Encounters with other ice users

[Derek]

An unpleasant incident occured today, on my last session before my rink closes for up to two weeks for maintenance.

A quiet session, with my daughter, I was concentrating on elements for my next level - the UK passport Bronze. About twenty people total on the ice, very quiet and lovely.

A few lads in hockey boots, fairly competent by observation, one decides I am a target for his skating antics, essentially close weaving etc, something I accept is common practice. Not a real problem, we all avoid each other.

However ... I started practicing spins, near the centre, with my daughter about 4 feet away, observing and giving feedback. This one person cuts through both of us at speed, just as I am pushing into a two foot spin.
Result? He is lifted clean off his feet by my left arm (I rotate clockwise) and wipes out on the ice. He looks ok, a bit shaken, but claimed I did it deliberately, and proceeded to launch a vendetta for the rest of the session (throwing ice, swearing etc). There were no stewards. I noticed that there was a lesson in progress, run by the head coach, and her students were also being 'buzzed' by this group skating between some very young girls.

My quandary ... do I do nothing and hope it blows over ... although I suspect this lad will not forget. Do I report the incident to the rink management and request their advice? Do I discuss with the head coach, again to seek advice? After the incident I received comments from other 'figure' skaters that this is a continuing problem ...

No way do I associate this with genuine hockey lads (or lasses) for which I have considerable respect, but suspect it is linked more with a certain mindset. I am sure this is experienced at rinks everywhere, comments?

[doubletoe]

I would suggest you make the rink management aware of the problem, just in case this troublemaker decides to stir something up. I would also talk to the head coach to make sure he/she is willing to serve as a witness if necessary. The rink should post signs with rules that include "no skating through center of rink" or "center of rink is for figure skaters only."

[kander]

Since it's too late to report his behavior to a skate guard, I'd let it blow over. If the kid keeps it up report him to the management.

This reminds me of an incedent a few years ago where some guy was bound and determined to skate in the opposite direction during a crowded session. Another hockey skater clotheslined him and layed him out flat. They started to fight and the rink manager threw them both out. The next week they acted like it never happened.

Kevin

[Rusty Blades]

It is strange how often moronic behaviour is linked to the combination of hockey skates and testicles .... do you suppose there's a connection?

[DallasSkater]

Derek: I think I would say something. Just in case a pattern develops... you will have record of it not being a one time event.

I had a scary confrontation recently. It was a Saturday night public session at my alternative rink.... Just me..and a family of 4. I was so happy that despite the low crowd, they still put out the figure skating cones that are in the middle..and I got that area to myself. The son was skating into the coned area repeatedly when I was practicing so I politely ask if he could stay on the outside since I was spinning. I said I wanted to make sure I would not hit him accidentally. About an hour later, two teens came and asked to change the music that the father had selected...it was really bad classical. So I asked the mother and father if they would mine, mother said no problem..I changed to the rink public session music...

The father came at me screaming that I was a "RINK HOG!" and should not dare speak to his children! Then he picked up the cones one by one and threw them across the ice... while screaming how I had "MONOPOLIZED" the entire rink and was ruining their family outting! After all the cones were thrown, he went and changed the music back. I tried to de-escalate him. But it was quite evident that he had a temper problem..especially as I could observe the immediate reaction of his family. There was passivity in the wife...I could only imagine the implications for her. I left the ice and got the management to come and address it.

They changed the music back to public session music and put the cones back. They told him that he was not to talk to anyone but his family or leave! I felt so supported and nurtured! But it did shake me up...it was like road rage reaction or something...people can have all kinds of problems...best sometimes to not personally intervene as they do not always understand why the rules are in place for safety reasons.

[kander]

It is strange how often moronic behaviour is linked to the combination of hockey skates and testicles .... do you suppose there's a connection?

There is definetly a connection with male figure skaters. I'd never do half the crazy things I do without it. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it! :lol:

[Sessy]

Definately report it.

