Wait a minute...

In the past, Skating Magazine has been slammed for only having one article per year on the Adults, and that was the article on Adult Nationals. Which only featured Championships, ie: all the higher level skaters. Then adult skaters started complaining that the Bronze/Silver skaters (who make up the bulk of adult competitions) weren't being recognized. So now the magazine has a monthly article on skaters of all levels, and still you're not happy?

Some people cannot be appeased.

Totally insulting, arrogant, and inaccurate. The Skating Magazine should be ashamed of themselves to pulish such garbage about Adult Skaters. Hey, let Mr. Edge do an overhead lift and get back to me about how many times per week this should be practiced--geeezzzzz!

Sorry to sway from the topic at hand, but I was excited to hear about there being another silver II guy. I thought I was the only one. The I's and II are usually combined at Adult Nats, but not this year. Anyway, welcome aboard!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

I wasn't offended, I just thought in a couple of places "that doesn't apply to me," but in other places it did. I fell victim to buying too much boot, but that was the fault of my fitter, who I asked to help me select the most appropriate boot for my (at the time) pre-bronze/ISI 2 self.

I work hard enough and don't have to prove it to the skate moms at my rink, Dr. Edge, anybody. If they think I'm a joke... I don't care.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

I'm with you, I'm just happy to see ANY coverage of adult skaters

Lyle

I just read the article in my copy of Skating (after having read all of these rants) and I thought it was perfectly reasonable article and a very typical "Mr. Edge" column.

He even says right in the article that he is talking about the "over-40" skater. I know as a current "over-50" skater that I have to be a lot more careful than I used to. Yes, it is common sense, but how many people have gotten hurt when they push their limits too much? And I'm talking about kids and adult skaters alike!

As far as Skating magazine catering to the Adult skater - I think they've done a great job of trying to cater to their audience. I can remember when most of the articles were just details on competitions that happened months ago in the standard ranks and there was nothing about just the average skater around the average rink (well, not much, anyway), whether they were the adults or the "kids" - now there are articles about all sorts of local things, as well as international events, adult skaters inclusive.

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Sporticus started gymnastics as an adult? Had he been a dancer or something before hand? Because he's really quite good. I occasionally watch a bit of Lazytown, specifically to watch him.

(OT)
Never knew that about him! Although I've finally been proven that Wiki information should not be taken for granted: it's not gymnastics that he championed in - it's aerobics!

http://www.lazytown.biz/the-company/...agnus-scheving

NY Times article about him


As far as Mr. Edge goes, personally I wasn't particularly offended, though I did raise my eyebrows a bit, not really knowing how to take what he wrote - he does seem to usually take little stabs even at kids (usually in the form of 'duh!' answers to stupid questions), so I could see how he might have intended to be funny, yet it didn't work.

So, in short, if he did mean to be funny, he better put more effort in communicating it more clearly.

ETA: I do agree with most points that he makes, though - listening to our bodies IS important. It's not the same as giving up, or not being serious. I also happen to agree with Mr. Edge about overbooting (or rather, too stiff boots) - note: he didn't say adults should be satisfied with cheapo junky boots, he actually said that custom boots make sense for us. Oh, and the ego/body dialogue, the "stayed up late" one: again, he didn't say along the lines of "go ahead and go to that party, and just skip skating tomorrow", rather it's more like "well, you DO have life besides skating, and happened to be up late yesterday, so maybe skating today isn't such a great idea - you are tired, can injure yourself more easily, etc" - at least that's how I took it. Nevermind the java, and especially "chat with the skaters" comment

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--renatele

sorry, slightly off topic...


Thanks Nova!! Looking forward to it...are there just 3 competitors in our event?

Okay I see that everyone is pissed and upset about this, but for those of you attending AN in Chicago in a few weeks, you have a opportunity!!
Mr. Edge will apparently be there and instead of biting his head off and having it for lunch, encourage him to watch some of the skating that goes on.
Maybe, just maybe (hint to Manleywoman) his booth can be placed in such a way where he can see the skating!
Any other education ideas out there for Mr. Edge?

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I found the article very insulting. Yes I skated as a kid but I am an over fifty skater working on doubles, testing novice moves soon and I feel like I can do anything I put my mind and body to. I never see my age as a limit in my ability. I skate two to four hours a day and sure i get aches and pains but i ALWAYS feel better after several hours of skating than i do before. I am lucky that I have not had a major injury as an adult. I did have several major injurys as a kid. So that puts his idea that adults can suffer more injurys than kids do to rest. I always push myself at every session to the point of feeling like I have had a good work out. And I have spent a year working on doubles and I don't intend to stop trying to perfect them. The only thing I do agree with is streching before you skate which I don't always have time for but is probably a good idea. So Mr. Edge I think you are full of it !!!!!!!!!!!

