Young children's first competitions

[jlspink22]

My 4.5 year old's group coach/teacher mentioned that I could easily put her into a "tot" competition. Ok-so as mom I have no idea what this means for me but based on USFSA she is skating at a Basic 3 level and can do some "tricks" (ie an almost correct waltz jump, one foot spins etc) She's for sure a show off (for better or worse) and Loves a crowd.  Should I consider private lessons or joining a skating club or what? And if I'm totally off my rocker feel free to tell me. I'm sure it will save me money.


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[DressmakingMomma]

My daughter has done a couple of basic skills competitions and they are fun. It gives kids a chance to get out there and gain performing experience, be inspired by more experienced skaters, and usually take home a ribbon or trophy (both competitions DD did all received something no matter where they placed). She didn't have many private lessons for the first one at a basic 5 level - just once per week for the month before the competition - I'm not sure that all coaches would be willing to do that though. At a tot level, a simple $30 skating dress is appropriate so you don't have to spend a bunch of money on a costume. You don't have to join a skate club, but I think you need to have a USFSA basic membership, which is something like $15.

Just beware - it's a slippery slope. We started in simple group lessons less then two years ago and now DD has two privates a week, practices an addition 2 days a week, and requires expensive skates/blades. It adds up so fast, that sometimes I feel like I'm gonna faint when I think about what we are spending on skating right now.

[nicklaszlo]

Should I consider private lessons or joining a skating club?

Yes.

[jlspink22]

I'm already anticipating the cost, since she's always been in a number of activities (dance, gymnastics). I am getting frustrated with group lessons though. One place we started at is fairly small and has less distractions, but they don't have a club, or much in the way of a coaching staff. The place we started today is huge and my 40" kid is getting a bit "lost in the shuffle" behind the average 6-8 yr old in the class. However if she has someone go over what they did (ie me) later in public skate she gets it right away. There's one more rink in my area but they have bad return-calls-itis as I say... I'm about to just send videos to a club coach and ask them to point me in a direction.

[techskater]

I would consider private lessons before joining a club for now because, unless you need to join the club to get on sessions for lesson time (ie, club ice), it's not worth the money until your skater is ready to take their first (non basic skills) USFS test.  If your skater likes his/her group coach, see if he/she has any openings.  A 15, 20 or 30 minute lesson once a week can do wonders to help your skater progress faster.

[jlspink22]

Thanks! Oh and if she does do a basic skills competition would this suffice? .  It's my 18$ eBay find lol.

[ChristyRN]

That will work for a basic skills comp.

[Rachelsk8s]

I agree with techskater, I would definitely look into private lessons before joining a club.  And the dress is perfect for a basic skills competition!! Adorable

[Gabby on Ice]

She will need a private coach if she wants to compete. And, no, you don't have to worry about joining a club until she is ready to take her first official test. Right now, she will be representing the basic skills program that she is a member of, which happens to be the rink she skates at. I think that dress would be good for a basic skills comp.

[Schmeck]

Can one still become an Individual Member at USFSA? We did that route for a few years between clubs, and it actually made testing much easier, as we didn't need to get signatures.

[blue111moon]

The dress is fine for Basic Skills and probably is nicer that what some of the skaters in Tot events might show up in.  The key to Basic Skills competitions is to have fun without a lot of pressure. 

I'm going to go against the majority here and say, no, she doesn't need private lessons just to compete in a Tot or lower-level Basic Skills competition as long as it's the elements event.  If she wants to skate a program, to music, then yes, she will need some one-on-one time to learn the program.  My club encourages our group lesson skaters to enter our Basic Skills competition every spring and the coaches will generally organise a little mini-group lesson duirng the post-lesson free time for the skaters who will be competing, just to run through the elements and the way they will have to perform them at the competition.  If she wants to skate a program to music, then a weekly 15 minute lesson for as many weeks as it will take her to learn the program and some extra practise time would be good - generally it's three to four weeks prior to the competition but that depends on the skater since some take longer to memorize programs than others.

As for club membership, if she's enrolled in a USFS Basic Skills program, she will have a Basic Skills membership already, either through the rink or the club that hosts the lesson program.  Many skaters I know ( and mine is a low-level club so I know a lot of them) stick with group lessons until they get through most of the Basic badges and then slowly transition to private lessons once they are in the Free Skate Badge area.  She won't need a full club membership until she gets into testing Pre-Preliminay Moves In the Field which is a ways down the road at this point. 
I'm not going to get into the which rink program is better issue.  All I'll say is that bigger isn't always better. 

[PhysicsOnIce]

Can one still become an Individual Member at USFSA? We did that route for a few years between clubs, and it actually made testing much easier, as we didn't need to get signatures.

Yes you can still join the USFSA as an individual member.
according to the USFSA website:
The 2013-14 individual membership is valid from 7/1/13 through 6/30/14. The cost of individual membership is $120 per year, which includes an electronic copy of the U.S. Figure Skating rulebook, a subscription to SKATING and a lapel pin (first year only). Individual members receive all the benefits of membership.

[jlspink22]

I'm not going to get into the which rink program is better issue.  All I'll say is that bigger isn't always better.

I think I just need to make sure the program is a good fit for her.  The smaller rink only has saturday class which isn't working for us this summer.

She can be easily distracted if there is a lot of chaos (which at this bigger place, the group lessons must have 75 kids on the ice at once).  From dance/gymnastics experiences, she also does best with someone who can be hands on but is discipline/tough/commands presence (if that makes sense).