Skating Parent Sort of Poll

[Sibelius]

Skating Parents (and anyone who wants to chime in)

How far (miles/time) do you drive for your skater to attend regular freestyle sessions?

I ask because our "home rink" (15 min. drive) is still closed to anything but skating "camps" and mine is locked out for now due to limits on number of skaters in the group. She can't skate with her coaches, who run the group, at all for the foreseeable future.

The next closest rink is closed for badly needed ice renovations until January. So my next option is a 40 minute freeway drive. I've booked 5, 90 minute sessions (and ouch, $35 each) for next week to see how it goes. Once school starts (online at this point) I don't know what we can do. That's a lot of driving from my perspective. At least there's not much traffic now.

Update

Not a terrible drive. It felt longer up than back. Not much to do since I need to stay as far away from people as possible, and parents are not allowed in now, so I just hung out in the car. Only one other skater on the session so she liked it.

My new car has hot spot capability if I choose to continue after the trial (and if I can figure out how it works!) so she could conceivably even "attend" school on the way home, at least until she's back in person.

The best part today was it was cool and foggy at the rink, we got home and it was 94. So that was nice.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Skating Parents (and anyone who wants to chime in)

How far (miles/time) do you drive for your skater to attend regular freestyle sessions?

I ask because our "home rink" (15 min. drive) is still closed to anything but skating "camps" and mine is locked out for now due to limits on number of skaters in the group. She can't skate with her coaches, who run the group, at all for the foreseeable future.

The next closest rink is closed for badly needed ice renovations until January. So my next option is a 40 minute freeway drive. I've booked 5, 90 minute sessions (and ouch, $35 each) for next week to see how it goes. Once school starts (online at this point) I don't know what we can do. That's a lot of driving from my perspective. At least there's not much traffic now.

My parents used to drive me 3 hours. Then I advanced to the point where I had to move to other states and/or countries to train.

 

[sandraskates]

We just moved.

Before move: lived 3 minutes from old rink; could even ride my bike there.
Now that we've moved: 25 minutes one-way to new rink. I also teach LTS at this rink and was driving almost 1.5 hours one-way before we moved.

I don't think I've ever had more than a 30 minute commute one-way on average when I was doing a lot of training.
But I think 40 minutes is a reasonable drive time.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I think 40 minutes is a very reasonable drive time. I used to have to commute 90 minutes at least when I was training in my teens. Usually at hideous hours of the day and night!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I think 40 minutes is a very reasonable drive time. I used to have to commute 90 minutes at least when I was training in my teens. Usually at hideous hours of the day and night!

4 am lol!

 

[snittens]

We have a rink literally 5 minutes from our house. When my son first started skating, it was lessons on public sessions. Oh, this is nice! We're so close to the rink yada yada. Well, once he really got into it and we needed freestyle sessions, I learned the rink has no freestyle time during hockey season. So, that started us going to rinks 20-30 miles away. Then, he got higher level coaching, they don't regularly teach at the close by rink. More driving. All that to say, yes, we normally drive anywhere from 20-40 miles one way, almost daily. Traffic used to be worse, but that's one positive about things now, traffic isn't as bad. It used to take me an hour to make a no-traffic 30 minute drive.

 

[Alex D]

As a child I had to travel long distances for my sport, 2-3 hours at times. You learn to cope with it, either you sleep or do your homework. Its not fun in regards of building friendships as you are always on the road though.

So my general advice is to ask your daughter if she is willing to travel for her sports and try to help her by providing the necessary tools like tablet for e-learning or a pillow to sleep. If you can afford it and she wants it, then I see nothing wrong with traveling for your sport. Maybe there is another kid nearby, so they could travel together and become friends, while the parents share the driving hours?

In the long run, if she becomes a teenager and if its possible, try send her to a sports school or academy, as that fixes most issues and she can build good friendships there with other kids, while still being able to go to school.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

4 am lol!

Oh yes. And 1.30am, travelling back from late night training at the Academy, only to have to be up at 5am for early morning training at my home rink. That was brutal. lol

 

[Sibelius]

My parents used to drive me 3 hours. Then I advanced to the point where I had to move to other states and/or countries to train.

Your parents were saints. I don't think she'll get to the other states/countries training stage in skating. I had hoped to have her audition for year round training at the Royal Ballet School when they come to the area for auditions in the Fall, but I don't think they'll be here this year. Maybe next year.

