I've had a look through the forums and Google, but it's always nice to get definite answers from people.

I'll be moving to Darmstadt in June, it's half an hour train from Frankfurt. It's quite a small town, with nothing there but a university so I'll probably have nothing to do in my time off!

I found one rink in Frankfurt, Frankfurt Eissporthalle but it appears to be only open for half the year. I was wondering if there were any other rinks nearby? The trouble in Germany is that the cities are quite far apart, so while there are rinks in Dusseldorf and other surrounding cities, they are probably 3 hours away!

No ice for 6 months would make me very sad.

I used to live in Aachen which is north or Darmstadt on the Dutch / Belgian border. The rink there was only a winter rink and from what I know that's how their rinks are mainly run over there. I've been on skating holidays to Germany and Austria and quite often in October we're there for the first week the rink is open. You may get lucky and find a rink open all year round, but it's most likely to be in a major city.

Oh and I just googled Darmstadt Eishalle and there appears to be one there as the Darmstadt Yetis (Ice hockey team) train there, and there are other ones in the local towns and villages. My guess is that they're all winter only rinks as well.

If you are struggling with the german terms for ice rink and the like, PM me and I'll see if I can dredge up some german words.

I think you'll find that the vast majority of German rinks close in the summer, although one or two are open for training and/or camps. We don't know we're born here, with the rinks staying open all year!

(BTW were you not skating on Thursday night? I was at dance club, for once, and saw D. but didn't see you....).

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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!

Oh, good to hear that there's a local rink too.

Hmm, maybe I'll take up ballet for the summer months Since world championships are often held in Germany I thought year round rinks would be more common!

(Yes, I didn't skate then as I got back from work too late, I'll go straight from work this week)

If you're at the university over there, investigate the classes the university puts on. I took up ballroom in Aachen and there were some wonderful free classes by the uni. They had an entire sports/dance/evening class programme that was free to students.

Also you have to travel over there, and the long summer evenings, mean you can get quite away and see some beautiful parts of the country and still get back in time for tea (and German railways have great weekend deals).

Here in the Netherlands rinks are also run for 6 months a year, including my own. As they are in Belgium, and apparently Germany. It's a part of the local culture. There *are* rinks in every country which are open "all year" (Save 2 months in summer) but they're rare, and well... you know, clubs that don't house at that rink usually have a hard time getting ice for the summer months even for an hour a week, although theoretically it should be possible.

Get yourself a pair of pic's or snow whites and a nice concrete basketball/tennis field (to find one, ask people) and practice there, cuz that's probably all you're getting. At least that's what I did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F-8g4NLWmk
If that's too expensive, even on very cheap second-hand quad roller skates you can practice crossovers and spirals!

I'm not sure if these are all the rinks there are in Germany or whether there are more, but here's a list:
- Berlijn deutslandhalle
- Berlijn
- Berlijn Neuköln
- Berlijn
- Chemnitz
- Crimmitschau
- Erfurt
- Frankfurt
- Grefrath
- Garmisch
- Hamburg
- Inzell
- Iserlohn
- Mannheim
- München olympiapark
- Oberstdorf Allgäu
- Rostock
- Saale
- Winterberg

There's one nearby Essen too btw.

Also, while you're there, work on stretching! It's much easier to stretch muscles which you're not jumping on than it is to stretch muscles which are working hard! And practice dry jumping, maybe get yourself a spinner (drehscheibe in german) and go for a run or roller skating to improve your push-off and physical endurance.
Also, I got this book, "conditioning for figure skating" and I find it to be very helpful.

Also pay attention to the season. If the Frankfurt rink opens and closes a month later than your local one, you have 7 months