[Award]

I started practicing spins, near the centre

That's your front line defense right there, against that person. You were near the centre of the rink, which is the right place to be for practising spins and things like that. And, every experienced rec (recreational) skater knows that the centre is for people practising those kinds of figure skating exercises. So he was the one that did the wrong thing, and he should have known that, unless he was a newbie. So, of course, let rink management know in advance, just in case, and if he gives you any more trouble, then just let him know calmly that you not only did not do it on purpose, but he was skating where he knows that he should not be. If he keeps hassling you after that, then I'm sure that rink management could easily help you out with this.

[dbny]

I would suggest you make the rink management aware of the problem, just in case this troublemaker decides to stir something up. I would also talk to the head coach to make sure he/she is willing to serve as a witness if necessary. The rink should post signs with rules that include "no skating through center of rink" or "center of rink is for figure skaters only."

ITA. Personally, I try to head these things off before anyone gets hurt. When hockey kids whiz past me too close for my comfort, I talk to them first, asking them to please not come so close, explaining that I tend to turn quickly, and could step right into their path in a moment. If they hit me they could be hurt, and I could easily leave in an ambulance. That works with most. When it doesn't work, I get a bit sharper, and then go for the skate guards (I know you didn't have that option). I'm surprised the head coach put up with it. At rinks where I coach, I take on a tone of authority that is rarely disregarded.

[blackmanskating]

It is this very reason that I am glad that my rink has 3 sheets of ice. Hockey skaters and figure skaters are never on the same sheet of ice at one time. Management sets up the freestyle sessions so that we never mix.

I'm glad I wasn't in your situation. If that hockey skater would've called me the wrong thing, I would probably have knocked him out and prayed him back. :lol: All jokes aside, I would've calmly said something to him the first time he got too close to me. But I would definitely let management know about the situation in case "ole boy" doesn't know how to let things go. His pride was hurt and he was probably embarrassed. :roll: Try to get this handled quickly and efficiently because some people will do some stupid things to save face. (Especially us guys) Take care out there.


BlackManSkating

[cecealias]

Blackman, where do you skate with 3 sheets of ice?? Inquiring minds wanna know.

[Derek]

Thank you guys for your input, it is reassuring to know I am not being paranoid ! The lad involved was young, I would estimate 12-14, so I had no intention of 'squaring up', whereas I would have been more inclined to stand my ground with another adult.

I returned to the rink this morning, with the object of speaking to the head coach (or the coach director) and the rink management, as you have suggested. However, the coaching staff are now resited at another rink whilst the maintenance goes on, and the rink staff are very busy lifting ice ! So I decided it would not be considered convenient for me to discuss the incident. I did mention it yesterday though, to a rink technician who was doing some maintenance work at the time. I know him outside the rink, as he attends a college workshop that I run for the electrical trade. Thus I think it has been noted, even if not formally.

Dallasskater, not a pleasant incident, glad that the management sorted it for you.

Thanks again everyone, I will keep you informed of any developments.

[dooobedooo]

Deleted .

[sceptique]

You need to report it as and when it happens. It's difficult to fugure out who's right who's wrong a few days after the incident. It's not unususal to have a few teenage troublemakers at public sessions - I now have to deal with it on a regular basis. We usually take the kid to the side and say something like "there have been complaints about your behaviour on ice, we want you to make sure that you won't upset other customers, please be aware that we can ask you to leave if there is any more trouble". Pretty standard thing.

[ouijaouija]

We get those hockey skaters a lot, they annoy me A LOT, and they love weaving in and out of other skaters.

Last summer they came out in their dozens, thats why I only go during school times = quiet.

I would complain to be honest, if there are young children about as well...

Bring on the summer, when they come out again...

