Collegiate Figure Skating

[Isk8NYC]

One of my favorite high school skaters is now away at college and I miss her a lot.  She was a ray of sunshine, even on her worst days.  The saddest part is that there's no rink within a two-hour drive of her campus and freshmen cannot have cars anyway.  So, she's off the ice except for trips back home.

How popular is collegiate skating?  Do most skaters stop skating once they get to college?

[Clarice]

Sadly, I think most do.  A big factor is accessibility of the rink.  Neither of the colleges in my town have rinks of their own, and over all the years I've skated, the only collegiate skaters we've had on freestyles were local girls who stayed home for college.  A few of the college kids taught in the Learn to Skate program, but none skated for themselves.  Groups of sorority girls come down sometimes for public skate, but that's about it.

[Skittl1321]

My rink is in a college town.  Every year we have one or two new skaters show up, however, most seem to be high level (novice - senior) and they are only skating once or twice a week.

So all the lower level skaters aren't continuing, and the high level ones are no longer training.


I think the biggest issue with collegiate skating is cost.  There is no way I could have afforded what I spend right now when I was in college, and I skate 3 hours a week with 1 private lesson.  Skating is just really expensive.  Time definitely is an issue for serious training, but not to skate occasionally.

[jjane45]

Neither of my rinks has convenient access to public transportation, without a car the commute would be miserably long.

Outside of travel, i wonder how likely do parents continue to pay for skating expenses?

Around here, ice times should not be an issue for college students, there is plenty of empty ice during the day. Not sure about rinks else where. Early morning skating and college don't mix, unless your name is Rachael Flatt...

[Sierra]

I know one college girl who still skates full-time. She passed her Junior freeskate a few months ago and is beginning to land dbl axels/3sals.

All of the other girls either moved away or only skate once in a while.

I'm taking three college courses right now and still skate but I'm dual enrollment, so not really comparable.

[PinkLaces]

I know of a couple girls who skated all through college.  We are lucky as there are many rinks on campuses in this state as most colleges have a hockey team. 

My DD leaves for college (incoming freshmen) on Friday and is bringing her skates.  Her dorm is near the ice rink and she can skate for free over her lunch hour.  They also have a syncro team which she would like to join.  These are her plans.  What will actually happen I don't know.  The nearest club with lessons is a 20 minute drive away and she will have no car.  She is going to work with her dance coach over the winter break (6 weeks long) and again in the summer.

[SynchKat]

Most of our universities have varsity skating teams.  Many universities have their own rinks.  I am from Canada, land of hockey.  . Where I live the private boys schools have their own campus rinks!  I know a few people who finished up their tests while at uni and who skated on the skating teams.  Most will have a synchro team and then they have singles, similar dance and pairs events. 

[VAsk8r]

I have no idea how many figure skaters enter the university in my town every year, but around this time every year we get a few new college-age faces, mostly at publics. Like Skittl said, they're all really high-level. A couple end up teaching Learn to Skate and become semi-regular faces. One now helps out with our Theatre on Ice program. But for the most part, they come sporadically.

When I was in Learn to Skate, there were always a few students from another college about 40 miles away who took it for gym credit. I don't know if the students from our local university really even know the rink exists. It's not that far from  them and accessible by public transportation, but I guess with all there is to do around campus, going skating with the townies seems pretty lame.

[Dreaswi]

The question seems odd to me as we have the 2011 senior ladies collegiate champ on the ice everyday. She is one of the sweetest girls.

[chowskates]

I started skating in college. I was really lucky that we had a rink on campus, *and* we could sign up for figure skating as a gym class at school!

Cost: $70 a semester for skating 3 times a week (class was one-hour each but our coach has 3 classes back-to-back, and allowed us to stay on ice for all 3 hours so long as we promised we weren't skipping lectures!).

We had skaters at various different levels then, not all took the class, but many also skated at freestyle sessions during the local club's ice time. We also went to intercollegiate competitions, it was a lot of fun.

[jjane45]

The question seems odd to me as we have the 2011 senior ladies collegiate champ on the ice everyday. She is one of the sweetest girls.

Some skaters will skate through college, but the general trend is to quit regular training.

I started skating in college. I was really lucky that we had a rink on campus, *and* we could sign up for figure skating as a gym class at school!

Lucky girl! My college has an outdoor rink the size of a stamp, with bumpy surface that killed my blades faster than synthetic ice. I skated there exactly once :/

[sarahspins]

For me the problem was mostly time... between being in class, and work (I was not working at the rink any more in college, I took an office job for more flexibility in my hours, and later worked as a grader for one of my professors) and finding time to study and eek out a social life, skating really got put on hold because I couldn't make it to the rink when I needed to.  Money was also a factor since I was no longer skating for "free" as an employee.  I went from skating 5 days a week for a few hours every day to maybe skating once or twice a week for an hour when I could make it work between classes.