The Olympics are great, love watching them, and it is wonderful how they inspire people to give skating a try. The downside is that it inspires lots of people to give skating a try. All at once.

This morning there were at least 4 times the usual number at the public session. It's hot today, about 28oC, so the rink was like a swimming pool. Our Aussie Skate session was packed with new beginners, it was very crowded.

On one hand it is fantastic to have so many keen new skaters. On the other hand it's pretty hard for the more experienced skaters to find some ice space on our tiny rink to practise even stroking, let alone any jumps or spins.

Ah well, once they've realised it's a heck of a lot harder than it looks on tv, I guess the numbers will dwindle again, leaving us with those who have really caught the bug.

I guess it's the same everywhere.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

hehehe...yeah. I didn't even bother going skating last weekend or this weekend. I predicted this kind of thing would happen.

The funny thing..even our freestyles this week have been crowded. I've seen 3 girls I used to skate with who quit a few years back and who suddenly realized that they miss it. Go figure.

it shall be interesting tomorrow!!

I know last Sundays public was crowded!! I felt like a parent, running around after kids whose laces were dragging along the ground I didnt really feel like tripping over them!

Excuse the pun of course

__________________
--------------
-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 am thankful I skate with a club in "adult" sessions - no dillusions of grandure here - LOL!!!

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

I have a double whammy... I have the Olympics crowd AND the Adult Sectionals crowd!!! The public session are overrun by uummmm..."Olympic hopefuls..." The FS that has mostly adults are filled with adults who are stressed about Adult Sectionals next week!!!

__________________
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 don't know if it's the Olympics or the TV hit "Dancing on Ice" but all our sessions are really busy now. Yesterday was yet another busy session and the start of a new housewives class in which there were a record of 14 newbie adults! Normally we're lucky to see two newbies at the start of a new class. I ended up giving up on the session with Batikat as the ice was churned up and there wasn't the space to do any decent practice.

Nicki

I'm told that we have people calling my rink asking if we offer speed skating!

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

i hear your pain.... honestly I do! Our rink has introduced a voucher in the local newspaper to try to get new kids (under 12) into skate school. Well today it ended up in 48 kids in Basic and about 25 in Tiny Tots! Then the rink management were complaining that they haven't got enough coaches, but that they shouldn't have to get more because these kids are paying half price to be there

I hear you

Don't forget that competition season for figure skaters is in full swing, so your freestyle and club sessions will get more crowded as they prepare for tests, shows and competitions.

Hang in there - the majority of the crowds will disappear as soon as the migratory season starts. That's when soccer and other spring sports start, the weather gets warmer and the days longer, the busy May/June wedding/communion/graduation party season gets underway, and (most importantly) the newbies who thought this would be easy get bored and wander off.

Ah, summer skating - I love it!

__________________

There are at least FIFTY adults in our Tuesday and Thursday Learn-to-Skate classes! The skating director thinks (hopes, I think!) that numbers will fall off drastically at the end of this six-week session (finishes next week).... I wonder.

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

I made the mistake of skating a public last night. Ahhhh! There were soooo many people! Most of the time I can use a public for spins and footwork..absoloutely not!

I heart summer skating!

I know there are lots on our learn to skate classes which are mixed age, but I'm not at the rink for those. The Friday classes are usually really small so it was a surprise to see so many starting. Hopefully they'll soon realise it isn't as easy as it looks and give up, although it would be good to get some more competent adult skaters. I must admit though I miss my quiet daytime sessions. Thankfully we've moved our jumps class off the session and onto the patch beforehand, else we couldn't do it or were crammed behind the cones at the end of the rink!

Nicki

There isnt too much increase in my rink, one of the skaters that come on and off, she came back but thats like one person. I seriously doubt many people here watch the winter olympics even

__________________
~
Tidesong

As I was leaving our freestyle session last night, the public session had just started. I looked at the crowd and started cracking up because I could tell what percentage of the public skaters were there just because they'd seen skating on TV:

Number of people hugging the boards, minus number of people usually hugging the boards, divided by total skaters on the ice. LOL!!

hahahahahaha!!!! Don't forget to multiply that figure by 100 ... to get percentage hehehe

yeah...seriously....I'm staying at home this weekend because of that. I know that the rink is going to be jam packed with people. Jam packed....maybe I could tolerate, but I can't tolerate some of the idiots out there that try to hang onto you to stop themselves from falling, drag you down with them. Or suddenly, some clown just runs into the back of you because they just want to skate fast even though they have no control over their skates.

You can really tell the wannabes. It looks so easy on television. They are trying to do everything: go backwards, spirals and spins. There was a couple there today who were trying to spin by digging what small amount of toe-pcik there is on a rental skate into the ice and spin up on it. Frightening!

My hope is that watching the Olympics truly inspires some to put in the hours of work needed just to become a semi-decent skater. Besides, I have to admit it was watching the Olympics over many years that got me on the ice all that time ago.

It wasn't so bad for our Sunday morning public session today, actually got to work on spins and a few jumps.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

What makes me laugh is that they are all so eager to skate and obviously think it looks so much easier than it really is, but when it comes to taking that first step onto the ice they can't do it without the coach holding onto them! Will be interesting to see how they progress over the coming weeks before they give up!

Nicki

yeah...but don't forget, all of us have to start from somewhere, and all of us started from somewhere.

Yes, and it sure makes us realise how far we've come which is a great feeling!

Nicki

I probably look like one of those wannabes

trying to go backwards, etc...




Well.... its probably cos I am! Except my reasons for starting are closer to home

__________________
--------------
-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 wasn't meaning people like you Erinna !
Goodness, your posts here show you are in it for the long haul, and that you know it is hard work.

I was meaning the wannabes who think they can just get out on the ice and do everything first session.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I know... I wasnt totally serious... Im far more thick skinned than that. I got told yesterday that the two best attributes for skating were: 1. A good sense of humor and 2. a thick skin (for coaches)

But yes, I know what you mean..... I personally love the type who act all macho BEFORE they get on the ice, and then once they do and their skates fall out from under them and they cling to the barrier for 2 hours, they aint looking so macho

__________________
--------------
-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

Yes, and some of us are nuts enough to do it a SECOND time LOL!!!

Me and my big mouth:
In Saturday's session we had more than TWICE then normal number of skaters - we had a whole bunch from other clubs getting ready for testing the following day. It wouldn't have been so bad but some of these people don't know our home club skaters and really weren't paying attention. Our Gold freeskate contender almost collided back to back with a girl from another club who didn't recognize the program music or realize our girl was doing her program - us locals all know her routine and stay out of her way.

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

I just got my Ice Link today. For those who don't know, this is the NISA member's newsletter and the headline on the front page is "ITV's Dancing on Ice brings crowds to Britains Ice Rinks". The article goes on to say how all the rinks here have seen an upsurge of people on public sessions and signing up for lessons following the huge success of this 8-week TV series. I guess it's good for Britain to encourage people to have a go. A bit of a pain for us regulars who have our ice taken over by newbies, but hey, I can't complain as I had the whole rink to myself on this morning's patch!

Nicki