[jskater49]

My daughter was being annoyed by a hockey player last year and she did a hockey stop right beside him that got the bottom of his pants soaking wet. She saw him again this week and he steered clear of her.

j

[SynchroSk8r114]

I just think it's amazing that some rinks still let this kind of crap go on. :frus:

The rink I used to coach at was notorious for tolerating this kind of behavior. The rink was poorly managed in general - they did not monitor ice time or made sure that skaters paid for their "freestyle session" (if you can ever call it that!), allowed hockey players to skate on these freestyle sessions with pucks and sticks, rarely had any lights/heat on in the rink, a terrible skating director who wanted the title, but refused to do anything to benefit the figure skating/Learn-2-Skate programs, etc. Overall, the rink was just a mess! And while I could tolerate the minimal lighting and heating situation and even the fact that no one paid for freestyle sessions (that was management's problem, not mine...), it got to the point that I no longer allowed my skaters to freestyle when there were hockey players on the ice.

It's been two years since I left that rink and I'm not coaching at a great facility that is very figure skating-focused. We've got three ice surface (Olympic, Collegiate, and an outdoor rink) as well as a rink for roller hockey, so there's no problem with this at my new rink. Hockey players have their own stick time; figure skaters have a decent amount of freestyle time (about 8 hours of ice a day). Management and the skating director wouldn't even think about letting the kind of things that went on at my previous rink happen here!

What I think may help you out is to have other parents/skaters/coaches complain about what you're dealing with. You said you've talked with other skaters and that this is a reoccuring problem, so I'm sure you'd have others willing to back you up. What I'm surprised about, however, is that no other coaches complained to management yet...8O I would never ever put my students or myself at risk by teaching on a session where there's the danger of hockey players, pucks, erratic skating, etc. I mean, it's bad enough if another figure skating accidently crashes into you, but to have to put up with a hockey player...that's not fair to you or other skaters.

Definitely don't let this blow over. Been there, tried that - it doesn't work. Good luck with this...hopefully you can find a way to get through to a rink that's already oblivious (or purposely ignorant) to this sort of behavior...:roll:

[Skittl1321]

My last lesson was my first run in with EXTREMELY annoying hockey kids.

I take my lessons on public ice, so I am very careful to always yield to anyone on public session. The "freestyle" rules don't apply to public sessions. I do usually "heads up" or whatever to the girls who also take lessons on public ice to ask them to yield, as I yield for them when they are on lesson.

Anyway- usually Tuesday nights don't have too many hockey skaters- it's a family skate and there is no stick time on Tuesdays. But this tuesday was a parent meeting- so there were TONS of hockey skaters and no supervision at all. (Plus our rink has no "right of way, follow the outside circle, figure skating on the inside rules or even rink guards")

These 4 boys were playing tag up and down the middle of the rink and then they started jumping over the lines and then falling to see how far they could slide. They were definetly causing problems for the families out skating with their children.

I was working on backward edges, kicking my leg through, and my coach asked if they could avoid me, as my sight line was not completely clear, and they were being reckless. They started shouting how lessons don't have right of way and "free skate means free skate". (Which made me laugh as it was public skate not a free skate).

The coach did the "i'm an adult" voice and said something to the boys while I left to practice and they stopped bothering me.

I do not think I deserve right of way on a public session just because I am in lesson. I regularly yield to families, move out of the way so kids can do whatever it is they do- but in this case, I was in the right.

They were being unsafe and skating in an uncontrolled manner. I was doing something I had a poor line of sight for (I don't have full range of motion in my neck so it's hard to look completely over my shoulder) but had a coach spotting me. I was also not skating at a speed that prevented me from safely stopping- like they were.

It just really really made me mad.

[sk8_4fun]

It is strange how often moronic behaviour is linked to the combination of hockey skates and testicles .... do you suppose there's a connection?



hmmmm, now that puts all sorts of ideas in my head........:evil: perhaps a 'connection' could be arranged???

[Rusty Blades]

hmmmm, now that puts all sorts of ideas in my head........:evil: perhaps a 'connection' could be arranged???

ROFLMAO! Now YOU'RE BAD!

[Rusty Blades]

The most ignorant hockey mentality I have ever seen wasn't kids - it was adults!

