There is maybe 3 sessions a week at our rink when figure skaters can practise - I can only access 2 of them, and one of those is the learn to skate classes, full of littlies and beginners. There is no choice but to practise at public sessions if you want to get good at skating.

I went to a public session Sunday morning as usual. Usually I can manage to get in a reasonable skate while dodging the recreational skaters. I am always super-careful in public sessions, doing very few jumps, staying in the middle doing spins, turns and stuff. Generally it isn't too much of a problem.

But yesterday there was this guy with his little girl. Well, he gets his little girl out on the ice, and proceeds to skate backwards, towing her, backwards and forwards down the centre of the ice. Not looking where he is going at all. Even after he bumped into me while I was doing a spin, he didn't get the message to check behind him.

Then he gets the "sled of death", a wooden contraption on blades, which has caused many an injury, and proceeds to tow her up the middle on that, still without keeping an eye out for other skaters. Too much for me. So I politely tell him there in an unwritten rule that the sled is to go around the outside.

I won't go into all the details of the ensuing discussion. Basically he said that he would stick to the outside if I stuck to the outside, and that if I could go in the middle so could they. I explained I stick to the middle because it is safer for everyone if I do that, and I wasn't saying he couldn't go in the middle, but not with the sled and that he needed to look where he is going. He couldn't see that he was doing anything wrong at all, even the not looking. It was like he thought everyone else was responsible for staying out of his way. I controlled my temper with great difficulty and said "thank you so much for your co-operation" and took myself and my daughter home. I am not going to stay and skate in such a dangerous situation, and I was too angry to have any chance of calming down.

It isn't the first time I've come across this attitude. These skateres see the figure skaters, think we're hogging the middle so we can show off, when in reality we're just trying to get some skating in the safest possible way in a public session. I know that I have to be careful in these sessions, I spend more time dodging and waiting for a clear patch of ice than anything else. But avoiding each other is everyone's responsibility. I paid my money, and I have a right to skate safely too.

Management, did I hear you say? Management do not pay any attention to what is happening on the ice at all. The sled of death is a lawsuit waiting to happen, and a sign "skate at your own risk" doesn't really cover it. When I complained to management, I was met with a shrug, "we can't stop them". Until I said the guy had bumped into me, then I was told I should report that to them. Well, it'd be nice if dangerous behaviour was nipped in the bud before it led to being bumped into.

Thank you. (she breathes deeply) I feel better now.

I am grateful there is an ice rink here at all. I just wish it were more figure skater friendly. And a zamboni would be nice too. Keep buying the lottery tickets.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Are you sure youre not skating at my rink???

I can completely sympathise!!!! People just dont get it when you do tell them its dangerous... somehow Im glad that at least when I tell the little girls to move because we dont want them to get hurt (they stand and gawk in the middle of the spin and jump zones) they at least DO move...

Adults!!!




note: I'm 22 so Im on your side... promise!!

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-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

I wonder if the rink's insurance company knows that they're not promoting safe skating. Bet they'd have something to say about it.

`

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Exactly! Find out who they are, and send a nice letter with all the details.

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Our rink puts cones around the middle circle, although others make an oval from line to line. The skate guards enforce the rules more than the skaters themselves.

Rinks that allow free-for-alls usually end up LOSING their insurance policies after the first injury.

Gee, it would be nice if they'd block off a little end or corner for the beginners to use. They're not moving, and I think most of them come in the middle because they perceive it to be "safer" than the rowdy skating track. Little do they know what dangers await them in the Figure Skating Zone.

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Our rink cones the center circle on a busy public session, and they oval a slightly larger area from the center circle on a non-busy session. These are definetly enforced by rink guards.

They also have a no blades above waist rule for any public session which limits things you can do in the coned off areas as well. (It is very enforced at the afternoon open skates, but it's not enforced at the adult open session, which is a non-directional skating that is treated more like a freestyle than a public skate)

I don't think I would skate at a rink that had no concern for safety. When I went to an open session with friends one jokingly said to me "you're it" even though we were just skating together- not chasing each other. A rink guard said to us "no chasing games unless the area is coned off for a party" I'm glad to see they hold safety in priority.

As for a sled in the center of the rink. That's just crazy. I think you only chance is to convince the rink to cone the center. That way even if no one is there to enforce it, you could always say "the cones are for figure skating practice" and it seems like you have something to back you up... rather than the guy you were talking to thinking you were making something random up.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I've been teaching a special lesson lately. I tell the gawkers to stand still, then I wave my hands back-and-forth across their face really fast so they just see blurs. I tell them, "That's what someone sees while spinning. It's really dangerous to get too close because the skater can't see you. You should always move away to the cones to watch them, for your own safety." Then I teach 'em how to spin, just to be friendly. A lesson with a treat, that's my goal.

Seems to be helping.

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I hate it when these things happen.

