The Winter Season

                               As skaters advance, the amount of ice time offered in the winter is not sufficient.
                          "off Season" schools offer skaters the opportunity to train eleven months of the year.

                                  Spring school, usually held in April and May, is a wind down from the regular season.
                                Tests are often tried during spring school, and thoughts are put into new programs and
goals for the next year's skating.

                              Summer school is an intense training period through July and August, New
                             programs are developed at this time and the skater begins to get ready physically
                            for the demands of the competitive season.  Summer is the most expensive ice time
                                of the year because of maintenance coasts for the ice and also because more hours
                                  are used.  Many times higher level skaters will skate five and six hours a day in the summer.

                                Fall school runs from late August to early October and eases the transition from summer
                                to winter skating.  Many people who may not skate in summer, skate fall school to get a
head start on the winter season.

                                Off Season schools are operated by clubs and in some places by coaches.  Schools
                                must be sanctioned by Skate Canada.  Many of them have a test day or two during
                                 the course of the school.  If your child is skating at a school that is not run by your home
                                   club, and he or she wants to take a test, a letter of permission must be written by the
home club test chairperson before the test is taken.
 
 

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