Skate UK Adults - how long did it take you to complete?

[laurenSkatesicenice]

Hi everyone,
I recognise this is quite subjective and ultimately down to individual ability but I'd love to know peoples' experiences of getting through the Skate UK levels and how long it took you to complete them.
Also interested to know factors, like if you skates a lot as a child or did other sports that might help this balance fest sport!?
Lauren

[Snufkin]

I haven't actually taken the tests yet (as they don't do them at my rink), but am working through the programme ready to go to another rink and do the actual assessments all at once. I think I will be ready to do so in the next couple of months and I have been skating since August. I'm 27 and haven't done any kind of sport or dance before and I do about 2-4 hours at the rink each week. You really can't generalise from anybody else's experience to your own at all - however, when I started, I too wanted an idea of what was achievable for an adult in a reasonable timeframe and read loads of these kinds of posts in the archives of this forum, so I do understand the impulse.

[The Sacred Voice]

You really can't generalise from anybody else's experience to your own at all - however, when I started, I too wanted an idea of what was achievable for an adult in a reasonable timeframe and read loads of these kinds of posts in the archives of this forum, so I do understand the impulse.

I agree with what Snufkin said, and, like her and now yourself, the main reason I started reading adult learner blogs was to understand how other people were doing relative to my own learning, so I also understand. Worth bearing in mind that there's also this thing about how you can technically pass a skill, but at the time you pass then you can doing a super scrappy version of it and your coach is like "ehhhhh, good enough, let's move on for now and we can refine it later" so when you go back and do it again then you do it much better/nicer/stronger. What I'm saying is that a person can pass Skate UK, but be doing it kinda "eh" - like my continuous 3 turns from level 8 were "okay", but I improved them so much in the months after I "passed".

Why "passed" in quotes? Well, strictly speaking, I've never officially finished Skate UK. My rink's adult group instructors have a somewhat lax attitude towards ticking people off on the skills (they don't do formal tests either, the coach just ticks you when they're happy), so I haven't been ticked on anything after Skate UK 5. After 5-6 months then I felt I'd run out the curriculum so I started taking individual lessons under my own steam and my current coach and I have never really considered the official progression stuff since then. I do want to do the NISA Moves tests at some point and I believe I need the Skate Star stuff signed off to apply for the NISA Level 1, but I'm confident my coach will just rubber stamp the Skate Star stuff if we get to that before I have to leave my current rink.

If you want a real answer though then I was 26 when I started and I felt like I'd basically done the Skate UK stuff in about 5-6 months of doing the single group lesson every week with an extra practise visit now and then, so mostly 2 hours a week, but 4 every once in a while. I've not really done done any serious sport in the past. Between the ages of 8-12 I did two hours a week of gymnastics with a club in my area, which arguably would give me a bit of a leg up in skating as they're very similar sports, but I never even came close to being competitive in gymnastics, it was basically just recreational and I never got that advanced in gymnastics.

[VisuallyImpairedOnIce]

Nearly 5 years, still going on the old 1-10 syllabus.


I’ve not done other sport really, did learn a bit of skating as a kid, just how to stay upright and a few other bits - I’m now 28.


I’m visually impaired though - not allowed to drive because of it. I am doing a few bits from other levels as I have private lessons, I’m also going to compete in April at a competition for skaters with disabilities.

[The ice mouse]

Still got one item to do and then I an finished with Skate UK (old 1-10 levels). I started doing it 2009

[transmissionoftheflame]

I think it took me a couple of years, but it was a long time ago.  I started at 40ish.  But I only really started to understand what it means to skate a year or two after that.  Maybe more.  I'm a slow learner.


I didn't do anything especially relevant as a child, but had been continuously physically fit and active all my life.  I do Pilates once a week which is a big help.  I'd say that or ballet are the best accompaniments to skating.


Try to learn to love the feel of being on the ice and sense where your weight is.  The more you relax the more you will enjoy it and the quicker you will learn.  I spend time trying to do complicated things better, but more time trying to perfect simple things like just gliding on one foot, or edges with your hands behind your back.

[Leif]

I'm 54, and I've been learning regularly for just over 18 months. I wear hockey skates, and apparently it is harder for me to do 3 turns and other moves compared to figure skates. I have huge problems with things like Mohawks due to lack of open hips. But I can do crossovers forwards and backwards, forwards outside edge 3 turn, hockey stops (backwards and forwards), snow ploughs (backwards and forwards), and backwards one foot stops (both sides) etc.

I was never sporty, and I was always told I was useless at sports. However I ran regularly for several decades, so I am very fit. I now only skate. I can out skate many of the youngsters as they are not fit, and do not apply themselves as much as I do. Nevertheless age means I will never out skate the better ones. But I don't think it matters how fast you pass various grades, and how often people say nice things about your skating. It gets you fit and healthy, and that improves your enjoyment of life, and undoubtedly slows down aging. I've met many ice hockey players who do not look their age. One woman is in her fifties but I thought she was in her thirties! Regular exercise does that for you.  And of course you meet people.

