How Do You Pay for Figure Skating?

This week’s question comes from adult figure skater K.D., but it’s something many people ask:

How the heck do you find funding options? I work to pay for skating, I need to skate more to meet my goals for summer, season, year, and 5-year plan but to skate more i have to work more and then I run out of hours.

From S.L., mom to a figure skater and one of my personal voices of reason:

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. It is the only thing my daughter does or enjoys (extracurricular), so how do you say no? Work, work, work. We know two of my daughter’s friends that get money from family. One gets it from grandma, and the other gets it from her aunt. Unfortunately, we have no family with money to pay:-(

From Skittles Skates, who blogs about her experiences as a young adult figure skater at Skittles Skates:

The number one way to save money on skating (for beginners) is to stay in group lessons! If you can figure out a way to get the rink to expand group lessons, beg and plead - those things are a great deal. Our rink now has an “Axel plus” LTS class – $90 for eight weeks (30-minute class), plus eight ice passes, and with a very highly qualified coach. They are working on a double loop, I believe. All these kids take privates, but it’s a great way to stretch the dollar!

Another thing I did with my first coach was ask if he would reduce the rate if I paid him ahead of time. I paid him for the full month on the 1st, and then if for any reason I had to cancel the lesson, I didn’t get a refund (I got a credit towards the next month if he canceled.) He was so willing to be paid up front, and gain a guaranteed lesson each week he cut his fee in half. I definitely saved way more than I lost.

I also barter my time. I’ve been teaching LTS since I left Basic 8 (they just needed someone to pick up toddlers at first, and I was a preschool teacher at the time). They offered me a salary, but I did better to just ask for free ice time and a free group lesson. So I’m essentially a long-term volunteer with a great deal on ice. It works especially well for me, because due to injuries I can only skate 30 minutes at a time. Paying for the ice, I wanted to stay every second of it to get my money’s worth; this way I don’t overextend myself trying to do that, and end up back in PT, which is another thing that seems to be eating my skating money.

Last – I really do think of things in terms of lessons. Hmm… I could go out to eat, or get two lessons. I could buy this new skirt, or get four lessons. Everything is a trade-off. Of course, it’s easier for me since I’m trading off something I want for something I want – I’m sure it’s much tougher when it’s the family budget for a single child.

From Xan, adult figure skater, figure skating coach, mom to a Junior Nationals competitor and current show skater, and blogger at Xanboni!

All of the above. What you do is you figure out the cost, look at discretionary income (which includes eating out, updating the wardrobe, vacations, braces, and home improvement, etc.) and decide what you can afford. If you ramp up the amount of skating, you go back and refigure. You do all of the above and anything else you can think of. My daughter did not get braces because we had to choose. We have never taken a family vacation. We buy used cars. And then, when we suddenly had a national skater on our hands, we had to look at this and say “we cannot afford it.” That was a hideously difficult decision, made very very hard again this year when her competitive group all hit Junior and Senior and we had to watch all these kids she skated against make the big time.

Making these kinds of choices can be very hard on the kid, and I am not one of those who believes in hiding the financial consequences of an expensive pursuit from the child. They need to understand the impact of their choices for the whole family. You shouldn’t be yelling at the kid in the lobby, or using it as a weapon, but if the kid is not taking it seriously, then they need to be given the choice– commit, or we’re spending the money on something else.

What you DON’T do is complain to the coach about the expense, because your financial choices are not his or her concern. If you’re taking multiple lessons per week, you can negotiate for a volume discount, but you cannot say, “well we can’t afford that” while chatting into your iPhone in your $40,000 SUV.

From Bec, a young adult Australian figure skater, who has also contributed a guest post to this blog on makeup.

I’m lucky in that I’m still young enough to ask for money without getting a lecture. I work in the city where the rinks are, but live out of town with my mother. Train tickets eat up around half my pay, and my family understands – so they contribute half the cost of my three skating sessions/lessons/dance classes a week. We agreed on this after I worked out my fortnightly income, minus expenses, as well as the weekly cost of my skating. I couldn’t afford all my skating, and neither could my family, so we agreed to pay half each. I have generous grandparents who help me out, as well as my boyfriend’s family who help me get cheaper gear and help me out with advice. On top of this I work two jobs, so that skating is the only thing my family pays for. When I move out of home, I’ll have to cut back on skating, though.

More specifically for the writer, I have to suggest that if they just don’t have the time and have to make a serious commitment to earning money purely for skating, maybe they need to re-examine their goals and cut back. Acheiving goals is a great thing, but it’s not going to mean much if you’ve worked yourself to a point where you resent it all.

