What is it with Speed Skaters?

[skatergee01]

you know, the boys with the hockey boots who come up beside you and do that skidding thing - it unnerves me. I just feel like saying "Dont ever do that near me again." I get very easily scared because my friend's lost one of her fingers before. & is there speed skating competitions or something? because I wonder what they get out of it all..

[ibreakhearts66]

i think you're thinking of hockey players. they just like to skate around quickly and do hockey stops. speed skaters don't stop like that and wear skates that look like this

http://www.socalspeedskating.org/equip/skates/longtrack/viking-org.jpg

also, speed skaters' skating is much smoother. yes, there are speed skating competitions. it's an Olympic sport. here's a pic from torino

http://english.people.com.cn/200602/21/images/0220_A09.jpg

now, those boys in the hockey boots are just obnoxious hockey players

[fsk8r]

Over here, those boys in hockey boots, wouldn't know a puck and a stick if it hit them in the face. They're just obnoxious louts. I gave up skating one sessoin because of them (that and I don't have the time any more). But the incident that caused it, whiped my friend and me both out. Shame for the lad who caused it, as I don't think he realised that I could whip his butt on figure skates and was terrified of me by the end of the evening, because my temper snapped. It's one thing to hockey stop and spray me, but it's another thing to not calculate your angles and speed correctly and wipe me out.

[ibreakhearts66]

Over here, those boys in hockey boots, wouldn't know a puck and a stick if it hit them in the face. They're just obnoxious louts. I gave up skating one sessoin because of them (that and I don't have the time any more). But the incident that caused it, whiped my friend and me both out. Shame for the lad who caused it, as I don't think he realised that I could whip his butt on figure skates and was terrified of me by the end of the evening, because my temper snapped. It's one thing to hockey stop and spray me, but it's another thing to not calculate your angles and speed correctly and wipe me out.

thats the beauty of a well-placed flying camel. get close enough to scare the **** out of them. i know i almost took one's head off with a double sal. another boy at my rink will jump anywhere (he has been known to hit the wall while checking out of a jump) and has definitely scared a couple of them straight. almost made the term "death drop" literal when he did one in his program right near a hockey player. don't get me wrong, we're not malicious or anything, but if they are being reckless, we will teach them very quickly to be more careful

[Isk8NYC]

Two wrongs don't make a right - they make a U-turn. :roll: Double jumps or flying camels should not be done on a public skating session. Save it for the freestyles - all you need is for a wandering six-year old to get in the way and you'll be in big trouble. If you do "take their head off," you can be charged with assault. No normal adult would think that spraying someone was as bad as deliberately jumping and spinning with your blade in the air. (There are a few zany adult skaters who will say that the end justifies the means, but most will not agree.)

Back on topic:
Why are you (the OP) standing on the ice where they can spray you? Perhaps the players wanted you to move so they could skate.

Just ignore the skaters when they do it, they probably love the reaction you give them when they "spray" you with a hockey stop. Stop reacting and they'll give it up. Or ask them to stop - maybe they just want to talk to you. If they do keep it up and you're still upset, tell a guard or the manager that they're harrassing you.

[jskater49]

.)

Back on topic:
Why are you (the OP) standing on the ice where they can spray you? Perhaps the hockey players wanted you to move so they could skate.

Just ignore the hockey skaters when they do it, they probably love the reaction you give them when they "spray" you with a hockey stop. Stop reacting and they'll give it up. Or ask them to stop - maybe they just want to talk to you. If they do keep it up and you're still upset, tell a guard or the manager that they're harrassing you.

Um, hockey players who want to do that to you will find you wherever you are and spray you--especially if it scares you.

And having a disabled son who has been the subject of bullying and harrassment, it's not necesarily true that if you don't react and ignore them, they will stop. They don't just feed on your reaction. They feed on the reaction of their peers, which they get however you react. Parents need to rethink that advice--it blames the victim and makes the victim feel all the more helpless. Probably for this situation, telling the monitor...of course that doesn't always help either.

My daughter would just spray them back. The answer to your question is they do it because they are stupid kids and they think it makes them look big and important in front of their peers to bully and harrass other people.

j

[samba]

I have learned to love these types in hockey skates (not usually hockey players), on the rare occasion that I go on public session, they think they can intimidate me by skating faster than me, once I realise I am being challenged I just bend my standing leg a little more and extend the free leg as textbook style as possible, without increasing the number of strokes, they soon learn that they have to use 2-4 stokes to my one to cover the same distance and give up, nothing worse than being beaten by a 58 year old grannie.:D :D

[Sessy]

One guy sprayed me last year just when I was sweating all over from practicing lots of flips. My first, instinctive answer was "that's nice, do that again!" He looked at me with eyes as big as dishes and went to bother girls who'd scream at him for spraying them.
They get the attention of girls and people in general and re-assert themselves as "alpha males".