Yoga is good for skating. Anything that stretches the muscles and ligaments will help improve flexibility, and lack of flexibility is my Achilles heel. I recently bought inline skates, but the wet weather means I've not used them much. I also find them scary, partly because when you fall you don't slide, so the impact is more painful.

[transmissionoftheflame]

Comparing yourself to others regarding rate of progress could be motivating or demoralising.  I find it both.  Generally I think it is better to work hard but try to enjoy your skating.  If you expect to get really good really quickly then I think unless you are super talented then forget it - you need to expect to put a lot of hours in.  I saw one teenage boy go from complete beginner to one of the best freestyle hockey skaters I have ever seen in about 6 months.  He is about the only one I can think of.  What I generally see is people who start  with enthusiasm and eventually realise it is much harder than it looks.  So try to cultivate a passion for it.


Leif, I think hockey skates were not designed for 3 turns so it's always going to be harder but I am sure you will get there - I have seen it done.  Regarding mohawks yes if you want to do quite a straight one then open hips make it easier but it's as much about checking rotation as it is about open hips.  Also bear in mind the mohawk is generally done on a curve so it is not necessary to open up that much.  I think your issues with the mohawk can mainly be resolved without hip surgery but with other improvements.


Leif, are your inline skates rockered?  If not then turning will feel a lot harder than on hockeys.


Regarding exercise I would say anything that improves core strength is useful, abs, lower back, obliques (for trunk rotation and checking rotation), and anything that keeps the joints supple and mobile.  Stretching out quads, glutes and hamstrings is a good idea as skating would tend to stiffen these.

[laurenSkatesicenice]

Oh thank you everyone! I really appreciate the sharing and your stories are really interesting. Like I thought, everyone is different and also every rink seems to do things differently.
For me it's all motivation for sure. I knew from the moment I finished my first lesson a month ago that skating is going to be something that's going to capture my attention for a long time.
I've been doing a lot of YouTube yoga at home lately as I generally have quite tight hips and it's been helping for sure. I swam (semi competitive) as a teen but was a bit of a lazy kid until I hit my mid twenties and got into weight lifting and the like. More recently I am a regular spinner as well so I think these are helping too in the general fitness and suppleness journey but skating and the weight distribution aspect has been challenging and has me paying a lot more attention to my single leg work and balance.
I was meant to meet a friend this evening but she cancelled so my first thought was obviously "Ohhh, this means I can skate tonight" - it has taken over my life and thoughts   

[Florence]

Still got one item to do and then I an finished with Skate UK (old 1-10 levels). I started doing it 2009

Ah bless us ..... Both within sniffing distance of finishing 😀 only it's is now sinking in that it won't even be a completion.... It will be a start!  But it's an exciting feeling to know will be able to say done all basic UK levels at last? (Or is that just me because I started to believe I would never get to that point)


I started 2008 but tend to have big breaks from skating lessons of years rather than weeks (started 1_10 but now on 1_8)


We should definitely have cake when we get signed off mouse!

[MarkD]

Two years on the old 1-10 system. At the time, the rink aligned learn-to-skate course dates with school half-terms, so school holidays created gaps and slowed progress. This was just doing the 30-min class and averaging another hour a week. Had to repeat a couple of levels to pass, but might have completed it a few months sooner without the breaks going by how soon daughter#2 managed it. Started at age 41.


Only skated maybe a dozen times in my life before then, and not for 20 years previously. Did a lot of martial arts in late teens/early twenties which has left a legacy of decent flexibility, posture and core strength. Have always been moderately to pretty active with the usual suspects of activities for general fitness down the years.


I think any activity where you need to be most aware of your body position above all else starts to give you the tools to approach skating with the kind of approach that will allow you to adapt.


Getting to the end of LTS is only an artificial line in the sand and gives you a decent range of movements well enough to then start working on them properly. Take 3-turns. Got through them on LTS after a bit of a struggle. Then they were a bit better for passport but still pretty much a tiny glide and a turn on the spot. Then had to really try for FM2, needing some proper speed and a longer glide into and out of the turn. Sort of left them behind for a while, so they've got slack, and found myself really having to concentrate and work when I did several sets in a class the other day to make them really progressive again.


If there was ever anything I've encountered where persistence and effort trump initial ability, it's this. OK - I've seen people with very little ability make little progress despite a lot of effort, but as soon as you have just some ability, focused, regular and persistent practice reaps dividends. It's as if you multiple your ability by your effort.[/size]


I've previously struggled immensely with, in chronological  order, forward crossovers, backwards crossrolls and one-foot slalom. Now a saying I heard about what's difficult today will be part of your warmup tomorrow applies. So there's hope for those elements and field moves I'm struggling with.


And never measure yourself against children. They can go from complete beginner to age-group national champion in five years.