“230 thousand rubles a month for two people”. How much does it cost to bring up figure skater children?

The sound of metal breaking the ice, colorful costumes, grace and plasticity, incredible elements, speed and grace – it’s all about figure skating. You can watch with bated breath the performances of athletes, immersing yourself in the magical world of ice and music. But to succeed, you need to train from childhood, gradually improving yourself and your skills.

We continue our text series on the value of children’s sports. Today, a mother of two figure skaters from Moscow shares her experience with us.

mom of figure skaters

We have four children in our family. We live not far from CSKA. I looked online at all the sections available for kids. It turned out that only the figure skating and gymnastics sections take children from the age of three or four. We chose figure skating because my daughter loved roller skating. In addition, figure skating helps to strengthen the child physically. In addition to ice skating, we attend OFP, CFP, choreography, stretching and dancing. In general, my daughter and we liked it so much that two years later we took our middle son to CSKA for ice skating.

Skates

To start lessons, you will need, first of all, skates. This is the biggest point of spending, they need to be bought in specialized stores. It is better to come with a child to correctly select the size. With a large reserve can not be taken.

Everyone, as a rule, starts skating on Wifa skates. This model is sold immediately with blades. My children have passed the period when you can skate on these skates. Further, when learning double and triple jumps, you will have to move to more professional models, where boots and blades are selected separately.

You should buy boots with a very small reserve. I guess I’m lucky that my kids’ feet grow slowly, and I haven’t changed their skates for almost two seasons. My daughter skates in Risport RF3Pro. Now they cost 32 thousand rubles, two years ago they were bought much cheaper. Plus blades MK Professional at a price of 20 thousand.

My son rides in boots and blades of another company, but in the same price category. You can buy boots and blades a little cheaper, and you can buy them a lot more expensive. This is the choice of each parent. In addition, if there is no opportunity or desire to give such money for new equipment, you can always pick up a second-hand skates, it will be many times cheaper.

But it should be remembered that skates are bought for one or two seasons at least. Figure skaters in general try to change skates as rarely as possible, because it takes a long time to get used to them. And it does not depend on whether the child skates or master of sports.

Clothing and equipment for training

In addition to skates, you need to take care of clothes for ice training. A complete set you can pick up in any store for skaters.

I dress my children in thermal underwear, plus special pants and a sweatshirt. Nothing else is needed. For active ice training it is more than enough. For OFP and CFP classes, it is necessary to buy sports sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt. And at the choreography class all girls are in black leotards, boys – in bikinis and T-shirts. Yes, and, of course, you will need ballet shoes.

On the price here all depends on the desire of parents to spend on their child. You can buy a suit for 5 thousand, and you can buy only studded with rhinestones jacket for 15 thousand. But, as a rule, children-figure skaters like laconic black without extra rhinestones comfortable costumes.

Training clothes and thermal underwear change as the child grows or as the fabric wears out. And since the fabrics are used in sewing wear-resistant and well stretched at the same time, clothes are enough for a season or two quietly.

Of the additional equipment children need a jump rope, balance beam, roller for stretching, rubber bands, mat, spinner. A lot of little things that cost about 300-1000 rubles.

Costumes for performances

A separate item of expenditure will be costumes for performances. Children begin to go to tournaments in the second or third year of training. The program for skaters is set for one or two seasons, and, of course, under it you need to sew a suit.

You can buy a ready-made one in a specialized store, but parents prefer to invest not only their soul, but also a lot of money in this business, ordering tailoring from tailors of Olympic champions and champions. I found the golden mean for my children.

A high-quality and beautiful dress for my daughter cost 26 thousand rubles, and for my son – 16 thousand. This price is not the limit: the cost of rhinestone embroidered dresses can easily reach 80-100 thousand. But, again, you can easily buy not a new dress for performances or just by acquaintance for very affordable money. So the choice is solely up to the parents.

Classes

The cost of figure skating classes can vary greatly. My daughter started in CSKA, and now for a year is engaged in a private school “Figure Skating League”, where a monthly subscription costs 44 900 rubles. The subscription includes daily ice training for an average of an hour and a half, as well as physical training, choreography, stretching and jazz. My daughter practices six times a week for three to four hours a day. The schedule is very convenient for a schoolboy. In the morning – school, in the evening – classes.

My son goes to CSKA. He is still in the sports and recreational group, where you have to pay 15 thousand rubles for a season ticket. For the general strengthening and physical development of the child group classes are in principle enough. But if you want to work out at a more professional level, you will have to take additional individual lessons or training in mini-groups. The cost of an individual lesson with a trainer is from 3 to 5 thousand.

Plus you will need to pay separately for a ticket to the ice, it is in the neighborhood of 1 thousand rubles. What number of classes you need and whether it is necessary at all – it is better to decide with the coach. My daughter has four days a week there are podkatki in the afternoon, my son – three times a week.

There are children who do without additional classes at all and have good results. All this is very individual and depends not so much on abilities as on the child’s desire to do figure skating.

Competitions and training camps

There are a lot of figure skating competitions, where children get discharges. The fee for participation is 4-5 thousand rubles. All skating rinks are located in Moscow or in the nearest Moscow region, and you do not need to go anywhere far. Kids perform as necessary to protect the discharge.

As for training camps, their cost depends very much on where they are held. On average within 50-70 thousand without accommodation for two weeks. Whether you need training camps or not is up to you. But they are always very good not only for sports results, but also in terms of education.

For two children per month costs approximately 230 thousand rubles, which includes only the cost of season tickets and individual training.

It is difficult to raise a champion, even more difficult to raise two. Parents need not only money, but also attention and care. Support your children in their endeavors, then success will be ensured.