Why'd you start skating?

[sue123]

I'm sitting here, friday night, no plans at all, but my friend asked me why I started skating. the truth is, i had no idea, so i called my parents. I never remembered seeing anybody on TV and saying I wanted to do that. Well, according to my dad, when I was a kid, I was extremely hyper, waaay to much energy. So one weekend, my dad had enough and took me ice skating to see if it would make me tired enough to calm down.

it worked apparently. We went for the entire session, and apparently, i fell asleep in the car, and there was quiet in the house. The next week, the same thing, my dad took me skating, and then there was quiet. It's not like i was sitting around the house all day either, i was out until the sun went down every day playing tag or kickball or baseball. but i guess the logic was that if i did something i didn't know how, it would require more energy. and once i got decent at going foward, it didn't require as much energy, so i started bouncing off the walls again. so my dad taught me to skate fast, and attempted to teach me to stop. stopping didn't work too well, but skating fast sure did. and it all kinda worked itself up from there.

so how did all of you guys start skating? what "inspired" you?

[daisies]

I first went skating with my dad and sister when I was about 7. I hated it. All I did was cry. I never wanted to go back, EVER. But then when I was 9, the "cool girl" in school invited me to her party ... and it was an ice-skating party! Let me tell you, all of a sudden skating was my all-time favorite thing to do in the whole world. I couldn't possibly say I didn't like it, lest I be tortured in the school yard! So I went, and whaddya know ... I really did like it! I ended up taking lessons and advancing all the way through my 5th figure and Novice FS. This was 1979-85.

Fast forward to January 1994. Nine years away from skating, and 25 years old. I am literally sitting in my apartment doing nothing, and the idea pops into my head that I want to skate again in order to finish my figure and FS test. Why this idea popped into my head, I don't know! But I ended up calling my old coach from the '80s and telling him my plan, and he agreed to teach me. I actually started up again in February 1994, because a large earthquake in L.A. in January put my plans on hold for a few weeks.

Today, more than 10 years later, half of my goal has been accomplished: I finished the figure tests, but not the FS ones. I even went so far as to complete the MIF tests in anticipation for the day I might pass the FS tests, but the reality is I never will get those FS tests because this old body just doesn't want to jump anymore. But that's OK, I'm just grateful to have rediscovered skating and to have the means to continue to do it. Sometimes I can't believe I ever quit!

[passion]

I went to a public skating session at my university and I was mesmerized by a figure skater doing the most beautiful camel spin ever. It had been my first time seeing figure skating live. I was changed forever by that. I also admired the beautiful leaping waltz jumps skaters did. The rest is history. But what I like most about skating now is the ability to express myself to music. I do find my lack of skating knowledge limits me though, but I hope to improve on my edges and skating skills.

[dbny]

I was always in love with winter sports as a child, but lived in the southwest and only saw real snow once. I had those strap on/clamp on street skates with steel wheels. Then, when I was 12, I was invited to several roller skating parties at local rinks. I started going to rinks to skate, and at one of them, there was a married couple who were teaching dance, and I fell in love with it. My parents really gave up a lot for me to skate, and it was my life from 12 to 18, when I left home for college in NYC. Roller skating was out of the question while I was in college, and I never even considered switching to ice back then, partly for lack of money and partly because my focus had changed. I remained active with skiing, squash, swimming, etc, until I had kids, when I pretty much turned into a couch potato. When my younger daughter asked for figure skating lessons at age 10, I started her, and after 4 or 5 years of sitting on the benches freezing my a** off and getting fatter by the minute, I decided to buy myself some skates and try to reverse the process.

[TashaKat]

I wasn't inspired by a famous skater or anything like that. I went to the rink a few times when I was 15/16 but it was mainly because the 'cool boys' went there. I had no desire to learn to skate properly. Skating wasn't particularly the thing to do where I was although I did enjoy watching skaters on the TV.

I actually started because my ex-git was a semi-pro ice hockey player and rollerblade instructor ..... if you can't beat 'em join 'em! I started off playing hockey but didn't enjoy it. My dance background wasn't satisfied with charging around the ice after a puck so I started group lessons in figure skating on a small but lovely outdoor rink. The rest, as they say, is history :)

[Shinn-Reika]

I hope this is interesting.

I'm interested in physical activities like martial arts, dance, ballet, figure skating, etc. that put an emphasis on the human form. I also like snowboarding, skateboarding, and other extreme sports. I already snowboard and I'm also taking kung fu lessons.

I've been skating since I was eight, but that was hockey, though I did learn on figure skates (at that time I didn't know the difference because I was eight). Recently, though, I've begun going to the ice rink every day. I try to excercise, and it's the only kind of aerobic activity I really enjoy. It also is a good stress releiver. In the begining, I just used my hockey skates, because I owned hockey skates. Then I started renting figure skates, and I liked it.

Basically now I'm going to take lessons every monday and wednesday (well a class really), and then wear hockey skates every other day. I really like both, and hope they have stick and puck sessions.

[nerd_on_ice]

The classic story...I've always been an "armchair" skating fan and got the bug 2 years ago, after a friend took me to Stars on Ice as a birthday (29th) present--my first time to see skating in person. I don't remember ever thinking about skating lessons before that, but I started lessons about 2 weeks after. When I think back on it I'm surprised it didn't occur to me sooner, considering I always enjoyed staggering around mall rinks in horrible plastic rental skates. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, I suppose.

[luna_skater]

These stories are great!

I started when I was 6. My parents put me in Canskate lessons just so that I would learn how to skate--so I could go skating with the class at school and not have to hold on to the boards, basically. They also wanted me to have a winter activity, and since I HATED swimming (even though they made me finish that, too), skating killed two birds with one stone.

I didn't love it, by any means. I can remember sitting in the stands while my parents laced up my skates and dreading getting on the ice. I think it had more to do with my extreme shyness than the skating itself, and they were just trying to get me through my chicken-shit stage. :D I can remember being at my grandparents' farm when I was 7 and watching Liz Manley skate at the 88 Olympics. It never crossed my mind that doing all those jumps and spins would ever be something I could do. I wasn't one of those kids who was mesmerized by skating and thought, "I want to do that!."

So for the next 5 years I stuck with Canskate lessons. I really had no desire to do fancy jumps and spins; I just liked the basics. I didn't get obsessed with skating until I started synchro when I was 11. I have been doing synchro now for the last 13 years, right up to senior competitive, and have been to numerous National Championships. I have two National medals to show for it, as well.

In May 2002, I decided to take a huge leap backwards and do my dance and skills tests! Throughout my synchro career, my coaches had just always taught us steps as we needed to do them. If she wanted choctaws in a block, she would just teach us how to do them. Synchro has progressed to such a high level that now teams require specific tests, but it wasn't that way when I started. So I called up a coach on the recommendation of a friend, and started to learn my dutch waltz after skating for 16 years and competing at a National level for 7. :D And now I'm happy to say that I have my gold dances and and working on my gold skills! The drain on my bank account hurts something awful, but the sense of accomplishment is awesome!

Sorry that was so long!

[batikat]

I used to love watching the skating on TV when I was a kid. We only had an old Black & white TV (in fact my parents did not get a colour telly til 1986!) but I would be glued to any skating that was on (usually only the winter Olympics in Britain). I was always intrigued by the skaters ability to turn from forwards to backwards or vice versa without any sort of stopping - I could not for the life of me figure out how that could be done!

At 14 I went on a group trip to an ice rink (the closest one- 2 hours distant) It was a disco session and it was scary but fun and I didn't fall over. However there was no possibility of taking any lessons or anything as my parents had neither money for lessons, nor time to travel such a distance.

20 years later - I visited a friend who lived near an ice rink and we took our kids skating which I really enjoyed - though those rental skates were a killer on the feet. However I was living abroad so still no possibility of really skating and when we moved back to the UK we lived in the far West of Wales so still no ice rink- I took up horse riding instead.

In 1998 we were looking for a house close to where my husband now had a job and I was thrilled to discover an ice rink close by. Each time we came up to look at houses I contrived to take the kids skating and loved it. When we finally moved to within 15 mins of the rink I was thrilled and determined to take lessons as soon as I could, so at the age of 36 I had my first lesson - with the intention of learning how to go backwards, to do those turns I'd always admired and how to stop. 5 years later I am hopelessly addicted, have tested and competed and even learned how to jump.

[Mrs Redboots]

I'd skated a couple of times in my early twenties and even once or twice in my thirties, but we didn't start to learn until after our daughter did a course with her school, and then I got into e-mail contact with a Californian skater who was totally hooked. She came over to watch the World Championships, which were in Birmingham that year, and I met her..... and eventually bought my own skates and signed up for learn-to-skate classes.... and the rest is history.

