Well, summer means certain challenges to some of us. Rink closures, dramatic change in ice times, increased or decreased commitments, camp/clinic opportunities, competing outdoor activities... What do you plan to do this summer, on ice or off ice, to benefit your skating? :D
I will join the kids ice dance camp for 6 days (3 hours per day per week) this summer. It's going to be a different experience than the ice dance class I've been attending. I hope it's worth the time and $$$, and that ice is not dangerously crowded.
I will also take one adult group class. Hoping that the 90 minutes class has enough people signing up so it does not get canceled (again). If it gets canceled, there is still an awesome group class with excellent coaching, its only flaw is studio ice. Nearly impossible to warm up and do MITF, but guess I could live with it.
There is also the 4 hour adult skating clinic in August which is usually a good deal, but somehow I did not quite enjoy it last year. Undecided at the moment.
Other than that, I don't know how often can I practice. The rink closest to me is closed for extended maintenance, and I have a hard time finding convenient time slots at home rink's summer schedule to practice dance / MITF.
Guess it's time to make an off-ice training schedule and stick to it... Cough cough.
It's year round here. She might pick up an extra freestyle and maybe see about more time with a coach. I'd like for her to take intermed. moves by the end of summer. Just to take advantage of school being out. Then maybe she won't have to miss a day of school to test through spring.
It's club season so she has a comp every 3-4 weeks.
One night a week FS in addition to my normal schedule, but have to rearrange my normal schedule on some weekends, as it agilty trialing season and some weekends will be CRAZY with 7:30A first dog on the line when the trip is an hour away...
I'm lucky to have the summers off :) (I'm a teacher) I will still be teaching LTS a couple times a week, however the numbers have already greatly decreased due to the off season. I'm fortunate to be able to skate a lot over the summer, lots and lots of ice time where I live, so I'm usually on the ice almost everyday, which isn't too much different than usual but I get to do more skating for myself, yay!! I'd really like to go to a camp or clinic, however I'm really not sure which one to go to, and I know I'm running out of time...
I lose my set MWF 12 hour schedule to stupid irregular day off 10hour shifts. I'll try to skate on my day off, but it's a crap shoot as to what rink I go to and it's harder to meet up with and skate with my friends. I hope to skate the one day I'm off and also try to catch an occasional Saturday. I have lined up an occasional private lesson to replace my inability to attend my regular Tuesday LTS.
Well, all I know is it's mother's day tomorrow and I expect I will have the freestyle session all too myself.
Our adult ice time is getting cut nearly in half.. and even at that it's not a fully adult session - we are going to have 10 year old ice dancers out there too. It will be interesting to see how that works out.
I have two more weeks of skating and then I'm off for 3 weeks for vacation, then I'll be preparing for the first test session of the new "year" later this summer.. whenever they get around to scheduling it.
My last skate for the summer at my normal rink (5 mins from home) was on the 1st May as it is now shut for a plant change and other repairs. It is due to reopen approx mid July so until then my ice time will be much less and on much busier sessions than normal. My next nearest rink is also shutting nowish for an even longer summer break! 88)
We have ice time at 2 other rinks...
Rink 1
Olympic sized,
Miles away (3+ hours each way by public transport or 1hr 15 by car - no luck arranging a lift yet! :'( I don't drive...)
Only 1 2hr slot this month then a weekly 2hr slot starting from June. It will be really busy - full of competitive kids running programs. :-\
Rink 2
Curling sized rink (~45m by 30m) :-\
Closer with better and cheaper transport links! (public transport = only 1hr 15 away ;D, Car = 50mins)
Running once a week until the start of July. Session split into 2x1hr 15mins slots so should be a little quieter. Might have to miss 2 sessions due to work...
Both are modern rinks... with... *gasp*... heating! :o This should be a novelty! Lol! My home rink is freeeeeezing! Off to rink 1 today...
Lots and lots of off ice because our rink isnt due to open until August. However, there is a rink about an hr away, yet with my work schedule being all over the place..Im lucky to get their twice a month. However when my family and I go on vaca last week in June, our condo does have an ice rink..so I will be able to practice quite a bit during that week(which I am looking forward to). I will be also attending a seminar in two weeks in which the subject is my forte..acting and conveying emotion on the ice:) Coach is running it and says she expects me to lead everyone else..so that should be fun. But for right now..when Im not skating..Im trying to hit the gym more, work on my flexiblity and possibly a dance class(off ice).
