How many private lessons are good? | Golden Skate

How many private lessons are good?

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
My skater's coach teaches in two rinks recently. Based on her schedule, we only have two lessons a week, 30 minutes each. She said we can have three as we used to do if we would like to drive to the other rink. But it's quite far. I can't make it in workdays. In weekend, we have to cancel some other events. I don't want less lessons slow her down. But I wonder, for my skater's level, intermediate FS, working on senior moves, recreational competitor, how many private lessons is good? Big difference between two and three?
 

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
What jumps does she have and how much practice ice?
She has 2S, 2L, 2Fl. She can land 2TL, but was said to need more work. She still works on 2A and just starts trying some triples, no success yet. In total, she skates 10-15 hours every week.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
She has 2S, 2L, 2Fl. She can land 2TL, but was said to need more work. She still works on 2A and just starts trying some triples, no success yet. In total, she skates 10-15 hours every week.
If she has a good basis in technique it's likely she'll be fine for now but not in the future. That's about my level too and I have more lessons however I recently switched coaches from a coach who didn't know what she was doing so I really need that time.

Maybe you could find a coach that works at the rink you prefer to skate at and do lessons with both if she is like me and doesn't have the best technical foundation.
 

GBs mom

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Does your skater have a separate moves coach? My daughter is not as advanced as yours (has 2S and an inconsistent 2TL, intermediate moves). She does five lessons a week (2 with a moves coach, 2 with a jumps coach, and 1 with a generalist/program coach). Most of the skaters in our area have multiple coaches.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Does your skater have a separate moves coach? My daughter is not as advanced as yours (has 2S and an inconsistent 2TL, intermediate moves). She does five lessons a week (2 with a moves coach, 2 with a jumps coach, and 1 with a generalist/program coach). Most of the skaters in our area have multiple coaches.
This is right on and I agree.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
I personally only have one coach but we have frequent lessons. My current coach was my jump coach but now he's my main coach. With him I've never felt the need to have another coach (except when doing ice dance). You don't need multiple coaches if your current setup is working but I think you might benefit from having a second coach at a rink that is closer. You could also make the lessons longer if possible.
 

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Yes, we changed to longer lessons. So in a week the total lesson hours doesn't decrease. If I had options, I would prefer more frequent lessons even if the lesson is shorter. But anyway, this is better than 2 short ones. My coach doesn't want us to get another coach regularly. I don't have many choices either because my rink is small and there are not many coaches.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
Yes, we changed to longer lessons. So in a week the total lesson hours doesn't decrease. If I had options, I would prefer more frequent lessons even if the lesson is shorter. But anyway, this is better than 2 short ones. My coach doesn't want us to get another coach regularly. I don't have many choices either because my rink is small and there are not many coaches.
So you were already only doing an hour beforehand? That needs to be changed if your daughter is serious about being a true intermediate competitor. All the girls who make it past regionals (at least New Englands, I'm aware that's not the current competition structure but you get the gist) have multiple hour long lessons per week. The only reason I don't have three or four is because I passed my senior moves years ago.
 

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Before, we had 3 lessons a week, 30 minutes each. On Sunday, she was in a small group lesson exclusive for her coach's students, about 40 minutes. Yes, that's all. She tries to skate 1.5-2 hours each day, but most time is practicing herself. We are in a small rink. This amount is regarded as "quite a lot" in this rink. Most skaters had 2 lessons a week. But maybe that's why we didn't have top skaters who compete nationally.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
How old is she? When will she get her license? Is it possible that she could stay over the weekend near a better rink (this is what I did for a long time)? Is her school in person or online? Does she WANT to be a national competition? Are you willing to support that if she does.
 

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
These are good questions that we should think about two years ago. I feel that it's sort of late as she is more and more busy in high school. But yes, I should discuss with her sometime.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
These are good questions that we should think about two years ago. I feel that it's sort of late as she is more and more busy in high school. But yes, I should discuss with her sometime.
I didn't start competing seriously in singles until high school.

If she's willing to sacrifice AP/Honors classes, it's fairly manageable. If she wants to take them, there are still ways to manage, it will just take a lot more planning. If skating is her passion, that should come first. Her brain will still work well enough to get an education when she's 35, but at that point, her body will not be working well enough to skate the way she probably wants to.

I will say, online school really changed things for me. I have ADHD and a reading disability and am taking mostly AP/Honors classes and getting really good grades in them all. That never happened in public school. But I totally understand if that isn't an option and for many people, it can actually make managing things harder if their rink doesn't have a homeschool/online school system in place.
 
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