Skating Club/Private Coach Advice (Canada)

Hi, I’m not really sure if it’s okay to post this question here but I’ll take the plunge Admins, please delete if not allowed.

We’re based in Ontario, Canada and looking for advice on which figure skating club to join as well as a private coach who would be willing to take a 3.5 year-old and bring him to the competitive level.

We’re currently with Canadian Ice Academy but we’re relocating and will have to switch clubs. The clubs we’re considering are Skate Oakville and Burlington Skating Centre.

Any Canadian mommies/daddies of young skaters out there? I would really appreciate your advice. Thanks!

The Burlington Skating Centre is a very well respected club known for taking many skaters to the competitive level and beyond. Kirsten Moore-Towers, for example, spent most of her singles competitive career as a member of their club prior to taking up pairs skating. I would definitely suggest enrolling your son there. Good luck.

I've skated at all three clubs as an adult skater and my daughters went through the CANskate program and early STARskate program in Burlington. They all have good facilities and good coaches. At the Canskate level, there's really no significant difference in either Skate Oakville or Burlington Skating Centre. Both clubs have good elite skating coaching and I don't think you can go wrong at either centre. I think finding the best coaching match for your child would be more important at this stage then which club. Private lessons early on will accelerate his skills immensely. Go to watch some of the sessions, talk to the skating development directors of either club and see how they can help. At the end of the day, how happy your child is with his skating experience will shape his desire and ability to become a competitive skater. Karon Dalby the learn to skate director at Skate Oakville or Mike Tokaryk at BSC are excellent resources for discussing your child's needs. Good luck

While I know nothing about Canadian skating clubs, my daughter started skating at 3 (that was 8 years ago). I also live in an area with two very good skating clubs - SC of Northern Virginia (produced Micheal Weiss) and Washington FSC (Ashley Wagner called it home for years). And at least in my area, coaches change rinks. Some of my daughter's current coaches were at the other rink / skating club 10 years ago. So when you ask which is best, you may be wanting to know which is currently best but the advice you may be receiving is outdated. (This is not meant was an insult to any of the previous commentors - their advice may be extremely current).

I think the most important things a parent of a very young skater needs to consider are: 1) is the coach teaching good technique and 2) can the child / coach understand each other (this is more than a language issue - it has to with personal skills between two people). Unless you have these two ingredients, you are throwing away your time and money.

Remember - you can think a coach is great but if your child does not understand what the coach is explaining, the child will not make any progress. And just because a child gets along with Coach A at 4 year old, does not mean the child will get along with a same coach at aged 10, 15, and 18. And that is what make life as a skating parent so hard - we are paying the bills but the real relationship is between your child and their coach. Sometimes a child will tell a parent if there is an issue (equipment, coaching, injury) and sometimes they won't -its alot of guessing for the parent.

Another big thing to consider is convenience. When my daughter was 4, it was easy to get her to those daytime freestyle sessions since she only went to preschool 2x a week. Kindergarten was trickier but doable but since her school let out at noon everyday. By second grade, we were going to the rink twice a day to get the coaches we wanted.

My piece of advice - for a child under 5, find a coach that teaches good technique who gets along with your child at a rink that is convenient for you. Understand that at this young age, they will have very slow progress since they are lacking motor skills and strength - both of those come with age.

Oakville - Michelle Leigh runs the competitive program there. Also IIRC there is a boys session
Burlington - many national level skaters and Nexxice synchro runs there -also runs out of several arenas IIRC

So really, whichever one is closer and session times work for you at this point and re-assess as time goes on for the right fit.

Thank you!

Thank you so much!