From Sk8rMomp, mom to a male intermediate-level figure skater.

One thing that I see people doing is working at the ice rink in exchange for ice time. That would help keep the costs down in that area. Look up clubs in your area and see if they have any type of funding for skaters. There are clubs and regions that have funds specifically for their skaters. Start with your club, then look around on club sites around your region or ask a club officer.

Do a search on the Internet for funds. A list that I saw was pretty out of date, but there were funds specifically for girls along with different regions. Check out the New England Amateur Skating Foundation.

I know lots of people in the same boat. Parents and skaters alike. Good luck in your quest!

From Ice Mom, well known cheapskate and mom to Ice Girl.

I don’t have to tell you that figure skating is expensive. I put Ice Girl on as much ice, lessons, ballet, and off-ice as I can wiggle in my figure skating budget. I save money for new skates and figure skating competitions, and yes, I occasionally run the guilt trip past Ice Grandma when it comes to buying big ticket items like new boots or blades. There is no easy answer to saving money in this sport. My only recommendation is to swallow your pride and go on public sessions. If you can find those sessions that don’t have a lot of people and where the rink management turns a blind eye to your spins and jumps, then you have it made, at least for low-level skating and moves.

I know a kid who is a national-level skater, but her parents don’t have a national-level income. They tell her that she can only have so much ice time and coaching. She’ll have to make up the rest of it with off-ice and conditioning. So far, so good. I’ll tell you, though. Having a kid like that is a mixed blessing. You’re so proud of her and her accomplishments, but you know that each time she does better and better, it’s going to cost you.

Good luck, K.D. As an adult skater, know that you can take your time with your training. There’s no race, so do as much as you can afford and enjoy the heck out of it.

So, readers, how do you fund this whole figure skating thing? Do you save pennies and beg relatives so your skater can stay on the ice? Do you have a money tree that the rest of us would love to know about? Even if you’re the gal with the perfect hair and nails who just vacationed in the Bahamas, we’d still like to hear about it. Well, we’d really like to live vicariously.

Do you have a question for Ice Mom and the Advisory Board? Is there a topic you’d really like read about, but I haven’t written about it yet? Would you like to write a guest post? Are you a figure skating expert and you want to appear on Ask the Expert? Terrific! Send me an e-mail and make my day. icemom.diane@gmail.com

Brian Boitano

Have you heard? Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist , will be my guest on Ask the Expert on June 30. He has a show on Food Network called What Would Brian Boitano Make? I’ve invited him to answer reader questions about what foods skaters can take to the rink and what they can eat before competition. Please send your questions for Boitano in advance – deadline is June 16. E-mail Ice Mom at icemom.diane@gmail.com.

Annely from Germany

The Forte International Exchange Association German figure skating exchange student is again looking for a home with a figure skating family. Annely is a 16-year-old non-smoking figure skater from Berlin who isn’t choosy about where she is in the U.S., except that she’d like to continue her figure skating training. Annely has studied six years of English and some French. At home in Berlin, she has an older and younger sister as well as pets, so she’s no stranger to kids and dogs. If you’re interested, e-mail me and I’ll send you her profile and student essay: icemom.diane@gmail.com

Photo credits:
Money…What Money?: stuartpilbrow on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Lottery Money: Lisa Brewster on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Inherit a large sum of money: quinn.anya on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Becky

I make and sell competition dresses and practice wear to pay for my daughters lessons and ice time. It works out well because I am one of the only moms who can sew. I know of another mom who trades her website building skills for ice time. Last summer I also worked at our rinks day camp doing some of the off ice activities like games and crafts. That got me a 25% discount on my fall ice package.
Lynne

In order to pay for skating, we economize where we can. I'm a stay at home mom, but I've learned how to do quite a few home repairs and can even do some minor appliance repairs. Sure it took me 2 years to scrape and paint the house, but the only cost was the paint, brushes and new gutters which I put up. I took a sewing course so I could make all my son's skate wear. We go out to eat about once a year, and only occasionally get take-out. My husband brown bags his lunches. We don't have cable TV, and my cell phone is the pay-as-you go kind that I only use for emergencies so it costs me $100 per year, and none of my kids have cell phones. We buy used cars and drive them into the ground. We camp for family vacations. I'm a sale and coupon shopper, and will stock up on frequently used items when they're on sale. We have a small house and in the winter I keep the thermostat at 62 to cut down on heating costs. My husband and I don't mind doing without, and none of our 3 boys has ever complained.
Skittles_Skates

