small rink vs large rink

[jenniturtle]

My DD skates at a small rink but will be competing against girls from the "big" city rinks. Does anyone have any suggustions of things she can do to prepare herself for competitions? Our rink has 2 coaches, no off ice time. The other rinks are about 2 hours away and as I work full time and she is in school it would be next to impossible for her to train there. I would like her to have the same advantages as the "big" city skaters but am clueless as to how to make that happen.

[Purple Sparkly]

Do you mean small as in size of clientele versus size of rink surface?

[Clarice]

This is a difficult situation.  Skaters who train with many other good skaters have an advantage in that each practice session is a "competition".  One gets better simply by training with other good skaters - you tend to be faster, have better presentation, and try to outdo each other with skills.  A skater training in isolation will have to work harder to do these things all by themselves.  Does your daughter take dance classes?  That can really help with presentation skills.  Ballet, in particular, helps with body positioning.  She'll have to work hard on power - timed drills, for instance.  If the skaters you train with aren't especially fast, you don't have anything to compare yourself to, so a stopwatch can be helpful.  Be careful that she remains courteous on the ice, though, and doesn't scare the younger skaters as she works on speed and power, or she'll become very unpopular very quickly.  Get video of her competitions so she can watch later.  If the city clubs offer any seminars or workshops on the weekends, try to take her.

[Isk8NYC]

IIRC, your DD is a Basic Skills skater, correct? 

Try to find an off-ice program for her.  A cross-training program such as dance/ballet, as Clarice suggested, Tae Kwon Do or gymnastics can really help build strength and conditioning.

Ask your skating coach or director about options.  They might be thinking about offering an off-ice or on-ice power skating class, but aren't sure if there's enough interest.  You could be doing a service for all the skaters just by inquiring.

There are online workouts and DVDs available to help with off-ice training.  The coaches might have some that they could lend you so you can check it out before making the investment.  ($40 or more apiece)

I second the weekend workshops if they're targeted, but always ask your skating coach for their advice first.  They might not suggest a particular workshop or clinic because the skater might be too low-level.  You want kids to be challenged, not left behind in the workshops.

Ask the parents of some of the higher-level skaters what they have their kids doing.  There might be an off-ice class at a nearby location; one of our best trainers uses a basketball facility for his group training classes.

[jumpingbeansmom]

My DD skates at a small rink but will be competing against girls from the "big" city rinks. Does anyone have any suggustions of things she can do to prepare herself for competitions? Our rink has 2 coaches, no off ice time. The other rinks are about 2 hours away and as I work full time and she is in school it would be next to impossible for her to train there. I would like her to have the same advantages as the "big" city skaters but am clueless as to how to make that happen.

My dd beats girls from 'big rinks' all the time.   We have a small club, with only a few coaches as well....but the big club kids don't always beat her.

[FigureSpins]

My dd beats girls from 'big rinks' all the time.   We have a small club, with only a few coaches as well....but the big club kids don't always beat her.

I don't think the OP was worried about winning or losing - her point was that the larger rinks offer more programming for figure skating because they have more clients.  Their rink has a Basic Skills program and some freestyle sessions.  No Bridge, off-ice or clinics.

I don't know about your daughter's ballet and stretching classes, but you've said that her off-ice classes are at the rink.  A rink only offers programs like that if they can be profitable, meaning enough skaters to sign up for them.  Your club may be small by your definition, but it's not *that* small if it can support two off-ice classes each week.

Our club is pretty big, but there are no off-ice group classes at the rink.  Every time they try to start one, it dies out.  I think it's because of the expense, but our skaters end up using private trainers which is even more expensive. 

Our on-ice Power Skating class has a core group of skaters who keep it going, but very few new skaters join it because the current skaters are so much faster and stronger.  The newbies are intimidated.

[jenniturtle]

Do you mean small as in size of clientele versus size of rink surface?

Our rink is small in both rink size and clientele size. We have no club although many of us have expressed intrest in supporting the creation of one. A group of mothers have also let the coaches know that off ice classes would be met with attendance by our DD's. They may offer some camps this summer, but a funky times that would prohibit me from taking her since i work 8 hours a day. She would need to be dropped off at 8am not 11 or 12.

[FigureSpins]

We had a very talented off-ice coach (he was a trainer, not a skating coach) who ran a semi-private lesson twice a week.  He took his hourly rate and divided it among the students who attended each day.  It meant that the cost was variable and if skaters dropped out, the remaining students paid higher fees.

To clarify, let's say his charge was $90/hour. 
If 9 kids attended on Tuesday the 1st, the cost was invoiced at $10/skater.
If only 2 kids showed up, the cost was invoiced at $45 per skater.

I didn't appreciate the variable-pricing structure because I was under the impression that it was a rink-run drop-in course.  If you really do have enough skaters to commit, you could hire a trainer from outside the rink.  You might have to go to a nearby gym or workout center where s/he rents space.  However, you should verify the pricing structure and get committment from the other skaters for blocks at a time.  Once Spring hits, you could lose one or two skaters and everyone else would have to carry the costs.

Just another option to consider.

[kssk8fan]

If I think back, there were a few differences between small rink - large rink regarding competitions.   Mainly, the size of practice ice and being able to deal with that.  I know my daughter FREAKED on practice ice with over 20 skaters all skating!  In fact, for the longest time, that was the worst part of the competition for her.  She didn't know how to maneuver and all of the other skaters basically just scared the living &%@#$ out of her!  I don't know how to put that more eloquently!!!  How did we overcome this???  Well, she went to a camp and basically had to learn how to skate on crowded sessions!  It worked, not necessarily what she went to camp for but hey, whatever works right!   

We don't have a large skating population at our home rink and the sessions are never really crowded.  Some are more than others but in the grand scheme of things, it's pretty light.  When my daughter is preparing for a competition, her coach has her skate her program on the most crowded session we have to simulate competition practice ice.  It's something that started years ago and it's just stuck.  Her goal when she was younger was to jump even if skaters were close to her.  Now, this was for someone (my daughter) who thought she needed at least half the rink empty in order to jump!  HAHA 

Every competition is a learning experience for us, still! Just because your skater is skating against kids from a "large rink" doesn't necessarily mean they are better!  It's intimidating sure, but sometimes a smaller rink has it's benefits. 

[Skittl1321]

To clarify, let's say his charge was $90/hour. 
If 9 kids attended on Tuesday the 1st, the cost was invoiced at $10/skater.
If only 2 kids showed up, the cost was invoiced at $45 per skater.

Wow- if I was the of those parents of one of the two kids who showed up, I likely would have pulled the kid and said never mind!

[jumpingbeansmom]

I don't think the OP was worried about winning or losing - her point was that the larger rinks offer more programming for figure skating because they have more clients.  Their rink has a Basic Skills program and some freestyle sessions.  No Bridge, off-ice or clinics.

I don't know about your daughter's ballet and stretching classes, but you've said that her off-ice classes are at the rink.  A rink only offers programs like that if they can be profitable, meaning enough skaters to sign up for them.  Your club may be small by your definition, but it's not *that* small if it can support two off-ice classes each week.

Our club is pretty big, but there are no off-ice group classes at the rink.  Every time they try to start one, it dies out.  I think it's because of the expense, but our skaters end up using private trainers which is even more expensive. 

Our on-ice Power Skating class has a core group of skaters who keep it going, but very few new skaters join it because the current skaters are so much faster and stronger.  The newbies are intimidated.

I see what you mean.