Learn skating skills in series or in parallel?

[AntsSheffield 0]

I've got a dilemma. Do I learn skating skills one after the other or do I devote, say 5 or 10 mins at a time to each skill at public skates etc?

The way I see it there are relatively few key skills, ie forward and backward strides, starts, stops, crossovers, pivots/transitions.

But they all have to be learned and then burned into muscle memory.

The question is, whether to devote, say, a 1 hour public session to each of them equally or to focus on (maintaining skills already gained plus) one or two new ones?

What's your experience?

[Hockeydog 8]

As I have just asked some similar type questions myself I might not be the best qualified to answer, but it seems to me having command of your inside and outside edges is key to great skating. I'd pick a couple of drills, maybe one for each the inside and outside edge and devote x number of minutes on each drill. Set a goal, not so much for perfecting the drill but how much time you will spend on each, and stick to it. I think in general we learn better if we do something for a period of time and then leave it. That way you don't burn in bad technique because you are getting tired or bored. I also think there are some universal skills that are required in all specific skills, so just picking a couple will have carry over to other drills you'll do in the future. I am trying to work on improving my forward stride, so I'll take some drills suggested to me on a thread I started here and work each in a focused manner. I may even do nothing on the ice but those drills. I won't just skate around after so by body can start to unlearn any bad habbits I have picked up.