The thing which bemused me about the article was the whole "listen to your body" thing. It struck me that this is actually a major difference between child and adult skaters - but it's the other way round to what he suggests. The majority of kids will carry on when maybe they shouldn't, throw themselves into situations where they're bound to come down hard, while adults tend to be far more cautious. I know I have the devil's own job getting past my body yelling "I don't like going round and round fast!" and "waddaya mean you want to jump off the ice! It's gonna hurt if you come down wrong!" I need to get my body to shut up a bit!

But it just shows how easy it is to alienate people. I was a bit miffed by a couple of things he said, because I felt his tone was condescending, especially in the comment about needing a longer blade for better balance, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. But I was far more offended by the poster who suggested that those of us who aren't throwing ourselves round the ice doing doubles and difficult spins should just go back to LTS as what we do isn't "sport". To my mind, it's sport if you are challenging yourself to improve physically at something, and you can do that at any level and regardless of whether you test or compete.

I've split this thread into two different threads.

This one discusses the Mr. Edge article in Skating magazine.

The new "Adult Skating Committee" thread contains copies of that topic's relevant posts.

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I wasn't offended when I read the article. I didn't think it was relevant to me, or most of the serious adult skaters I know. I think the writer was trying to be helpful in a light hearted manner for beginning adult recreational skaters.

I do wish that the column could be less flippant and more informative on a regular basis. There is so much more technical information about boots and blades that could be explored in detail.

Mr. Edge has been to at least a couple ANs before. He fitted me for my first pair of custom Harlicks in 2002 at the Ann Arbor ANs. He watched several events then (and in 03 where he was again the Harlick rep) and while fitting me told me how impressed he was with the level of skating he saw and just how hard it appeared everyone had worked to get there. He has MANY adult customers here in the Chicago area.

I sat down and crafted my nastygram. Rather than sending it to Mr. Edge directly, using the form on the Ask Mr. Edge page on the USFSA website, I want to address mine to the editor. He bears the responsibility for publishing this nonsense. I intend to copy the chair of the Adult Skating Committee and my sectional vice chair. Here's the rub: I have yet to find an email address for the Skating Magazine editor. Can't find one on the website or in the magazine itself. Am I blind? Has somebody found one yet? If so, please share.

Text of what I intend to send in my letter:
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Dear Sir:
I am writing to express my displeasure with the Ask Mr. Edge column entitled “Adult Skaters Face Unique Problems,” which you published in the March 2007 issue of Skating magazine. I admit I’ve never been a fan of the column, as I’ve found it to be poorly written and of limited usefulness in its content, but this column actually made me angry. It was insulting from start to finish and full of negative stereotypes of adult skaters. I cannot believe you would see fit to publish such nonsense!

The main point of his article is that we adult skaters let our egos push us beyond where our bodies can take us. “Let’s start with how good a skater we think we are compared to how our coach or other people see us. Now, couple that with thoughts of youthfulness dancing in our heads … could this be an accident waiting to happen?” I’m not sure what adult skaters he’s been hanging around, but all the ones I know have a firm grip on the reality of their skating. In fact, when I began skating at the age of 30, I knew my body better than any of the 9 year olds on the ice with me. If anything, the adult skaters I know are cautious and aware. We can’t afford to get injured and lose time from our job and family responsibilities.

“Know when enough is enough. … take a break, sit down, and have a cup of java. … take your time and talk to other skaters.” I pay a lot of hard-earned money for my ice time and my lessons. I don’t appreciate having a skate tech telling me to sit my frail little self down and have a cup of coffee when I’m at the rink to train. In fact, Mr. Edge seems to be saying (badly) the opposite of what the rest of US Figure Skating is telling us. USFS has been telling us for years, through the addition of mandatory Moves In The Field and modifications of the well-balanced program requirements, that they want to see better skating from us. Mr. Edge would have us all hanging out in snack bars when we’re tired, drinking coffee, and accepting that our cheated axels are good enough because we’re just adult skaters. (Hyperbole, yes, but no worse than any found in his column.) I know my body and its limits, and I intend to push myself to those limits. One of the great things about being an ADULT skater is that I possess the maturity and awareness that the kids lack. I can push myself without being stupid, in other words.