Last week I went to a public session and hockey skaters decided to start racing through the middle. One of them bumped in to me on a jump and it is very lucky i did not fall. It was an annoying 8 year old. I held him up by his jacket and told him that if i saw him or any of his hockey friends within a 5 foot radius of me again I would be heading straight to the skate guard who happens to be my boyfriend. My rink has a no tolerance policy and if you break the rules you get kicked out. I havn't seen those hockey kids racing since.

next time just go to management...I don't ever put up with attitude.

I have no problem with people being in the middle as long as they are looking out for other skaters around them

Like I said, management don't want to know. And skate guards, wow! Management stay up front on the door and serving in the cafe area.

It's a nice idea to cone off a central area. Our rink is tiny though, probably smaller in total than the coned off areas at your rinks! 4-6 strokes down the side and you're into maybe 4 crossovers to go around the ends. I must find out what size it is.

Anyway, it doesn't happen that often, most adults are grown up enough to co-exist with figure skaters.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

The rink that i skate at regularly doesnt usually use skate guards unless it is like during christmas break. The public sessions are usually slim but sometimes it does get down right crazy out there my rink also doesnt cone anything off they let people skate which ever way that they chose cutting across the center going the wrong way whatever pleases. I saw people on the ice throwing gloves on the ice and leaving them and playing catch with them and reported them to the owner and he didnt do anything. There are usually some coaches out there sometimes the coach has to do the ice because the rink owner doesnt want to do it. I was at a rink in california one time that had the center coned off for figure skating the outside of the rink for general public and the very top of the rink for beginners and it was more than coned off it had a padding going across the rink to seperate it that is the only place the skate aids were allowed but havent seen that at either rink i currently skate at i was on one one day and there were basketballs on the ice and i got someone to get them off and then shortly after came 5 hockey pucks getting kicked around tripping people. Some rinks just have no rules. Luckily our rink usually has very few bad days or i would probably quit.

Ahh gotta love the entilements.

Sleds on the ice? I have never seen that.

I probably wouldn't have been as nice because that man his his spawn sled would have pissed me off. I would have simply told the man the middle is for people who can skate. Not sleds carring spawns.

Stuff like this is why I don't go to public sessions really. Sucks for me because we don't have any open slots for figure skaters and freestyle skating.

I hate when you are doing a move and zoom someone skates right through the middle.

Or a moo is skating with her kid through the middle.

You think that the fact everyone in the middle has skating skirts or leggings and are doing adavnced moves is a clue little beginners are not welcome.

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http://www.joelisi.net
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Yeah, we get basketballs too, there are hoops at either end.

Something else we get is ear-splitting pop music. Cannot hear each other, even though you're standing really close and shouting. Especially hard for us old-timers. In our learn to skate, we have to ask to have it turned down because the kids can't hear the coach.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

[QUOTE]Or a moo is skating with her kid through the middle[QUOTE]



You know, this is OT but why do you use that phrase? Its the second time I have seen you use it, and to me, its offensive.What is a moo ?Please explain.And what is a spawn? Do you mean a child?
Public ice should be SAFE. It isnt for tricks by any skater, anymore than it is for hockey kids to play tag.Unless its pretty empty.Its entitlement for anyone to think they can use it in a way that PUBLIC ice was not meant.
Some rinks, during the day, are empty and that is another story. On weekends, it shouldnt be used as anymore more than what is is.

Well... we dont have rink guards (maybe once in a while a staffer gets on), or roped or coned off areas...

So Im jealous!

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-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

Our rink guards are useless creatures (and one is a cop-wanna be...says he can't tell people what to do... ???)

If the boys/men are really annoying enough, I get really close to them and tell them in no kind way that if they persist in that behaviour, I will give them a hip-check they will not forget....usually stops them dead. I make sure I'm not overheard. Usually a snarl or two follows this conversation....

Of course, I really won't do that, but they don't know that

If they are little kids-they really have no clue and you just have to watch out-after all, it is public ice and no one reads the rules. Little kids have a 10 second attention span...

I did have one incident where a hockey skating guy kept getting into my "spin zone" and forcing me to stop...after a while I skated over to him and asked him what his problem was!! His reply? He thought I was cute and asked me what I was doing later . . . I've seen it all now...

If there are rowdy groups, I ask them to behave. If they keep up, I report them to the manager who settles them down.

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

Yep, it's really too bad that people have the Right To Be Stupid in this country. I would love to just be able to tell people why I can skate in the middle and they can't: (a) it is less dangerous for them if I do my figure skating stuff there, (b) the stuff they do can be done around the outside, and without cutting through the middle, and (c) I have enough awareness and control to be sure I will not be a danger to anyone else, and when they've passed the same tests to prove edge control that I have, they can skate in the middle, too! Unfortunately, the public session is for the public, and the public is--by and large--ignorant.

People have the Right To Be Stupid all over the world, at least until it gets them thrown in prison or killed. The pity is that they take many smarter people with them.

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