What Are the Best Cities for Figure Skaters?

City, State or Country:
Richmond, VA
Number of skaters in this area (guess):
I am assuming by “skaters” we are meaning those who practice every day/ working on freestlye/moves, etc…in that case, at my rink it is about 40? Maybe less? (I am bad at guessing numbers)
Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes:
2… another one is opening up in a year and a half/ 2 years..but I don’t think it is set in stone yet.
Ice cost per hour:
$9 for 30 minutes of freestlye
Amount of ice available per week, summer:
About 6-8 hours a day, not counting public ice (which is 3 hours a day or more)
Amount of ice available per week, winter:
I am not sure, I just moved here myself…but the ice time is significantly cut once school starts.
Off-ice and ballet at the rink?
There are off-ice rooms but no off-ice classes..you have to get a coach to do that. There are plenty of ballet studios in the area, though.
High-end coach rate, per hour
Honestly, I don’t think there are really any “high – end” coaches here. I may be wrong, but I haven’t seen a lot of people working on doubles. I have seen some, but not a lot. But I know some coaches that are 70 an hour, and those are the ones with the students working on doubles.
This new rink that may or may not be happening is supposed to be “high level training” from what I hear. It may just be rumors though…
Lower-end coach rate, per hour
They tend to be 40-50 an hour..
What do you pay for a coach, per hour?
50 and 52 per hour
Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches?
I am not sure about dance…I don’t see a lot of that going on, but I have seen a few ice dancers on public ice. Freestyle/moves/jumps/ syncro coaches we have.I haven’t had a problem getting lessons for either of these categories yet.
How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low)
Depends on where you live. If you live in the city, expect a little more (about 900-1200 for a one bedroom)…in the suburby area….700-800 one bedroom.
Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty)
Well the area is great and there is plenty to do. And I love the ice skating community here. They are a bit more laid back, and I like that.

City, State or Country:
Central Pennsylvania – Harrisburg, Hershey, York, Lancaster Area

Number of skaters in this area (guess):
Not good at guessing – there are four major clubs with about 50-100 members each?

Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes:
Hershey – 2 rinks
Harrisburg – 2 rinks, 3 ice surfaces
Palmyra – 1 rink
Lancaster – 1 rink, not sure how many ice surfaces
York – 1 rink, 2 ice surfaces

Ice cost per hour:
Hershey – $11.00 per hour; punch card $100 for 10 hours, $170 for 20 hours
Harrisburg – $11.00 per 45 minute session; contract is $208 per month for unlimited ice time

Amount of ice available per week, summer:
Harrisburg – approx 35 hours per week
Not sure about other rinks.

Amount of ice available per week, winter:
Harrisburg – approx 33 hours per week
Not sure about other rinks

Off-ice and ballet at the rink?
Harrisburg – some ballet; coaches offer off-ice individually
Central PA Youth Ballet, a premier world training center for young ballet students, is located in Carlisle, PA
Many opportunities in area for conditioning and strength training geared toward youth athletes.

High-end coach rate, per hour
Not exactly sure how to rate coaches. Generally, I’d say between $48-$80 per hour

Lower-end coach rate, per hour

See above.

What do you pay for a coach, per hour?

Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches?

Check out the Hershey Figure Skating Club and Central Pennsylvania Figure Skating Club websites. We have dance coaches sending teams to Jr. Nationals as well as freestyle coaches with skaters who went to Jr. Nationals last year and placed top four in singles and pairs and (hopefully!) Nationals this year.

The Central PA FSC Intermediate Synchro Team placed second at Nationals last year.

Hershey also has a large and active Theater on Ice program.

How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low)

Low to Average

Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty)
- 3 hours from NYC; 1.5-2.5 hours from Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia.
- Central PA has quick access to both the great outdoors – mountains, lakes and shore beaches – as well as major metropolitan areas.
- Weather warm in summer, cold in winter, definitely get all four seasons.
- School systems are great and plenty of PA charter cyber-homeschooling options.

Other:
Very easy-going attitude at the rinks, friendly atmosphere, good camaraderie among all skaters (and parents!) Our rink is not a “high power” name rink, but we have some talented and dedicated young skaters (doubles, triples up to triple lutz) and an accomplished International coaching staff.

