater's current mood, and introducing new skills by feel.
The pros: this approach is very skater-friendly and puts the students in more control than other types of lesson plans. It focuses on building confidence and love of the sport, rather than on specific outcomes. These coaches will fix a problem area before they move on. Kids in these types of lessons will understand exactly what they're doing wrong or right, because it's been broken down very specifically for their idiosyncratic issues. I have it on good authority that coaches like taking on students who have been taught under this type of plan.
The cons: this type of coaching will not work for competitive or even test-track skaters, and is more recreational. Skaters with these coaches may take longer to move through the levels, because the coach wants them absolutely solid before they pass up.
These are the skaters with the smiles on their faces.
There is no standard curriculum for private lessons, of course. You proceed according to the skater's needs and goals. But individual coaches do fall into categories, and you can spot the differences from the stands, by style, if not by outcome.
Some coaches have a standard lesson plan that they follow with every skater. Call them the planners. Others like to have an outcome in mind and build toward that by increments or leaps (the spanners?). There are coaches who are really good at some single skills-- jumps or gliding maneuvers or spins-- and will focus on those things (the fanners!). Some will be a little more fluid and see what happens lesson to lesson (oh, let's call them the xanners, just for sh*ts and giggles).
The planners
Every lesson follows the same pattern, for instance: 10 minutes of moves warm up with technique secondary and the focus on power, building endurance, and ice coverage; 5 minutes of jump drills like back-scratch to loop, one foot hops, check-position drills; run through jumps up to highest mastered, then do some number of repetitions of the most solid jump, and then some number of repetitions of your problem jump. Program run through, then finish with spins. Every lesson will follow this plan.
The pros: The student knows exactly what to expect from every lesson, so the coach focuses on quick, targeted comments and spends no time laying out the lesson plan. The mystique is removed from the difficult move, because it's just part of the plan. The goal here is not to finally get the jump, but simply to move through the familiar lesson. The skater has a fair amount of autonomy with this plan. These kids are always moving, which looks really good to the parents in the stands. It's a great way to run freestyle group lessons, especially where there's a wide range of age, talent or ability.
The cons: It is tempting for the coach to check out, because no one is pushing the envelope. This plan works best mid pre-season, when new things are already solidifying and the pressure is least. In some ways, this is not a lesson; it's more of a supervised practice. The skater is not getting a lot of specific technical advice. Students under this sort of tutelage run the risk of then putting their unsupervised practice on automatic pilot, and feeling like they've accomplished something simply by completing the lesson plan, without actually working on anything other than moving from item to item.
These coaches develop strong camaraderie with and among their students, and solid, workaday skaters.
The spanners
This coach knows exactly what should be mastered by when, and will step up the intensity on a given problem area, or focus area to stay with the calendar he or she has set. Not only the lesson content, but the pedagogical approach and the lesson attitude may be wildly different from week to week or even lesson to lesson with this sort of coaching.
The pros: this coach is intensely engaged in the student's progress, and will be able to zero in on problem areas while letting solid parts of the skill and program work themselves out. A coach who follows a span of progress spends a lot of off-ice time working out lesson plans. You will be able to track progress easily; further it allows both coach and student to know when to abandon something that isn't working.
The cons: the skater gets very little autonomy with a coach like this, and parent input is unheard of. Skaters will spend a lot of time at the boards getting instruction, because each lesson is different. Parents can misinterpret this as "hanging around at the boards." This coach is also likely to work either on many different things, or intensely at a geek level on one thing in a lesson, making it hard for parents in the stands to keep track of what's going on.
In my observation, these are the coaches with the champions.
The fanners
Fanners (because they're fans of one skill) will have kids who are absolutely fantastic at, for instance, spins or spirals. They'll spend a lot of time helping their kids perfect these skills, and will revert to Planner-type lessons for other skills.
The pros: The favored skill will be brilliant, and especially at the lower levels of competition, one brilliant skill will often catapult a mediocre skater up the ranks. Kids get a huge burst of confidence from their mastery of this skill, which colors their approach to everything else. Huge bragging rights to the parents of these kids-- "did you see that spiral! She's only 6!"
The cons: These coaches sometimes neglect other skills, and especially basic skating like stroking and crossovers. The skaters can't do anything else, or don't do other skills up to par. You'll get sloppy or heedless skating with this one flash of brilliance. If your skater doesn't naturally excel at the selected skill, she'll have a difficult time with this coach.
These coaches will often be seen teaching the skill to other coach's skaters, having developed a specialty niche.
The xanners
This coach has a general idea about what the skater is learning (Alpha, Basic 7, axel, etc.) but will move through the lesson more at seeming random, adjusting the intensity and type of exercise to a skater's current mood, and introducing new skills by feel.
