Skating is a lot of fun and it’s a sport that can be enjoyed by all ages. Mastering skating skills provides a variety of benefits beyond the excitement of staying on your feet and gliding over the ice. Ice skating helps build muscle, is low-impact and easy on joints, and can boost balance, flexibility, quickness, and agility. These benefits are great for young children building small and large motor skills and even better for adults interested in burning calories and staying fit.
The Mentor Ice Arena offers lessons for youth and adults through the Learn to Skate USA Program. Whether you’re enrolling a child to learn basics, or starting as an adult, you can rest assured that the skills you are learning and the lesson program is designed with the specific age and skill set of the students in mind. In fact, all instructors in the program, including our own Mentor Ice Arena Skating instructors, are held to the highest standards and certified to teach Learn to Skate USA skills.
The Learn to Skate USA program is endorsed by US Figure Skating, USA Hockey, and US Speedskating – creating a standardized nationwide program to teach basic skills. So, whatever ice sport you choose to pursue, the skills you learn in Mentor or anywhere across the country are the same.
At the Mentor Ice Arena, ice skating lessons are progressive in nature, meaning you start with the basics and build on fundamental skills. The program starts with Tot Learn to Skate – where children ages 3 to 5 learn to sit and stand up with skates – and advances to Basic 6 that focuses on turns, T-stops, and lunges.
Adult / teen classes are offered separately and cover all the basic skills taught to younger skaters but tailored to the abilities of older students.
The Learn to Skate USA program requires all students to be members of the organization. Annual memberships are valid July 1 through June 30 and cost $17.25. Membership benefits include a welcome packet, subscription to Learn to Skate USA magazine, access to their member-specific app, and more.
Learn to Skate USA lessons start in mid-September (seven-week session) and are offered again starting in November (six-week session). To find out more about lessons, visit mentoricearena.com or call the Mentor Ice Arena at (440) 974-5730.