Last week the stand-in coach (who doesn't normally coach at our rink at all) registered halfway through our group ice dance lesson that the surname on my jacket is the same as that on my daughter's (we both do the class), and asked me if I was her big sister

Apart from that, I get asked if I'm a coach on a fairly regular basis, usually the first week of the new group classes, since I'll be standing on the side waiting for the zamboni to finish in a club warmup jacket. Nobody ever asks me if I'm a coach if they've actually seen me on the ice

And I regularly get mistaken off-ice for a really good adult ice dancer at our rink (we have similar colour hair and are about the same height) and someone tells me they saw me skating and I was brilliant. The first few times I was confused, now I just say, "no, that was xxxx you saw, she looks a bit like me"

I've remember another one!

I have a very good friend who is a bit nuts! He is a hypnotist and is really round the bend. Anyway I told him when I had my last Skate UK test, and he asked me to let me know how I got on. When I told him he asked "what comes next", so I explained the levels went up to 10 and then you move onto passport onto some serious stuff, and his answer was "like Torvill and Dean?"!!

I wish!!!

Yeh I have a picture of my wife and I doing pretty nice spirals right over my autographed photo of Torvil and Dean. More than one person has asked/ commented "oh, did you have blond hair before you grew a beard?"
Lyle

Oh, or I get the double whammy:

I'm just sittiing in the skating lounge watching kids skating waiting for my session, just trying to relax, when a skating mom will come up to me and ask me which kid is yours? That's when I turn into that thing that came out of the things mouth in "Aliens" (you know with Segorny Weaver,) because on top of everything else I was never able to have kids. So, I just say "Their all mine, including yours!"

What? And resist the greatest guilt trip opportunity of the decade? I'm in the same boat and next time I'm tempted to just say,
"Well, what if I don't have any kids out there on the ice because, unlike some lucky people, I wasn't able to have kids, and I took up skating so that I could forget that I didn't have kids, until somebody came up to me and just had to ask, 'Which one's yours?'"

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Two lovely comments this evening that made the session ...

some 'young' girls (they are all young to me now ) asked to skate with me ... of course I said, can you keep up, as I weaved backwards ... half a lap and they thanked me, I beamed a smile to appreciate their friendliness. Then I commented on that warmth to a lady who is a regular, she immediately said that someone with my extensive experience must be a pleasure for them ... my jaw dropped, I quickly explained that I am still a beginner in the big scheme, only 15 months ... then her jaw dropped ...

To be honest, I think I need to prop myself up by any means necessary, and today, those comments did the trick!

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

1. can you do a triple axel?

2. you can skate in the summer?

3. can you do twirls and tricks on the ice?

4. do your glasses come off when you spin?
5. your still taking lessons? didn't you finish learning e/t ?(this is after skating just 2 years).
6. i love it best when asked for child admission, i look younger than my age

To which I reply "Of course, even the Olympic competitors still have coaches and take lessons."

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Skating moms at our rink are very sweet to us because my husband and I often go to children's competitions to cheer for their girls. So they always say nice things to us. Once a mother said that whenever she saw us jump she would get scared and wonder why on earth we wanted to do it.

I broke my wrist during my second lesson a year ago practicing simple crossovers. After that a lady from my work said that I was crazy to do it because she had broken her arm twice just walking on the street. She said skating was only for kids, not for adults. To which I said, "At least, I'm having fun!"
Sometimes when I'm on the street, and it's icy, I say, "Oh, I don't like being on the ice without my skates."

At work, there is another young teacher, she's around 22 or 23, and you could say she's a larger woman. She's got some meat on her. We talk every now and then, and when I had a day off, she asked what I had done. I told her I went skating, and she says to me: "For Real?? Do you jump? I don't know how you do it, I would never get my butt up like that."

"Do adults do THAT?"

"Are you someone special?" Of course, I knew what they were asking, but couldn't help saying in a shocked vocie, "ME?!" Believe me my coach would have had a laughing fit! =-)

teresa

Everybody is nice to me, because

a) they are mostly decent folk

b) I stay out of the politics and never say anything bad about anyone.

c) Between my daughter and I, I spend A LOT of money on the club

d) I help out whenever I can.

j

Well you can tell her that I know a very talented adult skater who weighs in at 250 pounds and maybe more. My friend passed Bronze FS, so I guess you could say she has no problem jumping!

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"Love it!!!"

I got a few Chinese skating moms stuff!!!

My answer to "Which one's yours?" is currently "Ummm... I'm the kid here!!!" Usually gets a , then a "Ohhh. I get it."