[FallDownGoBoom]

"And having a disabled son who has been the subject of bullying and harassment, it's not necessarily true that if you don't react and ignore them, they will stop."

BRAVO. I spent five miserable years under the impression that if I ignored the bullies, they would go away. We owe it to ourselves and to one another to face down the bullies in the rink, in school, at work, on the street -- everywhere.

[Helen88]

I gave up skating on the Sunday afternoon session - there were a group of hockey boys AND A STEWARD who WOULD not remove themselves from the figure skating circle, as it's known as on the public session AND ON THE RULES POSTED. No matter how many coaches asked them to move, they just shuffle over to another bit. So now I get my a*** out of bed by nine on a Sunday morning, just to be able to skate round without being knocked flying.

What's slightly more off-putting is when grown MEN, who TBH, should know better, spray me when I'm in a corner [MY corner :twisted:] doing 3-turns or spins or whatever. And yes, I've been knocked over by hockey players (who, like someone else said, wouldn't know a hockey stick and puck if they jumped out a hit them on the rear) several times. I tend to just give them evils and carry on.

[fsk8r]

I gave up skating on the Sunday afternoon session - there were a group of hockey boys AND A STEWARD who WOULD not remove themselves from the figure skating circle, as it's known as on the public session AND ON THE RULES POSTED. No matter how many coaches asked them to move, they just shuffle over to another bit. So now I get my a*** out of bed by nine on a Sunday morning, just to be able to skate round without being knocked flying.


Lucky you for still having a figure skating circle on public ice. Ours went west a very long time ago and we're now banned from any jumps of spins on public ice. (3-turns have been classed as spins by some stupid stewards generally in hockey skates). Shame that they banned some relatively sedate figure skaters (no one would want to do a double jump on our public sessions it's taking the jumpers life in their hands!) from doing anything interesting, but haven't done anything to stop the loutish behaviour. But the rink is run in the interests of public ice as apparently squeezing in loads of people who go skating once in a blue moon pays for the place. What's really annoying is that the loutish skaters are starting to take over the sedate dance evening, and hockey skates are banned from that, so I can't even blame them!

[Sessy]

At our rink, it's like... Well there are no freestyle sessions, and no inner figure skating circle or anything like it. So when the ice rink management notices you skate well enough (as in, do some jumps, some spins) they take you off the ice and have a little talk about safety. It's basically not forbidden to do anything, you just have to use your best judgement. I did land on top of somebody once on a sunday public session and haven't been skating weekend sessions ever since of my own decision (the only thing you can do on those is dullen your blades, I usually deliberately have my skates sharpened on friday so I can pick them up on sunday and blunt them down to skateable sharpness in 15 minutes of public ice - more like snow.)
This seems to be the general policy in the Netherlands, as other rinks pulled me over too and asked me to do anything I liked, just use my head. One of the girls competing seniors at our nationals this weekend practiced her doubles on busy public ice too 1,5 months ago.

I guess it depends on your rink's policy and country's laws what is okay to do and what isn't. We don't have a very strong law base for damage claims, so they're a little more laid back.

[Isk8NYC]

"And having a disabled son who has been the subject of bullying and harassment, it's not necessarily true that if you don't react and ignore them, they will stop."

BRAVO. I spent five miserable years under the impression that if I ignored the bullies, they would go away. We owe it to ourselves and to one another to face down the bullies in the rink, in school, at work, on the street -- everywhere.
Absolutely! If you are being bullied, stand up for yourself. Say something. Have your friends stand by your side. Complain in the office - forget the on-ice guards, they've already let you down by not intervening from the start. Teach your children to do the same. Stand up for kids being bullied, even if you're not involved - that's what I do every time I skate on a public session. "Give him back his hat." "Don't cut so close-you'll knock her down and then you'll be in trouble."

