Anyone ever collided with another skater?

I have my lesson on a busy freestyle session. Two weeks ago, I was doing power circles and was on the fast end of the forward CW circle. There was a little girl coming straight towards me. We did that dance-like thing where you try to avoid the other person but end up going the same direction. I put out my arms and managed to grab her so we wouldn't hit too hard. We both went down. She wasn't hurt (she was actually smiling!) but I felt awful about it. There was no way to avoid it and it was no one's fault (we were both in lessons), but I still felt bad because I'm older, bigger, faster, and a more experienced skater than she is.

Now I go out of my way to avoid this little girl on the ice because I still feel bad about the whole thing.

I've collided with an adult skater friend (as we were both trying to avoid a third skater), been run into by a little hockey player on a public session, and had a girl trip over my outstretched leg before. None of those have bothered me as much as this latest incident has.

Does anyone else feel bad/guilty when you collide with a littler skater?

I collided with a toddler once, and landed a toe-loop on top of an other girl's leg once (after which I stopped using sunday sessions even for warming-up before lesson). You bet I felt guilty.

On a public session, three different skaters skating out of control collided into me while I was doing three turns and crossovers. knocked me on my butt each time. AND...this all happened within one minute!!! I have not been back to that rink since.

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It happens. I teach my kids and students to do what I do - just say sorry and make sure no one's injured before you skate off.

I don't care whose fault it was - that's a one-way ticket to gossip and fights. I say sorry whenever I cut too close or bump into another skater.

Little kids bumpouts are the hardest to avoid. You're looking them in the eye, you're skating to their left side and they will INEVITABLY veer to their left and collide with you. lol

There are some dopes who think that intimidation is a necessary part of skating.
They try to intimidate other skaters on practices and warmups by skatingveryclose and bumping into people.
You always know because they don't say a word when something happens. They really think it makes them tougher.

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I got slammed by a girl who was coming out of Junior power-circles - backwards - the run-out edge. We were the only ones on the ice. She wa a pretty big girl - older teenagers and she hit me and we both went down like a ton of bricks. I felt as though something had fallen from the sky.

One of the other coaches took me off the ice - I was sobbing - not hurt so much as just shocked. I got back on the ice about 15 minutes later and the girl's coach said to me, "You were in each other's blind spots". That pissed me off more than the girl hitting me. Her attitude.

Years later I was with the skater in a judging situation (she was trialing) and she said she had felt so bad when she hit me. I told her that I didn't realize it was her who had hit me but told her not to feel bad about it.

It was quite shocking, though - now I'm really careful when I am skating around Junior Moves Power circles.

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THREE different times:

1. First one was with a more experienced teenage figure skater who was doing her runthru. She didn't apologies at first... if anything she went back and finished her runthru. Yup! We were both in each other's blind spot doing back crossovers!!! Got a nice shiner and my jaw was swollen for a week.
2. Second one was with a young beginning FS skater who was on a busy FS session. I was doing 5 step mohawks... she fell RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!! Needless to say, I tripped over her and fell badly on my knee. Was helped off by primary coach and WeirFan06. Found out my knee was sliced thru and there's a huge wound but not bad enough to need stitches, luckily. I still have the scar on my right knee to prove this happened.
3. Public session... yet another beginner kid fell RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and I tripped over that kid too! This time, I was lucky -- I somehow managed to remember to land on my butt. I came out relatively unscathed!!!
4. Okay, 4 times if you count this... I fell once on crossover drills at a public session and went sliding right into a skater who was just STANDING THERE! I yelled for him to move out of the way and he was TOTALLY DEAF!!! Yup, I knocked guy pin down!!!

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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

You guys can COUNT how many times you've collided with another skater?? I only remember the most spectacular ones....

