How did you start skating,and what level and discipline are you?

[FSWer]

Say, I'm only interested. But how did everyone here first start skating,and and what level and discipline are you? Please stay on topic? Thanks.

[Mel1977]

I started when I was 17 (in 1995), a friend got me into it. The friend has long since quit, and I have kept it up. I have passed the pre-preliminary and preliminary moves and freeskate tests, but have recently switched to adult, and have passed bronze freeskate most recently. I'm starting to work on silver moves.

[sk8er1964]

I started as a kid, around 6 or 7 years old. My mom was a competitive roller skater and later she was an ice skating pro. I quit when I was 16 - I was more interested in enjoying high school than skating at that point. I competed for around 4 years as a kid, and I think if they had had high school figure skating clubs then like they do now (my old HS has one), I would not have quit.

As an adult, I started back after a 21 year break last February. I'm skating at Adult Gold because the USFSA says I have to ;) . I managed to pass all the necessary tests this year through sweat, determination and a lot of help from kind judges! Now if I could just get those darn doubles......

Good thread - I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone else :D .

[Norlite]

HI......my mom told me to answer......since I am the skater, and I use her name on this site lots......



I am 14 now......started when I was 6 just because my mom wanted a skater.

I am in Canada so our tests are a bit different.
I have my Gold Dance......working on Diamond
I have my Gold Skills
Senior Silver Freeskate and Pre-novice competitive freeskate.

[Jillianioso]

I started when I was 4 and I got all my skills and dances 4 years ago. I used to skate competitive dance (juvenile/pre-novice) when I was younger and now I am in my last year of junior competitive synchro and will hopefully either move to sr synchro or concentrate on university next year

[love2sk8]

I have..

Gold Freeskate
Junior Competitive Singles
#2 Skills

Stopped dance a looong time ago;)

[CanAmSk8ter]

I started at 11 y.o. and I have Intermediate MITF, Pre-Silver dance (soon to be plus one Silver, hopefully), Preliminary Figure and Pre-Juvenile Free.

[FSWer]

skater1964 that's so cool your mom used to ice skate. Please see if see will be willing to let you post a link to her competitive days for me and everyone to see? What discipline was she BTW.?

[garyc254]

I'm 48 now. I started skating when I was 47 because I got tired of sitting in the stands and warming rooms watching my girlfriend skate for practice and with her precision team. I was a total rookie.

I skated maybe twice when I was younger.

Now, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to go skate.

Level: ISI Alpha & Beta and ready for Gamma & Delta if I can ever stretch out enough to do a lunge. :lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

I started skating in my early 40s when our daughter had the opportunity to learn through her school, and then wanted to continue, and I had just gone on-line and "met" an adult skater from California who had just started and was wild about it. That year the World Championships were held in the UK, and this skater came over with her family to watch them; we met up and skated together.... a week later, I bought my first pair of boots and signed us up for adult learn-to-skate classes, and the rest is history!

However, starting as a fat, middle-aged woman who had been a total couch potato for most of the previous 25 years or more did mean that progress has been very slow - we are both still Level 3 in our dance (that is about pre-Bronze in the USA), and are only just beginning to come off the bottom of the pile!

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by FSWer
skater1964 that's so cool your mom used to ice skate. Please see if see will be willing to let you post a link to her competitive days for me and everyone to see? What discipline was she BTW.?

Sorry FSWer - by pro I meant teacher and skating program director, not professional/performing figure skater. 8O

[RoaringSkates]

I started skating about four years ago, when I was 30. I have passed my ISI gamma test, and could pass my delta but am saving that for next year. There are a couple of competitions I'd like to do, but won't have time to develop a delta program at this point.

I started skating because they built a mall on my commute home, and it had a skating rink. The rest is history!

[flo]

Hi,
Started at 29 while I was in graduate school, and needed something fun to do. I do freestyle, pairs and interpretive.

[KJD]

I started skating 3 1/2 years ago when I was 36. I did some basic skills as a kid but not much more than that. I have an axel and a 50/50 double sal and am working on my Gold test. I actually started in dance and passed up through my bronze dance test and one pre-silver before switching to freestyle full-time.

[melanieuk]

I started skating about age 8.5 or 9 - can't remember.
I stopped between age 12 or 13.

I am bronze level 3 (NISA of UK).

[melanieuk]

.....I started again age 32 (in 2001) and I'm 34 now. :)

[icenut84]

I wanted to start when I was 10 but I couldn't because there was (is) no local rink. I finally started group classes a month after my 17th birthday, and I'm 18 now (19 on Saturday). I haven't taken any official tests apart from the beginner badges which I passed quite a while ago. I do both freestyle and dance.

[dbny]

Originally posted by icenut84
I'm 18 now (19 on Saturday

Happy Birthday!

My older daughter just turned 19 in December :lol:

I started roller skating when I was 12 because I lived in a city with no ice rinks. I did dance and figures with just a little freestyle till I was 18 and went to college, and never ever thought of switching to ice. Both of my daughters started ice skating and I finally got tired of sitting in the cold watching them (like Gary!) and started skating for myself 2.5 years ago after 35 years of no skating at all. I still haven't passed any tests because my skills are all over the place. I'm doing some pre-Juv moves good enough to pass, but still can't do the waltz-8 or the alt F three turns to passing. I do have good flow, which must be the only thing that stayed with me from roller skating.

