figure skaters?

[bladebabe69]

its me again!! ok people always make fun of "figure skaters" and i find that we get stereotyped so much like just because im really small like i weigh 90lbs everyone thinks im anorexic because people think that all skaters are like toothpicks and im not....Another thing that makes me mad is that everyone who doesnt skate thinks that all skaters are snobby and everything why is tht?? not all of us are!! i really dont like it and people make fun of me cuz i figure skate like the ringette players think that we are a bunch of wussys cuz we dont body check each other into the boards and stuff!! does anyone have any suggestions to stop this because like every once and a while the ringette players stand by the boards and yell stuff to us and we try to ignore them but after we get off the ice it usually ends up in an argument because they say stuff so does anyone have any suggestions

[Kit kat]

i think you should just ignore them. i admitt when i was 10 or so, i hated the little 5 year olds who were pros at ice skating. i thought they were snobby. but when i became 11 or 12 i became better and found out that they were not so bad people.
p.s i AM NOT A STICK!!! i dont think any figure skater is a stick because they have to have good leg muscles.
you are 90 pounds? that is pretty skinny!
just enjoy the fun of skating and ignore them. or just try talking to them and be friendly. dont let it get in your way of your passion for figure skating. :)

[Shinn-Reika]

It's all ignorance. Hockey players (who I'm assuming you've been talking about) don't particulary understand all the time, effort, and skill that comes to develop one's skating abilities, and thus they don't really have any respect for it. (then again putting together a good hockey team does require a lot of training, but it's kinda different).

Anyway the best thing you can do is to be strong and ignore it. If certain people wish to be closeminded it's their loss.

One thing about the image of skating is that it is made to look effortless. Any of us know that the amount of athleticism to pull off even a double jump is trmendous, yet to the ordinary person this isn't as obvious. Just a thought really.

[skaternum]

bladebabe69, may I offer you some unsolicited advice? The norm here on these boards if to write in standard English. It's very difficult to read your posts because you rarely use capitalization and punctuation, and the sentences just seem to run on. It's difficult to follow what you're saying. You'd probably get more responses if you wrote in standard English instead of "teenspeak." Thanks!

[Mrs Redboots]

Well, once a month I skate at Tashakat's old rink in north London, and our social dance session is followed by ice-hockey practice, and sometimes even a match. Last time, one of the ice-hockey skaters got on early to go and draw the nets (that rink has nets instead of plexiglass, which are only pulled when ice-hockey is being played or practiced; much nicer!), and generally warm up. So we started cat-calling and saying things rather loudly like "If ice-skating were easy, they'd call it hockey!" and "Don't you think he'd prefer to skate with a woman than with a stick?" It was all in fun, I hasten to add, and we'd have stopped if he'd been offended or upset - but quite the reverse, he took it all in good part, and countered our teasing by saying that he wanted to skate with a stick, because "If my stick breaks, I can get a new one straight away!" Rather like another friend whose answer to, "Well, wouldn't you rather skate with a woman than with a stick?" was "No, sticks don't argue!"

And I tell you something, too - we can tease and catcall all we like, and resent the hockey players for the way they leave the ice & the time they take up, but they train just as hard as we do, in their own way, and it is hockey, very often, that pays for the ice. And when our rink was threatened with closure a few years ago, all the skaters, in every discipline, got together and formed an Action Group to fight for the right to remain open until a new rink was built. The new rink hasn't started yet, they think another 18 months or so before we see any work being done... but we will stay open until it is. AND we have a new Zamboni (actually an Olympia) coming in to service today..... staff training on how to use it was at 9.00 this morning, so the ice should be superb tomorrow!

[starskate6.0]

Well, once a month I skate at Tashakat's old rink in north London, and our social dance session is followed by ice-hockey practice, and sometimes even a match. Last time, one of the ice-hockey skaters got on early to go and draw the nets (that rink has nets instead of plexiglass, which are only pulled when ice-hockey is being played or practiced; much nicer!), and generally warm up. So we started cat-calling and saying things rather loudly like "If ice-skating were easy, they'd call it hockey!" and "Don't you think he'd prefer to skate with a woman than with a stick?" It was all in fun, I hasten to add, and we'd have stopped if he'd been offended or upset - but quite the reverse, he took it all in good part, and countered our teasing by saying that he wanted to skate with a stick, because "If my stick breaks, I can get a new one straight away!" Rather like another friend whose answer to, "Well, wouldn't you rather skate with a woman than with a stick?" was "No, sticks don't argue!"

And I tell you something, too - we can tease and catcall all we like, and resent the hockey players for the way they leave the ice & the time they take up, but they train just as hard as we do, in their own way, and it is hockey, very often, that pays for the ice. And when our rink was threatened with closure a few years ago, all the skaters, in every discipline, got together and formed an Action Group to fight for the right to remain open until a new rink was built. The new rink hasn't started yet, they think another 18 months or so before we see any work being done... but we will stay open until it is. AND we have a new Zamboni (actually an Olympia) coming in to service today..... staff training on how to use it was at 9.00 this morning, so the ice should be superb tomorrow!

Hey Mr Redboots.

Just a tip for your staff.
I drove the Olympia at a rink for about 2 years. One day the blade fell on to the ice on one side and ripped an 8ft hole in the ice. We patch it within hours useing wet Ice and fire bottle to dry it fast. Otherwise it would have taken day's.
The problem was that there are 2 large hex bolts holding the carrage that carries the blade. They are on each side on the inside of the carrage. They sometimes come loose and if they come real loose one side of the carrrage will fall on the ice causeing a lot of damage.
Its a good machine but watch out for that. Just a tip from one who has seen it first hand. 8-)

[kittie067]

i know alll about these.

im muslim and i cover my head and wear pants instead of tights, and guess what surprises ppl?

"I CAN SKATE!" (shock) (gasps)

yep everyone i have let it out it is true. im a law abiding muslim and i can spin and jump as well or better than most of the skaters out there!

i also read alot about how all skaters are thin, pretty, and RICH!

so not true, i agree to just ignore it all. i mean if you love skating it really shouldnt bother you. i mean at least you are probably not prejudiced against because of your culture and religion.

im not trying to complain, but just remember whenever you think your problems are bad someone's bound to have worse ones!

~Kittie ;)

[doubletoe]

its me again!! ok people always make fun of "figure skaters" and i find that we get stereotyped so much like just because im really small like i weigh 90lbs everyone thinks im anorexic because people think that all skaters are like toothpicks and im not....Another thing that makes me mad is that everyone who doesnt skate thinks that all skaters are snobby and everything why is tht?? not all of us are!! i really dont like it and people make fun of me cuz i figure skate like the ringette players think that we are a bunch of wussys cuz we dont body check each other into the boards and stuff!! does anyone have any suggestions to stop this because like every once and a while the ringette players stand by the boards and yell stuff to us and we try to ignore them but after we get off the ice it usually ends up in an argument because they say stuff so does anyone have any suggestions

The behavior you are describing is the type of behavior people engage in when they feel inferior to someone else. Since they clearly feel inferior to you already, you don't have to do anything! Whenever they heckle you, just smile, blow them a kiss, and walk away. And if they accuse you of being a wimp, being anorexic, or whatever, just shrug and smile, then go back to your practice.

If you don't give them anything back, they have no fuel to keep them going and they'll stop after awhile. Besides, they only win if you CARE what they think. So forget about convicing them of anything, and save all your energy for those big jumps they can't do! ;)