I had an awesome opportunity recently to spend the day with Olympic Figure Skating Coach Frank Carroll. Other than the only picture I have with him makes me look like a total snob, the BIGGEST thing I took away from everything he said was, "Skating is expensive. Skaters who do more than 2-3 sessions a day are doing too much on ice - they're not being efficient. A LOT of the skaters work should come off ice. Out on the grass is a great place to do off-ice." I paraphrased Frank, but that was basically what he said.
Funny thing... Of all the off-ice classes I teach, I at most have 4 skaters participating in them. Seriously? You may wonder what the title of this means... $5 a minute. Yep, that's how much ice time costs per minute. Every minute a skaters spends gabbing, getting on the ice late, not focusing on the practice session, NOT WARMING UP BEFORE THE SESSION, costs $5. Wow, that's some serious Starbucks cash or money I'd love to save for my trip to Hawaii.
Many of you didn't have the pleasure of knowing my mother - she passed several years ago. I can still, to this very moment, hear her voice yelling (yep, yelling, not nicely saying "honey, get your skates on - it's time to skate. Oh here, let me help you tie your skates - got your program music? No? I'll bring it out! Have fun!) "Andrea, get on the ice - do you know how much this costs?!? There are better things I can do with my money." Needless to say, it didn't happen often because when it did, everyone in the rink heard it - as did the people in the office park across the street.
At the ripe old age of 13, my parents signed me up for my first checking account. They deposited skating money there at the beginning of the month and I paid the bills. All ice time, coaching time, skate sharpening, OFF-ICE, tights, skates, rent for my apartment when I trained elsewhere, well, you get the drift. I quickly started figuring out how much it cost and valued their sacrifice. If I wanted more lessons, I had to talk to my parents about increasing the budget and had to figure out how to pay for it. In my head I was always calculating my ROI - more lessons = faster development = skating partner = Olympic Glory. OK, I only participated in the Olympics when I got up and changed the channel on the TV when I was young (we didn't have remote TV then). BUT, I still had the dream and the drive to try.
So, what did I do when the fund ran low? Actually I did this all the time... I skated until the Zamboni honked and made me get off. I did my own off ice exercises at home in my bedroom, in the lobby of the rink, and in my backyard. I took ballet classes, ballroom classes, aerobics, (remember Jane Fonda was cool then - we didn't have Zumba, Jazzercise and all the fun stuff!) and actually ran at my high school gym BEFORE school. I did it. my mom didn't tell me to do it, my parent supported me financially and physically - they got me there and provided support. I guess what I'm trying to say is that skating isn't just on the ice - it's what you put into it before and after you strap on your blades.
Which would you prefer - $5 a minute or the roughly $.18 per minute off-ice class? Hmmm that's a hard decision, right? DO IT! It's the best investment in your skating you'll ever make. Frank says so!
And, by the way, I did all that living an hour away from the rink...