At one rink we used to have two hour blocks of time but they were used to booking by the hour so they'd have us booked for one dressing room for the first hour and a different dressing room for the second hour - DUMB! One day they forgot to change the dressing room sign and we came off the ice to find ALL the dressing rooms full of hockey players. They had just thrown our stuff in the corner (open skate bags - contents all over the floor!) and under the benches. When we came in, they sat there like bumps on a log, never offered to move, never said "Sorry", NOTHING! Everybody had to collect their stuff from under and around hockey players and change in the hallway. (The head coach did have words with the hockey coach and "tore him a new one".) I have never seen such ignorant, self-centred juvenile behaviour from a bunch of adults who SHOULD have been mature enough to have a LITTLE bit of manners!

[Ice Dancer]

It seems to be common practice at my rink at the moment for them to weave in and out of the cones that are put out to section off the public ice from practice ice. They seem to think that they have been put there purely for their own benefit so they can pretend that they are sheep dogs rehearsing for a show. Although on Thursday night one did crash into the last cone and break his arm. He's been one of the main culprit for weeks too.

We've also had incidents of younger hockey skaters skating right into the practice ice during lessons and whizzing off before the coach has had a chance to shout at them!

We have a lot of hockey played at my rink, and the genunine team are lovely, they are friendly and never act moronic towards the figure skaters. The other week we had a fire alarm and as a result the session ran over. Usually we are kicked off dead on time because of hockey practice, even if it starts late, but this time they extended it. I overheard one of the coaches tell two of them as they came in and they were friendly and polite to him and where just "don't worry about it". Can you imagine that attitude from some of the moronic prats who think it is fun to try and cause accidents

[dippytrout27]

Our rink has 2 adjoining pads, both quite small, and during the patch sessions the general rule of thumb is that the coach has one pad for her lessons and free skaters use the other pad for practice. The other night, coach was using her side and there was a guy (part time member of staff no less) and his 2 children practising hockey on the 2nd side. Bearing in mind the patch sesion was only an hour long and some of our group come a considerable way to use the rink we were not too happy about it. We first asked the reception staff who simply told us to kick them off! We then asked the guy nicely if we could use that side of the rink and he said 'of course, come and join us'. There were 2 fairly young children who wanted to practice with us and the puck was hitting the barrier at roughly their face height! So we were left with no alternative but to speak to the duty manager who immediately asked them to leave the ice. The member of staff then proceeded to ruin what small amount of ice time we had left by cutting us up whilst we were practising our elements.

Sometimes you just cannot win!!!!!!

[altamaleskater]

It is strange how often moronic behaviour is linked to the combination of hockey skates and testicles .... do you suppose there's a connection?

How true....I have seen this connection sooooooo many times. And it seems to be adult males rather than boys!

One time I was trying to practice a spin in the middle of the ice, well away from other people, and this big, lumbering buffoon in his 40s who was swinging his arms back & forth crashed into me & almost knocked me over. I shot him a dirty look but he just kept going. He continued acting like this for some time & I finally left, figuring it wasn't worth breaking a bone because of this jerk. I later saw him chasing another man round the ice, still swinging his arms in front of him.

On one other occasion I was in the middle of a session with my coach when one hockey player who had a game coming up after us decided he would take his warm-up skate on OUR ice. My coach, who has seen this juvenile behavior too many times before, skated up to him & told him it was figure skating ice & that his game didn't start for 20 minutes. He replied 'I know that'. When she asked him to make himself scarce, he shot her a dirty look & then swore at her. Not one to take BS from a hockey player with too much testosterone, she charged after him & told him to come say it to her face. He skated off with his tail between his legs. After that one I think our club made a complaint to the hockey club about this clown & the behavior has not been repeated.

[airyfairy76]

I think the worst thing I saw was a couple of months ago on a busy public session.

There were a group of lads of around 14, in - you've guessed - their hockey skates.

The skate marshall must have been bored, as there was no-one watching the ice, so these lads decided to have one of their number, lying down in the middle of the rink, so the others could jump over them! What made it even worse was that the "jumpers" were just launching themselves off the barrier, not even looking at who was about to pass. One actually brushed across my front as I skated past.

They drive me up the wall. Thank God I'm allowed on patch ice now!