Skate Excellence vs Skate UK?

[tessybear]

I'm new here and this is my first post so Hi everyone! 

I'm an adult that has just started ice skating and I am looking at taking lessons but I don't really understand what the difference is between Skate Excellence and Skate UK levels.
My local Silver Blades rink is a ten minute walk from me and offers Skate Excellence lessons for adults, but there is a larger rink about 30 minutes away that offers adult Skate UK levels 1-10 lessons (and Bronze, Silver & Gold too.)
Is it worth the extra travel time to do Skate UK instead of Skate Excellence in your opinion?

TIA 

*Edit: Also i'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this topic!* 

[transmissionoftheflame]

I haven't done Skate Excellence but I know a bit about it.  I'm not totally convinced by it - it seems a bit dumbed-down and maybe better for younger children - but to be honest I didn't feel Skate UK was perfect either.  I think who is teaching is by far the most important element, and often the coaches swap round anyway so you don't have much control over it.  I would choose the rink you like the best, or that is most convenient.  If you could make some assessment of the general coaching culture at each rink that might help you decide but as a beginner I don't know how you'd do that.  I guess you could watch one or two lessons of each and see which seemed the most appropriate for you, or you could speak to more experienced skaters at both rinks about what they thought of the system and the coaches, but to be honest at this stage unless you hear some real horror stories about one rink or the other it probably doesn't make much difference so go with your gut.  When you have been through a few levels and understand whether you'd like to pursue skating a bit more seriously you'll be able to do some more research and probably get a 1-1 coach.
Hope you enjoy your lessons - and try to practice as much as you can between lessons.

[transmissionoftheflame]

One thing you could try to find out is what qualifications the coaches have at each rink.  Qualifications are not everything, but they should be considered.  Once upon a time to coach Skate UK a coach would need to have passed at least NISA level 6 fields moves and either dance or free/elements - that's quite a demanding level.  Now they have invented the idea of a Skate UK coach, who cannot coach anything higher than Skate UK, and to do that you only need level 2 test passes - much less demanding.  I don't have much idea what test passes Skate Excellence coaches are required to have, but I believe they have a less rigorous policy and that they have trained up a lot of people as coaches who may not have a strong skating background.  Of course some of the coaches teaching Skate Excellence may have NISA qualifications as until recently Skate UK was the only system around.

[Greycut]

Depends on what your goals are.  If you want to feel comfortable on the ice quickest, then go to Skate Excellence. If you want to learn individual elements then go with Skate UK.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

If you have the money and the time I'd suggest you try both.  The great thing about these courses is meeting people doing the same thing at the same level.  They also give you the opportunity to listen and learn from multiple coaches, so if you decide to take private lessons you know who got the best out of you.

The rink I use changed over to Skate Excellence after I'd completed Skate UK Gold in Free and Dance and I was sceptical over the Skate excellence courses.  However I do watch these courses every week whilst waiting for public session to start and it surprises me how quickly they move people on.  Don't be fooled though both these courses are basic learn to skate courses and if you intend to do NISA levels you will need a private coach.

Which rinks are you currently using?  There's usually someone from every rink that uses the forums and they can give you advice on the coaches.  Also find out is there is a skating club attached to the rink, the people that run these are usually very helpful in providing advise on buying skates (including members who are selling boots second hand) and where to get them sharpened.

[tessybear]

Thank you all for the advise!

I haven't done Skate Excellence but I know a bit about it.  I'm not totally convinced by it - it seems a bit dumbed-down and maybe better for younger children - but to be honest I didn't feel Skate UK was perfect either.

This was my biggest concern to be honest, I've been to my local rink a couple of times now and i've only ever seen adults skating when they are with small children, although I could just be going at the wrong times haha

One thing you could try to find out is what qualifications the coaches have at each rink.  Qualifications are not everything, but they should be considered.

I'll have to look into this, individual qualifications never crossed my mind! I'll have to ask a few more questions next time I am at my local rink.

Depends on what your goals are.  If you want to feel comfortable on the ice quickest, then go to Skate Excellence. If you want to learn individual elements then go with Skate UK.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

If you have the money and the time I'd suggest you try both.  The great thing about these courses is meeting people doing the same thing at the same level.  They also give you the opportunity to listen and learn from multiple coaches, so if you decide to take private lessons you know who got the best out of you.

The rink I use changed over to Skate Excellence after I'd completed Skate UK Gold in Free and Dance and I was sceptical over the Skate excellence courses.  However I do watch these courses every week whilst waiting for public session to start and it surprises me how quickly they move people on.  Don't be fooled though both these courses are basic learn to skate courses and if you intend to do NISA levels you will need a private coach.