[Andie]

I started skating when I was 15 and am 17 now, almost 18. I took some time off until a few months ago, so I was somewhat 'rusty' and had to re-learn some stuff, so as of yet I have not been tested....but hopefully will be soon. :D
I've been roller skating since I was about six or seven.

[TashaKat]

Started 7 years ago when I was 32!

Have got:

Silver Level 6 (I think ..... or is it Gold Level 7?) in Compulsories
Elementary Variation (Haven't got a clue what that is any more!)
Bronze Level 2 (??) in Field Moves, Free and Elements!

L x

[quarkiki2]

I started skating last March because my hubby was teaching a class at a nearby university in a town with a rink and I thought it might be fun to skate while he taught. He liked the idea so much that he insisted we find a class where we could skate together and, voila! Fat pair on ice!

I'm an ISI Gamma/Delta and have most skills from both levels fairly reliably, but am hung up on 3-turns and haven't really tried a bunny hop yet. I have a terrific lunge! It's my show-stopping move!

Unfortunately, I haven't been on the ice for about 2 weeks due to my insane schedule. I plan to get back to lessons next Saturday.

[icenut84]

Thanks dbny! :D

[nutty-ducky]

Originally posted by icenut84
I wanted to start when I was 10 but I couldn't because there was (is) no local rink. I finally started group classes a month after my 17th birthday, and I'm 18 now (19 on Saturday). I haven't taken any official tests apart from the beginner badges which I passed quite a while ago. I do both freestyle and dance.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR SATURDAY ICENUT! :D

[wannask8]

Got hooked late 30s (okay, very late 30s) after toodling around the town pond the one season it froze. I never had any coordination for this as a kid, so the fact that I could stay upright was a real thrill. Hit the rink after the pond outing and stuck with it the past year even though knee issues keep skating to a minimum. Still learning FS basic skills, and probably will be for a while (I have a wonderful, very patient coach!).

Happy belated b’day, icenut! You and I are a few days (and a couple of decades, give or take) apart – mine was today!

-- wannask8

[Black Sheep]

I started skating when I was four years old--on red plastic double-runner skates scooting across a frozen pond in Twin Lakes, WI (where my folks used to have a cottage). Over the next few years, I skated whenever and wherever my folks wanted to take me--on rental skates or hand-me-downs from my sister/cousins. Started taking "real" group lessons at Ridgeland Commons in Oak Park when I was 10, and skated in my first ice show when I was 11. Took group and private lessons 'til I was 16, when I became too busy in high school (and too weak from anorexia) to skate.

However, I managed to find time (and strength!) after graduating from college (when I was 22), and I've kept it up for just over nine years now! Other than doing axels and doubles (which I didn't do as a kid), I'm back skating at RC in OP, student-teaching classes and performing in shows there! :D

[icenut84]

Thanks nutty-ducky and wannask8! :D (It's not belated yet, wannask8, my birthday is this Saturday, aka the 18th. 8-) )

[dani]

Originally posted by icenut84
Thanks nutty-ducky and wannask8! :D (It's not belated yet, wannask8, my birthday is this Saturday, aka the 18th. 8-) )

*Mine* was last Saturday! ;-)

Thanks Annabel! ;-)

Hugs!
Danielle

[skaternum]

Well then, happy birthday, dani!!:D How come we didn't know before the big day? There's a birthday drink coming your way in DC!

[tazsk8s]

Fun thread. My daughter and I started together. I was 28 at the time and she was 3. I have always loved to watch skating, and when she was 2, she would spin around the family room while I had it on TV. So we started going to public skate once or twice a week. It was fun, but my gut instinct was to protect my "baby" from falling at all costs. So I spent most of my time holding her up and my back was killing me. One of the rink guards was a figure skater, and she told us that they'd take a 3 year old, and sort of as an aside, "Oh, and they have adult classes, too." Off we went. Little did we know what we were really getting into! And little did I know that the first thing they do with the tots is take them to the middle of the ice and teach them how to fall!

I am now 36, Taz Jr. is now 11. I am Adult Bronze, just starting axel work, trying to get the camel spin consistent, and getting ready to go to AN for the first time. Junior passed her Pre-Juvenile FS last month, "owns" the 2sal and 2loop, and can land the other doubles through lutz, to varying degress of consistency. Looks like she will go to her first regionals this fall.

[Elsy2]

My daughter and I pretty much started at about the same time too. She had taken 6 weeks of basic skills earlier on, but didn't stick with it, so we tried again a year later. I was 42, and she was 9. I went on a public session and was encouraged by the skate guard to try different things...he was an older gentlemen and made me feel like maybe I could learn skating too. I signed up for adult group lessons, and the first instructor I met is now a very good friend and my dance partner in crime....

I am now 48 and my daughter is 14. I passed my adult bronze a year ago, and daughter is at Intermediate level. I haven't progressed very much in the last year, but I sure am enjoying myself anyway...