Our local rink is closed til Oct, so I look forward to driving an hour plus in order to skate. hope to skate twice a week. goals--break in new boots, land a lutz, long term goal is the silver freeskate test, but that will take a while (next winter??)
My rink closes mid-June to mid-August, so I'll be making the trek up north to Newark or Wilmington, Delaware. If I can skate 1x per week I'll be happy! With my schedule, we'll see (I start nights this week). I'm more concerned with the fall, as I continue working nights, have 2 college classes, plus classes at work (I'll be in a fellowship program). Yikes!
My rink will be closed early June through (hopefully) no later than the first week of August. I'm competing and testing at the end of June, so that'll be challenging. I'm hoping to get to another rink about an hour away twice a week and get in at least 2 hours on my skates each time, but I'm concerned. As of now they never have freestyle after 6 p.m., and it's hard for me to get away from work before 4:30. Last summer, there was a late freestyle session one weeknight and then a quiet public right afterwards, so it worked out well.
At least gas prices are going down a bit...knock on wood.
There's talk of figure skating camp after my rink re-opens and before the kids go back to school. If that happens, I'm going to take a week's vacation then and do skating camp in the mornings. I just hope I'm not the only adult!
My main goal is to pass Adult 2 & 3 by the end of summer. I am going to try to skate 3-6 hours a week outside of my lessons.
My rink just closed for the summer, and won't reopen until August 25th. So, that means I can kick up more time at the gym building up some weak muscles AND head up north to the University of Delaware skating rinks (about 1.5 hour drive each way). Because of my work schedule, skating will be very sporadic and lessons will be pick-up only (my main coach is spending the summer out of the country). I'll live ;D
Main rink has skate camp every day in the summer - it is like summer camp for recreational skaters so the kids are not exactly monopolizing the ice with programs, big classes, etc., they are on the ice for two hours in the morning and then two hours in the afternoon and the rest of the time they do regular day-camp things like crafts and lunch and stuff. It is an interesting program because it takes place in the mall... kind of odd but is a good camp...
Anyway, I usually try to find out the week before how many kids will be in the next week's camp and what ages - if there aren't too many kids I will skate at my usual time at 10am in the morning a couple of days. Otherwise, most of the adults end up skating at noon until the kids get back on the ice at 2... they will do an ice-cut before the noon session so I can probably do some figures...
Otherwise, Sunday morning dance sessions - I will probably pick that up again in the summer just to have quiet ice with just ice-dancers...
Will probably do a few sessions at some of the other rinks in the area - there is an adult session Monday at noon that is very poorly attended and a little pricey but is worth it so you are not fighting the summer crowds...
Must also meet with my coach so I can have some figures to compete at the end of the summer. I am thinking BI 8 and Front Serpentine - Left foot start (I have competed the Right foot start for the last two years and placed first both times - I think another Right Foot start and some might be calling me a sandbagger :o - not really - the figures competitors are very forgiving!!!).
Keep thinking I will start more off-ice... maybe later...
::>)
My ice time doesn't really change over the summer. My summer goal is to improve my level 2 field moves to the point where my coach isn't tearing her hair out at the RFO and LFI three turns, and the mohawk exercise! Also, to finally land a decent loop!
My ice time doesn't change in the summer.
Only difference is we lose club ice (but it converts to freestyle), so I don't have to pay $4 for that hour, and there is an extra 15 minutes from the zamboni break.
I am going to pick up more ice this summer. I am doing a 6:45-7:45 am session Mon-Fri. Then I am going to do a group class in the evening once a week. I'm going all out this summer. May even pick up some more ice time after I get over the first week or two. I plan to add in some off-ice stuff, but first need to get used to skating 5 days a week first.
Pass. Canasta. Tango.
and maybe Rhythm Blues
No changes to ice schedule, and hopefully freestyle will be less crowded with the kids out (though as I do the 6:15am session it is usually empty!)
I have also discovered a 2hr public session on a saturday evening that is dead. The angry duty manager runs that one, so no "twirly stuff" (though apparently hockey races are fine? Ha). I'll be using those as an additional MITF session - actually better than most freestyle sessions!
This summer my skating schedule has worked out much better than expected! Fingers crossed that the lucky trend continues. Dance and moves have taken priority at the moment over freestyle because I am finally skating on big ice with group coach. Kind of want to push moves harder to see if I'll be ready to test some of them in addition to dance!
I plan I'm testing my Tango Romantica this summer so I signed up for the first 4 weeks of our program and will skate twice a week. My pal will partner me on the dance so I guess we will skate at least once a week to work on that. We will see how it goes tonight, I may have forgotten all the partnering.