I am having a hard time getting past moving a 5 year old to a different country away from her father for skating.

We live at south east of wisconsin and I take my skater once a week to north Chicago for training. At north side of Chicago, they have at least 5 rinks that I know of within 25 to 30 min of driving distance. The rink my daughter goes to have freestyle ice from 6AM to 6PM, Monday to Friday. Don’t know the weekend schedule. It cost about $7 per 30 min, not contract needed. The coach there cost between 70 to 100+ per hour for a high end coach, the one who has skaters doing triple jumps. There are lots of skaters doing high level double and triple jumps at the high level free style ice. My daughter is working on the first 3 doubles and she has to go to lower level free style ice for practice. The living expense at north side of Chicago is very high. Good thing we don’t live there. They also have coaches fly in from CO and CA on the monthly base for extra training. Ballet and off ice trainer are easy to find and some will come to rink for you. It has been totally worth of the drive. At my skater home rink, there are only handful of skaters can do lower level double, none for triple. It’s good for her to see what’s out there and it motivates her.

Er-em…I had the same reaction, but I supposed that was a different discussion.

Well, whatever they do, DO NOT move to the St. Louis Missouri area – no real training here, no real comps here! We loved Colorado Springs – it seems to be a great place to train and a great place to live. Brandon Mroz moved from our area to train there and recently one of my daughter’s friends moved to train there as well. Her friend only has to go to high school 4 hours a day and can train the rest of the day – sooo nice when a public school is so accomadating for sports! We’ve been there twice and would move there in a heartbeat even if our daughter didn’t skate – we just liked the city a lot!

Yes, I will say that the public brick-and-mortar schools here are not as accommodating. Only 5 excused days are allowed each school year, and we had to argue to allow my daughter to take all 5 days separately (usually, you can only take them in two separate blocks of time.) Some high school students at some high schools have been allowed to use gym and study hall combination at end of day, but when I asked PA Education higher ups about this, I was told that 1) it’s against the law to allow this because gym is a mandatory class that is not supposed to allow independent study, and 2) since there is a push to have gym class every for all students, it would be even more unlikely to allow this in the future.

I think some kids who had enough credits by senior year were able to more easily arrange their school schedule for skating, but more or less, the public school system in our area is not overly eager to make things easy for higher level skaters to stay in brick-and-mortar school.

Yes, sorry I know you are right, but I couldn’t help myself

That and landing her axel and some doubles at 5…HOW??

I don’t know how, but Emmanuel Savary who skates out of Delaware is on YouTube landing a double axel at 6 years old, triple-triples at 10 years old. Crazy!

Same issues here…I am seriously considering jumpingbeans middle and highschool and what we should do. They are not at all accomodating here.

He is an exception, and he is a boy. I also have read that early success if jumping doesn’t always mean a great champion in the making.

I agree he is the exception. In fact, I’m selfishly heartened by the fact that he is an exception.

And yes, I’m not sure whether there is a trajectory set in stone for any skater who attains certain skills by a certain age. And for girls – whether fact or legend – I’ve heard that puberty monster (and I mean that in the best way possible as someone living with a normally mild pre-teen who now suddenly has days of spinning her head 720 degrees, if not her jumps) can be a wild card for elite competitive skaters.

Early achievement is not something to ignore, but for a sport with a short competitive shelf life, it’s good to remember that it’s still a long haul from Kindergarten to the national podium.

$208 for unlimited ice?!?! I’m moving to Harrisburg!!!

Shhhhhhhh! Don’t tell too many people.

But I could set up a guest room. Can you cook?

What is the long term impact on her body and on her emotionally? Does she get t be a kid?? Does she know how to ride a bike? interact with other kids? Is this setting her up for injuries later as her body is too young to handle the pounding of double jumps over and over??

Sorry! I’ll keep it on the D/L.

I can’t really cook, I can make a few things. But, I clean and do laundry.

Me too. I don’t mean to be judgmental, maybe there’s more to the story. But still, it seems like a narrow focus at a very early age. You’ve put all your eggs in one basket. What will happen to this child if for some reason she does not become a champion?

