Yesterday I skated at a fairly crowded public session because my daughter had to be there to give some private lessons. I was mostly just hanging with a student's mother going around in circles. The skaters in that particular rink tend to be hockey players or, even worse, wanna-be's. They manage to chew up the ice in about the first twenty minutes and skate out of control and way too fast. After being cut off twice very close in front, which also happened to the mother of my daughter's student, I asked one of the rink guards to please slow down the speeders and pointed them out to him.

Wouldn't you know, about half an hour later, some total jerk of an adult came crashing into me from behind, grabbed me, I swear to support himself, and dragged me down with him. I got a nice thump on my thigh, and injured my ring finger so that the joint is still quite swollen today. My immediate and rather angry response was to yell at him that if he couldn't skate in control, then he shouldn't be going that fast. This guy was profuse with his apologies, but I was relentlessly nasty back . I don't like being that way, but there is really no excuse for what he did, and I was hurting. The same rink guard I had spoken to earlier was a few yards away, and I went over to him and repeated that people were going too fast. He said "I told them, but they don't listen." "Then take them off the ice (you ninny) "

I have been at crowded sessions where there were no guards and the skaters were well behaved. Why bother with guards, if they are not going to enforce the rules when needed? Unfortunately, I think someone will have to get hurt and sue these idiots before anything changes. Maybe they think their waivers will protect them, but all that really does is prove that the skaters were informed of the risks.

End of rant.

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You need Figureskates and me to come beat those hockey players into shape! I kicked my first two skaters off the ice Sunday afternoon - what fun!

Anyway, sorry the session went so poorly. Pulling another skater down is, or should be, unacceptable behavior in any rink. Guards appreciate a heads up on skaters misbehaving, because we can't see them all. Hope it goes better next time!

Unfortunately, DB's experience seems to be the norm rather than the exception. When I used to skate public sessions, I would wonder why they bothered to have the rink guards because they sure weren't paying attention to what was going on on the ice, or they were paying selective attention.

Frequently, if it appeared to be their buddies wreaking havoc then for sure it didn't matter how much you complained, very little happened. You almost had to go to the manager to complain.

In my experience, many of the rink guards appear to be working there solely for the free or reduced skating, or to socialize with buddies. This was definitely true 15-18 years ago, and mostly true now at the few publics I've skated in the past 3 years.

I've not been to a public session in a long time, but the times I've taken my girls, the very same thing happens.

There are no guards at all.
Idiots who can't skate, think that they can.
Skate at your peril!

The thing that annoys me is that I manage to stay alive on the ice with 6 or more "elite" skaters during weekday mornings, rarely getting in the way of anyone/anyone getting in my way....yet 2 minutes on a public session and you're a nervous wreck trying to avoid the lunatics!

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MEL
Absolute Skating

DB, I definitely hear you about the public sessions.

I go to a local rink's public sessions often; I skate on
their freestyle too, more in the summer. Last week,
there was a school group (teenagers) on the ice as I
was getting on. Another woman was leaving, and she
was furious - she had been pulled down by another
skater in much the same way as you describe.

I felt badly for her. At least this school had chaperones
on the ice, who attempted to keep the kids in line, and
were successful. But the skate guard "didn't see the
incident". Skaterguard = bonehead. And don't get
me started about the music my rink sometimes plays.
Doesn't everyone want to skate to ETHEL MERMAN??

I skated without a problem, but I've been skating for a long
time, my son is a hockey skater, who at times likes to
try to check his mother, or do a hockey stop within
millimeters of my spins. Suffice it to say that not much
fazes me, and the kids were all asking me about my
skating and watching from the sidelines. Fine - they
were well out of my way!

And you never know what good skaters sometimes
appear on public sessions, like a very excellent coach
from Long Island, right DB?

I have similar problems in public sessions and have just about given up on skating on Sunday, it's insane, they have 1 or 2 young adolescent "guards" who work on their own skating and chat the whole time. It's so crowded there is literally nowhere you can even practice 3 turns and the center ice is being used by private lesson coaches!! So starting soon I hope to be skating either on Tuesday instead of Sunday or actually trying a free style session, it's just not worth it.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

I skate on both public sessions and freestyle sessions. Public sessions are actually great if you can get to one at an off time - often on a weeknight or in the summer.

I love public sessions on summer weeknights - it's usually just me and one or two other people. In the winter, I have to be more selective about which public session I skate on. I have a great one on Sundays, but I only go towards the end of the session, after many people have gotten tired and left. I NEVER go to a public session on a Friday night or a Saturday - way too crowded.

