General Information

Welcome to the figure skating programs offered by the Minto Skating Club. The purpose of this section is to help students and parents understand the various programs how they fit into a skating development model.

Almost all skaters begin with the CanSkate program. This is the basic learn to skate program that teaches the required full range of fundamental skating skills needed for success in either figure skating or hockey. 

Once a student has reached Level 4 in CanSkate, they can continue with Level's 5 and 6, or if the CanSkate session is ending, they may switch to either the Minto Super Starters, or even Private Lessons. The Minto Super Starters provide group lessons and begin teaching skills not covered in CanSkate. 

Once a skater has skills equivalent to the CanSkate Level 6 they are usually considered to be Pre-Preliminary. This term comes from one of two formal testing programs available to figure skaters - the Test Program and the Competitive Program. The Preliminary level is the first level of the Test program so a Pre-Preliminary skater is a skater working on their Preliminary level. 

Skating lessons are broken down into sessions lasting 6 to 10 weeks. At the end of each session is one or more test days. On these days, skaters and their coaches sign up for tests. The tests are within both the Test Program and the Competitive Program.

The Minto Super Starters and private lessons both prepare a student to take their Preliminary level test. Once this test is completed, most students then commence private lessons and begin working towards the next level of the Test Program - the Junior Bronze.

Once the Junior Bronze is complete, most skaters then need to decide if they wish to enter competitive figure skating. If they do, they continue in private lessons, but switch to taking tests within the Competitive program. Once in the competitive program students can follow a series of levels, tests and competitions leading all the way to the National, International and Olympic levels of competition.

For students that wish to pursue advanced figure skating but without the accelerated pressures of the competitive program, the Test Program offers additional levels (Senior Bronze, Junior Silver, Senior Silver and Gold). These are also learned through private lessons. Students within the Test Program may also enter a variety of competitions referred to as 'Invitationals' (meaning the club hosting the competition invites all interested skaters to come register and compete). There is a growing number of Invitational events in Canada for students in the Test Program and Skate Canada is planning on introducing national level events for Test Program skaters.

As skaters develop and move into higher levels they also will skate more frequently. A CanSkate skater will usually take one lesson a week. A Minto Super Starter might take one Minto Super Starter lesson and one CanSkate or private lesson a week. Skaters working on their Preliminary or Junior Bronze levels may take 2-4 private lessons per week. Senior and National level competitive skaters will usually take lessons and train 2 to 3 hours per day.

Each skater finds their own path to meet their own goals. Figure skating in Canada allows skaters of wide range of interests and dedication to find an enjoyable and rewarding path in the sport.