Best way to learn?

[Sooky]

Hi, I am returning to skating after being a keen, but self-taught skater as a teenager (now 36). The things that seemed effortlessly easy 20 years ago are now so much harder (e.g. crossovers - gives you an idea of how much skill I've lost) and I admit I am nervous about taking risks. Two children and a busy job mean injuries would be 'a v. bad thing'!

I am practising on my own at the rink, and have been using books and instructional videos to build a programme of skills to develop and practise. I realise that a good teacher is probably the best way to go, especially at my age, but wondered what difference people feel a teacher makes and whether books/videos are ever really adequate?

Would really appreciate your thoughts.

Sooky

 

[Clarice]

I think you really need a coach. Books and videos can be useful, but since you can't see yourself skate (unless you're able to videotape every practice session), you need the coach's perspective as an outside pair of eyes to watch and evaluate what you're doing. A good coach can also try different approaches and ways of explaining something until they find what clicks for you. I think paying for lessons is worth it, to make sure you learn things correctly in the first place. Undoing bad habits is no fun.

 

[megsk8z]

(A quick "HI" to Clarice!)

Get a coach! Join an adult group for lessons. I have both group lessons (a regular laugh riot) and private lessons (a painful reminder that I'm not as good as I'd like to be). The group lessons are *so* much fun and we adults are very supportive of one another. This does not mean we won't laugh at you when you mess up (we all get to laugh sooner or later), but it definitely means you'll get a lot of encouragement from fellow skaters. Group lessons are a great idea for the monetarily challenged as well.

 

[julietvalcouer]

I third the suggestion of getting a coach. Maybe it's just because I don't learn well how to do phyiscal things (be it skating or knife cuts) just by reading or watching a video, but I find it very useful to have my coaches, who can try different methods if I'm not getting something. Sometimes something Caroline says will make sense, other times what Nick says registers better, but either way it's good to have people there watching who can come up with different ideas for fixing problems.

 

[Sooky]

Thanks guys - that's really helpful and encouraging.
I'll let you know how it goes, but meanwhile if anyone feels like sharing their pleasure and pain describing how they learned and continue to learn, it would be terrific to hear from you.

 

[Sooky]

Post-script!

Thanks for the encouragement. Really - due to your responses I not only took myself to the rink today (as I have been on a daily basis for the last few weeks - I am currently on 'research leave' which makes it possible for me to claim 'thinking time on ice' at the moment and skate more ), but I also approached one of the ice coaches after my session and am booked up for my first lesson on Friday - eek !

Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[CDMM1991]

Thanks for the encouragement. Really - due to your responses I not only took myself to the rink today (as I have been on a daily basis for the last few weeks - I am currently on 'research leave' which makes it possible for me to claim 'thinking time on ice' at the moment and skate more ), but I also approached one of the ice coaches after my session and am booked up for my first lesson on Friday - eek !

Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how it goes.

Great to hear! Good luck, and most importantly, no matter how it's going, HAVE FUN!

 

[lindasaffell]

A little bit like your situation

Thanks guys - that's really helpful and encouraging.
I'll let you know how it goes, but meanwhile if anyone feels like sharing their pleasure and pain describing how they learned and continue to learn, it would be terrific to hear from you.

I am older than you, and was probably never the skater you were in my younger days :disapp: but I did skate some, and took some lessons, as a twentysomething. Now I finally have the time and finances to skate more regularly and I love to skate. That doesn't mean that I'm a good skater yet though!!

I absolutely recommend the group lessons for all the reasons that others have mentioned. I think we adults really NEED the camaraderie of other skaters. Also, seeing someone demonstrate the moves is a lot different than reading about them, at least, it is for me. I DO have one of the technique books, and I tend to pore over it off-ice, but I don't really think that it would be sufficient to help me to learn or recall what I was taught about a move.

I have now taken two series of group adult lessons, and the two instructors were very different in approach, and that, too, has helped. I learned a lot from my first instructor, but I see that I'm also going to learn a lot from the second (this will only be my second week in series two).

I never knew how to do crossovers before, but man, I can tell you they sure seem scary to try and do as an adult! They are one of the things I keep reading that book for. They seem very simple, very clear off the ice. But when I get onto the ice and actually talk myself into trying them, I feel flustered. I can sorta manage ONE forward crossover at a time, but don't dare to try another or I just sort of drift to a stop. BUT, last week the instructor had us doing some exercises that began to show me more of the outside edges that I think I need to "get" securely to be able to progress.

Believe it or not even though this sounds pretty pathetic when I write about my learning, I really AM learning -- I can tell that my body is getting stronger for skating and I can generate a little more speed now, and at least I am TRYING some crossovers!

Keep at it, I talked to a man in his eighties at my rink, and he started when he was in his fifties, and he's a very elegant looking skater! He's kind of one of my role models!

 

[Sooky]

Thanks for this. I think you're right about the camaraderie as adults. Although I tend to think of skating as a solitary activity (and when I am doing it, I tend to be concentrating so hard I must look rather mad and certainly like someone who should be left alone in her solitude!), I find the stories and shared experiences in this forum so helpful. I always have it in mind when I step on to the ice and think about the challenges ahead. Keep posting - I love reading all these stories and they keep me going as I mutter 'where's that sweet spot gone now?' to myself in a cold rink in London!