No kidding…a pass for my dd is $450

City/State:
Atlanta, GA
Number of Rinks within 30 mins.:
4 (plus another being built approx. 45 mins. away) 3 rinks have 2 surfaces each and 1 rink has 1 surface – not sure about the new rink but I’ve heard it will have just 1 surface.
Number of skaters in area: approx. 500-700 (there are 2 skating clubs in the area – Atlanta FSC and Georgia FSC)
Cost per Hr.:
Ranges from $9.75 – $11.00 for walk-on. Each rink offers 10 sticker sheets with prices ranging from $80.00 to $87.50. 2 rinks offer monthly contracts @ $300.00 for unlimited. 1 rink offers 45 min. sessions and the other offers 40 min. sessions.
Number of freestyle sessions per wk:
The 2 rinks w/2 surfaces offer 58-60 sessions weekly and the other 2 offer 28-35 sessions weekly. These seem to be the same whether winter/summer but of course it is subject to change for hockey.
Off-ice & ballet at the rink?
1 of the rinks has both ballet & off-ice and off-ice only is offered at 1 of the others. There are plenty of ballet studios in the area.
Coaching rates:
$30.00-$80.00 per hr. Most coaches offer 20, 30 & 40 min. rates because freestyle sessions are 45 min. maximum.
We pay:
$44.00 for 40 mins.
Access to choreographers, dance, freestyle, moves, jumps & synchro:
Definitely yes to all except maybe synchro – not sure on synchro. There are coaches that have competed and coached national/olympic skaters. There are also international coaches.
Mood at rinks: One rink is definitely more serious competitive. The other are a little more laid back.
The cost of living:
Average – but to compared to some northern cities or maybe California, the cost of living is average. It really depends on which county in the Atlanta area you live.
Things about the area:
We do have change of seasons – winters are pretty mild most years with the occasional “cold-snap” and surprise “snowfall”. The summers are usually hot & humid but at least we can escape to the rink! There are plenty of things to see/do in Atlanta. It really is a great place to live.

And four hours a day of skating at 5 years old??? Holy crow!

City, State or Country:
Los Angeles, Ca
Number of skaters in this area (guess):
couple hundred easily
Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes:
6 off the top of my head
Ice cost per hour:
At my rink- Freestyle is 8.50, public session is 7.00 (Skates are 3.00)
Amount of ice available per week, summer:
At my rink- 12-5 Mon-Fri, 730-930 Thu, 8-1030 Sat/Sun (Public) …. 6-8am M-F, 4-7 M, 4-6 F, 8-10 Sat (Freestyle)
Amount of ice available per week, winter:
same as above
Off-ice and ballet at the rink?
Yes, beginning group class and privates
High-end coach rate, per hour
120/hour
Lower-end coach rate, per hour
25/hour
What do you pay for a coach, per hour?
One coach- 50/hr, other coach 25/hr
Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches?
yes- all of the above
How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low)
high (It’s LA)
Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty)
year round summer weather… disney land, mountains and beaches within 45 min, etc
Other:
I think LA is a pretty good skating area… but I also think there are probably cheaper areas to live in with the same offerings… and you definitely would want to check out the school districts before deciding on a place.

City, State or Country: Hong Kong
Number of skaters in this area (guess): at least a hundred? i’m not too sure but there’s about a hundred skaters competing in Skate HK this year so ..
Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes: All the rinks in Hong Kong should be accessible within 30 minutes (especially if you take the MTR(underground train)). There’s 5-6 rinks in HK.
Ice cost per hour: Varies with rink but at the rink I skate it (Cityplaza Ice Palace) during the school term it’s $45 for the whole day (9;30AM-10:00PM), $25 if you’re enrolled in the skating school
So.. in US dollars that’s ..$3.20 for 12 hours if you’re enrolled in the skating school.
Amount of ice available per week, summer: All the ice is public, skaters practice wherever they can, and the rink is open from 9:30AM-10:00PM but it tends to get crowded in the afternoons.
Amount of ice available per week, winter: ^
Off-ice and ballet at the rink? None, but there’s many ballet studios around in Hong Kong.
High-end coach rate, per hour Varies with each rink, but private high test coaches at my rink it’s $1000 HKD for 5 half hour lessons. (Around $129USD)
Lower-end coach rate, per hour Again varies with rink but at mine it’s $925 HKD for 5 half hour lessons ($119USD)
What do you pay for a coach, per hour? I pay $119 USD for 5 half hour lessons.
Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches? All the coaches can choreograph. Freestyle is the most popular, I don’t think we have moves and a synchro team but we do have ice dance coaches. (This new coach at the rink, Qi Jia used to ice dance for China)
How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low) I’m not too sure it’s about average/high i think?
Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty) There’s lots of shopping? But the weather can be very rainy at times, and humid. In the winter, compared to the US, it’s probably like autumn. xD
Other: Since skating is a minority sport in HK, there are no freestyle sessions available, all skaters have to practice on public ice (which can be a huge pain sometimes in the summer) but the ice is usually empty in the mornings, early afternoons and nighttime (after 7?).