I am surprised and disappointed that you would publish an article that is insulting to so many adults. Mr. Edge is a skate technician. He is neither a coach, nor a trainer; he should stick to writing about equipment and leave the amateur psychology out of his column. I think Mr. Edge owes the adult skating community an apology.

Sincerely,

EXCELLENT letter skaternum! I could not agree more with everything you said.

The only thing I dont agree with is, is the name 'ego' for me it's mind over body and he should have written 'mind' rather than ego, apart from that, I agree with everything that he said, after spending 6 long weeks off work with a bad back that I stupidly pushed to the limits, to make it to the British Adult Championships last year.

Ego had nothing to do with it, I just knew that, pushing reitrement age, my body is not going to allow me to skate well in competition much longer and I just wanted to give myself one last bite at the cherry, I ended up having to pull out of the competition and now its unlikely that I will compete again with the kind of success that I experienced in the past.

Yes I have seen older people skate sucessfully, but that is probably because they have listened to their body's.

I'm not saying go home and watch tv, I'm just saying sometimes we need to listen to our bodys and not just our hearts and minds.

samba - mr edge used the word 'ego' (I assume) in the Freudian sense of the word. As in, your brain is made up of 3 parts. Id, Ego and Super-ego. ego simply means "I" from the Greek.

So don't be offended by the use of this word. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be offensive.

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Bravo, Skaternum! I looked in the magazine and I see that letters to the editor can be e mailed to Editor Troy Schwindt at tschwindt@usfigureskating.org or to Mickey Brown at mbrown@usfigureskating.org.
The majority of adult skaters that I see, especially the new recreational skaters, have the opposite of the unrealistic ego that Mr. Edge talked about. I find that most have a big fear of falling, and are so cautious that it's hard for them to progress. I think an article that promotes confidence in the adult skater would be more worthwhile. Adults don't need to be told to slow down, but rather, to be patient and persistant, do your off ice training, wear your pads, and go for it!

Well then, if that's the case, consider me one of the seriously offended!!
He as well as the editors of Skating magazine, owe the adult skating community a HUGE!!!apology!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Peanutskates, I like a whole lot of what you write. But this one post is a bit, well, peculiar. If I walked up to you at the skating rink and said "hey, your ego is taking over your skating" - I don't think you'd say to yourself, "well, she just means it in the Greek or Freudian sense of the word". I think you might well be offended!

And he didn't call the other part of what guides you (apparently good sense, or something like caution) the superego (or id). He certainly didn't make "ego" sound like a very good guide - which, in Freudian terms, it can be.

I know we all have our views about Mr. Edge. Mine are merely that he seems to imply, in this article, that adults can be driven by the *wrong* part of the ego (pride, risk-taking side, etc.) to pursue their goals at the cost of self-injury or self-defeat. While that can be true, it isn't solely true of adults. Nor is it true of many of us, recreational, competitive, or other. It's just over-generalizing in an unhelpful way. That's what I object to, as well as the patronizing tone that words like ego (used not in any kind of helpful context like Freudian analysis - which would be out of place in a Skating magazine article anyway!) seem to convey.

EXACTLY!!! I was that "adult skater" who was holding back for a long time and my coaches had to finally get me out of my "comfort zone" (with me kicking and screaming about it, I might add.) I still have to deal with my skating confidence issues to this day, but it's not as bad now. Most people who have know me for YEARS on this and other skating board know that I definitely don't have the type of "ego" that Mr. Edge described. My dealing with the confidence issues I've had was the only way I was able to finally pass those required tests to be eligible to go to AN.

Which is why I am puzzled about the tone of the Mr. Edge article. I agreed with the rest in saying that initially I was offended by the tone of the post. But I also remembered (thru another board) that he's in the Chicago area where there are TONS of competitive adult skaters and thought "The tone of the Mr. Edge article I've read does NOT MATCH the customers in which he's serving! Something is just not quite right about this and that's why I want to invite Mr. Edge to come on this board and explain himself.

Perhaps since I've seen tons of articles from Mr. Edge regarding funny questions he got asked by the kids or parents of the kids that that's the way he is.

I do agree with the majority in saying that since he is a skate technician that he sticKs to that particular topic!!! The coach is really the person you should look to first for guidance in when you push for things vs. when to hold back b/c you're not ready for it (and THEN maybe a sport psychologist if it's beyond ther realm of what a coach can handle.) I mean, geez, we pay good money to have our coaches train us in skating, right? The coach himself/herself should be wise enough to know when to refer their skaters to outside help for the things that they can't address. (At least I hope that MY coaches would know anyway.)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Skaternum -- thank you for your well worded letter!