Wow, where do I start?

Those weird "snowplow" like things that ice rinks provide for little kids who can't skate are fine for the little ones, but when they cut through the center of the ice it's so dangerous! Even worse are the older kids who don't really need to use the snowplows, but fool around riding and sliding around on them (also dangerous).

Bad ice. It's unavoidable, but it really is annoying when the ice is obviously in desperate need for resurfacing (especially after a hockey game has just ended), but the rink managers purposely don't resurface because they are lazy and cheap.

Severe skate moms/dads who yell instructions at their kids from the sideboards. A little encouragement is fine, but when they are standing in shoes and have never skated before while criticizing their kids, that's just ridiculous. The kids of such parents usually look too serious and never look like they are enjoying themselves on ice. Very sad.

Ice princes/ princesses who think they own the ice. Enough said.

I once saw a mom do this to her kid at a public skate session. The kid, about age 9/10, was actually doing triple jumps outside the coned circle in the center. The mom made her keep going even though she was crying from falling. I don't think anyone even noticed or said anything.

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

We had someone like that where I used to skate. One day he turned up in K-picks ..... my coach at the time looked around and said "I don't know why he doesn't just go out and get a JCB grafted onto the front of his blade, it would make less of a mess!".

x

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The best whisper is a click

If I had a nickel for every time I've said the exact same thing...

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

The little monsters who say "excuse me" even when they are (a) not doing their program; and/or (b) not in a lesson; and I am (a) either in a lesson; or (b) doing my program; or (c) both. Since they are competing a, b, c, & d fill-in-blank competition this season, and I am an adult skater who tests but doesn't compete, then I guess they have the right-of-way at all times? There is one coach at my rink who has trained her beasts to do this, not only to adults, but all the others kids....I am proud to say my coach tell all her students, pre-bronze/adult, pre-prelim/standard up through senior, this is NOT acceptable behavior. There is enough ice to share....

Psycho skating mothers/fathers. Thank God I started when I was older, if I had a parent like that and skated when I was little, I'd be passed out in a gutter right now, fuming and sobbing in my beer because I didn't win the Olympics.

Ice dancers who do their patterns in public sessions or general club ice (where both is technically illegal) and expect me to move out of the way of the pattern. I'm sorry, but if I banged a nice lutz/loop or a groovy combo spin in the middle of your dance session, I'd be reported pronto for B-A-D behavior. I don't care if you cheat and do them when you're not supposed to, but if you know you're not supposed to, them MOVE if you get caught!

The government in my area. Now canceling public skating and early morning skating in favor of (a) shutting down rinks to save $$; or (b) renting only to lucrative and smelly hockey.

Coaches who think that the lutz corner for clockwise skaters is a groovy place to teach/hog. I can just imagine if my coach hogged the "normal" lutz corners to teach lefty me some spins, there would be an issue. Hey, I have lutz corner(s) too, it's just the unique ones!

Did I miss anything, ha ha!

OK - I consider myself to be a considerate skater. However, I'll admit that I have never thought about that one. I'll make sure to look out for the CW lutzers when I skate.

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

That's definately something that needs to be worked on at our rink. So many little kids just play on the freestyles. Our freestyles are crowded enough since a neighboring rink closed and the majority of their skaters came to our rink. We don't need kids playing and putting others and themselves at risk for injuries.

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- Ashley

How about when hot/humid weather, or even just unseasonable warmth, turns otherwise great ice to mush?!

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

People from all the high schools (including mine) who come barrelling in on public session and make fun of us figure skaters (usually it's just me and a few other girls) and try to jump and do spirals, usually in our way, and call us very nasty, dirty names. And they also do hockey stops and get ice all over us.

Once a group of these idiots brought in a puck and started kicking it around...around where I was practicing spins! I finally went up to them and told them to stop it and they were being nasty about it, calling me names. I was so tempted to hurt them with my skates.

Oh, and my dad at public session during the week watching the girls on the freestyle rink and not watching me. Yes, I know these girls are much more interesting than I am with their triples and going to Nationals, but that's not very nice! Sarcasm, but really, it does bug me.

Oh yes, you got to love it when public skaters try to immitate you!

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- Ashley

Wet ice is my pet peeve. I have to bring a complete set of change if I don't skate in the morning... because the only time the ice is dry is in the morning, after that it kind of melts and stays wet
The worst part is when water gets into your boots after you fall and it splashes and soaks into your tights and drips into your boots when you stand up. Then it gets squelchy!

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~
Tidesong

Right now, Dance Club Committees are my pet peeve, especially committee members who never come to Dance Club except on committee nights and then do nothing but moan..... Grrrr.....

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

.... or 'some' adult dancers (not you, of course, Annabel) who tell you that you're FAR TOO OLD to be doing Free! Yes, that was said to me by a couple of 'very nice' people at AP once!!

.... or rinks that tell you that, as you're an adult, you HAVE to do Dance and there's no way on earth that you can have a Free lesson (Stevenage). I later went back and had, erm, FREE LESSONS (as in Free Skating not for nothing) with the Russian coaches there

.... in fact ANYONE who tells you that you're TOO OLD to do 'x'


x

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The best whisper is a click

Well, eight or nine years ago, how many adults did anything other than dance? I was certainly told, when I came into the sport, that Adults Didn't Jump. Well, I may never be able to do a loop jump, but I do have a recognisable cherry flip these days!

There are about three individuals - I will spare their blushes and not name them - one American, one German and one British - who have worked tirelessly over the past decade to turn Adult Skating into a sport in its own right. We have, to quote an infamous cigarette advertisement of the 1960s, come a long way, baby!

Meanwhile, some of us still end up competing in the RIDL matches.....

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