You're right about the skate guards. They tend to be young and without a lot of work experience, so they aren't very assertive out there. I've never seen a skate guard actually enforce a rule...wait...there was one time, but that's it. It think that the guards would do better if they had more training and supervision, but obviously this isn't a priority for the rinks.

I agree--public sessions are very bad at times. During the fall/winter, I have basically learned that I cannot ever go on the weekend, because I spend the whole time just making sure that I don't fall (and I am just talking about skating forward!) It makes me tense and I do not feel comfortable at all when it is that crowded...especially with the kids racing around the rink, crossing right in front of you.


During the summer, Sundays are fine because hardly anyone is there, but at the same time it is hard to think about going skating on a nice Sunday afternoon.

The only time I can go to a public session and enjoy myself is if I try to go during lunch on a weekday. There are not many people there and they are more respectful. However, it is hard to go frequently during a workday, so this is kind of the reason why I have not committed to continuous lessons. If it is hard to find the time to practice, it does not make a lot of sense to take lessons. So, now I am going to the rink occasionally and asking myself how important is it to me to take lessons and learn more, or if I would prefer to simply be a recreational skater (that skates a lot better than I did prior to the lessons I have had!).

Ugh! I hate public sessions like that. We've only had one manager at our rinks that actually trained his employees and maintained order at the facility. He was awesome. Rink guards were to keep moving, not stand in one place, no conversations longer than one lap around the rink, if they were habitual talkers to friends they got taken off the ice and replaced with someone who was willing to do the job right, and troublemakers were thrown off the ice after one warning regardless of whose friend they were. That was just the way it was and it kept the sessions completely sane. Unfortunately he moved on and now manages the big arena downtown and the rinks haven't been the same since.

It all comes down to management training their employees and actually upholding what they expect from the individuals working there. Now I avoid almost all evening public sessions during the winter because that's when it's most crowded. Days are better if you can make the time to get to one.

What about the skate guards who are actually the ones breaking the rules??! When Taz Jr. was just 3 or 4 and just starting out we used to do the public session that was "supervised" by your typical skate guards. We were minding our own business, skating along together, when for a half-second I caught a flash of a yellow jacket out of the corner of my eye and then BLAM!! The next thing I know I am flat on my face on the ice, having been hit full force from behind by a teenage skate guard who was busy hot-dogging to impress the girls and not watching where he was going. He is just lucky it was me he ran over and not my kid! Needless to say I had a few choice words for him as I scraped myself off the ice....

Here, very often, it's the rink guards themselves who are the silly little hockey boys, and who seem to want to do nothing but show off. I have been known to Say Things to them when they are, imo, being more dangerous than anybody else!

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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!

...I was at a session last weekend where (I kid you not) a man in hockey skates kept spitting huge yellow gobs out of his mouth and onto the ice! It was unbelieveably disgusting, and he did not restrict himself to any one area; even the center of the rink was covered in them. I told on him and he got very belligerent with the skate guard, but eventually left the ice.

Needless to say, I threw out the towel I used to dry my skates that day!

This is the ultimate in selfishness. I cannot imagine being so selfish that to save myself a fall at an ice rink, I would actually risk hurting someone else *on purpose*! What was this guy thinking? Did he think he would go ice skating and not fall? What if this guy grabbed on to some kid and hurt the kid. There would be h*** to pay.

Kay

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Like Kelli said earlier, we have pretty much cleaned up our rink during general skates.

We did had a couple of kids who were warned
three times then I gave Kelli the distinct pleasure of kicking them off the ice...Of course they tried to sneak on the ice at the other gate but Kelli was already there to "meet" them...

Sorry everyone else is having bad experinces during their general skates.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

OH, yeah, that's for sure. Yup, gets me everytime. I got injured the first time at a public session because some kid used me as a door stop and I ended up breaking my wrist. Happens alot. During the winter you're going to see about 1/4 of the broken wrists do to someone using them as a doorstop. Why don't these kids get lessons so they can at least stop?

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

I saw the same guard I had complained to do exactly that. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was already too disgusted to approach him again. I would love to complain to the management, but they are very politically connected and nothing can change their style or their choke hold on the local municipally owned rinks.

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Thought I'd add a good public session experience. We have great guards - older kids and adults. I went last night, and late in the session one of kid skaters found a bug on the ice (a hoppy). The guard stayed with the bug and was helping it off the ice. The bugs are always falling down from the ancient cealing and getting frozen or stuck on the ice. This one was still hopping, so he guided it out of danger, and then picked it up and took it off. It skated pretty well with all those legs!

In the same session I splatted on a double sal., one of the guards skated by, smiled and said "dropped something" and glided off.