 

[concorde]

From the time my daughter started (age 3) until she was 14, the rink was ~ 30 minutes and $5 in tolls each way. From about 5 years, we did that 2x a day.
We moved last summer: I wanted location near the rink, location close to the train station (my commute) and good school. Rink is now walkable - when I drive, it is 5 minutes away even when I hit 2 traffic lights.

 

[theblade]

I grew up skating at various local rinks. Commutable distance in suburbia.

Which turned me into a bit of a crazy skating parent. We do not have the coaching we need for our daughter's skating path in town. Once she got more serious we started the long drives (90 miles across a major metropolitan city sprawl - 2.5 to 3 hours one way - ie. up to 6 hours in the car for a 50-minute lesson, every Friday).

Currently, our closest and cheapest rink to practice at closed permanently due to the pandemic. It was one of two rinks that our kid learned to skate at. Our best current option is 26 miles away for practice; 60 miles away for new coaches. In fact, we lost all our coaching due to the pandemic. We were also due to have our kid train in another country for the summer, but that plan did not come to fruition either due to the pandemic. We are focused on getting the school year started, then will commit to some new coaching options. The kid would still need to move for a proper training situation. School is the complicating factor - all course work counts on the transcript, so there's no wiggle room.

The break from super-long drives to merely hour-long drives one way has been good. But we're a bit tapped out from years of being in the wrong city. We will have to move for training as soon as this situation passes. The next year is a wash, and what the future brings is up in the air. Requiring a partner makes it even tougher.

Skating ain't for wimps.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I grew up skating at various local rinks. Commutable distance in suburbia.

Which turned me into a bit of a crazy skating parent. We do not have the coaching we need for our daughter's skating path in town. Once she got more serious we started the long drives (90 miles across a major metropolitan city sprawl - 2.5 to 3 hours one way - ie. up to 6 hours in the car for a 50-minute lesson, every Friday).

Currently, our closest and cheapest rink to practice at closed permanently due to the pandemic. It was one of two rinks that our kid learned to skate at. Our best current option is 26 miles away for practice; 60 miles away for new coaches. In fact, we lost all our coaching due to the pandemic. We were also due to have our kid train in another country for the summer, but that plan did not come to fruition either due to the pandemic. We are focused on getting the school year started, then will commit to some new coaching options. The kid would still need to move for a proper training situation. School is the complicating factor - all course work counts on the transcript, so there's no wiggle room.

The break from super-long drives to merely hour-long drives one way has been good. But we're a bit tapped out from years of being in the wrong city. We will have to move for training as soon as this situation passes. The next year is a wash, and what the future brings is up in the air. Requiring a partner makes it even tougher.

Skating ain't for wimps.

Yes, it does. Especially when you were from a country at a time when you needed to either have a foreign skater come to train with you in the US/Canada or you go to their country. I've done it both ways for ice dance. It's definitely complicated. Good luck!

 

[Sibelius]

You all make me feel lucky. It's turning out ok, not a terribly hard drive. Today the problem was the smoke from fires. I had to sit in the car with the windows closed and cycle the A/C every few minutes. It's really bad.

She's enjoying the practice, but misses and needs the coaching, and there's no way her coaches can or will come up to this rink. It's going to be a wait and see what happens. At least she's on and practicing. When school starts we'll try it and see if that can work, tested out the in car wifi hot spot and it worked well. So, the first half an hour of school will just have to be in the car.

 

[Nimyue]

I skate and so does my daughter.

The closest rink I skate at is 20mins, but they are too expensive for use to buy ice from right now. I used to skate here 2times per wk, then go to the farther rinks 1-2 times.

Now my skating looks like:

Sun: closish rink 30mins

Tues: 50min drive

Wed: 45min drive

Thurs/Frid: 50 min drive.

There is a skater that we are often skating with now, who usually skates out of larger club and they drive 90mins each way 5 days a week for her. Now that Covid is a thing and her rink is closed they are only 20mins from the rinks I'm skating at and she's taking virtual lessons.

I think an hour each way is probably my limit. If my daughter gets to a higher level and has the drive, I would be willing to go to the one rink that is an hour away and has high level coaches. But that's my limit I think!