Well, we just finished week 2 yesterday in Spring Canskate.
The first week definately had some ups and downs. There were 3 instructors on the ice with about 30 kids. One instructor picked out the stronger skaters and worked with them on their own. The rest of the kids were basically treated like leppers. One instructor had them do things but couldn't care less if some kids fell behind compared to others. It was a real dog-eat treatment. And the instructions she was giving them was rediculous. All of these kids could barely stand up and yet she was having them chase soccer balls around on the ice to kick. Most kids would fall down 40 times on the way to a ball she placed 15 feet away from them and as soon as they would lift a leg to kick they'd come crashing down backwards. Brutal.
So with the instructor basically ignoring my son (and several others) I decided that since it was my dime I would take him aside and do all the skating with him. He fell a crapload of times and cried almost as much. He got very frustrated because he couldn't get up on his own like they wanted him to and he could only skate a couple of feet before falling down. But he tried his best and never gave up. But I had a feeling that this was going to be a very tough experience for both of us.
Week 2 didn't start off all that well. My son didn't want to go and was begging for a nap (a nap he refused 2 hours earlier). But he got in the van and got some Z's in on the 40 minute drive to the rink. Once there he seemed to be in a better mood to skate.
I was incredibly relieved to see that a new instructor was present and she seemed very patient and worked hands on with the weaker skaters. She made them do some really fun and easy drills and my son ate it up. Instead of forcing these kids to get up on their own with no aids and then trying to force them to chase soccer balls around she had them use pilons to prop themselves up with. Once erect, she would have them push the pilon from one line to the next. In between she would have them crawl around on the ice, sit down and touch their toes, or just stand without aid and have them touch their heads and knees. Within 15 minutes of doing this, my son was able to prop himself up using the cone and skate with it from the redline to the goaline. After this, she would have them do helicopters (stand in one spot and turn slowly around) and take babysteps from one line to the next. And not once did she expect them to get up all on their own. She had them try but if they needed help she would give them a hand. In the first week the original instructor frowned upon anyone giving them any kind of help and if she saw a parent do so, she would abandon all instruction on them. I know that some people will feel that the best approach is to just leave them and have them figure it out on their own. This might be the case in some situations. But this Spring Canskate course is only 9 weeks. I've spoken to several parents who have put their kids in Canskate and they say it can take up to 4 months before kids learn to get up on their own and do some of the things they wanted these kids to do in Week 1. With only 9 weeks, I believe things should be handled differently and I was happy to see that this new Instructor taught accordingly.
And I believe it's working. In the first week almost all the kids were crying and balling and none of them were able to do anything better from the start of class to the end. My son could barely stand on his own in week 1. By the end of week 2, he was pretty much getting up on his own, skating by himself for over 20 feet, and doing the helicopter without falling once. In fact, I would say that he only fell no more than 8 times in this outing compared to 30 in the last. And I don't think it's because he's a natural. The methond that this new instructor provided worked wonder for him and a lot of the other kids as well. And the best part was that my son smiled and laughed through the whole thing. He was actually having fun! And so were the other kids. Now he can't wait to go skating again.
If he can get up on his own and skate around with good balance and confidence (no matter the speed) by week 9, this will have been money well spent. He says he wants to play hockey in the fall so I wanted to make sure he could at least move without flopping all over the place. And if week 2 is any indication he'll have surpassed any of the skills I wanted him to have by September.