...freezing up when I saw another skater coming at me at top speed and she did the same thing--the last thing I remember before I fell was her looking like a deer frozen in the headlights!
...working on Bronze moves, skating backwards, during a lesson, and collided with another girl who was also skating backwards but NOT in a lesson--we both went down but I think she thought I was dead or something since I took a minute to get up!
...working on the Fiesta tango, in lesson, with my coach partnering me and having a teenager working on back power circles (NOT in lesson) slam right into us despite my coach yelling her name. She went down but we didn't.

I always say "sorry" even when it's the other person's fault unless I'm giving a lesson or it's a hockey kid. Hockey kids should either be supervised by their parents so they don't take someone out or they're showing off and it's tough if they fall down!! (Of course, my most spectacular collisions have been with hockey kids I've been coaching who are carefully watching their feet for some reason--one kid actually gave me a concussion and I sat down on top of the other one!)

Collisions are an inevitable part of this sport and it seems like that little girl already realizes that. She also now understands the power circle pattern and won't skate into one again, which is a good thing to learn, LOL! As long as you apologized and made sure she was okay, I think it's absolutely fine to forget about it. Meanwhile, if you are still a little paranoid and want to make sure she isn't afraid of you, just smile at her whenever you see her and occasionally tell her [spins/spirals/jumps] are looking great.

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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

My worst collision happened on an EMPTY 9am weekday freestyle session.

I was the only person there and I started to run through my program.

A woman opened a door at the far end of the rink and proceeded to start skating backwards. I had NO idea someone had gotten onto the ice.

In the middle of a backwards spiral, I suddenly saw movement behind me. I lowered my foot and tried to stop, but we collided. I went all the way down onto the ice and kept her from falling. We both apologized and admitted we were at fault.

As she skated away, I noticed drops of blood on the ice. My blade had hit her boot and then clipped her calf. Fortunately, the Jersey Devils were practicing on the other rink. Their trainer very kindly came over and administered first aid. One of her friends drove her to the doctor where she received several stitches.

She returned a few weeks later and we both apologized again. She told me her biggest regret was that she had taken off her skates and no one thought to dry or clean them. She ended up with a bloodstain inside the boot and rust on the blades. I offered to pay for a sharpening to clean up the blades, but she refused.

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Several years ago I was working on the American Waltz, did a back swing roll, and sent my free leg's blade into an eight-year-old girl's thigh. She wasn't hurt, but still cried. I think she was more scared than hurt. She got off the ice and everyone checked her leg out; no blood, nothing. Still I felt really bad because she was like, 4'4 and I'm 5'5. Poor kid didn't stand a chance, LOL. Her mother, the girl, my coach and I can joke about it now, but I felt like the worst person out there.

Even before that, I once slammed into this boy (who was a bit of a jerk because he never moved for anyone) when I was working on my Senior power pulls. Neither of us were seriously hurt, so I didn't feel too bad, especially since it got him to wake up and be a bit more considerate of others on the ice.

But my very first collision is one in which I was victim, so to say. I was skating my very first freestyle session at eight-years-old and wasn't yet aware that you don't skate too close to people, stop in the middle of the ice for no reason, etc. Well, I apparently stroked too close to a girl doing a layback spin and her free leg blade spiked the outside of my left leg near my knee. The funny thing was that I didn't even notice it happened! My coach had to tell me to get off the ice when she saw blood soaking through my tights. I don't know how, but I didn't even need stitches. Weird.

But yeah, don't feel devasted. Like others have said, collisions are part of skating. The best thing you can do is apologize and make sure there's no injuries. And, of course, try to be more aware. But still, it happens, so don't dwell on it.

If you're in skating long enough, there will be a collision. I'd only worry if you're in more than usual. I try to zig, and hope they zag, but sometimes it does not work that way, I also tend to follow the rule of the seas when two ships are one a collision course (veer to your right), which is great if you're skating with other mariner's - but not likely!!!

