Oblivious child

[dbny]

OK, granted, she's only a kid, but her twin sister is never a problem. Both of these girls, about ten, skate on a freestyle session that rarely has more than about eight skaters. They are both at preliminary level. ONE of them, is ALWAYS in the way. Today she nearly took me out while I was doing the power back crossover pattern. I was watching, but she came out of nowhere, skating forwards! As she zoomed by in a very near miss, I called out (in surprise, not anger) "did you see me?" I heard her coach yelling at her "...you were skating forwards..." I know her coach is very good about teaching her students to look out for other skaters, but this one kid has been in the way of every lesson I have had for the past three weeks. Today, to avoid her, my husband had to go up on toepicks while doing the figure eight back crossover pattern in his lesson. Everyone else seemed to see that they were using the back hockey circles, but this one just moved in like there was no one else there. She got in my way several times during my lesson, to the point that my coach, who is very patient and mild, commented on it. I'm starting to think that she has something going on, like needing a lot of attention. Neither my coach nor I are ready to say anything to the adults involved, but I think if things are the same next week, someone is going to have to try to deal with this.

[Aussie Willy]

dbny - We have a girl like that at our rink. She just peeves everyone off no end. One day as I was skating down the side of the rink, she brushed past my right shoulder and then skated right in front of me to cut across the rink to practice whatever it was she was practising. I was so surprised I just called out "Alisha" in an exasperated tone and kind of let the incident slide. But she is really bad in her lack of consideration.

What is most annoying is that she will use quarter of the rink to practise a particular jump without actually doing the jump. She will skate down the rink, have a clear path and not even go for it and then skate back up the rink around and around in circles and maybe attempt one jump out of ten. She is such an inefficient practiser. A few of us have complained to the coaches that run the session but they don't say anything. However one day she is going to do it to someone one time too many and they are just going let fly at her.

[melanieuk]

There's always one isn't there?
They spoil it for everybody, but seem to do it to specific people - adults, skaters at a lower level than themselves.

I've read a few similar threads to this one, and it seems the problem is universal.

The culprits are arrogant, attention-seeking, self-obsessed, brat-like, immature and dangerous.

[sk8er1964]

She needs to be taught better ice manners - maybe her coach can do it? If she doesn't learn them now, she will become more dangerous as she moves on to bigger and faster jumps. She'll probably end up hurting somebody someday, and of course, it probably won't be herself.

[JDC1]

We have an adult skater like that, he gets in the way of anyone doing a program, he doesn't seem to understand he needs to be aware of the people skating to the music!! I've seen several people have to bail out of jumps or moves in their programs because he gets in the way. Granted a free style session can be frustrating when the level of the skaters is very different but he's always just so clueless.

[garyc254]

It's bad enough with young semi-experienced skaters, but the ones that really anger me are the experienced skaters who think they own the ice.

I ran into one last year when I was a beginner. This girl didn't normally skate this freestyle session, but there was a competition later that day and she was practicing her routine.

When a session is a little crowded, I'll carve out a corner for myself and practice in a small area. This girl seemed determined to challenge me, skating within inches of me, coming straight at me even though I was a foot from the boards, and once doing a spin with blades flying so close I had to step back to keep from getting slashed.

I was too inexperienced then to know how to handle it. Now I know I would have to stop her and let her know that if she did it again I would ask the management to have her removed.

In another story, one local coach (male in his late 40's) was teaching a lesson in the coned off center ice area during a public session. A young hockey skater kept cutting through the middle and disrupting the lesson and student. The coach, after warning the lad several times, finally got fed up, grabbed the hockey skater by the shoulder, and escorted him off of the ice. A parent complained and the coach is no longer allowed in that rink. I know he should have asked a rink guard to handle it, but it seems kind of absurd to have been banned for protecting your student's safety.

[sk8er1964]

JCD1

I had that happen to me. I was doing my program and I saw two adults who were skating around talking coming along the boards. I was coming straight down the center of the ice, and I expected them to stop. I was into my flip-toe loop combo before I realized that they were not going to stop! I landed that jump literally within inches of them, and it scared the heck out of me. This was after I had got everyone's permission to do my program (it was in an open skating session), so they knew perfectly well that the music was mine.

[Yazmeen]

Sounds to me like this kid just doesn't focus well--she's probably very self involved with her own skating and doesn't pay attention. Her coach needs to work on that. She's probably "zoning out" a bit and may not even realize what she's doing. She needs to be focused.

[CanAmSk8ter]

That's unusial that she's gotten to preliminary level and still hasn't learned any better. I'm used to seeing Learn-to-Skate and low-level freestylers, especially young ones, who do stuff like that, but most kids learn pretty quickly. I always tell my students that on a freestyle, it's their responsibility to have some idea of what other people are doing near them- always. I also tell them that if a program comes on and you don't know whose it is, get over to the wall and figure it out before you keep skating.

I had a similarly annoying experince a couple of weeks ago. I was on lesson, and a little girl about six years old, probably Alpha level, gets on the ice. She wasn't on lesson- don't ask me why this kid was allowed on Freestyle w/o a coach, but that's one of the main reasons I avoid this particular rink- and there were a good 15 or so kids on the session. Anyway, this little girl skates out to about mid-rink and stops. Just stops dead and starts looking around, watching what the big kids are doing. I'm on lesson with my coach, coming towards her from one direction; a pre-juvenile kid is coming towards her from the other direction setting up for a jump. We both have to screetch to a stop so that we don't make a sandwich out of this kid, and I still don't think she realized that the near collision was in any way her fault- or, in this case, entirely her fault.

[skateflo]

We all have had similar experiences during our skating sessions. I sometimes wonder if some of these skaters normally wear eye glasses and are just skating without their glasses....

Currently we have two skaters who are always practicing together but are separated by about 8-10 feet...talk about clogging the ice! Everyone is talking about the one especially, but no one is doing anything about it...she is coached by the director of the skating program and her skaters are known for their aggressive 'playing chicken' type attitude.

I've come very close to saying something myself and am awaiting the time she crosses me in particular. Coach and I have talked about this on several occasions and I have decided to play the game too with these types - I just won't give way. A scare or two and they stop coming near me. It is a risk, but they just don't care.

The rink has become a microcosm of our society as a whole. Rudeness and self-centeredness, lack of manners, etc. It is an uphill battle. They learn from their adults - like coach and parents. If the coach doesn't send a clear message about not tolerating this behavior, including sending the skater off the ice for a period of time (it has worked) then these kids just blow it off.

Each rink is different but every rink has faced this issue. No easy answers in this sue society.