All About Lessons

Our group lessons are 50 minutes long (allowing the 10 minutes in between sessions for ice resurfacing). Each hour is allotted for different levels of skaters. We use USFSA Learn-to-Skate levels in our program. Lessons are once per week at the same time each week.

Please note: there will be some changes to our 2020-2021 group lessons due to COVID-19. Please see our latest post on rules and restrictions for more information.

Getting Started

Our newest skaters are in the levels Snowplow Sam 1-4, and Basic 1-2.

During their hour, they will be grouped by ability, and those groups are flexible based on the coaches’ observation of each skater’s needs. Each small group will spend about half of the time with one of our professional coaches mastering new skills. The coaches will rotate through the groups over the course of the hour. When they do not have an adult coach, they will be assigned one or more of our graduate-level skaters and have guided practice time with these excellent volunteers.

Improving Skills

Once skaters have mastered their early skating skills, they move to the Basic 3-6 hour, building on the things they’ve already learned to increasingly challenging moves. The basic structure of the lesson is the same as the previous hour. For those skaters hoping to play hockey, we typically recommend they stay in Learn-to-Skate through level Basic 3 so that they have strong fundamental skating skills before they move to the BHSA Junior Devils program.

Figure Skating

After Basic 6, our figure skaters move on to the Free Skate levels (Pre-Free Skate through Free Skate 6). This hour will look and feel different from the previous levels. Our coaches typically spend the first half of the hour leading the whole group through stroking and edgework drills around the whole rink. Later, the groups may be split by current ability as skaters learn and practice different jumps and spins. There are no graduate volunteers on this hour.

Graduates

The official USFSA Learn-to-Skate curriculum ends with Free Skate 6, so once that level is mastered (and our Free Skate 6 skaters perform a solo in our annual Ice Show!), they become graduate skaters! While the majority of our graduate skaters have private coaches and individual practice time, they still enjoy our hour of group lessons with friends and coaches they’ve become close to over their years in the program. During the graduate hour, skaters work on a variety of skills under the supervision of our coaches. Many then stay for the rest of the morning and volunteer to coach our newer skaters.

Never Too Late to Skate

We also offer adult learn-to-skate! Small-group lessons are taught on Saturday mornings during our Free Skate hour. Adults of any level are welcome. They will receive about 25 minutes of professional instruction, and the rest of the hour is theirs to practice their new skills on their own.