Oops.. I have two “lasts”
niuiceprincess

I'm an adult skater. Hubby and I have no kids yet so I'm the only one skating! I have a full time job and Hubby works 25 hours at a TV station and during the fall/summer, he helps cut grass for his uncle's lawn care business after his shift ends (he works the early morning news so he is out by 8:30 am). Hubby has been very supportive even when I went on the jump from group lessons to private lessons ($50 an hour)/freestyle ice. I'm hoping that when I pass my pre-bronze tests, and then bronze tests after that, that the rink would hire me at least as a LTS instructor someday. Otherwise we are not fancy people…our idea of fun is going out to dinner with friends or watching UFC matches at Buffalo Wild Wings. We pass on clubbing or bar hopping (in our 20's so it is still a popular social activity with our friends circle) because we see it as a waste plus I dont like the tiredness I feel the next day that prevents me from attending public skate. I also know which public skate days/times are REALLY empty where I can practice moves and freestyle stuff that it is just like a freestyle session in itself, so I save on ice time there. I also joined our corporate gym so I can do my workouts/off ice stuff during lunchtime at work and the fee is only $37 a month, cheap compared to Lifetime/Ballys and other gyms around my town that have similar facilities. I didnt have to pay for a membership fee neither. I also volunteer at the Joffrey Ballet which has scored me free adult ballet classes at their Academy of Dance, not to mention be able to attend their ritzy fundraising galas for free. Interestingly I didn't even think of this perk when I signed up to volunteer. I had to quit attending ballet regularly because of the expense but I still wanted to be “involved” and support the arts. Since I cannot afford to donate money to the organization I figured I would give my time which to me is more precious! At the most I thought I could score free show tickets. But they let their volunteers attend the open division classes if you have volunteered at least 10 hours for the year and I am way past that. If you want to look into saving money for ballet training I would recommend asking if they need volunteers in exchange for attending a weekly class for free. Such organizations really rely on volunteers to keep their costs down.
Silver Blades

I am an adult skater. One of the reasons I quit as a kid was the expense. My mom couldn't afford the club fees anymore. I am lucky that as an adult I can now afford this sport and have been able to pick up where I left off 30+ years ago. However, I am still cheap, cheap, cheap. This is how I've stayed out of debt in general. No cable TV, no magazine subscriptions, no newspaper (I can read everything on the internet), I have the cheapest landline service available and the cheapest cell phone I could find which I rarely use. I buy used cars. I keep everything until it really can't be fixed anymore. If I replace things such as appliances that still work, I sell the old ones on Craigslist. If I don't NEED it I don't buy it. Needing and wanting are two different things.

As far as skating in particular, I skate on public ice whenever I can. $4-5/2hours instead of $15-18/50 mins is a huge savings. I don't fall for all the bling. I don't own a Zuca bag. I have a wheelie carry on that I bought at Walmart. I skate in tee shirts and the skirt half of two piece swimsuits that I bought on sale at the end of summer. If Rainbo has a sale on tights I stock up. I learned to sew so that I could make my own costumes. I think my costume for the ice show this year cost me $15 and my competition dress cost me $30 in material and $15 in bling. The only thing I don't skimp on is boots and blades. These are too important. I am still in group lessons cuz it is some of the cheapest ice I can get and I get a ten minute private lesson thrown in and I get to socialize with other adult skaters. The younger girls take bridge classes which is a semiprivate lesson the club has to “bridge” the kids from groups to private lessons.

Silver Blades
Kristina

Awesome that you volunteer for Joffrey!!! They were my dream company when I was a teenager. The ballet career didn't work out, but they are still one of my favorite companies. I have a friend who dances for them. You are so lucky to volunteer for them. I'm envious.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

They allow volunteers to attend open classes? That's terrific. I have to see if the ballet company here will let Ice Girl do that.
niuiceprincess

They are always in need of help. You can sign up at their website and the volunteer coordinator will contact you. There is always work to do there. From handing out programs at performances (my fave coz I get to watch the show for free afterwards), data entry in the office, manning the fundraising tables, helping out at the front desk or directing kids where to go for auditions, The staff is friendly and definitely perks are worth it. If anything I would only do it for free show tix and the heart warming feeling I get for being a productive member of society! but I'm glad they let us attend the lectures/parties (free food yay) and other events as well. And it's a good way to meet new people coz the volunteers come from different ages/backgrounds and all have a love for ballet as an art or were former dancers.
Season

I off set ice fee costs by volunteering time as an ice monitor at my rink. For every session I work, I get a coupon for free ice time. If the session is a half hour session than I get a coupon for a half hour session. If the session is a full hour session than I get a coupon for a full hour session. This helps to cut my ice fee costs in half. I recommend asking at the rink to see if their is any way that you can volunteer your time to see if this can help offset cost for skating. I'm also a member of our figure skating club board and this also cuts my club membership fee in half.