[NickiT]

I had my first trip to Richmond Ice Rink at the age of 8 when the Ladies Circle club my mother belonged to hired out the little rink at the end. They did this a handful of times and although I was absolutely terrible on skates, I always had this dream that I could skate. I remember on oneof the trips arriving there early and seeing all the girls in white boots taking lessons and wishing to be able to skate like them. I even wrote to Jim'll Fix It (UK dreams come true type kids programme) asking to skate with Robin Cousins but Jim never fixed it so my dream remained just that - an impossible dream that was never going to happen.

Skating was something I never thought much of after that. Then when I got married we happened to buy a house three minutes away from the the rink I skate at now, which was very new in those days. Again though I didn't think about skating and in fact I was knocked down in my early 20s with ME or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I guess this was the push I needed because after being ill for so long, I started to feel better and when my husband visited the rink to enquire about the gym, I decided I deserved to do something for me and looked into learning to skate. It just so happened a new set of LTS classes was starting the following week. I started those and continued right through the set of classes before taking private lessons with my coach. Of course I've never looked back, and I often wonder if I'd never been ill, I'd have probably never rewarded myself with that first course of classes and wouldn't be here on this forum now!!

Nicki

[Carleenp]

This is a great thread! I am enjoying reading the responses!

I am 37, started skating last year, and am in adult level 4 of USFSA learn to skate. I plan to start private lessons soon. I would like to test for pre-bronze and try adult competition if I could get there. It seems like it would be fun!

Anyway, I roller skated as a kid and loved it. I had only been on ice skates a few times though. Then around age 14-15 or so I stopped roller skating. I tended to always say though that I would like to do some roller skating again or try ice skating. I then took up distance running as an adult, which got cut short by a hip injury that kept nagging me even after a successful scope surgery for torn cartilage. In the meantime, there were certain things that I would look at and say to myself "wow, I wish I had tried that before I was injured." Those were ice skating and Irish dance.

Now fast forward to a couple of years ago. I decided that I wanted to get active again despite any lingering hip issues. Being worried about the pounding and other injuries that could happen from running, I thought I would try dance and my physical therapist suggested ballet. I looked at an annual local newspaper sports supplement that advertised lessons and noted several adult ballet classes and also saw an ad for learn to skate. I sighed and thought "skating would be fun to try, but I had better focus on dance." Well, I then ended up seeing an ad for Irish dance. I signed up thinking that maybe my hip could not take it. But guess what? My whole remaining hip issue was a muscle imbalance that PT excerises couldn't totally address. But Irish dance requires equal work on both legs and amazingly got the whole imbalance worked out quite quickly. Suddenly I was pretty much cured and had found an activity that I totally love!

Now flash forward to last year. Looking at that same newpaper supplement, they again had an ad for learn to skate. I figured why not? I always wanted to learn Irish dance and found I loved it, so why not try skating? I signed up, and yep! I love it! So here I am!

I have found that Irish dance and skating help with the other too. Both help with body awareness. Then, balance between Irish dance and skating is similar, yet different in ways and compliment each other I think. They also each work different muscles at times, which I have found is very good. I also found that because Irish dance doesn't use arms or head movement much, that I sometime struggle with those in skating, so skating is great for upper body awareness for me too.

Mostly I am happy that as an adult I am finally trying the things that I wished I had done younger in life. It is very rejuvinating!

[NCSkater02]

My youngest daughter wanted to skate for a long time, but the closest rink was ~45 minutes away. Being the horrible parents that we are, we wouldn't let her start.

About six years ago, a sign went up announcing that the old 7-UP bottling plant would become an ice rink. As it was only ~20 minutes away, we told our daughter that she could take lessons, since it wouldn't take the whole day to take her anymore. It took over two years for that rink to open, and she was one of the first kids to enroll in skate school. (They still call us their first customers)

As I sat and watched her, I thought to myself, "If she can do that, so can I." I enrolled in the next session of LTS. Three years later, she doesn't skate, and I still do.

I origionally only wanted to do laps to lose weight and get some exercise. About a year in, it became boring, and I changed my focus to freestyle. I haven't looked back.

And, I have achieved one of my goals--I've lost 30 pounds so far! :D

[Aussie Willy]

Well I have a totally different angle on what started me skating!!

Firstly I did like watching skating on TV and loved the Duchesnays and T&D and various others. But that did not inspire me.

What did inspire me was on the back of our supermarket dockets they have special offers from local businesses. The rink here had two for one offers on the dockets which prompted me to think when I was on holidays from work 11 years ago to go skating. I never used the offer but just went on my own. However I got hooked instantly and after two session in hire skates luckily found a pair of second hand figure skates in my local trading post (considering Australia is not known as a skating country) and started group lessons. Then it wasn't long before I took private lessons and a year or so after that started ice dancing lessons. And I have been doing it ever since and have never lost the interest in it.

[Melzorina]

Christmas 2003 I was watching Flashdance and I saw the bit with the figure skater, and thought it was cool. I'd been previously and loved it but never thought to get lessons or anything. For some strange reason I became determined to get lessons as soon as I could, but my mum refused to let me, as I'd given up so many hobbies over my short lifetime, karate, judo, brownies, guides etc. The day before I went, I got permission from my mum and it's the best thing I've ever taken up. My mum wishes she never said yes because it's all I ever talk about and I think she gets slightly wound up by it. :roll:

[vesperholly]

My daddy took me! :D He used to play hockey and liked to skate around in circles during open skates, so I went with him and signed up for learn to skate when I was 7 or 8.

[Careygram]

I moved to NJ after college and didn't know anyone here. Seeing as I had done gymnastics for 13 years, I went to the local academy to see if I could attend open workouts. They told me I was TOO OLD (at 23) and that they didn't have any coaching positions open. Great, so I found a new skating rink nearby, told the gym people I'd be spending my money over there and got my first pair of cheap-o skates (plastic bottom, learned axel in them) and my first coach, a college student. I loved it so much, especially the fact that I could go around in the air a couple of times and NOT have to be UPSIDE DOWN, that I dropped gymnastics and stuck with skating. I have some of the most amazing friends from skating now as well, such an extra bonus in addition to having found a "passion" that I'm not too old for.

Skate on!
Debbie

[jmp123]

I love hearing all these stories!

When I was almost 15 (I'm now 45!), they built an ice rink a block from my house! My mom signed me up for lessons - she thought it would be a nice active little hobby since I was such a bookworm. I was hooked! I kept skating at college - of course I picked a college with an ice rink! After my sophomore year of college, I didn't know what to do with my life. I tried out for Ice Capades (didn't make it) and met a guy who wanted to skate pairs. I quit school, moved to another town and skated pairs for a couple of years (my parents were NOT thrilled). I've been skating on and off since. I've never had enough guts to compete singles (except for one adult competition), but I did pairs (standard and adult) and dance (20-somethings against the kids!). I'm now trying to get back on the ice - why did I ever quit? I'd love to compete again someday, but things are coming back very slowly - especially after breaking my wrist on that darn mohawk....

[eosrulz]

Why did I start skating?

......

That's where all the ladies are, of course!

[KatieC]

I'd skated as a child - poorly - I could do inside and outside ankles! And, my legs used to hurt badly after just 2 or 3 times around the rink. So I never really liked it but always enjoyed watching figure skating on T.V. I think that started with Toller Cranston and John Curry. Anyhow, about 6 years ago a friend mentioned she'd been skating with a young child she knew, and we talked about it and decided we'd go together. I was very lucky that my old skates from childhood still fit, because I don't know any rink around here that does rentals. We went, my legs still hurt, and my thoughts were "What do you think you are doing?" But, I enjoyed it, even when I could still only do 2 or 3 laps. My legs ached for the rest of the day - my friend never went again, but I went back 2 days later, and after 4 months, I realized I didn't have to stop and rest anymore unless I wanted to. I wish I'd measured my legs before I started, because I know they changed drastically. After 6 months a hockey player showed me how to spin and one foot stops, so I decided to take some lessons. I'm lucky that some coaches come out to our adult skating sessions so I can get extra help, and that we're allowed to figure skate on adult (but public) ice. The difficulty is finding jobs that let you take 1 1/2 hours at lunch time to skate!

[isk84kalan]

I wanted to learn to skate....I got hooked. Been doing it since I was about 5. Now...I'M ALMOST 14!!! ;) I hope I do this for a while. :D I like it!!!

