Skaters with Jobs/responsibilities

[sk8chis]

Hey guys so i’m a little frustrated.
When i first started to come back to skating in February i decided the best way was to refresh and regroup.
So i bought new boots and blades. Then I had problems with the distributor. Fast forward I FINALLY get my skates, after TWO and a HALF months, and I start skating. The problems with the distributor caused me to miss the deadline to join the group lessons. Bummer but whatever, I decided to just regroup and practice on my own.

My old job sucks. The girls were not very nice and the scheduling was inconsistent, meaning they did the scheduling every Tuesday so i had to basically fit my skating around my work schedule.
It’s hard to commit to lessons, group or private, when your availability is different every week. So i quit and looked for a new job.

I feel like i’m in a game of tug of war with life and skating. I only skate one day a week right now, which is not enough at all. I would really like to bump it up to two minimum, but ideally I would love to skate at least four. I would like to join the next group lesson sessions, and continue with my coach once a week, but i’m not sure how to configure my new jobs schedule around it. I wish I could do morning freestyles but I’m not at the appropriate level in my opinion.

I’ve joined a flexibility/stretch class tomorrow and i’m excited, because the youtube videos I’ve followed for stretching left me abnormally sore. I’m thinking maybe on the weeks I can’t get to the rink I can do some off ice? I really need to work more on strength, flexibility, and endurance but besides skating, exercise and I have never really been on speaking terms haha. I’m humble enough to admit I will probably be very inconsistent with off ice until I can kick the lazy habit out of my system.

Those of you with jobs/responsibilities how do you work skating into it? Feel free to share tips, when you skate/how often, what do you do when you can’t get to the rink?

 

[karne]

I suppose the first thing I keep is perspective. Skating is wonderful and love and I enjoy it so much - but skating doesn't pay the bills, put a roof over my head, food in my stomach, etc. So, work will always have to be the priority.

We have fixed shifts at work - my schedule is the same every week, though different times on different days. So I bargained, when we first were asked for preferences. I asked for the earlier shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays so I could go to the rink after work. In turn, I work later shifts on other days.

Something I recommend - I'm not quite sure where you're at in the workforce in terms of experience, or work type - but this is generally pretty good advice: put yourself in the manager's good books. I don't mean butt-kissing or anything like that. Just build yourself a rep of being a good, dependable, competent worker. Volunteer to work late or overtime when it's needed and you can. Stick your hand up for skeleton crew shifts, say if your company needs a minimum staff on a public holiday. If you build yourself that rep of being a willing, team player who is reliable, management will usually be more willing to be accommodating when you need favours in return.

I would compare the sessions available at your rink and then your work hours. Even if you only get two work days a week at the rink it's better than none, and consider skating weekend days to make up for it.

 

[sk8chis]

I suppose the first thing I keep is perspective. Skating is wonderful and love and I enjoy it so much - but skating doesn't pay the bills, put a roof over my head, food in my stomach, etc. So, work will always have to be the priority.

We have fixed shifts at work - my schedule is the same every week, though different times on different days. So I bargained, when we first were asked for preferences. I asked for the earlier shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays so I could go to the rink after work. In turn, I work later shifts on other days.

Something I recommend - I'm not quite sure where you're at in the workforce in terms of experience, or work type - but this is generally pretty good advice: put yourself in the manager's good books. I don't mean butt-kissing or anything like that. Just build yourself a rep of being a good, dependable, competent worker. Volunteer to work late or overtime when it's needed and you can. Stick your hand up for skeleton crew shifts, say if your company needs a minimum staff on a public holiday. If you build yourself that rep of being a willing, team player who is reliable, management will usually be more willing to be accommodating when you need favours in return.

I would compare the sessions available at your rink and then your work hours. Even if you only get two work days a week at the rink it's better than none, and consider skating weekend days to make up for it.

Hi! Thanks for the reply. My new job asked me my scheduling preferences. At the time I was in between jobs but I now have a set schedule. They need me for help mainly on the weekends so I’m hoping to be able to skate during the week. Group lessons are Tuesday nights and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Monday’s are my day off so that I at least know for a fact for ONE DAY I can get to the rink. They said that I’m also needed on Tuesdays (for some odd reason, out of all days) which nearly vetos almost every available lesson day. But I asked to be scheduled in the morning or afternoon so I can at least make it to the tuesday night class.

This is totally not how I planned my summer going haha. I just wanted a small part time job to fund my skating for the summer. Thank God there’s a rink by my school so At least during the fall my skating hours will be better

 

[karne]

Hi! Thanks for the reply. My new job asked me my scheduling preferences. At the time I was in between jobs but I now have a set schedule. They need me for help mainly on the weekends so I’m hoping to be able to skate during the week. Group lessons are Tuesday nights and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Monday’s are my day off so that I at least know for a fact for ONE DAY I can get to the rink. They said that I’m also needed on Tuesdays (for some odd reason, out of all days) which nearly vetos almost every available lesson day. But I asked to be scheduled in the morning or afternoon so I can at least make it to the tuesday night class.

This is totally not how I planned my summer going haha. I just wanted a small part time job to fund my skating for the summer. Thank God there’s a rink by my school so At least during the fall my skating hours will be better

Okay, well this is actually a fairly good setup. What do you know about practice session availability on Wednesdays/Thursdays/Fridays? Is it possible to work around those, set up your work schedule so you can make it on one of those days?

 

[illogicalskittle]

The first thing I think about every time I take on something new, be it a project or a business endeavour or even skating, is my priorities.

As much as I love skating and art and whatever hobbies I have; family, school and my jobs always come first.

When I made the decision to learn how to skate and do it regularly, I had to consider my financial situation, my schedule, and all the jobs and responsibilities and leadership positions I held.

