I can relate to the glove thing. =-) I HAVE to wear my gloves or I feel naked. Like your coach, my old coach made me take them off occasionaly during my lessons. I HATED this and was on the brink of tears a few times. Stupid, but there ya go. I'm glad I have company.

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

Yeah, I can relate to the gloves thing too. I feel like the Peanuts character Linus and that little blue security blanket. I feel more naked without gloves than skating in a skirt and tights versus leggings etc...from time to time, I practice without gloves just to become more comfortable without them.

eeeeewwwwww!!!!!

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Level one Field Moves......PASSED 05.06.08
Level one Free dance.....PASSED 02.10.08

GOALS FOR 2009

• Level One Compulsary dances.......PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Elements.....................PASSED 10.07.09
• Level Two Free dance.................PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Free...........................
• Level Two compulsory dances.......

Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!!!!!

Yeah, when I see the little kids scraping up ice for "snowballs" and eating it ....makes me want to PUKE!!! I let them know what goes onto the ice....they stop. I tell them to go wash their hands too (if they aren't wearing gloves). My rink only disinfects the ice once a month.

Gloves are also a nice place to tuck a tissue if you have no pockets!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I've actually stopped kids at public sessions WITH THEIR PARENTS next to them who were trying to eat ice scrapings. Ughhh.

I teach my beginners not to look at the ice by saying: "There's nothing to see there but hockey player spit, who wants to see that?"

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Love it!

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The ice gets disinfected? (I hope they do it at my rink...)

Wow, I've never heard of that.

On occasion, some of the rinks I skate at replace the rubber mats around the rink and lobby. But they do it so infrequently that anything that falls on the floor is immediately biohazard anyhow. (Especially the benches on the far side of the rink near the penalty box. It REALLY reeks over there permanently. I try not to relace over in that area because it's so gross.)

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

I am SOOOO glad figure skaters are not THAT gross!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Ah, yes, figure skaters aren't *that* gross. Except for the younger kids, who really should be supervised, that leave food laying around (fries with ketchup), spill things, litter with used tissues, and stuff up the toilets with too much paper. Don't forget the lovely toilet-paper ceiling decor. But at least they don't spit or urinate on the floor, you're right!

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What, even on training ice? Here, the ones who use the training ice are serious skaters - it's the public session lot that make the mess.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Absolutely during public sessions, mostly during LTS group lessons, but also during freestyles. Usually the freestyles are shorter, so there's less time for them to get messy. The used tissues are awful, though. One rink I worked at put a tissue box right next to the trash pail, which was a great idea: they blew their noses and tossed it right out, PLUS they were neater with throwing away other trash since they might have had to go back to that spot later.

I am talking about the little kids, not the 11-and-up crew. Adult figure skaters make the least amount of mess, IMHO. I just don't understand why rinks don't cater to us more.

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Maybe it's a state health requirement....once a month, they spray the surface with a chemical that really stinks but it disenfects the ice. They also spray the hockey boxes.

We are lucky because our entire rink is drained and disassembled at the end of April every year and reassembled in late-August. I'm told the stuff gets sprayed in between. Maybe that's another reason we don't have MAJOR ice problems (just minor ones).

The floors are done with a sweeper/squeegie machine, but it doesn't do that great a job-they are still sticky so you NEED to wear blade guards!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

They ought to just spray the hockey players and get rid of the problem

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Seconded

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"A sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." - Albert Einstein
"A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular." - Adlai Stevenson
"Got Edge?" - Steven J. Arness - Coachless, two years and counting.
"He who carves himself to suit others will soon whittle himself away."
"Sometimes you get what you want but loose what you have."

Lmao that happened to me too!! I was doing a Biellmann spiral and this guy (at least 17 years old, by the way) skating right parallel of me tried to do it, only grabbing his hockey skate completely differently. And smirking. I was like "he!! with you!!"

Seriously the way out is: Don't care what everyone else thinks!

Thank you. *bows*

or you say, "Cute! just add a skirt and you'll be ready!-TWIRL GURL!!!" I think that would shut him up.

Seriously, the best thing to do is ignore people like that....tune them OUT and look right through them as if they don't exist. That takes all the wind out of their sails!!!!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Things to say to hockey wannabes:

"Wouldn't you rather skate with a woman than a stick" (only they usually say things like "No, sticks don't argue" or "No, sticks are cheaper to replace when you break them!")

"Of course, if figure skating were easy, they'd call it hockey!"

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

lol lol!!!!!

__________________
Level one Field Moves......PASSED 05.06.08
Level one Free dance.....PASSED 02.10.08

GOALS FOR 2009

• Level One Compulsary dances.......PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Elements.....................PASSED 10.07.09
• Level Two Free dance.................PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Free...........................
• Level Two compulsory dances.......

Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!!!!!

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

I remember last fall being at the rink and a fairly high level dance team was getting a lesson. As they used tissues, they placed them in a line on the barrier until there was about a 4-foot line of wadded, used tissues on the barrier. Yummmmmy!

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Lol I tried that one, it worked!

(By the way, I didn't actually say "he!! with you"! lol)

If you want to wear a skirt, wear one.

Those skaters who stand and make fun of other people soon become not so great skaters...and the skaters who make the most of their practice time and money become the better skaters. Quite honestly, I can barely remember who I see at a freestyle session let alone what other people are wearing. I have too many spins and jumps to practice. I can't even practice everything that needs to be practiced in the short amount of time that I'm there.

The best skaters will not stand on the boards and make fun of someone. They will be out on the ice busting their you know whats to stand their ground of being one of the better skaters.

You know, now I can barely stomach touching the ice since this part of the thread began!

....

I guess that's one way to work on avoiding falls....

Don't worry about wearing a skirt! Many people are affraid to wear a skirt, expecxially there first time! I thought it would be uncomforatable but actually i think it is better than wearing pants. If you were to buy skating tights I recomend a better brand they are a little bit harder to rip. (They are more expencive though)

Has any one ever had a hocky player spit at them!? I was tring to land a flip the hockey players were waiting for the session to end and wammo! One of the girls spat right next to my boot! yuck! Thats the last time I look at hockey players the same way again!