[Michigansk8er]

My parents took me to an ice show when I was around 5 ......then to the neighborhood rink (outside) to try out my new hardware store skates. I was hooked, even though I crashed the moment I stepped onto the ice. I wanted to be just like Carol Heiss (then Peggy Fleming, then Janet Lynn). Unfortunately, all I ever got to do was seasonal pond skating. I was 16 before my parents gave in and let me take a LTS class. 1 or 2 sessions with a friend and my aunt. In my mid-20's I was back in LTS. I skated for 2 years (passing pre-bronze dance & preliminary fs) until a hip injury forced me to quit. I didn't get back on the ice until I was 45. It's been a rough road with a back injury that has not allowed me to compete for the last 2 1/2 years..........but successful in many ways too (I medaled at AN in Bronze III, have passed thru my Silver FS test, and competed a few weeks ago at Buckeye..........pathetically, but I was out there). Once skating is in your blood it's there to stay.

[skatergirlva]

I love everyone's posts! It is so interesting and nice to see how people got involved with skating.

I started skating when I was 4 years old in my backyard on double runner blades. There is a really cute picture of me in a snowsuit and hat and mittens. I had just fallen down on the ice. I started taking lessons when I was 6. I immediately fell in love with skating. My parents were on the PTA and they would regularly go and flood the local outdoor rink at my elementary school. I would skate after school for 2 hours outdoors, while my mother watched me in the car. We would then drive up to the university ice rink with my brother and sister and go for our lessons.

When I took lessons I did the USFSA program's 12 badge program. Badge 4 had the spiral on it. The judging system where I skated, reminded me very much of the standard track judging system. There was a panel of 3 judges who would determine if you passed or not. Badge 4 was a challenge because I had to do a straight line spiral, but I had really bad skates. I passed after several attempts and the skating director told me I needed new skates.

I skated on drill teams and learned jumps through the inside axel. I was learning the axel when skating became to expensive. I stopped skating when I was 13. I started teaching in grad school and started taking lessons from the first nice coach I had ever had. I moved to the Washington metro area after grad school and hated the area. I decided that I needed to find an ice rink. I stared skating again at 26 and started testing both the adult track and the standard track. The axel still comes and goes as it sees fit, but I've made it through my intermediate moves. Happy Skating! :)

[icenut84]

I first got interested in skating around my 10th birthday, when I saw Torvill & Dean on TV (making their 94 comeback in either the British or the Europeans - probably Euros). I remember seeing their FD and just being totally mesmerised. I watched them in the Olympics, and fell in love with their new FD (and announced to my parents that I wish I'd been a judge because I would have given them 6.0/6.0). That performance remains one of my sentimental favourites to this day. My parents took me and my older sister to their Face The Music ice show that followed the competitive season. I didn't carry on watching skating after that, because they retired. I remember reading that they'd started skating aged 9-10, and being very excited because I was the same age and I wanted to be like them. The nearest rink was about an hour's drive away though, so I couldn't go, even though I still kind of had the dream. I went about 5 times between the ages of 10 and 16, e.g. on birthday trips/trips with friends, but obviously because of the distance I couldn't go regularly. I actually found skating quite scary the first few times I went, although I still wanted to go.
When I was 16, I was talking to a friend about our ambitions. I mentioned that one of mine was to skate in a T&D show. I don't know why but just saying that got me thinking - are they still skating professionally? Is there a chance of this to happen? I got on the internet and did my homework, found out where the nearest rink was, whether they did lessons I could get to, and even found out what T&D were doing (they'd retired from performing). About 5-6 months later, when I was 17, I finally managed to start learn-to-skate classes (getting up at 6.30am on Saturdays!!) I remember having really bad butterflies before my first one, and also falling when we were learning a dip and trying not to cry. I kept at it though, learned to go backwards in my second class (another exciting link to T&D, because I remembered reading that Jayne also learnt to go backwards in her second class), and kept doing those classes for about 2 years. I started ot have some private lessons after about 6 months. For the first 2-3 years, I only skated once a week. When I started university, I made sure I chose one near to a good ice rink :) And I'm still going. :D I'll always be thankful to my mum who drove me every Saturday - getting up early, giving up her mornings, driving me an hour each way, sitting in the canteen catching up on some of her paperwork/marking (she's a teacher) while I was on the ice, even paying for me. She did it because she knew it was my dream and because I wanted it so much, and I'm so grateful to her.
I also started to watch skating again at about the same time, in 2001. Of course, I didn't know who any of the skaters were, but I remember enjoying Irina Slutskaya especially, with her Don Quioxte LP. Since then, I got on the net and started to get to know everything - who the skaters are, competition results (I didn't even know who won the 98 Olympics), skating moves and terminology etc. And still here. 8-)

[skatergirl1990]

I agree, it is so interesting reading everyone's reasons for starting skating!

My mom was a figure skater and my dad was a hockey player. I started hockey and continued for about one month. I absolutly hated it, but I still wanted to skate, so my mom took me to the rink for figure skating lessons. After that I got TOTALLY hooked!! Almost 15 years old, taking my Sr. Silver Freeskate in March.. very excited!!! I never want to quit!

[ngcskate]

I honestly have no idea what inspired me to start skating, or even what started my love of skating. My parents weren't big fans and we never went skating as a family. I know I saw Karen Magnussen at a young age (under 10) and she is still one of my favourites. The next memory I have of watching skating is seeing Tai and Randy win Worlds in 1979. I started skating shortly after that, so something about that win must have inspired me. I didn't go very far when I was younger. I got all the badges that the CFSA offered in the early 80's, but I never did any testing.

A little later in life (early 20's), I joined a precision team and took a few adult classes. I passed my Dutch Waltz, but never went any further with testing. I'm on an adult precision team again now, well, not right now, I'm waiting for my ankle to heal. But I really enjoy that and would like to pursue some of the dance tests again and go a little further with those.

[Kristin]

Hockey players inspired me to even start skating. I grew up in the south in an area where ice skating was not prevalent. Our family moved to Michigan and I became a Red Wing fan and started watching them on TV. Since I am more of a "doer" rather than a "watcher", it wasn't long after that I bought my first pair of hockey skates because the skating looked so much fun on TV! I was fortunate that I lived in a neighborhood with a free ice arena (yes, FREE) so I skated public skate 3-4 days/week in the winter time while I was in highschool. I didn't have any formal lessons, I just liked the feeling of sailing across the ice!

It was a figure skating coach later on in College who persuaded me to try figure skating.

Kristin

[TimDsk879]

Tonya and Nancy. :D

Plus the Olympics

[jazzpants]

I started skating when I was 9 and moved to a house out near the beach. The house was a block away from a very old ice rink (those of you who know San Francisco in the old days, it's NOT the Sutro rink but the 48th Ave rink.) One day my oldest sister and her bf went skating (and I was the 3rd wheel but mom made her take me along -- to keep her out of trouble.) Well, eventually she stopped skating but I kept going! However, given that our parent's finances were limited, I had to settled for skating at most once a week and in rentals. Ironically I managed to teach myself crossovers, a one foot spin, and waltz jump. I think eventually I even taught myself a "shoot the duck" for good measure too. Eventually, I had to stop skating to concentrate on high school and "getting good grades so I would go to a nice university and get a nice paying job and blah blah blah..." Eventually the rink was demolished and a condo took its place!!! And yes, it certainly broke my heart to see that happened. They were tearing down a part of my childhood.

I came back to skate when I was 31 and I wanted to get additional exercise besides going to the gym. (Plus I was going thru some personal issues and I needed a break from it.) Someone mentioned about an ice rink in San Francisco. I thought this person meant 48th Ave but NOOOOO.... the person said there is a rink downtown near our convention center (Moscone to be exact...) I look it up on the web and sure enough, there IS a rink near Moscone... called Yerba Buena!!! So I went there and slap on those aqua green ski boot skates and went around the rink. No waltz jumps and spins!!! I barely got my crossovers back, but I can still skate after 17 years!!! And I kept coming back each week, plugging away at the rentals... until an ice guard suggested taking group lessons and eventually getting my own skates -- starting the new expensive slippery slope that I'm still in now!!! (It's called AOSS!!!) :lol:

[suiyan]

I began skating because we were living in California at the time, I did not have a work permit and was bored. My daughter, imagining herself as a trampolinist, while jumping on the home made trampoline (the bed) had trampolined out through the window completely cutting one of the nerves and two of the major arteries in her arm. She'd also sliced part way through three of the other nerves in her arm. Six months after leaving hospital despite intense physio she could still not move her arm. She went to a skating birthday party and for the first time lifted her arm away from her body. I mistakenly thought that skating was going to be a cheap replacement for physio. (That was 11 years ago and my daughter still costs me a fortune in skating) After hours of sitting in a cold ice rink watching her skate I mentioned to a grey haired lady seated next to me I would love to have a go at this but was too old being in my 40's. She was 67 and had been skating for only five years. Suitably chastised I joined her at her coffee club. It was great. I discovered the San Hose rink which was below a shopping centre and I could shop and skate. I would watch Rudi Galindo who was training there at the time and imagine I was skating like him -although I think I looked more like Daffy Duck but it didn't matter. I was hooked. I think I love it more than my daughter .