At some point, something has to give - the give for me came in the form of resigning as a community moderator so that I could free up time in my schedule. I have to give up on classes for now until I can figure out a sustainable source of income (thankfully I have friends who are willing to teach me for the time being).

For me, it helps to consider skating as "me" time so when I schedule my week, I make it a point to include skating as my break from work or as a time to hang out with friends. Heck, sometimes I would consider skating as a club activity so I'd block out Friday nights as skating days if I could.

Though I skate only once a week for now, it helps to make friends with the rink staff. They don't really bat an eyelash when I overstay my ticket there by like 3 hours.

But I guess you also have to consider what you want to do as a skater. Are you going to compete? Do you intend to be a professional? If you want to dedicate to skating full time, where/how are you going to get income?

It's alright to be frustrated but cheer up!! It's just a part of life to work out a balance between the stuff you love and the stuff you need to do in order to live!

 

[hanyuufan5]

If you have the money, you could try private lessons instead of the groups. You sound very serious about skating, saying that you want to go four times a week and all, so you'd probably be better off with private lessons anyway.

 

[sk8chis]

Okay, well this is actually a fairly good setup. What do you know about practice session availability on Wednesdays/Thursdays/Fridays? Is it possible to work around those, set up your work schedule so you can make it on one of those days?

I’m hoping that I will never be scheduled on Wednesday’s without it being necessary. They said it’s more like 20 hrs per week. so hopefully it’s just That Tuesday/Friday/Sat/Sun. This upcoming week is my first actual week at my new job and so far they scheduled me Thursday/Friday/Sunday. I’m hoping this is because of the fact i’m just starting but hopefully its like that all the time so I know I can skate during the week at least.
The afternoon sessions on wednesday at the rink are pretty good. I can probably do monday, tuesday night and wednesday’s.

 

[sk8chis]

If you have the money, you could try private lessons instead of the groups. You sound very serious about skating, saying that you want to go four times a week and all, so you'd probably be better off with private lessons anyway.

I do private lessons already. I meet with a coach once a week. But this was the only time I could get to the rink for the past two and a half weeks. My coach is pretty expensive, $50 for 30 minutes, So I would feel better just paying the packaged price for 8 weeks group lessons in one go (so i don’t have to think about it again) instead of bumping my private lessons to twice a week.

 

[sk8chis]

The first thing I think about every time I take on something new, be it a project or a business endeavour or even skating, is my priorities.

As much as I love skating and art and whatever hobbies I have; family, school and my jobs always come first.

When I made the decision to learn how to skate and do it regularly, I had to consider my financial situation, my schedule, and all the jobs and responsibilities and leadership positions I held.

At some point, something has to give - the give for me came in the form of resigning as a community moderator so that I could free up time in my schedule. I have to give up on classes for now until I can figure out a sustainable source of income (thankfully I have friends who are willing to teach me for the time being).

For me, it helps to consider skating as "me" time so when I schedule my week, I make it a point to include skating as my break from work or as a time to hang out with friends. Heck, sometimes I would consider skating as a club activity so I'd block out Friday nights as skating days if I could.

Though I skate only once a week for now, it helps to make friends with the rink staff. They don't really bat an eyelash when I overstay my ticket there by like 3 hours.

But I guess you also have to consider what you want to do as a skater. Are you going to compete? Do you intend to be a professional? If you want to dedicate to skating full time, where/how are you going to get income?

It's alright to be frustrated but cheer up!! It's just a part of life to work out a balance between the stuff you love and the stuff you need to do in order to live!

My long term goal is to compete. Although i’m not really focused on it right now. I took a few years off from skating I started at 8 and quit for good around 15, but was skating super inconsistently around 13. I’m 21 now so it’s been realllllly long time. I always wanted to return before I did now but I was at a community college full time preparing to transfer to a university, and i was doing an internship for two years. But now i’m all done and transferring to a top school in the fall!

This is my first summer off so I wanted to enjoy it by skating because I basically forgot most of my skills. My goal for the rest of the year is to brush up on all my jumps and spins and then as of January of next year I would like to start testing MIF straight through.

I’ve talked to a lot of skaters of all ages and coaches and I think this is a pretty good set up. I’m just bummed because i originally thought I would be skating at least three times a week this summer! Hopefully it picks up after July. There is a two day skating camp in August that I would like to join but it’s still being considered.

 

[treesprite]

Are you skating in freestyle sessions or just publics?

I have two jobs and work 7 days a week, but if I really was up to it I could still fit in skating up to 7 days a week, because the rink has a lot of sessions every single day. I have a full time job with a strange and flexible schedule, and a part time job 3 days a week at the ice rink. Most weeks I only skate 3 days (not counting skate guarding days), but have skated 7 days in a week without missing any work (not skating now due to injury).

 

[sk8chis]

Are you skating in freestyle sessions or just publics?

I have two jobs and work 7 days a week, but if I really was up to it I could still fit in skating up to 7 days a week, because the rink has a lot of sessions every single day. I have a full time job with a strange and flexible schedule, and a part time job 3 days a week at the ice rink. Most weeks I only skate 3 days (not counting skate guarding days), but have skated 7 days in a week without missing any work (not skating now due to injury).

Just publics for now. Im not sure what the schedule for open freestyles are. And i’m not yet in a group lessons setting so I don’t know what level I am in order to join the appropriate non-open freestyle.

 

[jf12]

Just publics for now. Im not sure what the schedule for open freestyles are. And i’m not yet in a group lessons setting so I don’t know what level I am in order to join the appropriate non-open freestyle.

Usually leveled freestyles have nothing to do with group lessons, they’re organized by usfsa tests taken. If at your rink they are broken up by learn to skate levels, your private coach can ‘assign’ you one without having to go to a group class.