move to lake arrowhead california hands down best skating in the country. michelle Kwan, miri nagasu and evan lysechek all train here.

City/State:
Santa Clarita,CA
Number of Rinks Within 30min:
2:Ice Station Valencia and Pickwick Ice
ISV has 3 sheets of ice,pickwick has 1.ISV is also two stories,has a full stock pro shop and a really good restraunt,The Grill.
Cost per hour:$12 We have nothing under an hour.We have 1 hour,1 hour and 15 minutes,and sometimes 1 and a hald hours.
Number FS sessions per week:
48 M-S;during the summer we have one more session on Sunday at 11:45 A.M.
Off-Ice and Ballet?
Yes both of them.
Coaching Rates:
$27 for 20 min.,$40 for 30 min.,and $80 for an hour.
Acess to Coregraphers,Dance,Freestyle,Moves,Jumps & Synchro?
Yes all of the above exept choreography.But Susan is really good for it.
Cost of Living:
Depends

I am sorry, but I find this hard to believe that doubles A, are done by a 5 year old and B,and B. she skates 4 hours a day,and C why the USA?If she really had doubles at age 5, why would she leave where she was to come here?
Sorry, have to see it :}

City, State or Country: Northern, Utah, USA

Number of skaters in this area (guess):in this area? Not sure. We have 2 rinks within 20 minutes of each other. My daughter’s club is small. I would guess 30 including the adults. The other club probably has 100 skaters in it. That club has higher level skaters too. We have a couple upper level skaters, but admittedly not extraordinarily high. There are however, higher level coaches at the other rink and our rink. Salt Lake has at least 3 rinks that direction and has higher level skaters and coaches too. I know a couple of our skaters have joined the same club Nathan Chen belongs to. I know higher level coaching exists here, it’s just not what we are looking for so I haven’t looked into it.

Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes: 2 and 3 more about 30 to 45 minutes away.

Ice cost per hour:Dd’s home rink: 5.00 for 1 hour of ice time. The other rink 20 min away… 5.00/hr and I think it is the same or close at a few other rinks in SLC.

Amount of ice available per week, summer:Summer… mostly AM’s but there is ice M-F at dd’s rink and sometimes on Saturdays. There is also ice in the am M-F at the other rink and most rinks in the SLC area. There are a few afternoon sessions, but not many in the summer months. Ice usually runs from 7 am until around noon at dd’s rink and at the other rink about the same, but they also have a few early afternoon sessions. I don’t know about SLC rinks since we don’t usually skate there.

Amount of ice available per week, winter:M-F at both rinks. Dd’s rink has early ice from 6-8am on Fridays and then there is ice from 2-5:15 in the afternoon. The rest of the week, sessions start at 2:15 and usually go to 4:45 pm.Wednesdays are club ice sessions, so ice is from 4:45 to 6:45 that day. I am not sure of the hours of the other rink bhave but I would imagine they have more ice since we have less skaters. SLC rinks have more ice time.

Off-ice and ballet at the rink?My daughter’s coach teaches an off ice class once weekly at her rink. The other rink offers more classes as they have a re facility there. I don’t know about the SLC rinks.

High-end coach rate, per hourI wanna say 75/hour and I am basing that off of the Olympic level coach who works mostly as a jumps coach in our area. Not sure about other high end coaches rates.