[Andie]

Because I had almost always wanted to do it and liked the way it looked on TV. As a child I only roller skated. I first ice skated when I was 15 or 14, after wanting for years to be able to do it. Even though we had lived pretty close to ice rinks when I was a child, my mom didn't really know I wanted to do it (she thought I just wanted to do gymnastics) and we were unaware that any ice rinks were nearby. It was only a few years after we moved away that we, regrettably, would find out how close we'd been to the rinks.

Now I'm 19 and in the low Freestyle levels, around FS 3-4 (but rusty ;) ). I plan to keep doing it as much as I can and as long as we can afford it. Unfortunately, the closest rink is about 27 miles, and the next closest one where I go most often is 40 miles away. :cry: Oh how I regret not doing this sport when we had more rinks closer. :frus: At least they aren't as far as some people have to go...

[vintagefreak]

When I was a kid, we lived on a lake and I started skating when I was about 5 years old. My mom helped me get started and I used my brother's old black figure skates. A few years later my parents signed me up for lessons at an ice arena which had a newly formed club. I skated all the way thru my college years but then quit. Lots of shows, tests and competitions later, I guess I burned out.

I loved skating for the most part but I look back now and realize I never really appreciated the sacrifices my parents made for me and my skating. I think I took it for granted, complained a lot about going to practice when I was a kid and probably caused them lots of grief and headaches. My dad had been a hockey player when he was younger and he loved skating but had to quit when he was in his 40s due to some health problems. He had silently put up with me for all those years, was always enthusiastic about the events I was in, seemed very proud and didn't seem to mind forking over the money for all the privates or other stuff. I don't remember him ever getting angry at me for not wanting to go to practice or griping about getting up at 5am many mornings to go do patch. He was just there. A rock. So was my mom.

I got back into skating less than 2 years ago because my kids were interested. I was apprehensive about getting back on the ice but after one public session I realized I absolutely love skating. Every time I step out there, so many wonderful memories come back about my family and growing up skating. Both my parents have passed away, so it means much more to me now to be out there on the ice and able to use what they helped me learn and the gift they gave to me. It has helped me heal lots of wounds and has given me peace and a huge sense of accomplishment. Its like my parents are there still, standing behind the boards. I don't know if anyone can relate unless they've lost loved ones, but it means so much to me and to be able to pass something like this on to my kids is really special. I hope one day my son and daughter reflect about their times growing up and the fun we had out there learning together. There isn't anything better than goofing around with your kids on the ice or working diligently on the same rink on different things, passing each other by and giving a wave..... I am so blessed.

~AF

[coskater64]

I skated as a teenage 14-18 but competed maybe 4-6 times, passed my 2nd figure back in 1982 and then after finishing high school quit. Mostly, due to the fact that there was no rink near the college I attended and one of my last axels I landed on my head.

After that I did nothing, I worked a lot. Got sick, worked more went back to school, joined the peace corps, got sick again. At 33 my doctors said I had to exercise, my tendons were shortening and I was in hideous health, so I tried everything hated all of it. Moved away from all my friends to CO and decided to try skating again. I liked it I was 36 and I could only skate for 1/2 and hour every other day before being exhausted. 4 1/2 years later I skate 2-3 hours a day , 5 days a week and started dance about 1 1/2 years ago. I just feel really happy when I skate and apprently I don't look like as big of an idiot as I think. I hope to get through all my moves, dances and freedances, but I don't think I'll get the freeskates.
la :D :D 8O

[cutiesk8r43]

my sister started skating when I was still in gymnastics. When we picked her up after her lesson I told my mom I wanted to skate. My sister didn't like the idea of me skating because she wanted it to be HER sport.( she was 13 and I was 8)if that it explains it :roll:.well, I started any ways and caught on faster than my sister since I started younger. I'm now 12 and she's 17 :). I'm a level higher than her now.We both skate 3 days a week. It's not much but good enough for me! :)
~cutie ;)

[fan]

i was about 16 and used to watch skating obsessively. my parents were sick of it and told me to take lessons. but i was too scared that i'd be put into lessons with 6 year olds. anyway, i was walking around in goodwill one october, looking for an 80's halloween costume, when i came across a pair of skates. i looked at them,and they appeared to be hand stitched. i wondered who "john kneebly"was and what "gold seal" blades were. so i bought them for $10, and brought them to my local club. they fit perfectly, and boy, did i fly on them! i found out after i'd been skating for about two weeks that they were $1000+ skates! i got hooked, and no pair of skates has been good enough since. i'm canadian, but i'm moving to sydney, australia in july, and just hope i'll have enough ice time to satisfy my cravings...

[Figureskates]

I did pond skating in the early 50s, until the built the South Mountain Arena in New Jersey, where I grew up. I started figure skating lessons there. Figure skating was hard on my mOm to take since she was an equestrian champion and wanted one of her sons to follow. My brother took up golf.

Anyway, went to college in the mid 60s. Since they didn't figue skate there, I took up hockey and proceeded to smash my left knee to the point where I had it rebuilt.

Fast forward to 1998 when I was up to 195 pounds and my doctor told me to do something. Since I lived around the corner, literally from the ice rink I started figure skating again. Weight went down to 172 where it has been ever since. Also I go up to Lake Placid every August for the Adult Skate Week....this year will be #6.

Wife and I plan to retire to the Adirondacks in a couple of years.

[pedonskates]

I agree that these posts are really neat to read!

Same with Daisies, the first time I skated I hated it! The rink was a temporary "outdoor" facility at the amusement park in Memphis, TN. It was cold and wet and I fell a lot! My mom used to skate on the pond at the dump when she was a kid, and the neighbors thought she was nuts skating on our driveway after an ice storm. I remember watching some Olympic skating, but the 1988 Olympics was the first time I understood what was going on with the skaters.

Then it was a "cool" thing to do once another arena opened up. I remember staring at the Zamboni for what seemed to be hours with my brother begging to skate. (Maybe I really wanted to drive the Zam) - that one was an Ice Capades rink in the mall. They then opened one near our house and the owners and skating pros went to our church.

By that time I was 13 and was really bad at softball and soccer so decided to take up skating. I've been doing it pretty constantly ever since. That local arena closed about a year after I started and I lost my coach (He and his wife were really cool and from South Africa - he use to tell me that I would spin the other direction in the southern hemisphere!) I can't believe how many miles my mom drove to take me to the rink in the mall. It was an ISI program, and I did quite a few local competitions and one Winter Classic the year we hosted it (1990?) My brother played on the only hockey team in the city, so we were a skating family.

I had a brief time off while in college in Atlanta - no transportation to the rink, but then I moved to Rochester, NY for med school. There's no lacking ice here! I had passed my intermediate free in college and really liked doing figures bright and early in the morning. It is definitely great exercise, and it's a good conversation piece.

I was waiting for 25 years to hit so that I could skate at AN. That is definitely a lot more fun than the kid competitions. The adults are so much more fun to skate with although I do like practicing with the kids because they're good motivation for the most part.

I'll be moving to Tucson in a couple of months, and I'll have to find new ice. That was a criteria for a new job - an ice rink!!!

Keep posting! It's fun to read the different stories.

Pedonskates

[saras]

I read the book "Skating Shoes" by Noel Streatfield LOL. It was a story about a rich girl who skated pretty seriously, and her (of course) poor friend who started taking lessons with her (paid for by the rich friend), and guess who was better at it and who loved it more, ha. I have to say, I was drawn to the descriptions of the persistant hard work it required....Brenda will laugh at that.

I read that in my early teens, we moved around a lot growing up, and shortly after reading it we moved to Santa Barbara CA. I sought out the rink, and started in the equivalent of Learn to Skate classes (ISIA curriculum - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta) in 9th grade. In 10th grade, I started some private lessons, and started doing a patch and freestyle session in the morning before school, and again after school, sometimes patch/FS/then patch again after school. I passed my Juv tests (figures and FS) right at the end of 12th grade, an axel was my hardest jump, and for a lot of reasons I didn't have coaching my last summer (two coaches in a row moved away in quick succession, and I was heading off to college) and by the end of the summer I had lost the axel due to just doing it wonky without coaching. I never even thought about picking a college that had an ice rink - what a dope. I ended up at college in Portland OR - where it would have taken 3 bus rides to get to the mall rink and while I tried it once, I just couldn't keep it up. Too bad, b/c I'm pretty sure Tanya Harding was a kid on her way up at that time LOL.

