A question for all you nice skaters out there

I'd love to get some lessons and learn to do a bit of this skating stuff 'properly'. I'm a bit old at 29-and-several-months, but that doesn't seem to be a barrier from what others are saying, so I'm re-inspired to give it a go. I do have a rink reasonably close by (Bradford), which offers beginner lessons, so the practical side is solved.

I'd like to know what sort of stuff you start by learning, and how the progression works - when do you start learning to spin, jump etc?

Oh, and anyone who knows owt about the Bradford facilities nd teachers should feel free to comment too

Hia,

If you have a local rink, I'd ring and ask about basic lessons. In our rink they do Skate UK 1-10 which is learning pushes, Gliding forwards and backwards, turns, etc. That should only take 6 weeks or so, then you can progress to Skate UK Bronze, Silver and Gold which includes the spins, jumps, teapots, drags, spirals etc. Bronze level jump is the waltz jump (3 jump - which was superbly demonstrated by Danny at the weekend), Silver jump is the Salchow which is a pain in the bum and the Gold jump is the Toe Loop which Gary did (I think). Toe loop is easier than the Salchow.

To be honest, if you aren't worried too much about falling over then you learn so much quicker.

I started last January and the rink shut in July (by which time I was working on my Silver level). It re-opened in December and I'm now working on my Gold level (as well as my Salchow as its inconsistant).

I would suggest once you've done the first 10 levels to have some private lessons. They are really worth it.

Sorry I don't know anything about your rink, but I hope the other stuff helps a smidge.

ETA - I started skating at 37

That is fab, ta.

Falling over on the ice has never been a big bother for me - I have, erm, inbuilt padding against this sort of thing .

My boyfriend, however, is too paranoid to even step on an ice rink because he's convinced that if he falls over someone will skate over his fingers and slice them off...

Actually my biggest suggestion to start is wear some wrist guards. I wore them until I got confident that I wasn't going to fall too hard anymore, yeh I still fall and usually doing stupid stuff like runs, but they are a good investment.

Definitely go for it LL. You'd be younger than I was when I started and the adult skating competition circuit is fun when you get to that point.

I used to know some skaters at Bradford but not sure if they are still skating but go along and do the beginner lessons and I'm sure you'll get hooked.

There's a skating club there and although they may have a skating level requirement to join. it might be worth going along when it's on and they might be able to put you in touch with local adult skaters and you can see what sort of things they do. Can also be useful for acquiring cheap second hand equipment if you don't want to shell out a lot on boots and blades just yet.

As for the fingers thing - well one of the first things you learn is that when you fall, you make your hands in to fists if you are sprawled on the ice - then no-one can run over your fingers!

If you are gonna buy your own skates at the start do NOT buy cheap new ones from ebay ie Freesports they are total crap and give no ankle support whatsoever, you are better buying a good pair second hand for the same money something like Risports or Jacksons.

If you start at Bradford soon, you might well run into* Hayley and Dan, and Kieron and Brianne - that's where they do all their training during the week.

*Hopefully you won't actually literally run into them - that would probably be a bad start... Good luck!

Karen Barber and her husband Steven Pickavance still coach at Blackburn Ice Arena!

Hmm. Love Kieron and not keen on Hayley, so if I *had* to literally run into one of them I know who I'd be aiming for!

Need to check finances and other commitments before I start, but if they hang on til the final, maybe I'll see them there...

I don't think you would do skate UK level 1-10 in just 6 weeks. I think the odd person does - a young person with natural talent maybe but nobody I know has got to level 10 in 6 weeks.

I was talking to my coach this morning and he doesn't follow the skate UK, bronze, silver, gold in a set, rigid order, so at the moment I'm practising things on levels 8, 9, 10, bronze and silver and I've had lessons for 12 months.

I started age 36.

My little boy is 7 and he's had lessons since Sept and is on skate UK 6.

I have a friend at the rink who is 17 - he's only had lessons since last May and he is doing loads of jumps and spins as he is just naturally good at it.

I would suggest private lessons as I think you move quicker and get better attention, but of course it's a lot more expensive.

Agree about the skates - I started off with Lake Placid skates adn they were rubbish as they had no support once you started working edges. I sold them on ebay though then got Risport skates.

I agree, Skate UK 1-10 takes longer than 6 weeks! At my rink they teach each level for a 5-week course. Unless you're already a pretty decent skater, then they'll put you straight up a level.
I started with private lessons as I could already skate well, turn and 3-jump so therefore skipped all the levels and went straight to bronze.
I'm now working towards my NISA level one. I benefitted from private lessons as I could already do a lot of things at different levels. It would have been a waste of money for me to plod through 5weeks at each level!