Lower-end coach rate, per hour32/hour

What do you pay for a coach, per hour?50/hour

Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches? yes.

How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low) average

Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty) the mountains, winter sports

Other:

I don’t know if your state allows this, but have you thought about dual enrollment? You would do part-time homeschool. We just started homeschooling(not because of skating tho!) and dual enrollment is allowed here. We’re not using that as an option this year, but I thought I would throw it out just as an idea for you to look into. It might give you more flexibility.

I agree. An 11 year old at dd’s rink is a very high skater, she has been skating since she was 3 and I highly doubt she skated 4 hours a day at 5. She is working on her double axel now and skates quite high, but I don’t think she skates that much even at her level. Interesting. I can’t say for certain tho since I do not discuss training with her mom(it isn’t my business).

I know some school districts do offer this – half in-school, half cyber-school. I’d sign up right away, but so far, our district doesn’t offer. Good thing to keep in mind, though!

I have a girl who is 3 1/2 and has all her singles. She’s tiny, and Chinese. An axel by 5 is possible. I won’t get to keep her as a student, she gets jump coaching from someone else but I am her practice coach, since I started with her in tots class and she needs babysitting/supervision while on the ice. It’s been my mindblowing experience of a lifetime to have a skater with pure natural talent and ability out of the crib. I’ll likely never see that again.

City, State or Country:
Oklahoma
Number of skaters in this area (guess):
uhhh…. maybe 100 in the entire state
Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes:
1, there are 2 in the entire state
Ice cost per hour:
$8.00, about a dollar less for a 45-min session
Amount of ice available per week, summer:
8 hours a day, if you include public than about 10 hours
Amount of ice available per week, winter:
5 hours, if public than 7 hours
Off-ice and ballet at the rink?
off-ice classes about 2 or 3 times a week, no off ice ballet, there used to be at an old rink but it closed down
High-end coach rate, per hour
$60.00
Lower-end coach rate, per hour
$20.00
What do you pay for a coach, per hour?
uhh, $50.0-$60.00, i take 30 minute lesoons though
Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches?
no syncohronized skating, we had it for about a year or two, but not many people did it
How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low)
i’d say about averge for the south/midwest, which is low compared to the coast
Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty)
lots of allergies, grass, & football lol
Other:

City, State or Country:
Oklahoma
Number of skaters in this area (guess):
uhhh…. maybe 100 in the entire state
Number of rinks in this city, or within 30 minutes:
1, there are 2 in the entire state
Ice cost per hour:
$8.00, about a dollar less for a 45-min session
Amount of ice available per week, summer:
8 hours a day, if you include public than about 10 hours
Amount of ice available per week, winter:
5 hours, if public than 7 hours
Off-ice and ballet at the rink?
off-ice classes about 2 or 3 times a week, no off ice ballet, there used to be at an old rink but it closed down
High-end coach rate, per hour
$60.00
Lower-end coach rate, per hour
$20.00
What do you pay for a coach, per hour?
uhh, $50.0-$60.00, i take 30 minute lesoons though
Access to choreographers as well as dance, freestyle, moves, jumps, and synchronized skating coaches?
no syncohronized skating, we had it for about a year or two, but not many people did it
How would you rate the cost of living in your area? (high, average, low)
i’d say about averge for the south/midwest, which is low compared to the coast
Great things about the area (weather, attractions, natural beauty)
lots of allergies, grass, & football lol
Other:

we have had good skaters, but they all left, now there are a bunch of little kids who are good skaters, we have some good coaches, we just don’t have the atmosphere i guess ever since one of the not-so-good coaches became the “boss” of the rink, so if we had a better atmosphere i think we would regain our presitge we once had, oklahoma, belive it or not, in the 60′s & 70′s was a hot spot for skating, carlo fassi even coached here for a while!

we have had good skaters, but they all left, now there are a bunch of little kids who are good skaters, we have some good coaches, we just don’t have the atmosphere i guess ever since one of the not-so-good coaches became the “boss” of the rink, so if we had a better atmosphere i think we would regain our presitge we once had, oklahoma, belive it or not, in the 60′s & 70′s was a hot spot for skating, carlo fassi even coached here for a while!