So I quit when I went to college, then moved to Boston for grad school and stayed there for 11 years - I skated maybe a handfull of times there, but my feet had grown a full size and my skates didn't fit anymore so it hurt to skate. I couldn't afford new skates let alone lessons etc. Then we moved to CT and I commuted to NYC for 5 years - there was no time with that commute to add in skating... Finally, we moved to Rochester NY 4 years ago, and a huge attraction about the job I got was that there was a rink on campus. With a figure skating club. I bought new skates, started going at lunch time for the first year, and then braved finding a coach and getting some lessons. I had gotten back probably about 1/2 of the three turns on my own without coaching (I couldn't do FI so well or BI), I could do a weeny waltz jump and toe loop and salchow, but couldn't rotate a loop fully. My coach got one of those out of me in the first lesson - things proceeded from there!

Funny thing is I never really stopped thinking about it in the years off - I quit in 1981 and started up in 2001 (lessons in 2002). Patch/figures I thought about a lot, and often I'd "choreograph" in my head when I heard music I liked. It has been pretty awsome to get back into it...

Sara

[tripletoesrule]

basically... my mom was a coach and i started skating at 3... simple as that... no fancy story or anything :(

[CoolbugSuz]

I skated on ponds when I was a kid, then as a teenager skated in the local city square (which they'd fill with water and freeze during the winter). Just normal goofing around kid skating. Then when I moved down to Columbus (in 1995), I made my hubby take me to go ice skating. I didn't even have my own skates, so I used the rentals. After 10 minutes, he sat down and took his off (his ankles were killin him), and that's just about when I got back into the groove of skating.

The next year or two later at Christmas, he bought me a pair of my own skates (Jackson Mystiques). Unfortunately, they kinda were put away unused and unsharpened..you know how sometimes X-mas presents have a way of doing that. LOL Then I got them out maybe in 2001 and took them to Sportmart to be sharpened (after all, that's where they came from, they should know how to sharpen them, right?) There was no charge for the sharpening. I put them on, step onto the ice, and I'm tellin ya, my feet were every which way but straight. LOL Exasperated, I gave up and went home and banished my skates to the garage. LOL I kept thinking to myself "how could I get so bad when I did fine a few years ago?"

Fast forward to February 14, 2002. Bored, hubby already zonked out for the night, I turned on the Olympics. I was watching the men's final program, and not being familiar with any of the skaters, I decided to root for the American. So of course, the Russian was last to skate. As they showed him pacing in the hallway prior to his skate, I was thinking "Mess up, Russian guy. I want the American guy to win." Well, as soon as this "Russian" guy stepped out on the ice and started his program, I was MESMERIZED, I tell ya. I just felt like I was right out there on the ice with him. He skated with so much passion, it just made me feel at one with him. Who IS this Alexei Yagudin guy, I thought? He is awesome! So of course, I had to look him up on the internet. LOL 8 days later, I took my banished skates off their hook in the garage and drove them up to OSU Ice Rink in Columbus. I figured I was gonna get them sharpened by somebody who knew what they were doing. Lo and behold, after they were sharpened and the guy handed them to me, he said "These have never been sharpened." HMMMM, no wonder I couldn't skate on them....

So, I started skating when I could, during lunch sessions, etc. I took a session or two of group lessons from OSU. I'm lucky enough to work a block away from a rink, so I could go skate during lunch. When Champions on Ice was in town, I even got to skate on the same ice at the same time as Philippe Candeloro. That was cool. :) Anyhow, last summer I took about a 6 month break, skating only a couple times a month. I think that actually did me good, and I came out of that refreshed.

I signed up for group lessons from the Columbus Figure Skating Club, and got a really good instructor. He started skating as an adult, and is very good at teaching things to adults. I passed Adult Basic 1,2,3,4, and now I'm on Freestyle 1. I just started taking private lessons from him last week, so I hope to learn lots and lots more. I can only get better, right? And, I'm in a group number in the ice show this Friday and Saturday! I'd have never dreamed in a million years I'd be in an ice show, LOL. But it's been so much fun learning, and I continue to have fun and be challenged at the same time. Keeps me young (in my head, at least, LOL). :) There ya go, that's my story and I'm stickin to it! LOL

Suz

[MusicSkateFan]

In abbreviated form:

Skate fan for years....Watched old Sonja H. movies with mom. And Dorothy H in 76.

Went to a SOI or COI show in mid 90's started trying to do jumps on rollerblades.

Went to Worlds in DC...Started in-line skating on Pic skates....

Went to 2004 Nationals in Atlanta...2nd row seats for the whole week...Got the BUG BIG TIME!!

April 2004 started on Ice

Feb 05 passed pre bronze tests.......summer 05 I will pass Bronze Moves...I will I will I will!

2006 Adult Nationals Bronze Men Competitor.......I have a HUGE lutz!!!!!

[TimDavidSkate]

Tonya and Nancy :twisted:

[figure_skater]

well i first liked skating from watching it on t.v. when i was 4 and i really wanted to be like them so i asked my parents and they said that the rink was to far away for that (it was like an hour away). so then i just took up dance instead. i also would check out ice skating books from every library i went to and try to do all the moves on my roller skates. i was actually pretty good just doing that stuff on roller skates, but i still wanted the ice. so then when i was 11 i moved down here (orange county, ca) and there happened to be a rink near-by so my mom surprised me with skating lessons for my 12th b-day and ever since, ive been hooked on skating... ;) :D

[Thin-Ice]

When I was about 2 years old, my Mom took me to see Holiday on Ice/Ice Capades.. and that is one of my earliest childhood memories. All I really remember is there was a pink elephant on skates (I knew it was really people inside the costume, but I thought it looked like fun). But I never even thought of trying it myself. I had been told all my life I was the family klutz, my sister was the athlete.

I did skate ONCE as a kid, at our school's 6th grade graduation party. One of the teachers at our elementary school owned the Ice Castle rink in Blue Jay (the name has since been transferred to the Training Center in Lake Arrowhead.. which is a couple of miles away from the original Blue Jay rink)... and she donated the afternoon to the graduating class. (She also gave us free hot chocolate and cookies! :D ) My goal was to make it once around without falling down or touching the boards. By the end of the afternoon I had done that exactly ONCE!

Many years later, I was working 12-hour days on weekends so had three days off during the week. Not many people have Monday-Wednesday off, so I was always looking for things to do by myself. I found an ice rink at the mall 10 minutes from my house, called and asked if they taught adults. They hooked me up with a coach, who gave me my first lesson. (I took a private because I knew if I took a class I would just feel really inadequate!) I figured at the end of the lesson she would say it was hopeless.. instead she said "Same time next week?" That was nearly 20 years ago.. and I'm still going to lessons "same time, next week". (although I've had 3 coaches retire on me.. They all CLAIM it was health or career-change reasons.. but sometimes I wonder if I don't force them into it :roll: ) I'm also on my fourth rink...

[OlympicDreams86]

This is a very short story. I'm 18. I just started skating a little LESS than a month ago. . but last week I worked on my waltz jumps, and this week I'm tackling my first axel. I'm limited because I haven't gotten my custom skates yet, they're taking a while to be made. But anywho. . the point. Why did I want to skate. I used to watch figure skating when I was little, mostly during the Olympics. I remember that I LOVED watching it. . but it was one of those things where it never really clicked as something I would want to do or enjoy. But a few weeks ago. . my friends all decided to go ice skating. We had never been on the ice, any of us. We all went out and bought a cheap pair of skates from Dick's Sporting Goods. When we got on the ice. . I was the only one not falling. Everyone else was holding their arms up struggling to stand, and I was already flying around the edges of the arena. It felt so natural to me. I found it extremely easy to look at some of the good skaters around the arena and copy their foot work, their posture, their form and style. I didn't think that much of it, until people started having a hard time believing I had never skated before. That's what made me realize that maybe I had a niche in this. But to everyone else. . it was crazy. . and that just lit the fire under me. It became about defying the odds. I will not let time stop me from doing something I love. And now. . I have become determined to train hard this season, outside of the competition circuit, so that when I step onto the ice next season to compete, people want to know "WHERE DID HE COME FROM!?" I know I have the determination and mindset, and I desire to be unique from any other skater. I want to be a POWERFUL skater and skate with strength and stability. . . .graceful. . but powerful. I am determined to succeed! Let one year pass. . .and watch for the name. . Justin Raczak! :D :P

[sceptique]

Sorry for digging out a retired thread - I found it quite an amusing read.