IMO, I didn't read anything in the initial post to make me think this situation is the same thing as a disabled boy being tormented by a bully. Sounds like the girl went skating with her friends and the boys sprayed them while they were standing by the wall. She didn't say they chased her and her friends. She didn't say that they were disabled, although a missing finger could be a clue. I hope she comes back and clarifies her complaint - if it's a one-time thing, I wouldn't call that bullying.

fsk8r makes a good point: a number of rinks on the east coast have changed their policies to prevent figure skating of any kind during public sessions. I think doing Flying Camels during a public session to intimidate someone would encourage your rink to join the list. Less work for them - no center-ice cones to put out or "defend."

I stand by my statement that you should not intimidate them or harm them with your blades in any way - that's bullying as well. If they/someone else get hurt, you'll be the one in trouble. There are more effective ways to deal with bullies than added violence, wouldn't you agree?

[jwrnsktr]

This happened to me and it was by young boys and adult men as well, when I first started skating. I said something smart-alecky to them - something like, "I know you are trying to scare me, so why do you need to do that?" So, I acknowleged it, told them to stop, made them feel a little foolish, and that was the end of it. Of course if there is someone who doesn't respond to a request to knock it off, then, yes, go into the office and complain and keep on doing it until you are satisfied. There's no reason you should be made to feel afraid! It's skating, not a hockey game!

[Sessy]

Hmmm I was called away and didn't finish the rest of my post last time it seems. My attention span is like whoosh, 7 days in a row of 6 AM wake-up time made my brain go jelly.


Anyway, so there was this girl practicing camel spins (hers are really, really centered) in 1 and the same spot (centre dot) all the time and these hockeyers started using her as an obstacle in their hockey game... Hockeyers and figure skaters can get along fine, REAL hockeyers that is. Trouble is, most hockeyers on public sessions aren't actually hockeyers. Half of them barely know how to do anything other than make snow. That includes crossovers and other edgework. My experience is that if they're teenagers, it only takes 1 smart one to figure out your edgework and maneuverability is better than theirs before half the group is checking out your practice of crossovers and trying to keep their shoulder back too. Practice your basic skills, it's really good for you. Though this tactic doesn't seem to work with the preteen crowd.
With them, it works to practice spirals, provided you feel very confident doing them. They don't quite dare to get in the way so badly that you can't step out of one, it looks easy enough for them to think it's peanuts, so they start pestering you by doing their version of spirals. Only takes about 5 minutes before one of them discovers what it feels like to "bellyflop". After that - at least, this was always the case last year when I did this a lot - they stay away.

If they get physical and start trying to bump you into the boardings I'd say step aside and let 'em knock themselves out, or give them a gentle push at an unguarded moment. But if they're not physical, I'm with NYC here, there's better ways than injuring people.

Sides, every figure skater has been tempted to make a strategical bunny hop or well-placed toepick kick in the groin at one time or the other, I think... I was really tempted to do so when a hockeyer took my blade guards to go for a smoke outside... :roll:

[jskater49]

Absolutely! If you are being bullied, stand up for yourself. Say something. Have your friends stand by your side. Complain in the office - forget the on-ice guards, they've already let you down by not intervening from the start. Teach your children to do the same. Stand up for kids being bullied, even if you're not involved - that's what I do every time I skate on a public session. "Give him back his hat." "Don't cut so close-you'll knock her down and then you'll be in trouble."

IMO, I didn't read anything in the initial post to make me think this situation is the same thing as a disabled boy being tormented by a bully. Sounds like the girl went skating with her friends and the boys sprayed them while they were standing by the wall. She didn't say they chased her and her friends. She didn't say that they were disabled, although a missing finger could be a clue. I hope she comes back and clarifies her complaint - if it's a one-time thing, I wouldn't call that bullying.

fsk8r makes a good point: a number of rinks on the east coast have changed their policies to prevent figure skating of any kind during public sessions. I think doing Flying Camels during a public session to intimidate someone would encourage your rink to join the list. Less work for them - no center-ice cones to put out or "defend."

I stand by my statement that you should not intimidate them or harm them with your blades in any way - that's bullying as well. If they/someone else get hurt, you'll be the one in trouble. There are more effective ways to deal with bullies than added violence, wouldn't you agree?


Well I stand by my statement that a kid deliberately spraying a girl who is obviously frightened by that behavior IS harrassment - I see it all the time at rinks and it is bullying and harrassment. And I stand by my belief that telling victims of any kind of harassment that if they would "just stop reacting" the behavior would stop is victim blaming.

j

[CanAmSk8ter]

Trouble is, most hockeyers on public sessions aren't actually hockeyers. Half of them barely know how to do anything other than make snow. That includes crossovers and other edgework.

