jedamum:Hi Jedamum,lwm99:Yes, this is an expensive sport.
I am pretty hesitant to sign up for such courses cos after all my dad taught all of us to rollerskate (the 4 wheels-no-inline type) and I 'taught' my husband (and a friend) to blade - more on the 'guts' part than the 'technique' part.
Is there a 'course' guide whereby they will list down what are the stages the kids will go through? I think it is good to go for such lessons only for the initial part to build up the confidence, and thereafter to just let the kid pick up on his own from there (or practice with with the parent if the parent knows how to blade).
I once saw a dad teaching his 2 young dds skating. One was holding onto the waist of the other who was then holding onto the dad's waist. The dad deliberately made a turn towards the grass patch, made an sudden stop and let his girls fall onto the grass patch. I think he was teaching them that falling is part and parcel of learning.
My son just completed the Level 1 course with Skateline. We went to the one in East Coast Park. The course is structured such that you pay $99 for 1 mth and you can go as many lessons as required during that 1 mth (the max no. of lessons would be about 16 ie. 2 per Sat and Sun for the same level).
Level 1 course covers the following:-
(a) gearing up
(b) how to stand up from a kneeling position
(c) how to fall down without hurting yourself
(d) how to stand without need to shuffle the blades
(e) stomping on the spot (to increase confidence)
(f) Stride 1 (basically, slow blading with feet initially in V-formation and subsequently glide in an 11-formation)
(g) heel stop (stopping using the right blade heel)
(h) A-frame turn (left and right turn)
(i) scootering (maintaining one leg in a straight motion and using the other left to kick outwards - this is important for faster blading)
(j) swizzel (bringing the blades toghether, then outwards and then back together)
(k) evaluation (if you want to move to level 2, you need to clear the evaluation)
Hope this would help anyone who wishes to know what is covered in the basic course.