Myself, I had quite a sudden start, at 32. Sometime back in February this year we were sitting at home wondering what to do for a weekend. Movies? Nothing good was showing... Pub? Boring.... BBQ? Not the right weather yet. And suddently it hit me - let's go ice skating! Over the past few months I lost quite a bit of weight and got much fitter, so I was curious to see if I can do anything a bit more challenging than treadmill. As a kid I was exempt from school PE classes because of pretty strong myopia. When I was a teenager, I sort of decided "whatever" and started doing aerobics, dance, and later, kickboxing. But skating? Never even dared. It didn't help as well that I'm wearing size 42 shoes (US 11 - UK 8). Not many local sports shops used to have female boots in that size. (None, actually. It's only with e-commerce I now have got a chance to shop the world, and sure there's something even for a Very Big Foot - Edea Ouverture). But back to the story. We drove down to Coventry Planet Ice, which I expected to be more like Queensway Bowl Rink in London - tiny indoor patch packed with squealing kids and dashing teens. Well, the kids and teens were there, but the rink was of a decent size and not too crowded. The rented skates were horrendous - plastic boots with worn out and stinky insides - but at least they were the right size and had "proper" figure skating blades, with toe picks. I stepped on ice expecting to barely hold my balance 8O and pushed... and pushed... and pushed..... By the time my exhausted husband dragged me off ice, I've been circling the rink in forward strokes yelling "I love it!"

Next week in the office I typed "ice skates" into the Google just "to see what's out there". Out were was a pair of the most beautiful skates I've ever seen, in my darn size 8, at a price I could probably afford. I went very quiet and pensive for a few days..... Was it a start of a serious passion or just a flick? Would I be able to commit to it, with my out-of-the-suitcase job, not even knowing which country I will end up living in (I'm not British originally, haven't even got a permanent settlement here yet), eventual motherhood - can't postpone it forever. What I was getting myself into? What for? I went through a few adult skating boards, but they only made me more restless. I knew I have only one way to put and end to all that anxiety and indecisivenes: I ordered the skates.

It wasn't till April then I put them on then for a proper tryout. Almost immediately I joined a Skate UK group - I wanted to make sure that if I'm spending my time at the rink I'm at least learning something. I got into grade 3 since I was already "stroking" and managed to breeze through to grade 6 where I got stuck at 3 turns. At some point I even thought "this is it, this is your plateau, you can't get past it". Silly, I had been skating for a few weeks only. Surely, one day it just clicked. Then there were mowhawks. Now I'm pushing to get past 3 revolutions on my upright spins... There's always something. That's what makes skating so exiting - there's always something to challenge you, to cheer or whine about....

And other things I can barely describe - the smell of the rink, the mist, the sound of cracking ice when you do a good deep edge: it's so crunchy you can almost taste it! The way your feet pulse when you put them back into trainers The relief of biceps that you never knew you had. Those kids in public sessions that skate up to you and ask "are you a professional skater"? :oops: Those kids in practice sessions that land their double axels without taking lollipops from thier mouths (exaggerating, sure, but, oh my, do they make you feel an old cow!)

Sometimes I feel sad I haven't had a chance to start earlier, but then, I guess, I just wasn't ready yet. It's the best time to learn for me now - with no pressure to achieve things other than my own ambition, with my career drive going from "burning" to "slow cooking", with a bit of time and space and cash I can devote to myself. Sometimes I think I'm just skating off an early onset of a mid-life crisis; but even if so - I haven't felt (and looked!) that good for ages, and that one thing is definitely worth it.

[AnnM]

I started skating when I was 9 and moved to a house out near the beach. The house was a block away from a very old ice rink (those of you who know San Francisco in the old days, it's NOT the Sutro rink but the 48th Ave rink.) :


I started skating at this same ice rink in SF when I was five years old. At the time, my family lived only three blocks away on 45th Ave. We were neighbors Jazzpants! :) My interest in skating was sparked by seeing a dark-haired female skater (either Peggy Fleming or Linda Fratianne) performing her program on tv. She did a spin; I started twirling around in the living room. And that was the initial draw for me --- I wanted to twirl around. :lol: My parents agreed to lessons, but only weekly group lessons. So I pretty much spent every Saturday from 8am-3pm at the ice rink. I spent the whole time in rental skates, but since I was a "regular" the rink owner would make sure that I had a good pair of rentals and would even check to make sure the baldes were sharpened. My family moved across town when I was eight and I kept up the same routine for a few more years. But once I reached 11/12 years old, I started preferring to sleep in on Saturdays and gradually lost interest. I stayed a fan of the sport, but that was about it. I didn't do any competitions, but passed up to ISI FS4, and could do all the FS5 elements with the exception of the axel.

Flash forward to 1999. I was in my second year of law school in Sacramento and was seriously stressed out. One day after watching the movie "The Paper Chase" (where the main character swims to release law-school related stress), I decided that I needed to take up a sport in order to remain sane. So I bought a pair of recreational Riedells, headed out to the local rink, did two butt slides & 1 knee slide across the ice, and signed up for group lessons. I stayed with group lessons until I got back to Freestyle levels and have been taking private lessons ever since. There have been a few skating hiatuses due to work and moving, etc., but I've been consistently taking lessons again since this past November. Skating definitely did help relieve some of the stress and anxiety I had during school. Now I do it for exercise and fun.

[skippyjoy_207]

After going into YBISC (same rink as JazzPants and AnnM) and seeing all my friends do jumps and spins, I really wanted to take classes. My parents and I agreed that as long as I maintained a 4.0 GPA (eurgh :?? ), I could do public lessons. Eventually, I got a 3.67 few months after starting, and had to quit....

By the time my next report card came from school, I was ready to get back on the ice. Unfortunately, I was a bit late on signing up, and the season had already started.

I ended up signing up for the season after, and have been skating every Sunday since.

[Kit kat]

I first started skating at 9 for about 2 months. the rink was too far and i didnt have any knowledge about how the classes were leveled. i thought they only had a beggining class. About a year later my friend was taking figure skating lessons and a rink and they took me. I FELL IN LOVE AGAIN!. From then on , i took lessons and in a year 1/2 i went up about 7 classes i think. Alpha 1 - Freestyle 3. All in begginer blades,. lol. Then i started taking private lessons when i was in freestyle 2. Now i got new skates and i cant wait to continue in figure skating. i absolutly love it. :D

12 years old and on my way to the olympics...

YAH RIGHT!

[Kit kat]

After going into YBISC (same rink as JazzPants and AnnM) and seeing all my friends do jumps and spins, I really wanted to take classes. My parents and I agreed that as long as I maintained a 4.0 GPA (eurgh :?? ), I could do public lessons. Eventually, I got a 3.67 few months after starting, and had to quit....

.

straight A's?! .. wow... you're smart ! lol.
have you ever met jazzapnts and AnnM? its pretty cool you skate at the same rink!

[rf3ray]

I started skating just the start of this year, during the holidays wondering what to do. I previously skated 12 years ago (age 17) , for like 2 - 3 months in rentals,
but gave it up due to lack of funds, in this period there was this coach that kept nagging me to get lessons in that period, sometimes now I wish I had.

12 (age 29) years later I find out shes teaching at anothe rink, so anyways I went through two terms of Aussie Skate (Learn to Skate program), and now I can do every jump except an axle, I can do forward spins, backspins and sitspins after 8 months and 4 days. Sometimes I wish I could of started this sport earlier if it wasnt for an Issue of money.

Currently now I am getting lessons twice a week and skating 18 - 20 hours.
Learning Elements for my Prelim test and learning elements for my dance, and freestyle.

[skippyjoy_207]

straight A's?! .. wow... you're smart ! lol.
have you ever met jazzapnts and AnnM? its pretty cool you skate at the same rink!

I manage to pull through. =P

Nah, I've not met either of them. Maybe I've seen them before, but I wouldn't know. Plus, Jazz and AnnM might skate freestyle sessions only, and those are intimidating for me (lol).

[briar4012]

Learned to go forward and backward and jump 180 degrees over drain covers on roller blades when I was about 13. I wanted to learn ice skate having seen the Olympics on TV and T&D replays but it was too far for my parents to take me to the nearest ice rink. I got to skate a handful of times over the next few years. Finally last September at 20yo I started at Bristol Uni and went skating on a hall social. I started skating once a week, then twice a week...Then in Jan this year I had my first free skating lesson. Managed about five of these then one of the male ice dancers at the rink asked if I'd considered dance and if I wanted to try it he was happy to teach me a bit. A few weeks later I decided to take up his offer but someone crashed into us after about half an hour and I broke my ankle in the fall. 8 weeks later I was back skating and decided to stick to dance only as my ankle wasn't strong enough to jump. Been dancing ever since and love learning new dances, latest I was taught the Starlight Waltz :D I guess my aim is to eventually do some tests and compete in some adult competitions, but mainly I just want to keep having fun! ;)

[icedancer2]

....

And other things I can barely describe - the smell of the rink, the mist, the sound of cracking ice when you do a good deep edge: it's so crunchy you can almost taste it! The way your feet pulse when you put them back into trainers The relief of biceps that you never knew you had. Those kids in public sessions that skate up to you and ask "are you a professional skater"? :oops: Those kids in practice sessions that land their double axels without taking lollipops from thier mouths (exaggerating, sure, but, oh my, do they make you feel an old cow!)