I get help from my mom(nana) to pay for skates and competition dresses. I also purchase competition dresses on ebay and I try not to spend more than $100.00 per dress. I purchase practice wear from used skate and apparel sales and also sell items at the sale to help pay for anything that I purchase at the sale.

I drive a used older model car and live in a mobile home because it is just my daughter and I who live in the home. We do not need a big home and the cost to live in our home is 3/4's the cost to live in an house and 1/2 the cost of living in an appartment with 2x's the living space.

We shop for clothes and food at discount stores like Walmart, Meijers, Khols, Target, and Payless.

When we travel we always try to car pool and share hotel accomadations with other skating families.

Some families I know offer to exchange lesson expenses with their coaches for babysitting time of the coaches children at the rink while they are on the ice coaching. Others work at the rink as parking lot attendants, in the main office at the information desk, at the concession stands, or as rink attendants during open skate sessions.

My daughter also practices on open skate sessions sometimes because the sessions are a lot cheaper, you get 2 hours of ice time for the price of half of a 1 hour freeskate session, and she can invite her friends to make the practice session more fun, the music they play during the session is also music that she normally likes to listen to on the radio and this also makes the practice more fun.

You can also find cheaper ice sessions for practice ice at rinks that only have 1 sheet of ice as opposed to two or more sheets, because they do not require as much resources to operate.

Some rinks also offer scholarships to skaters that represent their rink at qualifying competitions (regionals, sectionals, nationals, worlds and olympics). If you are an adult skater and your rink offers scholarships and you want to participate in a qualifying event (adult regionals, adult secitonals, adult nationals, or adult international competiton) I would try applying for a scholarship. The scholarships can be used for training, competition or travel expenses.

As far as getting a sponsor the USFSA website has some information about how to procure sponsorship from companies but it is very difficult and you have to show the company that you are a very successful skater and what you can do for the company to make their sponsorship worth their efforts.

I hope this helps! Season
niuiceprincess

Yes, they have a rewards structure where it outlines what perks you get after so many hours of volunteering. Good news is they count the 2 hour orientation as volunteering already. And then since it's working around kids we had to sign this background check consent form (thankfully we were told no prospective volunteer one has ever failed it). I think it's worth checking into if Ice Girl or you have the time. I don't know if you should mention you're a great seamstress, won't that open up a can of worms? j/k
Princess_chunli

Are you in a freestyle group class with just adult skaters or is it a regular freestyle class with the kids thrown in as well? I was in an adults class until I got up to FS 2 and the skating director nicely suggested that I should consider going to the regular freestyle classes, because I was obvious that I wanted to go further than the other adults in my class. Those were the ones that quit after learning crossovers or mohawks. I was with the kids for a bit until I knew I needed more attention from the instructor hence the switch to privatse. The fact I was with kids didn't bother me at all though but it would have been nice to have a fellow adult skater buddy with me in class. All my “rink friends” are below 12 years old
PairsMom

OVer the past several years we have found ways to offset the mounting costs of this sport. We do this because my son loves to skate. He is dedicated, he works extremely hard, is self-motivated, keeps up his grades, and doesn't mind doing his part to help. On a regular basis I see how much he has to give up in order to train and compete in this sport and somehow he even manages to squeeze in a little free time with friends away from the rink.

Here is a list of ways that we have found to help offset the costs. Some we use now and some we have used in the past.
1. Become an ice monitor and earn credits for freestyles
2. Assist with Learn to Skate classes to earn credits for freestyles (Asst. Coach)
3. Skaters can begin teaching private lessons to Basic Skills skaters at the age of 16. PSA recognizes this as an “intern”
4. Share travel expenses with another family; hotel, car, meals, etc.
5. Ask the grandparents – who actually offered to help without us asking (we are very blessed)
6. Costumes – negotiate a price BEFORE beginning
7. Re-sale costumes again and again and again, we even re-sell practice clothes!
8. Buy used skates, some that are only used maybe less than a couple of months
3.
SuperSkater

