How long did it take you to get away from the wall or side of the Rink?

[FSWer]

Say,I don't know if this has ever been a topic before. But when you first learned to skate,how long did it take yo to get away from the wall,or at least the side of the Rink? For me....I got away from the wall on my very first day!!!!! I surprised Caitlin my coach. Ok Kids......GO!!!!

[Rusty Blades]

It was eons ago but when I first skated it was on a pond so there were no walls. When I started again more than 40 years later, it was an outdoor rink with no boards. Now, when I get my JUMPS out on open ice we'll be doing fine - LOL!

[Clarice]

I, too, skated the very first time on an outdoor rink that had no walls. I still kind of hang by the boards sometimes, though, depending what I'm working on, just to stay out of the way. For instance, I'm practicing the cross-behind step I need for my Cha-Cha, and I do laps of them next to the boards. I used to do that for stops, too, back when - glide, stop, glide, stop, all the way around next to the boards.

[debrag]

Me I've never had a problem getting away from the side. Prob because I used to take roller skating lessons and I can roller blade.

[Skittl1321]

I don't recall ever having to hang onto the boards when I was a kid- but I had also (quad) roller skated around the neighborhood and in the driveway and such.

Now I teach snowplow sam classes and I don't let my kids touch the wall at all until we get to "blast off" (pushing off the wall to glide backwards as a fun extra). I don't think it's good to give them that crutch, because when I've seen kids start there they are so scared to let go. I just take away the option of starting there and help them right out to the open ice. (Though most of them still do when they go to public sessions- because it "feels" more like skating when they push along and glide then when they march like they were taught, because they can't glide quite yet.)

[FSWer]

LOL, btw. I got the hang of going AWAY from the boards and skating forward. But I never got the hang of whatever it's called when you have to glide in to the side of the Rink. Like when a skater has to come in to get their bags off the side,etc.

[sue123]

The first time I went skating, I was a fearless 5 year old who tried to keep up with her daddy, so I didn't even know I could hold on to the wall. My dad always wanted a son, but had 2 girls, even the dogs were always girls. The cats are boys, but they never really liked my dad. Anyway, my mom refused to let me play hockey, so my dad decided I was at least going to skate like one, with lots of speed and power and quick starts. This way, when I had sons, I could teach them. Somehow, I still ended up liking figure skating.

[jazzpants]

Well, I was 9 when I tried to get away from the wall that very first time, but I remembered it was at least a month and I was coaxed into getting away from hanging onto the wall by a fellow skater. (NOT my sister who was too busy hanging onto her bf at the time :roll: )

When I came back at 31... no time at all! I was able to go right out there and skate around the rink. No problem! :mrgreen:

[blackmanskating]

I used to rollerskate as a kid with my family. I remember being quite fast. I don't recall ever having to skate near the boards unless I am helping one of my friends get away from the boards. I've always wanted to figure skate, so I was rather fearless when it came to getting out there. My coach said that he used to watch me skate public sessions before I started taking lessons with him. He said that I reminded him of the "Matrix" movies because I was so off axis when I tried any jump. I took some nasty falls in the beginning. He called me Matrix boy when I first took lessons from him. I had no idea he would have me landing all my singles and my first axel in 3 months.


BlackManSkating

[Skate@Delaware]

Oh my....this has me thinking WAY back. My first pair of skates were metal roller skates; they clamped onto your shoes and you had to wear saddle-shoes (didn't quite work with the soft sneakers we wore back in the day). Sidewalks, no rinks. Don't lose your key!

I skated on ice skates on a frozen ditch (it was um up to 15' wide and 100' long) across from my house and a cow pond. No walls.

Now learning 3-turns and mohawks we used the wall. and it took almost 2 years before I could do a waltz jump away from the wall (it was similar to jumping out of an airplane on the bravery scale!!!!)

