Advice re Graf Davis Gold boots

[FamilySkater]

the first 15 mins of each skate feels like my first time in the ice!

That happens to me too! So annoying when I get off the ice feeling all confident and like I've progressed and then next time get on and feel all slippery and wobbly again. I'm also fairly new to skating and have found YouTube videos really helpful for learning new things.

[AbiJ]

That happens to me too! So annoying when I get off the ice feeling all confident and like I've progressed and then next time get on and feel all slippery and wobbly again. I'm also fairly new to skating and have found YouTube videos really helpful for learning new things.

It’s so annoying isn’t it! I nearly gave up and went home yesterday, then next thing I’m gliding along again 😂. I’ve been watching YouTube vids but it’s hard trying to apply what I’ve learned on he ice without watching it there and then. I might have some 1-1 sessions, at £11 for 15 mins tho they’re pretty expensive!

[WednesdayMarch]

I might have some 1-1 sessions, at £11 for 15 mins tho they’re pretty expensive!

Try a group lesson/class.  They're usually really good to start off with.  You'll have fun and meet other people at a similar stage of learning, who will share your woes and successes.

I don't know where you're based, but £11 for 15 minutes private lesson sounds like a bargain to me.  You don't want to know what it costs in my neck of the (pretty remote) woods!  I'm afraid this skating lark is a pretty costly obsession.  Welcome to the Sufferers' Society!  Wave goodbye to your money and say hello to frustration, bruises, a certain amount of dignity and one of the best feelings on earth when you're suddenly gliding along, turning crisply and smiling so hard that your face aches. 

[Snufkin]

Yeah, if you're not already taking group lessons then that's definitely the way to go! I now get private lessons every week but I would still not give up the group lessons. They are helpful and fun and bring a welcome social aspect to an otherwise largely solitary pursuit.

At my rink (Whitley Bay) private lessons are £6.50 for 15 minutes. They do spoil us.

[AbiJ]

It seems prices vary hugely then! I’d love to do group skate class but as my nearest rink (Gosport) they are only 1 evening a week or weekend mornings, it’s a 30/40 min drive from me depending on traffic and with kids dance commitments it’s pretty much impossible. Shame they don’t do a daytime group session :/

[Carrie]

If Guildford Spectrum wouldn’t be too far for you, there are adult classes on Monday and Wednesday 11am till 12 noon.  Levels 1 to 4 at 11.30 am and 5 to 8 at 11 am.  You have to pay for 12 weeks at a time and you get free sessions included.  Most private lessons are £11 and some at £13 for 15 minutes.


Good luck and have fun learning to skate!

[FamilySkater]

I’d love to do group skate class but as my nearest rink (Gosport) they are only 1 evening a week or weekend mornings, it’s a 30/40 min drive from me depending on traffic and with kids dance commitments it’s pretty much impossible.

Can you take the kids? That's what I've done. I've got a feeling that their passion for ice-skating is going to wear off before mine but at the moment it's something we're enjoying doing together.

[WednesdayMarch]

It seems prices vary hugely then! I’d love to do group skate class but as my nearest rink (Gosport) they are only 1 evening a week or weekend mornings, it’s a 30/40 min drive from me depending on traffic and with kids dance commitments it’s pretty much impossible. Shame they don’t do a daytime group session :/

Gosport used to have children and adult group classes (separate) on a Monday evening and children's group classes on a Saturday morning.  I used to teach them.  I loved teaching the adults on a Monday!  It was a really great group of people and a lovely atmosphere, with a nice session and a dance interval afterwards.  But that was two decades ago.  It looks like they now have classes for both on Sundays, too.  (Maybe they always did?  I had Sundays off!)

Some rinks have a weekday session offering a more informal group lesson.  Plymouth has one on a Wednesday morning, called "Coach 'n Skate", where there is a coach on hand to advise anybody who wants/needs a hand, whether they are a complete beginner, plucking up the courage to try skating for the very first time, to more practised skaters, who need an eye casting over something they're struggling with.  There is also an informal "group lesson", which isn't mandatory for people skating on the session and which tends to be more about fun things like putting a few movements into a sequence, getting you doing things in both directions rather than favouring one side, a bit of ice dance...  It's a lovely session.  I think all rinks should have at least one in their schedules.  (Note to self:  Suggest it to Eden...)

[The ice mouse]

At my rink (Whitley Bay) private lessons are £6.50 for 15 minutes. They do spoil us.

They may spoil you for cost of lessons, but what about the ice?


I also believe that does not included cost of entry.


Where I skate the private lessons are 11.45 (15 min) and 20.45 (30 min). This includes entry to the rink

[Snufkin]

They may spoil you for cost of lessons, but what about the ice?


I also believe that does not included cost of entry.


Where I skate the private lessons are 11.45 (15 min) and 20.45 (30 min). This includes entry to the rink

Well I have my private lessons after my group which includes ice time so I do not pay for it in addition. But yes, you need to get onto the ice separately.

[The Sacred Voice]

Given that we've gotten diverted into lesson and costs then I'll add my rink for comparison.

I'm at Oxford and a standard adult entry for a public session is £8.20, session length varies depending on the day and time but it's somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours. Patch is a shade cheaper for similar length.

They do a really great value adult group lesson package for anyone that can make a Tuesday morning - essentially it covers the standard cost of admission to the public session with a half hour lesson thrown in for £1 more. The only catches are that the Tuesday class only goes up Skate UK 8, as far as I'm aware it's Tuesday mornings only and you have to agree to pay by Direct Debit with a one month notice period to cancel, but if you don't do it then, like I said, you're basically missing out on a half hour lesson for a £1 more than you're already paying. They do have a mixed age class on Monday evenings I think and that goes up to Skate UK Gold.

Private lessons are £11/15 mins and the rink enforces that as a flat rate across all the coaches. Obviously you have to pay for the ice time on top of that.