So well put. This is EXACTLY why I continue despite foot problems, boot problems, weight problems, losing-skills at my age problems --

Thank you for putting it so well. :bow:

[TaBalie]

I started group lessons with a friend around 7... My friend never got the hand of it, but I loved it! I competed in my first two competetions in rental skates :)

After 2 years or so, I had so many other activities (ballet, swim team), that I quit skating. At around the age of 11 I moved to Tokyo Japan with my family... In the summer we would go to Sun Valley, Idaho for the summers... The first summer we vacationed here I got right back into skating... So I spent the summers in Sun Valley, and the school year training in Tokyo (boy is that different!!!!!). I never did any US testing only Japanese, so the levels are still hard for me to grasp. I loved skating, and worked hard at it, but never had the goals of competing in the Olympics, which was unusual. Though I practiced before and after school, etc, I wasn't willing to give up anymore than I already was. In Japan they wouldn't coach people that weren't serious (which I don't agree with), but fortunately I found a coach that just liked me, and I think she got a kick out of coaching an American. We practiced during CRAZY crowded public sessions, I still don't even know how no one was killed, it was complete chaos! But all the skaters did it -- Yuka Sato, Lucinda Ruh (the only other foreign skater at the rink who is now famous for her spinning). Skating in Tokyo was 100% different than the US, from equipment to approach, etc.

During the Spring of 8th grade, I decided I hated missing parties, sporting events, etc and "took a break." I even joined the track team, but more as a social event (in Tokyo I went to an all girls school but at track meets all the schools at competed together! ;) ) That summer, we moved back to the states...

Though I investigated rinks in the US, I kept putting it off and putting it off and never got back into it. In Tokyo, I was completely indepedant with my training--I got to and from practice sessions before and after school alone, etc. In the US the rinks were soooo far away and I needed to be driven. My parents wouldn't have minded, but I was more interested in getting used to a new school, making new friends, etc.

After college, age 24 or so I started group lessons for fun again... I did that for about a 1.5 years. I took some tests, but I can't even remember what they are! I was more interested in just getting out there and having fun.

In grad school I quit again since my group lesson was at 8am Saturday way out in the burbs, and it was too hard to motivate.

Since then I have skated recreationally only, but my skates hurt so much (I got new skates at age 24) that it was sort of torturous.

This summer I am staying with my parents in Sun Valley, ID, where they ended up retiring. I decided to commit again once and for all. I got new boots (still using the same blade I used in 8th grade LOL!), have private lessons twice a week, etc. I am not working, and I am trying to take advantage of this opportunity while I can.

My career is up in the air, but one of my "requirements" for where I move next must be a somewhat convienient rink. I hate excericing, but I love skating, so I want to never give it up again.

Arg, that was long, sorry about that!

[skateflo]

Well, I can see that I am one of the older first time skaters---put on skates for the first time at age 45.

I was in Lake Placid in March 1991 for a week's R&R by myself. Even though I only skied briefly on baby slopes and took beginner lessons on X-country skiing, that week the weather had made the remaining bit of snow into ice and the woods empty. As I walked through the hallowed halls of the Olympic Arena, I swear I could hear the crowds from the '80 Olympics. I remembered a friend from my youth who worked for ABC camera crew at the time, telling us wonderful stories of that event. I usually watched it on TV (WWOS in those days..) Anyway, I never had found a sport for exercise or enjoyment that called to me. So I figured what the heck, no one would know me here anyway, went into the Arena Office and asked if anyone could teach me to skate. They gave me a list and I phoned the first person on it.

She was quite a little dynamo (about 5 ft. tall), a little older than me. Her first words at the barrier were "I taught a 6'4" physician how to skate and never let him fall. I won't let you fall either." Funny, the thought of falling had never entered my mind. Once on the ice for a few days, she had me doing forward and backward sculling and suddenly I felt like my legs were an extension of the ice and I was totally hooked!

AOSS in those days hit me very hard. A fall that first year at my local rink (in too heavy Klingbeils) gave me a leg injury that was misdiagnosed for 4 months and kept me off the ice for almost 1-1/2 years. But I had found my sport and wasn't about to give up on it. I finally enrolled in a LTS program - me (overweight and scared) and 100 kids. I stayed with that for 2 years but by 6 months had gotten a private coach to augment my LTS lessons. I've been with my current coach for 10 years now.

No, I don't test or compete. I've also had many life interruptions along the way, but my coach has always stuck with me and welcomed me back after each off-ice time. I even gave up skating entirely for 9 months about 4 years ago - I was just burned out, skating for the wrong reasons, didn't have any life except work and skating.

But I also have amassed a significant antique (and modern) skating book collection that I dearly love, a complete run (from 1927) of Skating magazine, have contributed to the now defunct Skater's Sourcebook book section (which also introduced me to a wonderful friend and coach in Scotland who I visit every 2 years) and other antique skating memorialbilia, made other friends in the skating world, and even had lunch with the legend Mr. Button - and he is very warm and human....

I still enjoy my skating and am proud of what I have accomplished. Doing simple 1/2 jumps at 59 is very rewarding! I even have a program with 2 jumps that I am working on now to polish. I have no timetable.... I don't have a natural body for skating (size - although I lost and kept off 25 lbs during these years, flexibility, gracefulness, etc.) but I do it anyway.

[Raye]

When I was really little in Alberta, I remember the neighbours used to freeze their back yard and they would skate on it. I used to watch them from my bedroom window and wish I could do that. When I was almost five we moved to the BC coast, where it does not get cold enough to freeze a back yard. :cry: oh well.... life went on and other dreams came and went.

When I was 16 the town we lived in started building a new recreation complex with a swimming pool, two gymnasiums and an arena. :) :) My sister and I both wanted to join skating, and just before my 17th birthday the arena opened and we both started lessons. :D :D My sister was 12 and competed all over the place, but I was 'too old' to compete, (so they said :frus: !! ) so I became her biggest fan and lived my dream vicariously through her accomplishments.

I quit skating at 22 when I was expecting my first child, and the dream got set aside for 25 years while I raised my family. None of my children wanted to skate :( . I put them in lessons, but they all quit after a short time. One daughter did really well with ballet for a few years, and they all did well in gymnastics. I didn't get a skater till my oldest granddaughter (now 7) came along. :) Two years ago, when my youngest left home, I heard about a group of adult skaters near my home, (well it was less than an hour and a half away, anyway), and decided to skate again for the excercise, the enjoyment, and as a cure for the empty-nest syndrome.

The group I belonged to was asked to volunteer at Starskate Nationals in Burnaby, BC a year and a half ago. Adult Nationals was happening at the same time, and THAT looked like fun. THE DREAM resurfaced in full force :giveup: and I decided that I was going to compete as an adult. :D

And here I am. I did BC Provincial Adults, Western Regional Adults, Canadian Adult Nationals, The Mountain Cup, Oberstdorf, and ISI Worlds in Anaheim. I am also going to Peach Classic, Autumn Skate in Ottawa, and SanFransisco in November. The best part of Adult skating is the many new friends I have made, (some of you are on this forum) :) See you at a competition sometime.

[Casey]

Tonya and Nancy :twisted:
Tonya and Nancy. :D
I'm confused. Who is TimDsk879? Is it Tim? Tim David's websites is in both signatures...

[Casey]

I was never really into ice skating. Aside from some dim memories of a documentary about Nancy and Tonya, I don't have any recollection of seeing ice skating during my youth. As a teenager, I tried rollerblading a few times, but was terrible at it and didn't much like it. One time we went to a roller skating rink, and that was pretty fun because it felt a lot safer than outdoors on streets and whatnot, until I fell on my face, bloodied my nose, and saw stars. Shortly after I moved to Washington, I picked up a couple pairs of rollerblades and a pair of hockey skates at a thrift store that happened to fit. I kept telling myself I was going to go ice skating, but never did (though I was within a stone throw of the rink I never bothered to try to find so many times), and when I moved again, I threw away the hockey skates that I'd never worn. Months later, last November, I was driving around near my new house, and lo and behold, there was an ice rink. So I went in and skated on rentals right then and there. I tried hockey skates for the first half of the session, then switched to figure skates for the latter half of the session. Never went back.

[stardust skies]

My parents wanted a figure skater. They got a figure skater- and a second mortgage. :twisted: I wanted to go into gymnastics; they wouldn't let me. I still regret it sometimes, but I love skating all the same and it's my choice to keep skating like I do, so I'm glad they started me so young. I couldn't imagine learning to skate now, it must be so hard for those of you who started older. You have a lot of my respect- I can't even remember learning to skate. But I'm sure if I hadn't been too young to really be frustrated with anything, I would've quit, pronto.

[jazzpants]

I'm confused. Who is TimDsk879? Is it Tim? Tim David's websites is in both signatures...Yeap! One and the same person...