Quote from: SynchKat on June 26, 2012, 06:52:05 PM
I plan I'm testing my Tango Romantica this summer so I signed up for the first 4 weeks of our program and will skate twice a week. My pal will partner me on the dance so I guess we will skate at least once a week to work on that. We will see how it goes tonight, I may have forgotten all the partnering.
How great that you are planning to test this dance! Congratulations!
I went back to look at this post to see what my summer skating plans were, LOL - I finally went to a dance - session - I get really frustrated because I can't do any of the dances by myself anymore and there are few men to skate with (the ones that used to skate are dead or don't skate anymore - wah!) - so one of my friends who is a coach at another rink helped me out- she did the Swing Dance with me and I shadowed her on some of the Preliminary Dances - it really helped! I realized that I had been working on figures and doing small tight lobes, working on edge quality, etc. that I could no longer do bigger, longer shallower lobes like in the Dutch Waltz!
So I vowed to start with the first dances and just work on doing big swing rolls, longer swing rolls, work on doing nice, neat forward mohawks like in the Swing Dance AT SPEED until I get over my fear of doing that stuff! Not sure what happened - I know as you get older your reflexes slow down but also I seem to have forgotten how to bend my knees which is infinitely essential to skating!!
So today went better - YES! ;)
Yay Icedancer2 for today going better. I enjoy working in basics like swing rolls, etc.
Today went well for for my first tango practice. I think it should go pretty well, just have to work on my stamina for 2 patterns.
The goal is to test prelim dances (Dutch waltz, canasta tango, and rhythm blues) and pre bronze moves in the field at the end of summer test session.
Bronze moves will be a reach racing against time. I highly doubt there is time to get any pre bronze dances ready (cha cha or fiesta tango, swing dance is not even close), considering the holds change and higher expectations from judges compared to the first tests.
Why not?
Why can't you test the two moves tests and the prelim dances?
I'm debating testing them myself.. I found out our test session isn't until August so I have some time to actually hire a dance coach (I already know the patterns, but partnering - YIKES) and work on them before the test session :)
If I do that, I'll be taking 6 tests at that test session.. two moves, a FS, and the 3 dance patterns.
Well, I figure only to test what is rock solid as the nerves will factor in... But I have about a month and half or two months, lots could still happen! Getting partnering lessons at some point I s'pose.
Very exciting day...we did 2 rounds of the Tang Romantica...and they weren't half bad. I was exhausted afterwards, my partner was too, but we got through it. I just have to work on the start of the second side where the lady steps over the man's stretched leg. I hve always had an issue with this step but finally figured out today that don't have to do a giant step over his leg. Now to add a bit of style and I will be good to go. :)
It's time for my rink's annual "end of summer exhibition" again. I did it last year (http://skatingforums.com/index.php/topic,1976.msg19363.html#msg19363), in preparation for Christmas show audition and thought it was fun!
I don't have a program this year but contemplate to swap the contents of my old program to suit the bronze FS test. The only problem is time. Next week I prepare for dance/moves test and then leave for a 10 day trip on west coast, the exhibition is 3 days after I come back home. The bright side is, where I stay is close to the Pasadena rink in California... To bring my skates or not bring my skates?
ETA: just signed up, will do the old program from last year and hope the sit spin is still around...
I've been going to two rinks this summer. One has good weekend freestyle hours, the other one, good evening weekdays. I just found out the weekday one is closing for two weeks to do maintenance, and it happens to coincide with me having guests or going out of town on weekends. So I may not get to skate for two weeks. Oh well.
Fortunately, my rink gets ice back the second week in August, and I'm taking a staycation that week and plan to do lots of skating.
Encouraged by the rink exhibition program last night, we decided to modify the program and test bronze FS... this month!!!
Quote from: jjane45 on August 07, 2012, 01:50:07 PM
Encouraged by the rink exhibition program last night, we decided to modify the program and test bronze FS... this month!!!
You are MORE than ready - you'll rock it! I'm aiming for doing mine whenever the "next" club test session is, along with silver moves :)
Quote from: sarahspins on August 07, 2012, 02:29:06 PM
You are MORE than ready - you'll rock it! I'm aiming for doing mine whenever the "next" club test session is, along with silver moves :)
I surely hope so! Thank you very much for your kind words.
Silver moves test is big!!! If I manage to get ready this season, I'll probably test that by itself without distractions like FS or dance. How often do you have test sessions?