Ice time (besides lessons)

I had recently opened a thread here but now have a bit of an unrelated question!
As it stands I'm a beginner who is presumably going to continue from waltz jump onwards once I start in this new town. I inquired about ice time for those who want to train and they kept pointing me to public ice time, that is when it's full of people in your way... after pressing the manager of the rink a bit (I have no problem to pay for ice time, lessons are cheap anyways) she said training times were fully booked and therefore I would not be able to practice at their indoors rink unless I go at the times when it's open to the public. Now I feel a bit discouraged. I'm not so sure how I'm supposed to get better with no time and space to train I don't know, perhaps it's normal that skaters don't get ice time beyond lessons until a certain level and are granted some after as they complete basic tests? Manager person was not very talkative about it.

Now for this winter I have access to an outdoor rink which is really an oval running track adapted for skating in the colder months. It's open and free to everyone (every day, so I would hopefully have a better chance of finding a time with no big crowd) but I heard that outdoors ice is not as kind to blades and dulls them very fast, and makes it much harder to do figures. Any thoughts? Really feeling a bit down right now

Besides cost for lessons and equipment this is truly one of the major barriers to figure skating. Where I grew up there were no ice rinks. None. To me, it was purely a sport “on TV.”

It sounds like your rink may not have freestyle sessions? Or they have them but you’re not advanced enough to qualify to use them. For safety reasons skaters need to be a certain level before they can use freestyle sessions without a coach.

Talk to your couch/instructor about practicing. They will know more than random rink staff.

Oh and also, outdoor rinks might be choppy and may dull your blades faster but if that’s the best option for practice then take it!

It is normal for skaters who haven't reached a freestyle level, to not be able to skate on freestyle ice. Your best bet to find out what's the deal is as VegMom says, ask your coach. Meanwhile, outdoor ice isn't that bad for blades, as long as they groom the ice. When people say that, they're mostly referring to natural ice, like out on a lake or pond that can have rocks in it. If it's a regular outdoor rink that has a zamboni, it doesn't really make a huge difference.

Are you located in the US? Is your rink a municipal rink (owned by the town/state) or is it a private one owned by a club?

In the US, most public rinks have freestyle sessions, which are generally for people who have completed the basic learn to skate program and can either perform freestyle elements like jumps and spins already, or are starting to learn them. There are usually multiple sessions each week. Some rinks divide the sessions by level - some are open to everyone while others may be limited to competitive skaters who can do triple jumps. Each rink has its own rules, and those may include whether or not you need to be enrolled in classes or private lessons at the rink to skate on their freestyle sessions, what skills you need to be able to do in order to skate on a particular session, andwhether you have to sign up and pay for sessions in advance or can just pay and walk on to the session.

If you have been in classes and can already do a waltz jump, you’re probably advanced enough to skate on at least beginning freestyle sessions. It sounds like the rink you are at requires you to buy contract ice - pay in advance for a regular block of practice ice - and that there are a lot of skaters at your level and the sessions are crowded. They’re not all like that, but it depends somewhat on where you live. The Chicago area, for example, has a ton of rinks; some have “contract ice” and others have pay and skate freestyle sessions. In other parts of the country, there may be fewer options. If you’re outside the US, I’m not sure how things work.

I’d ask your coach about it and look around for other rinks in the area. Many rinks have information about their freestyle sessions on their websites.

Good luck!

You mentioned in your other thread that you're a 24 yr old adult. How flexible is your schedule? In my area, several rinks offer public sessions during weekday mornings. These are lightly attended (i.e., more than 6 would be unusual, unless it's a school holiday or ice is shared for special purpose). Even some people who work full time, but have flexible schedules, manage to get one or two weekday mornings in. Also, some rinks cone off center ice during crowded public sessions (such as weekends) for figure skaters. In some rinks, few skaters vie for center ice; in other rinks, center ice gets really iffy. Other rinks I've been to offer multiple public sessions on Sat or Sun; some sessions are much lighter than others [e.g., one rink I used to go to had a 9 am session on Sun morn; most people want to sleep late on Sun morn, so I would go to that one]. One rink has a public session on Wed night, not bad. Fri night sessions generally a zoo (DJ night for teenagers). In other words, try out the various public sessions (especially if there is more than one rink near you), and you might be able to cobble together enough ice time. But, yeah, it can be difficult, especially when school's out.

It sounds like you aren't at the level of a freestyle session yet, I agree with the others, see what your coach suggests. If you don't have a coach, then work on quieter public sessions, personally, I would use the free ice. Even a public session can be hard on blades (people walk around on the blades and then walk on the ice - it picks up debris and small rocks and leaves them on the ice). I'd use free ice as much as possible with a coach. That option would give my kid an extra two lessons every week! :O If your blades are 200 and need to be replaced every year, it is still a bargain when you can skate as much as you want. I know families paying $200+ a week for ice time.