 

[lindasaffell]

Well, I had one of my lessons tonight. I am about right smack in the middle of the pack of students! Not the quickest and not the worst. I think I will really learn a lot from this instructor -- more edge work than I have ever been taught, yay! There is a Valentine Skating Competition at the rink on Sunday, I wish that I could go and watch, but I have a meeting if it doesn't snow, that day. I guess I'll have to settle for watching some Olympics ;-)

 

[Alexei'sgirl]

I started taking lessons two years ago (to the day next Tuesday), and that was a big step for me, having only ever been on skates one other time in my life, back in college. I started with group lessons much like others have indicated and it was a great experience. I stayed with group lessons for 18 months before switching over to private lessons. I've been extremely fortunate, in that I immediately clicked with the coach I started with on day one in group lessons, and I've been with her ever since, through all the group sessions and now with private lessons. I can't express how incredible it is to have a coach, much less one that you feel extremely comfortable with. For me, my greatest challenge in skating is my mental blocks. I'm my own worst enemy as I over think everything. The best thing for me in having a coach is that she has confidence in me and what I can do. She knows when to push me to do more because whether I believe or not, she knows that I can do something. Fortunately, I have an immense amount of trust in her. That's what makes it work for me.

Like many others have talked about, I too have the books, and I read them over and over, but they will never take the place of a coach.

 

[Sooky]

Trust is such an important element in any educational relationship isn't it? I was thinking about the ways I teach medical students (I'm an academic) when they are brand new to an area - it's all about being able to remember what it's like 'not to know' and that is the thing teachers in any field have to hang on to.

It's also, as Alexei'sgirl says, having someone who knows you well enough and takes into account not just your ability but also all those complex human emotions that are added to the mix when we're learning something. The more I think about it, the tougher I think it must be to be an ice skating coach with adults!

And well done Lindasaffell - the middle is a great place to be! :agree: Being at either end of any distribution curve is often tough. What are you working on at the moment?

 

[lindasaffell]

And well done Lindasaffell - the middle is a great place to be! :agree: Being at either end of any distribution curve is often tough. What are you working on at the moment?

A true one-footed glide. I'm working on getting my free leg back and past the skating leg, and on bending the skating knee but NOT the free leg. I'm working on getting going backwards. And now when I do swizzles, I am working on using the outside edges as well as the inside edges. I get wobbly on the outside edges - I had always just pushed on inside and then pulled with the inside edges also on swizzles. That's one of the things I think I probably might never have thought of without an instructor to show it and get me to do.

Boy, all of that sounds so simple when you think about it or write it, yet it's plenty hard work and a challenge for me so far! (Then again, I have been skating now for oh, about two months so I have room to grow.)

Linda

 

[Rusty Blades]

With 8 hours since my return to the ice I am working on my one foot forward glides, both edges - right foot is not bad, left still needs work - and just working up to backward stroking - still haven't got to the point of backward one foot glides yet - hope to in the next couple of hours. My goal for this season is to have all 8 of my edges back before "Spring Skate School" in April. When I am comfortable on all the edges, then I feel I am in a position to start re-learning the "skills" (moves in the field).

 

[Mrs Redboots]

a cold rink in London!

Which cold rink? I'm mostly at Streatham.....

 

[Petlover]

Getting a coach is the best thing. The other thing I do (except in competition) is wear the gel knee pads and hard plastic roller blade wrist guards. At first the kids made fun of me, but I just laughed and pointed out that at 50+ years old I don't heal as fast as they do!

 

[lindasaffell]

Getting a coach is the best thing. The other thing I do (except in competition) is wear the gel knee pads and hard plastic roller blade wrist guards. At first the kids made fun of me, but I just laughed and pointed out that at 50+ years old I don't heal as fast as they do!

I'm glad to learn that those knee pads get your vote. I just received mine. I was a little discouraged that they say they are designed to be worn between TWO pair of tights. I haven't been wearing skating dresses, so tights are really not part of my normal skating attire. I'll have to look at the retention sleeves now, I suppose :sheesh:

I got a practice session of sorts in this afternoon -- in anticipation of this big storm that is going to dump on us over the weekend. It was a family skate session, so EVERYONE was out on the ice. Still I managed to do a few of the exercises I'm working on. I'll save backward skating until one of my morning practice sessions when it's lovely and quiet.

 

[Sooky]

I know the feeling about busy rinks - especially as its half-term this coming week in the UK which means the ice will be packed.

I will go a few times, but it'll be more following my children (aged 11 and 8) round the ice and picking them up when they fall, than rediscovering quite how difficult those pesky outside edges can be and catching sight of my free leg reflected in the sides and thinking "that's no where near straight!" :banging:

My newly rediscovered 'skills' (and I use that term very loosely indeed) feel so fragile and undeveloped that I wonder if 10 days away from proper practice will mean I am back to the very beginning when I return . . .Ho hum, I'll stick with it no matter what though!

 

[Sooky]

P.S to Rusty Blades - What's a Spring Skate School? I could take an intelligent guess , but would be interested to hear a bit more detail.

 

[Rusty Blades]

Hi Sooky!

Here in central Canada, most of the rinks close down in March when the weather starts to warm up and it becomes more expensive to keep ice. A couple stay open longer and offer more intense (and crowded) opportunities for figure skaters to extend their seson. "Spring Skate School" is one such program that runs through April and May. There is also a summer skating program that runs through part of July and August. Prices are proportionally higher and both programs require the skater to be working with a coach, I presume in an effort to keep the serious skaters going while discouraging the "casual" skaters.