[BatikatII]

My very first skating experience was a disco session at a rink two hours by coach from home. I don't remember hanging onto the walls at all -there were so many people you could barely see the walls! But also I was 14 and this rather nice lad offerred to take me round - much better to hold on to than a wall!:lol:

I didn't get back on to the ice til I was 36! But I didn't really hold on to the walls. I remember chasing my kids round on a public session even though I wasn't really skating properly.

Now I'd much prefer to learn things away from the boards since to my mind it is far less dangerous to practice stuff on open ice. If you fall near the boards you can easily hit your head on the way down and get injured that way. Much prefer to be on open ice where there is no danger of crashing into the boards - much safer I feel!

I did sometimes use the boards by the sin bins to stop - the dead fly splat!

[looplover]

I had no choice - I learned on a lake! 8O

I'm sure I fell a zillion times before getting it, but I don't remember. I know for a little while I had those double blade skates but then I got some regular ones.

[Mel On Ice]

never hugged the boards!

[tidesong]

That part of my memory seems to have dissappeared mostly I only remembered my first day on the ice (where I remember hanging on to the boards at first, and by the end of the session I was trying to let go for a bits) and then obviously theres a skip in memory here, and the next one I have is of practising three turns, waltz jumps which was definetly not on the boards.

[samba]

6 weeks!!! yes 6 weeks, I am the worlds worst coward and I never thought then that I would move on to competitve figure skating and pairs.

[kayskate]

I don't recall ever having to hang onto the boards when I was a kid- but I had also (quad) roller skated around the neighborhood and in the driveway and such.


Me too. I became a very competent roller skater just from watching other ppl. I could do a lot of artistic moves on quads when I was a teen. Most of it transfered to the ice. Ex: crossovers (back and forward), basic jumps, spins, different glides, etc.

Kay

[xofivebyfive]

about 10 minutes. LOL.

[quarkiki2]

Well, I've never clung to the wall for basic stroking, but cannot get off the wall for jumping. I occasionally practice a tough bit of footwork at the wall (like it's a ballet barre). But I don't want to jump, let alone jump away from the boards.

[Helen88]

I don't actually remember...I do however, remember being dragged away from the boards by a friend who could skate very quickly my first time, so it couldn't have been more than half an hour.

[skatergee01]

Woot! I got away from the side on my first time while my two friends were still clinging to it like limpets 8O

[RoaringSkates]

Actually, I was never hanging onto the wall. I skated a massive total of three times growing up, and I was always speeding across the ice, not at the wall. When I finally really started skating as an adult, I also never was at the wall. It wasn't even a thought in my head. I stumbled directly to center ice. :lol:

[Muskoka Skater]

I think I held on to the boards on the first day, when I was only 5yrs old. I think I was just a natural skater, so I didn't hold onto it after that!!

[Bill_S]

I'm another former pond-skater who didn't have boards available. Everyone just jumped right on and took their lumps while learning. I imagine it's much easier to do that when you're in your teens.

Didn't even SEE a rink with boards until I was in my middle-twenties.

[TimDavidSkate]

I was so discouraged the first time I was on the ice and couldn't get away from the wall - I did not return to the ice for 3 weeks.

[blackmanskating]

I was so discouraged the first time I was on the ice and couldn't get away from the wall - I did not return to the ice for 3 weeks.

Well look at u now!!!

[e-skater]

Haven't posted here in ages. I couldn't resist this question.

It took me six times skating (not consecutive days, I think about six weeks were covered in those six times) in 1998 before I even moved slightly away from the boards. So, yeah, I'm both a wimp and a coward!

I think this happened because, in 1983, the only time I accompanied my husband to a regional rink, I decided to put on rentals. And within 15 minutes was flat on my back with a cracked scalp, yucky mess all over the ice. I got eight stitches in the back of my head. It was a really memorable experience. I'm sure they had to clean the ice for a while, lol.

I bet that was somewhere in the back of my mind when I stepped on the ice almost 15 years later, with rentals again!