Thank you! I play hockey, and I hate hearing this kind of nonsense blamed on "hockey players". The fact that someone is wearing hockey skates and can do a hockey stop does not mean he plays hockey, or that his behavior is representative of the majority of hockey players.

Having been on both sides of the fence, let me just say:

-Don't bother with the flying camels or double sals. They are not impressed with your skill, and as others have pointed out, you risk injuring someone and getting yourself in trouble. Ignore the first time, ask them to stop the second time, complain to a monitor the third time. If the monitor can't get them to stop, go out and tell the front desk. They'll probably get a manager to go out and talk to the guys (and, hopefully, to the monitor).

-If the guy is a teenager, and you're a girl, roll your eyes at him. He may well be trying to impress you, and if you get it across that he's not, he may give up. Or maybe, you know, try talking to you instead ;)

-The fact that the younger hockey boys don't always use good judgment has more to do with the fact that they're young than that they play hockey.

-Young hockey players are so used to skating in full equipment than I don't think they realize how much it would hurt someone to be knocked over with no equipment on

-Hockey players don't have sessions where they can just work on their skating (and believe me, most of them need to). They're obligated to use good judgment about what is and isn't safe to practice on a given session, but as long as they're being careful and respectful and staying within the rules they have as much right as figure skaters to do something other than skate forward in circles counter-clockwise.

-This probably won't help any of you much, but I follow pro hockey enough that if I have a guy in a hockey jersey bugging me, I can usually trash-talk his team a bit.:twisted:

[Isk8NYC]

Thank you! I play hockey, and I hate hearing this kind of nonsense blamed on "hockey players". The fact that someone is wearing hockey skates and can do a hockey stop does not mean he plays hockey, or that his behavior is representative of the majority of hockey players. You're right. I've edited my post. I was thinking of a particular incident which did involve a young hockey player who was the *Star Player* so he thought he owned the rink. Most of the obnoxious ones are probably not hockey players themselves, although they may be wearing the skates.

Thanks.

[lovepairs]

During Adult Week in Lake Placid, they have these Hockey clinics, and you don't even have to go into the Hockey locker room...just walking down the hallway, you can die from the stentch! It was so bad one day that I thought I was going to pass out walking down the hallway...and that was when the girls hockey clinic was in town!!! It was so bad that I had to stop one of the Hockey boys that I saw, and asked him how he could stand it? He said, he didn't notice it! That should tell you a lot!

[Morgail]

-Hockey players don't have sessions where they can just work on their skating (and believe me, most of them need to).


Isn't that what a stick & puck session is? I thought that was the hockey equivalent to a freestyle session:)

[Kim to the Max]

During Adult Week in Lake Placid, they have these Hockey clinics, and you don't even have to go into the Hockey locker room...just walking down the hallway, you can die from the stentch! It was so bad one day that I thought I was going to pass out walking down the hallway...and that was when the girls hockey clinic was in town!!! It was so bad that I had to stop one of the Hockey boys that I saw, and asked him how he could stand it? He said, he didn't notice it! That should tell you a lot!

lol...I work in a residence hall and I have student who I am trying to meet with because he keeps putting his hockey equipment in public spaces...particularly public spaces with NO ventilation...let me tell you...the smell is not flowers and sunshine...

[doubletoe]

Thank you! I play hockey, and I hate hearing this kind of nonsense blamed on "hockey players". The fact that someone is wearing hockey skates and can do a hockey stop does not mean he plays hockey, or that his behavior is representative of the majority of hockey players.

Having been on both sides of the fence, let me just say:

-Don't bother with the flying camels or double sals. They are not impressed with your skill, and as others have pointed out, you risk injuring someone and getting yourself in trouble. Ignore the first time, ask them to stop the second time, complain to a monitor the third time. If the monitor can't get them to stop, go out and tell the front desk. They'll probably get a manager to go out and talk to the guys (and, hopefully, to the monitor).

-If the guy is a teenager, and you're a girl, roll your eyes at him. He may well be trying to impress you, and if you get it across that he's not, he may give up. Or maybe, you know, try talking to you instead ;)

-The fact that the younger hockey boys don't always use good judgment has more to do with the fact that they're young than that they play hockey.

-Young hockey players are so used to skating in full equipment than I don't think they realize how much it would hurt someone to be knocked over with no equipment on

-Hockey players don't have sessions where they can just work on their skating (and believe me, most of them need to). They're obligated to use good judgment about what is and isn't safe to practice on a given session, but as long as they're being careful and respectful and staying within the rules they have as much right as figure skaters to do something other than skate forward in circles counter-clockwise.