The Chinese skating moms, OTOH, are more pushy! (Doubletoe knows about this but for the others...) Traditional Chinese cultures really pushes hard for marriage to the "right boy" and have grandkids who grow up to make more money. They ask me if I was married first and then tell me to have a daughter with my husband and then go have her skate for me!!! My answer then would be "What? And miss out on ALL the fun from skating?!?!?! Are you NUTS!?!?!" (and I say it like they just insulted me!) Gets them every time!!!

To be fair, there are some Chinese moms out there who actually do think that I take my skating seriously... to the point where they want me to tell their little girl to go practice more instead of "playing around." (Of course, I'm thinking "What!?!?! Are you NUTS!?!?! That's how they LEARN stuff!!!" ) Same Chinese mom later on told me that she wasn't happy that her little girl isn't progress and asks me to suggest a new coach for her. I asked her "What type of coach do you want?" The woman immediately points to my secondary coach and says "HER!!! I want her! All the Chinese kids go to her b/c she makes her skaters look polished and pretty... I bet she yells at the kids real good..." (A LOT of Chinese moms thinks that teachers who are mean and yell a lot gets kids to be disciplined and that's considered to be a good teacher.)

Needless to say, I'm humoring the Chinese moms by taking their kid's coach (my current secondary coach) to see if I do improve as a gag. Well, years later, I'm laughing my way thru Bronze Moves and FS tests and now my loop and flip jump. I'm hoping that will be enough incentive for those skating moms to stop kvetching about their kids progress and get on the ice themselves and learn a few things so they know what their kids is going thru.

Okay, the cutest comment came from a 5-6 year old little girl. She and I were talking to each other and she asked me "Are you a mommy?" Awwwww!!! What a sweetie!!! (This is the one time I wouldn't mind being thought of as a skating mommy!)

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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!!!

I think I'm lucky that my rink has a lot - and I mean a lot - of adult skaters, to the point that some mornings, practice is dominated by middle-aged men!

"Who said this was a sport for young girls?" enquired the Husband on one morning when literally the only person on the ice who wasn't a middle-aged man was me!

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

Oh gawd, I am moving to ENGLAND!

(I am single, I can "lust" if I want )

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

I wouldn't - our rinks may have lots of adult skaters (ours has a few), but that's probably something to do with the fact there are so few rinks in the first place lol!

S xxx

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

But the men involved are all married.....

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

I often get the 'are you professional' which always amuses me. If you think I'm anywhere near pro then you must have never seen any skating.

My other favourite is parents coming up to me and almost demanding that I help their kid - just because I'm older and skating they assume I am a coach or provided by the rink to help all the little kiddies.

I've also stopped my mother from telling her friends about my competitions as they get all confused and ask when they will see me at the Olympics. The problem is when my mother tells them I won the British Adult Championships - they hear British and think I'm off to worlds etc etc. so I've told her just to say I won a beginners competition for old people. Much less confusing.

I also like how the usual questioning line goes something like this:

"Wow you skate. Can you go backwards? Can you do a triple axel?"

As if that is the next logical progression from being able to go backwards.

People at work think I'm mental and often ask if I would consider doing it professionally - like that would be an option! Lol! I showed a video of me doing the willow waltz to someone at work and they were so unimpressed. They just said 'But you didn't do anything - you just skated around'. Hmmmm. Wanna try?

I suppose my favorite comment is "boy I hope you're a better doctor than skater!"
Lyle

HI

One of the things that I hear often and it annoys me so much to the point I wish i had some weapon of mass destruction to aim at their heads is what people say to me when i injure myself

'Well you are getting old now'

Im 32 years old, I dont consider myself old or too old to skate in any way what so ever and this comment absolutley makes me see red. I think the next person who says it to me will meet some wrath.

I think im a little het up at the moment due to being incapacitated from the ice once more. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Andrea xx

I have just twigged why this is so ... consider the big names at the Olympics ... just before that triple ... they skate across the rink BACKWARDS !!!

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

I actually use my age as a motivator: when a young skating student says "I can't do that! It's impossible!", my reply is "If I can do it and I'm FIVE TIMES YOUR AGE, you can give it a go. Just humor the old lady (me) and try your best!"

I did a really crappy flying camel the other day and this one set of parents was so impressed, they bragged about seeing it to all the other hens/roosters in the clucking section. (Someone else told me - they always do!)

Hope you're back on the ice soon Andrea.

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I skate about once a week in a rink in the mall. So the public is always heckling us, which is not unusual (they throw fries from the food court as well).

So of course friends who happen to be at the mall will sometimes see me skate. The best compliment I ever got from one of those friends was, "You seem a lot more graceful out there on the ice than you do walking around!"

Cute.

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