The pros: this approach is very skater-friendly and puts the students in more control than other types of lesson plans. It focuses on building confidence and love of the sport, rather than on specific outcomes. These coaches will fix a problem area before they move on. Kids in these types of lessons will understand exactly what they're doing wrong or right, because it's been broken down very specifically for their idiosyncratic issues. I have it on good authority that coaches like taking on students who have been taught under this type of plan.
The cons: this type of coaching will not work for competitive or even test-track skaters, and is more recreational. Skaters with these coaches may take longer to move through the levels, because the coach wants them absolutely solid before they pass up.
These are the skaters with the smiles on their faces.
What type of coach do you have?
(If you make up another type, by the way, it has to rhyme!)
(If you make up another type, by the way, it has to rhyme!)
3 years old
First, she never stops talking.
But you have to listen, because she'll give you clues about how to engage her in a lesson.
This is Gia Cool Butterfly Rockstar (as she tells me), my super talented 3 year old student. She's no bigger than a minute, but skates like a demon, and will be working on the axel by the time she's 6. She takes several hour-long lessons a week, which, if her mom doesn't want to skate with her, you kind of have to do. She wants to skate all the time. So here's yesterday's lesson:
We always start with "free time." (I call warm up "free time" for beginners and very young children, because they move better when they think they're playing.) Yesterday she was having this thing about the number 23, so we decided to go all the way around the rink 23 times. And she stuck to it. When I proposed curtailing it around #16, she said no. Around #7 I started insisting on proper stroking. (23 in a row, natch. Also swizzles. 23 of them.) Gia's an aural and kinetic learner, so she'll repeat key phrases to help herself do and understand. So we got several minutes of bend-push-and-all-the-way-together sing-song, as we did stroking.
I do make her learn the proper names for all the moves, which is hilarious, to listen to this tiny three year old talk about stroking and rebend.
The "big girls" (some of them are a big 7) were on the ice with us and spinning, so we did spinning too (she loves doing what the big girls are doing), and then when they did backwards landing positions, so did we (on two feet, but I think 1 foot backwards glides are close). Then they left and she got a little distracted (oddly she's more distracted by empty ice), so we invented several invisible skaters to skate with us.
Once the other girls left she wanted more free time, so we started to do "one lesson and then one free time" (lesson for 10 to 15 minutes, free time for 2 minutes); I make her finish the whole lesson, for instance cross overs on every hockey circle, or backwards all the way around the rink.
A typical lesson comprises stroking, swizzles forwards and backwards, one-foot glide drills and games, crossovers, baby back crossovers (swizzle and cross), and turning games. She likes playing chase, but you hardly need to encourage speed with this one.
Gia's an outlier--she's the one that makes all those other parents think that their 3-year olds can skate too.
They can't. Wait another year. And watch this girl-- Olympics 2026.
But you have to listen, because she'll give you clues about how to engage her in a lesson.
This is Gia Cool Butterfly Rockstar (as she tells me), my super talented 3 year old student. She's no bigger than a minute, but skates like a demon, and will be working on the axel by the time she's 6. She takes several hour-long lessons a week, which, if her mom doesn't want to skate with her, you kind of have to do. She wants to skate all the time. So here's yesterday's lesson:
We always start with "free time." (I call warm up "free time" for beginners and very young children, because they move better when they think they're playing.) Yesterday she was having this thing about the number 23, so we decided to go all the way around the rink 23 times. And she stuck to it. When I proposed curtailing it around #16, she said no. Around #7 I started insisting on proper stroking. (23 in a row, natch. Also swizzles. 23 of them.) Gia's an aural and kinetic learner, so she'll repeat key phrases to help herself do and understand. So we got several minutes of bend-push-and-all-the-way-together sing-song, as we did stroking.
I do make her learn the proper names for all the moves, which is hilarious, to listen to this tiny three year old talk about stroking and rebend.
The "big girls" (some of them are a big 7) were on the ice with us and spinning, so we did spinning too (she loves doing what the big girls are doing), and then when they did backwards landing positions, so did we (on two feet, but I think 1 foot backwards glides are close). Then they left and she got a little distracted (oddly she's more distracted by empty ice), so we invented several invisible skaters to skate with us.
Once the other girls left she wanted more free time, so we started to do "one lesson and then one free time" (lesson for 10 to 15 minutes, free time for 2 minutes); I make her finish the whole lesson, for instance cross overs on every hockey circle, or backwards all the way around the rink.
A typical lesson comprises stroking, swizzles forwards and backwards, one-foot glide drills and games, crossovers, baby back crossovers (swizzle and cross), and turning games. She likes playing chase, but you hardly need to encourage speed with this one.
Gia's an outlier--she's the one that makes all those other parents think that their 3-year olds can skate too.
They can't. Wait another year. And watch this girl-- Olympics 2026.
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