Paying for my daughter's skating is always a challenge! As she began to skate more & more we ate out less & less, that was the first thing to go. I have always worked a part time job & a lot of that money pays for most of my daughter's skating. Grandma sometimes pays for new boots/blades, not every pair but maybe every other, which is a big help. I do endless internet shopping for the best deals on tights, practice wear, & competition dresses. I do not sew but I do stone dresses myself sometimes. For us the out of town competitions were the thing we really have trouble affording…. one weekend can cost $500 to $800 once you ad up entry fees, coach's fee, hotel, gas, food, etc. My daughter began to have a really hard time with her nerves at competitions though, and now she seems to be winding down her competitive days, so my checkbook is heaving a sigh of releif. She may still do one or two competitions a year & two shows, that's enough for me anyway! :~) I really cannot imagine how we would have paid for any serious training, not that any is offered here anyway! She is lucky to get to do the ONE off ice class our rink offers each week, for the summer I did pay for her to do a group Jumps class. Usually we do two or three group classes in the summer but this summer she is starting to learn ice dance so we had to conserve money for that. One thing I have always done is to resell our skating wear, both practice & competition dresses at our club's resale & on Ebay. Unfortunately our rink does not have any real ice monitor position I could volunteer for… My daughter has shown an interest in coaching & would love a volunteer position but our rink won't use volunteers for insurance reasons. When she is 16 (another year and a half away) we will definently check into the USFS intern program!
iCE GRANDMA ROCKS!

when i have to buy 1500 dollor boots i might have to quit, but i dont know if i ever get there but if i do i think we'll find away to make it
one thing is that moms and brothers dont understand why i need new thing for figure skating! my brother tried to make me use his baseball bag for my skates! thank god for ICE GRANDMAS!
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I need a Fairy Ice Godmother. Ice Girl broke down her SP Teris in 9 months. Now it's another $600.

Maybe I should start planting pumpkins, raising mice, and cleaning out the chimney. Perhaps then I'll get a Fairy Ice Grandmother.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I hear you with the out-of-town trips! I'm trying to budget for one in August, which, of course, is the same time that Ice Girl's new boots will be here. $600 here, $600 there. Ack!

I'm about to put her PIC skates up on MySkatingMall.com. I want to sell off a dress or two, but I think that Ice Girl would bawl her eyes out if she had to part with just one.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

The coaching thing is a great idea! Ice Girl is about 18 months away from that, though.
Silver Blades

I am in an adult group class. Since we are all at different levels the teacher splits us up and gives us each a ten minute private lesson. The odd days that there are lots of adult in the group she bunches us up by skill levels. Typically the newbies that show up can barely skate so they are the ones that get bunched while those of us that have been on the ice a while still get a short private lesson. Management left us alone for a long time cuz they didn't think we were important. Last year it dawned on them that we are the ones that keep coming back, testing and competing; i.e. we are the ones with money We are suddenly very interesting to them.
Jozet at Halushki

I always thought it would be a fabulous idea for skate clubs hosting events to ask members with spare rooms, etc. to offer them to out-of-town skaters – if willing and comfortable doing so, of course. I know there are a million practical and sometimes paranoid reasons people won't or can't do this, but in my perfect world (where skating is still expensive ) there would be a way to do this safely and with everyone being gracious, both hosts and guests.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Jozet. That's a really nice idea – hosting out-of-town figure skaters for events. You know, I'm going to propose that to our board. It would help foster relationships between clubs, I think.

Of course, you're right: people are reluctant to open their homes, aren't they? Maybe if someone's having a seminar or something instead of having a competition. Maybe people feel differently if they're hosting a teen for a night as opposed to an entire family.
Anonymous

I believe this type of hosting is already done frequently in hockey. They call it “billeting”. We've got posters up at our rink looking for host families.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Yep. I know that the hockey folks do that around here, too. It's nice, isn't it? At least for camps, etc.
synchmomto2

I feel like a redneck sometimes, but we bring our RV to competitions- we are going to one in August in Cape Cod MA— so we are staying at a campground, bringing the family and saving on hotel and eating out (both cheaper at RV park) AND making a family vacation out of it.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Synchromomto2: You are not a redneck. You are a genius.

If we still had our camper, I would so haul it to competitions. Too bad mine's gone. We could have toasted marshmallows together!
Kristina

I’m in DC so I’ll have to look into if Washington Ballet could use someone (in my spare time…what’s that?)
Kristina

I'm in DC so I'll have to look into if Washington Ballet could use someone (in my spare time…what's that?)
Guest

Same- I switched to the kids class at Freestyle 1 … all my rink friends are aged 6-12 lol! (Though there are a few adults who are also making the transition from adult only classes to the kid classes too now)