Last winter we decided to enrol Ita into a 6 week ice skating course at Planet Ice. Unfortunately we went back into another national lockdown and so her lessons were postponed until May time! It felt a little odd going to an ice rink in the Spring/ Summer, but hey! The pandemic has thrown everything off and we didn’t want to cancel because we know how much support places like Planet Ice need financially.
Prior to booking, we looked into a few different places but decided that we really liked the sound of the Skate Excellence course offered by Planet Ice.
‘Skate Excellence Learn to Skate’ lessons teach the fundamentals of ice skating and have been designed for beginners of all ages, abilities, and learning styles. We were a bit concerned that Ita was too young (she started just before her fifth birthday) but this course is suitable for those aged 4 years upwards.
The lessons run on a regular basis, either over a 6 week period or over 3 & 5 days during the school holidays. We decided to go with the 6 week lessons which include 30 minute of group tuition, skate hire, training aids and coach support. This was at a cost of £66. In hindsight, I think the 3 or 5 day course would be better as each week it took a while for Ita to gain her confidence again.
The group that Ita was in was nice and small and her instructor was always really kind and patient with her. There were a few occasions where she fell over and I did worry about how that would affect her confidence, but she always got back up. We also found that some weeks Ita wanted to use a training aid and other weeks she was happy to be on her skates, but she was never forced either way. Encouraged yes, but ultimately it was Ita decision. This made such a difference.
There are lots of courses at Planet Ice. What really surprised me was that there was even a course for toddlers! They offer skating classes to children as young as 24 months of age to 5 years. These classes are specially structured classes created by the Skate Excellence team using penguins. The young skater will quickly become familiar with the Skate Excellence lesson format, and once they have completed the 5 levels of the Ice Penguin Syllabus, they can progress with ease onto the Skate Excellence learn to skate level 1 lesson. The young skaters are rewarded with an Learn to Skate Ice Penguin certificate to celebrate their success.
This is a fantastic way to introduce young children to the ice. This 6 week course starts at £56.
As already mentioned, there are lots of different courses including Hockey and Show & Skate.
https://planet-ice.co.uk/lessons/
There are also a number of Planet Ice arenas – Altrincham, Basingstoke, Blackburn, Cannock, Coventry, Gillingham, Gosport, Hemel Hempstead, Leeds, Milton Keyes, Peterborough, Solihull, Uttoxeter and Widnes.
For further information, head to their website;
Garcia Family UK 