Which rinks are you currently using?  There's usually someone from every rink that uses the forums and they can give you advice on the coaches.  Also find out is there is a skating club attached to the rink, the people that run these are usually very helpful in providing advise on buying skates (including members who are selling boots second hand) and where to get them sharpened.

This was really helpful, thank you!
I'm a Uni student at the moment so spare money and time aren't things I have a lot of, which was another concern for me as both the rinks only offer 6 week courses rather than individual lessons (except for 1 to 1 private lessons) so I don't want to feel like I have wasted 6 weeks of my time when a different course could offer something better.

I did find out that the larger rink (which I have never been to) offers adult morning sessions over term times that includes a 30 minute starter lesson and a couple of hours of free skating so I think I will have to go check it out before making up my mind!

Thanks again, everyone 

[Florence]

Hiya, If the larger rink you speak of is Telford then it is worth going to their adult mornings before you start lessons as although I haven't been to them for a couple of years, they were (and still are I believe) very good. They did used to follow skate uk levels.  Just be aware though that if it is Telford, it is shutting for maintenance for two weeks after this week so check before you go. I don't know much about skate excellence but one of my daughters friends does it and she seams to be doing okay. If its more of a fun thing you are doing it for then I don't suppose it matters which course you learn with. X

[tessybear]

Hiya, If the larger rink you speak of is Telford then it is worth going to their adult mornings before you start lessons as although I haven't been to them for a couple of years, they were (and still are I believe) very good. They did used to follow skate uk levels.  Just be aware though that if it is Telford, it is shutting for maintenance for two weeks after this week so check before you go. I don't know much about skate excellence but one of my daughters friends does it and she seams to be doing okay. If its more of a fun thing you are doing it for then I don't suppose it matters which course you learn with. X

Hey! Yes it is the Telford rink, I'm in Wolverhampton so it's not too far for me to travel to weekly.
That's good to know! I saw on the site they were shutting for maintenance but wasn't sure when, but I'm in no rush 

That was my buggest worry with Skate excellence, I have heard/seen a fair few good reveiws for the cours  but only from parents of kids who are doing it, not from adults doing it themsleves.

[scott_85_p]

I learnt through skate excellence and I'm currently working towards bronze on NISA passport. The course is ok- the lower levels are fairly straight forward but the higher levels have some unnecessarily difficult elements. I found that once I had completed level 8 and moved on to passport you play catch up for a while as it's the first time you attempt any jumps and spins.

It does feel like it's more geared towards kids but it depends on how your coach approaches it too. The biggest thing I found was it can be difficult to measure your progress in the sense that you don't really learn any 'proper' elements until you get to level 6,7 and 8 and even then it's bits of footwork like 3 turns, crossovers and cross rolls.

Whichever course you decide to take, you still move on to NISA passport and if you decide to test and/or compete later on, you can regardless of if you have taken skate excellence or skate uk.

[tessybear]

I learnt through skate excellence and I'm currently working towards bronze on NISA passport. The course is ok- the lower levels are fairly straight forward but the higher levels have some unnecessarily difficult elements. I found that once I had completed level 8 and moved on to passport you play catch up for a while as it's the first time you attempt any jumps and spins.

It does feel like it's more geared towards kids but it depends on how your coach approaches it too. The biggest thing I found was it can be difficult to measure your progress in the sense that you don't really learn any 'proper' elements until you get to level 6,7 and 8 and even then it's bits of footwork like 3 turns, crossovers and cross rolls.

Whichever course you decide to take, you still move on to NISA passport and if you decide to test and/or compete later on, you can regardless of if you have taken skate excellence or skate uk.

This is good to hear, thank you!

I was worried that if I took Skate Excellence I would have to speed my way through the Skate UK levels later on to take the Bronze+ levels so that is good to know

[VisuallyImpairedOnIce]

My rink does Skate Excellence, but I'm working on the old Skate UK 1-10 with a private coach. I think it does depend on the coaching, I'd quite happily do Skate Excellence at my rink if I were a beginner, because I've had experience with all 3 of our main coaches and I know they're good teachers. The rink offers the Skate Excellence classes to both adults and children - our adult only courses are in the evenings so worth checking at your local rink.

[FamilySkater]

Is it worth the extra travel time to do Skate UK instead of Skate Excellence in your opinion?

Hi tessybear,
Which one did you end up choosing and how did it go? Are you still skating?