[jazzpants]

Nah, I've not met either of them. Maybe I've seen them before, but I wouldn't know. Plus, Jazz and AnnM might skate freestyle sessions only, and those are intimidating for me (lol).Well, besides the morning FS sessions, I skate Monday nights too! :P And since I see that you skate Sunday afternoons... if you hang out after the second public session, you might see me! I'm part of the "Fire & Ice" ensemble with Rudy Galindo (you'll probably start seeing flyers for the show at the rink this Sunday...) We're now having rehearsals right after the second Sunday afternoon public session all month and possibly some Saturday afternoons too!!! (Oh dear...) :roll: Should be easy to spot me! I'm the one in PURPLE figure skates!!! :P

I believe AnnM is now closer to the LA area now, if I'm not mistaken...

I skate at Berkeley on Saturdays and Sunday afternoons during the summer (and Sat. mornings FS during the Christmas season.) :P

Straight A's??!?!?! EEEEK!!! 8O Too much pressure for me!!! :giveup:

[sceptique]

I still enjoy my skating and am proud of what I have accomplished. Doing simple 1/2 jumps at 59 is very rewarding! I even have a program with 2 jumps that I am working on now to polish.

I did BC Provincial Adults, Western Regional Adults, Canadian Adult Nationals, The Mountain Cup, Oberstdorf, and ISI Worlds in Anaheim. I am also going to Peach Classic, Autumn Skate in Ottawa, and SanFransisco in November. The best part of Adult skating is the many new friends I have made, (some of you are on this forum) :) See you at a competition sometime.

Skateflo and Raye - my grand applause!

When I think about what I want to be when I grow even older I think of people like you. All the best for you and keep skating!!

[doubletoe]

I first went skating with my dad and sister when I was about 7. I hated it. All I did was cry. I never wanted to go back, EVER. But then when I was 9, the "cool girl" in school invited me to her party ... and it was an ice-skating party! Let me tell you, all of a sudden skating was my all-time favorite thing to do in the whole world. I couldn't possibly say I didn't like it, lest I be tortured in the school yard! So I went, and whaddya know ... I really did like it! I ended up taking lessons and advancing all the way through my 5th figure and Novice FS. This was 1979-85.

Fast forward to January 1994. Nine years away from skating, and 25 years old. I am literally sitting in my apartment doing nothing, and the idea pops into my head that I want to skate again in order to finish my figure and FS test. Why this idea popped into my head, I don't know! But I ended up calling my old coach from the '80s and telling him my plan, and he agreed to teach me. I actually started up again in February 1994, because a large earthquake in L.A. in January put my plans on hold for a few weeks.

Today, more than 10 years later, half of my goal has been accomplished: I finished the figure tests, but not the FS ones. I even went so far as to complete the MIF tests in anticipation for the day I might pass the FS tests, but the reality is I never will get those FS tests because this old body just doesn't want to jump anymore. But that's OK, I'm just grateful to have rediscovered skating and to have the means to continue to do it. Sometimes I can't believe I ever quit!


Hey, Daisies, I never heard that story, even though I know you so well. Funny how we don't ask that question more often!
-Lauren

[Figureskates]

I still enjoy my skating and am proud of what I have accomplished. Doing simple 1/2 jumps at 59 is very rewarding! I even have a program with 2 jumps that I am working on now to polish. I have no timetable.... I don't have a natural body for skating (size - although I lost and kept off 25 lbs during these years, flexibility, gracefulness, etc.) but I do it anyway.

Amen to that. Being 59 also I am quite proud of my Salchow. Maybe it isn't the neatest and fastest thing on skates but it's still a Salchow....and I have plenty of time to polish it up too.

[Sk8pdx]

I started skating at age 34 - just 2 years ago. I wanted some form of activity that didn't feel like "exercise". After losing 20 lbs with Weight Watchers, I wanted to keep active in some way. I am still 3-5 lbs around my goal weight. (Ice Cream is my weakness!)

I was either going to try swimming, or ice skating. Either sport would require revealing clothing and lycra (what better reason to get in shape?). I decided that my fear of falling was less than my fear of drowning and chose ice skating.

Going to the gym in the morning for the sake of exercising was not motivating for me. --But going to the gym to improve skating skils gives exercise a new purpose. Skating is just the incentive I need to make "exercise" fun instead of it being a chore (i.e walking, jumping rope, stretching, jump rotation exercises, pilates, ballet classes,)

After all, you cannot lead a horse to water and make him drink... but you can make him thirsty. :)
I passed Freestyle 1 level (ISI) I would be Freestyle 2 except the 1 foot spin is holding me back :evil: . Hope top pass Pre Bronze MIF in December (USFSA)

[Skate@Delaware]

My parents wanted a figure skater. They got a figure skater- and a second mortgage. :twisted: I wanted to go into gymnastics; they wouldn't let me. I still regret it sometimes, but I love skating all the same and it's my choice to keep skating like I do, so I'm glad they started me so young. I couldn't imagine learning to skate now, it must be so hard for those of you who started older. You have a lot of my respect- I can't even remember learning to skate. But I'm sure if I hadn't been too young to really be frustrated with anything, I would've quit, pronto.
It's not that it's necessarily harder, it just doesn't come as easily as it does when you are younger! It takes longer for these bodies to get that muscle memory going, and lack of flexibility (or time,$$, coaches that take us serious) is sometimes the issue. So maybe it does seem harder....because we have to really work for it!

I'm willing to work for it. Skating is one of the few things in my life right now that is all mine! I'm not doing it for anyone else...not my kids....not my husband...not my boss. (I turned very selfish when I started skating at 42 :) ).

[NCSkater02]

I'm willing to work for it. Skating is one of the few things in my life right now that is all mine! I'm not doing it for anyone else...not my kids....not my husband...not my boss. (I turned very selfish when I started skating at 42 :) ).

I turned selfish, too--but at 38. Everybody that knows me pretty much knows my skating schedule, and not to ask me to do anything during those times! About the only thing that will supercede is work, school functions (my daughter is in Marching Band and Winter Guard) and maybe Hurricanes hockey. Not much else will make me give up my only ME time.

[Skate@Delaware]

I turned selfish, too--but at 38. Everybody that knows me pretty much knows my skating schedule, and not to ask me to do anything during those times! About the only thing that will supercede is work, school functions (my daughter is in Marching Band and Winter Guard) and maybe Hurricanes hockey. Not much else will make me give up my only ME time.
I have to post my work schedule so my boss can see it and at the bottom is my notation that from Sept 6-April 15 is SKATING SEASON and my schedule WILL NOT be adjusted for ANYONE! he he he! I also make a point of stating that I skate in shows and have rehearsals so have to be at the rink at certain times to work on stuff. It's great!
I leave real early one day of the week and that's my daytime skate session where I sometimes have the rink to myself-absolute heaven! I only work 32 hours a week and wouldn't trade it for anything, but also know how lucky I am to have such a schedule. The only time I miss it is when I'm sick (I have some health problems that get in the way of my skating; however, skating has helped to keep me healthier than I've been in years so they haven't cropped up as bad, skating has bought me some time and I'm grateful for that).

[BelleOnIce]

My first time on the ice was my sisters birthday party, I must have been about 3 and cried until my mum would take me on!
We didn't do too well and my mum ended up at the hospital getting her leg x-rayed!!!
The next time I went on the ice I was 6 and went with a friend and her parents and it just seemed I had a natural talent as I was going forward, backwards, crossovers and stopping with out even being shown how!
From that moment all I wanted to do was skate but my mum said I couldn't get skating lessons till I learned how to swim! (I hated swimming, would never go and just down right refused to go in water whenever I was at a swimming pool!) I finally agreed about a year later though unfortunetly for me my hate of swimming was also a kind of fear so it took longer than i had hoped but the swimming pool was in the same centre as the ice rink so everytime I came out of swimming miserable I could see the girls on skating, did not make me very happy!!!
My mum wasnt being mean she just didn't want me not knowing how to swim cause well it is a kind of useful thing if your ever stuck? So finally my brother started playing ice hockey and I had a swimming test lined up to see if I could actually manage 30 mesely meters on my own and my prize if I did.....my first block of skating lessons!!!!
So by the time I actually got lessons I was about 9 but thankfully I was a fast learner and managed to progress pretty quickly!
In a way I am glad I didnt start so young, looking back now that is! Im still skating myself because I love the feeling of being on the ice though many girls I used to compete against who started under the age of 5 gave up by about 16. All they had known was skating some pushed in to it and they werent enjoying it any more, it was a chore rather than a pleasure! Obviously this isnt the same for everyone but im glad my mum didnt rush me or anything and now Im going to start coaching and im teaching her how to skate!!!

Belle