With regards to boots, I agree get yourself some decent ones like Jackson's or Risports, but nothing too stiff. Get some fitted to you (Jackson's can be moulded) and speak to someone in the know who can advise you with regards to stiffness rating for your level!

Oops sorry if I told you wrong about the Skate UK levels, I know they start every 6 weeks so assumed that's all it took.

It didn't take me long to get to level 10 but I had a private coach from the start and like Elphabatoo says my coach isn't doing the levels in proper order so I do all the stuff on Bronze, Silver and Gold plus some of Level 1 stuff as well at the moment. I've passed my Bronze and Silver levels recently, but my Salchow isn't consistant so I have to keep doing it.

I also agree about the skates, I bought Risports second hand off Ebay (they were hardly used) and they are great skates to start with.

The salchow's a bit of a bitch ain't it?! I struggled with it for ages...then realised I was trying to do it on the wrong foot!
I'm working on double twizzles at the mo, all good fun!

Gawd, can you imagine spending 6 weeks doing level 1, 6 weeks on level 2 etc etc - you'd be bored rigid!

One to one lessons deffo the best - I have a good laugh with my instructor as well and I don't think you'd build up that relationship in a group.

Tis £££ though - if I didn't skate I'd be RICH!

True, particularly level one is like pushes, I'm sure in group lessons you do the levels quicker than that. But I never did them that way so wouldn't know for sure.

I agree about the ££££ though. My lessons are 24 p/h + entrance fee to the rink or Patch Ice depending what time I go.

so true, I don't understand why the toe loop isn't on silver and salchow on gold but hey ho. I know I'm doing it from the right foot and landing on the right foot just I forget to jumps so it ends up like a messy 3 turn. My coach always laughs at that , I've been practicing it for a month now and said if I can't nail it after 4 weeks, I'd be swapping to Ice Dance instead of figure.

It actually used to be the other way round in the old system, not quite sure why they decided to change it. I don't think the salchow should be taught until people have very solid three turns and a good understanding of how the jump works - it's a very easy jump to try but few people do it correctly and it isn't good to get into bad habits.

£24 per hour isn't too bad - mine are £16 for half an hour!
So do you have an hour lesson?

I think that would be better - half an hour goes so quickly

Just checked and the maximum charge at Bradford for a private lesson is £6.80 per 15 minutes, or £27.20 an hour.

Lessons generally seem to be quite short - half an hour's all the time allotted. How does a lesson work?

When I first started having private lessons I had one 15 min lesson a week but came in for practice for few hours in addition.

So much of it is learned through practice it can be econonic to start with 15 min lessons as you are not wasting money paying for 'supervised practice'

I only graduated to half hour individual lessons when I was practising for a competition.

For a first lesson the coach would usually go through what you can do already and see whereabouts on skate UK (or whatever learn to skate system they use) you would fit so they know what they need to teach.

Once they know that they can plan the lessons to suit so they are teaching you relevant stuff and you would be working towards whatever is on the next level or two.

The rule of thumb used to be to spend at least twice as long in practice as in lesson although people vary in what they need or can fit in.

Our private lessons are over £8 per £15 min and you pay for patch or public session ice on top of that.

I have 30 mins of lessons a week and do 3 hours patch ice and then 3 hours in the public session on a Friday PM (its quieter), but it actually is more expensive than patch ice.

Go you for trying ice skating!

You can usually book a session of like 6 Skate UK lessons -they'll be good to see if you like them.

If you find you want more, a private 1 on 1 (or even a 3 : 1) lesson with a skating coach can help so much more!

On the time front, I did my skate UK VERY quickly - I'd never skated before I was 12, and I did level 1 and 2 in my first ever time on the ice, and then did level 3 a couple of times later. I was one of the quickest people through it, but your progression does stop a lot once you hit the top few levels - took me a few months to get through all the levels.

I found private group lessons separately helped as well!

Yeah I always found the salchow harder than more advanced jumps, toe loop and loop seemed easier! I'm not sure why!

Also agree about risports skates being good.

In the NISA levels, I think toe-loop is Level 1 and Salchow is Level 2, so they got it the right way round!
I have a 30min lesson every week plus practising around 7 hours extra a week, at least...I spend most of my life at the rink!

Icedragon...were you at Bracknell this morning? Was speaking to someone who skates in Fusion...wasn't you was it?

No I wasn't in today but several of the team skate Saturdays. We had 3 new members turn up to Friday's practice though and there's always room for more......

Did she manage to tempt you to give it a go?