-This probably won't help any of you much, but I follow pro hockey enough that if I have a guy in a hockey jersey bugging me, I can usually trash-talk his team a bit.:twisted:

Excellent advice. Thanks for posting!

[Mrs Redboots]

-Hockey players don't have sessions where they can just work on their skating (and believe me, most of them need to). In this country they do - I've watched a hockey practice-session (as opposed to a pick-up game) and, trust me, those guys were working, not just on their hockey skills but on all sorts of basic skills as well.

As several others have said, it's not the hockey players who are the problem - if they're on a public session, they are tending to practice their own skills - it's the youth on hockey skates who think they're all that and a bar of soap....!

[CanAmSk8ter]

Isn't that what a stick & puck session is? I thought that was the hockey equivalent to a freestyle session:)

It is, but I know from teaching and talking to parents that it's hard to get the younger kids to work on their *skating* when they have pucks and sticks and are surrounded by their buddies shooting and passing. If it's the kind of session that allows pick-up games, there's not really any space to be doing skating drills anyway. In the early fall/late spring when the public sessions are basically empty it's easy enough for the parents to bring them in and do some drills, but they get kind of stuck this time of year.

Oh, and the equipment smell is entirely preventable. You get home, you take your gear out of your bag, and you hang it up and air it out before you play again. If it starts to smell, you Bereeze it or spray it with a water/alcohol mix to kill the bacteria. Take likes two minutes. I can't understand the players who let their stuff start to smell like it could walk to the rink on its own.

[Sessy]

We have those guys at our rink too. You can actually smell them when they get off the bus, outside in the fresh air! YIKES. They smell like athlete's foot mixed with a two week old corpse or something. Even my skates don't smell that bad. :roll:

That being said, the hockey club DID help my figure skating club organise the nationals. They were guarding the entire rink all over, and they were pretty good at it.
Also, some of the hockeyers showed up to watch.

BTW as for basic skills and the inability to practice them, I hardly think anybody would object if a hockeyer was to practice crossovers, edgework or fast direction-changing stuff if they don't object to figure skaters practicing footwork? Would they?
The main objection to hockeyers at our rink is pucks and sticks. Actually sticks more than pucks, I've seen more than a few hockeyers practice with just kicking around pucks on public skates (and as long as they keep allowing that, I'm gonna practice whatever I like on those sessions so long it's safe).

[Helen88]

You have people with STICKS on your public sessions? Whoa, I've never seen anyone go that far here...I'd be terrified if anyone was doing that...8O

[Sessy]

No, pucks. Looks like a can of black shoepolish, that kind of thing.
I'm terrified of those as well, I'm always afraid I'll land/step on one as they kick it between mine - and everybody else's - feet. I'd rather they have sticks than pucks.

[Ice Dancer]

We have the smell too. On the evening sessions the hockey players have practice after we get off, and you have to hold your breath walking past them!

I think it's the inconsiderate skaters, rather than specifically hockey ones, which really gets me. I skate on patch and on public sessions, and I've seen incidents from both hockey and figure skaters that were accidents waiting to happen. I think some of it comes from immaturity and ignorance more than anything, I guess as you get older you get a sense of mortality!

[fsk8r]

We have the smell too. On the evening sessions the hockey players have practice after we get off, and you have to hold your breath walking past them!

I think it's the inconsiderate skaters, rather than specifically hockey ones, which really gets me. I skate on patch and on public sessions, and I've seen incidents from both hockey and figure skaters that were accidents waiting to happen. I think some of it comes from immaturity and ignorance more than anything, I guess as you get older you get a sense of mortality!

I wish the age thing were true. I had a lesson the other week where I was trying to practice jumps. The freestyle was slightly busier than normal and these dippy old adults came to skate just where I was jumping in lesson. For some strange reason this didn't freak me out like it normally would and I carried on. I've never tried threading a needle with a flip jump before, but somehow managed it. Scared the hell out of the adults and my coach, but she knew I was getting a bit frustrated with them all. She'd already asked the kids to move away from where she was teaching when these adults decided to move into the same spot. They moved off pretty sharpish when they realised that I wasn't going to move and neither was the coach.
I'm not sure if there behaviour was ignorance or immaturity but they're definitely accidents waiting to happen and sometimes I wonder if it's all to do with the loutish behaviour of the young lads skating or whether it's to do with dippy people doing random unexpected things. Is it just like driving in that regard?