In my job as Minister of Skating, You'll hardly ever see me.
I know how to delegate.
ISk8NYC can be National Skating Director.
RSk8D can be National Director of Skate Medicine.
Everyone on this forum can be a government official.
We can have a jobs preference program for figure skaters. (E.g., put skating questions on the civil service exam.) And lots of national contests relating to skating. Skating poetry contests. Skating art contests. Skating choreography contests. Skate dress contests. Skating music contests. Skating video game contests. Skate logo contests- e.g., "Make ice, not war."
And of course government sponsored adult skating contests and social skating events.
...
Back to reality, FigureSpins, are you trying to advocate such an adult skating program at your rink? If so, sounds fun.
I rather like the ISI Manual progression. The availability of a written manual and DVD is a big plus for some adults. But I don't want people to have to stop when they reach flexibility limits.
For adults, I would incorporate strength and flexibility training into the sequence. E.g., leg presses, core training, the muscle training needed to stretch to skating positions, and to hold muscle tension through the areas that benefit skating, like the arms and shoulders. A local ice dance clinic included step exercises. Maybe adults could use warm-up runs too. It's a good way for a rink to make income from skaters during times the rink isn't available to the program. But you need to make it "relevant" - train fpr exercises they are currently learning, and explain why a given exercise will help them do something on the ice.
I was serious about the sponsored skating contests and social skating events thing. Many adults need more than just classes. When you pass, or spend a lot of time on, a given level, you should be able to attend adult events skated at that level.
I've mentioned in another thread that some of the best skate training I've seen was off-ice. A school teacher taught her class to skate by showing them how to stroke, before they put skates on. The same would work with adults. The "march and glide" thing is dumb - better to push people to push more sideways off-ice, so they do it on ice.
Again, a local skating program shows people how to fall safely, before they touch the ice.
And before people hit the ice, please teach them how to snugly lace up their boots. We don't need to make it hard to skate because the boots are flopping all over the place.
Again, off-ice balance training. When we stand on one foot, we do various things to shift our balance over the other foot. If we practice this off-ice, and it is pointed out what we are doing it and why, it is clearer what we must do on the ice. Understanding matters more to most adults than to most kids. For example, we never get those crossovers right until we are comfortable balancing on our edges.
A lot of skills are easier to learn if we learn the positions off-ice first. And it is very good use of the rink's ice time to teach and practice that way.
This may be a hard thing to do: It is easier for adults to LTS, when there aren't any kids on the ice at the same time.
Also hard to do: keep the student/instructor ratio low. Use volunteers if you have to, but adults need feedback, and sometimes want their hands held when they are still afraid of falling.
Here is my initial sequence:
1. Do a general warm up exercise, using exercises relevant to the upcoming class. E.g., back and side lunges (but don't stretch), because they relate to stroking.
2. Learn to fall on soft padded mats. Explain why they need learn to fall gently. Start with falls from a sitting position. Progress to kneeling positions, and finally from standing positions. Teach forwards, backwards and sideways falls, using rolls and slides. Make sure they practice getting up again.
3. Practice walking off-ice. Explain why forward/backwards movements work poorly on-ice, and demonstrate with socks on a slippery surface.
4. Practice going onto edges off-ice.
5. Practice swizzles off-ice. You need a slippery surface, and socks. Explain that pushing sideways is the key to efficient motion on ice, and that they almost never do it off-ice.
6. Practice stroking off-ice.
7. Teach how skates should fit, how they should balance, and why they need to be tight. Help them pick out rental skates.
8. Teach how to lace skates tightly.
The ice rink can be efficiently used for other purposes throughout steps 1 - 8.
9. Repeat 2 - 6 on-ice.
10. Take them off-ice, and do a stretch cool-down.
11. Bring them over to the snack bar or vending machine. Encourage them to buy a snack or drink. Show them the rink public session schedule, and encourage them to come.
12. Socialize.
End of class 1. Total class time=1 hour, excluding step 12.
---
Class 2 will briefly review everything in class 1, on and off-ice then proceed to new skills.
Note the difference between adult and child learning styles. The assumption with children is that they have a very short attention span. Classes for kids spend very little time on each skill on a given day, but introduce a lot of skills in the first class, and they keep repeating the same skill sequence for many weeks. The entire class must be very short.
Adults can stand to learn more about fewer skills at a time. And adults want to know why they should do what they are told to do. Adult bodies need the warm-up and cool-down more. And they have money, so it is good for the rink to take them over to the snack bar or vending machine.
And they need a babysitting service. If parents can see their kids, the parents will not give their full attention to the class.
Caution: I am not a coach. I haven't tried this sequence on real adults.
Topic: Just for fun: Ideal Adult Skating Programs and Facility (Read 2301 times)