[deannathegeek]

I still hug the rails when I roller skate, but I can't remember ever holding on to the wall for ice skating. Go figure :lol:

[Amandaskategirl]

I don't remember ever clinging to the barrier, but do remember when it took what seemed like a VERY long time to get around the rink once.

[GordonSk8erBoi]

I never hugged the wall, but then, my first time skating was my first group lesson and they wouldn't let me :D

[singerskates]

I have a problem with my loop jump. When I do it at the wall, it's text book perfect but as soon as I am more than 2 feet from the boards, I can't get my right hip to snap into place and that causes my left side to fall out and ruin the landing. It's not like I'm scared to jump but probably in the back of my head I'm scared to land it? Does that make sence when I can do the flip and almost have my lutz back, yet mess up my loop landing most of the time when away from the boards? I wish I could try it on the harness a few times.
Wednesday I was practising several Loop/Loop combinations near and also at the boards. Wish I could do these away from the board the way I can do them at the boards.

[samba]

It took me six times skating (not consecutive days, I think about six weeks were covered in those six times) in 1998 before I even moved slightly away from the boards. So, yeah, I'm both a wimp and a coward!

I think this happened because, in 1983, the only time I accompanied my husband to a regional rink, I decided to put on rentals. And within 15 minutes was flat on my back with a cracked scalp, yucky mess all over the ice. I got eight stitches in the back of my head. It was a really memorable experience. I'm sure they had to clean the ice for a while, lol.

I bet that was somewhere in the back of my mind when I stepped on the ice almost 15 years later, with rentals again!

Great I'm not the only one!! I think the reason is very similar also, I tried to skate for the first time at 16 and fell so badly on my back that I had to be carried off and taken to the first aid room to be checked out, this was more embarrassing then painful with everyone watching and I guess it must have stuck in my mind many years later when I tried again but decided to persevere anyway.

[slusher]

I skated outdoors as a kid so no boards. I'm scared of boards, I've seen too many hockey injuries where guys have gone into the boards and stuck a shoulder in funny and broken something. I blew out on some crosscuts a few years ago, there is an arena with the imprint of my blade still on the advertising sign, I was trying to get my feet hitting first so I wouldn't kill myself.

However I am the # 1 holder up of the boards during skating sessions lately, slushy is getting slack in her old age.

[lovepairs]

I was 5 years old, and my parents strapped on a pair of skates on me. Then this beautiful woman (who looked like Annette Funiciello, who I later learned was my first coach) scooped me up in her arms, skated with me out to the middle of the rink, put me down, and then she skated back to what I was later to learn was "the wall!"

It was sink, or swim...so, out of a sheer survival instinct, I skated right over to her. Very smart woman...and that was my whole LTS experience!

[Skate@Delaware]

I never hugged the wall, but then, my first time skating was my first group lesson and they wouldn't let me :D
I make my kids stay away from the wall...I tell them it's "safer" that way!!!!
I have a problem with my loop jump. When I do it at the wall, it's text book perfect but as soon as I am more than 2 feet from the boards, I can't get my right hip to snap into place and that causes my left side to fall out and ruin the landing. It's not like I'm scared to jump but probably in the back of my head I'm scared to land it? Does that make sence when I can do the flip and almost have my lutz back, yet mess up my loop landing most of the time when away from the boards? I wish I could try it on the harness a few times.
Wednesday I was practising several Loop/Loop combinations near and also at the boards. Wish I could do these away from the board the way I can do them at the boards.
You might be right-being scared to land and fall....you might need to actually jump, fall, and realize you didn't die in order to get over this stumbling block!!! I had the same problem with my loop jump-scared to jump/land it because I thought I would die if I fell on it. Once I landed it 100% correctly and fell on it AND REALIZED I WAS STILL ALIVE AND UNINJURED I was ok from that point on. Of course, it was still a battle with that jump (and now I'm not allowed to jump because of my back).

Bite the bullet and do it. Pad up and go for it-no harness because you can do it!!!