So, apologize and move on. At very rink there's the collision king and queen, (sometimes together) who think they really do own the ice, but for the most part I've found everyone willing to share. I also try to remember that if Im skating with less experienced skaters that it's more my job to look out fo them just as it is for the more experienced to look out for me. One woman at our rink told me that she was worried that one sr. lady came came really close! I told her not to worry when she was close, that she had amazing control and that she would not run into her, BUT, that if XXX came that close - Worry!!!

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The one I always remember was when I was doing the Pre-pre BO edge pattern and a coach was doing spirals with a little student, almost like a pairs spiral. I saw them in the distance, but figured they could see me (they were moving faster). We collided and they fell over me. We were all splatted on the ice, but no one was hurt. It could have been spectacularly bad.

A tot I was teaching was slammed onto the ice by a hurtling, out of control kid in hockey skates. It happened right in front of me and there was nothing I could do. She got up calmly, said "I'm OK, but I have to cry" and began crying. Now that's a response and attitude a lot of skaters could use!

Today on an empty public session, there was a pre-juv level teenager doing a fast back shoot the duck around the end, who collided with an adult skater. They both saw each other and both misjudged. They managed to slow down so the collision wasn't painful, and both burst into laughter. I got to watch.

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Actually, my coach--who has been living on freestyle sessions for about 55 years now--shared something interesting with me. He said to always move to the inside of the rink if you are on a collision course with someone because everyone always moves toward the wall to avoid other skaters (and when both people move toward the wall, they will collide). The only other two rules I try to follow is to always yield to anyone going faster than I am, and to always yield to someone who is locked into a position like a spiral, spread eagle or Ina Bauer.

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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

my coach told us the exact same thing. it makes sense if you think about it. say you are going full speed, back crossovers, and someone is in your way. the easiest way to get around them and maintain your power is to go to the outside. so, if you are IN someones way, cut to the inside of the circle and give them the easy way out.

as for collisions--i've been lucky not to have tooo many. but there was one day that was particularly amusing

ok, so it was like a week or so before competition, and I was in my lesson, working my program. I'm doing back crossovers, and suddenly the little 8 year old (who is an incredible skater--lands doubles, perfect knee timing) who is basically my little sister is coming straight at me. We manage to avoid each other, but my blade caught hers, and down I went. I got up, and immediately had to sit down bc my heart freaked out (i go into some weird tachycardic arrhythmia sometimes that makes me faint). I was sitting, trying to get my heart to beat normally and to stay conscious, and of course my coach, the girl and a few other people are standing around me wondering what the heck i'm doing lying down on the ice, and my coach goes "Julie! You have her a heart attack!" Kidding of course, and Julie knew that, but it was pretty funny.

Fast forward about, oh, a minute, and I'm coming same direction as last time, doing a spiral. Julie is right there again. By now I'm in full spiral position, my coach is yelling at Julie to move, and she just stood there, total deer in the headlights. I managed to slide down onto my butt and land at her feet. Her face was just too funny.

I did have one that kind of hurt. It was a pretty crowded saturday public session, and for some reason a girl thought it would be a wonderful time to try lutzes. I know some people who can do their lutz/2lutz on a crowded session by skating CCW with everyone, then just stepping, doing one backcrossover, and jumping in an empty spot. Well, not this girl. She was doing CW back crossovers in a crowded area without even looking where she was going (she wasn't about to pick into the jump, she was just doing back crossovers). It just took me by total surprise. She was fairly well built, so hitting her was way different than hitting an 8 year old. That knocked me right down. I got back up just fine, but no apology, nothing. I apologized, and she just skated away. That irked me.

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That is an alarming symptom. Have you been checked for Long QT syndrome?

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All too often.... And it seems to be a Law of Skating that the emptier the rink, the more likely you are to collide with another skater!

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The worst collisions I have seen have involved coaches who don't look where they are going. My worst collision involved a dance coach, who was skating with her student and not paying any attention to the fact that there were other skaters on the ice, and wasn't looking at all where they were going. I was skating backwards around the center circle with my coach and looking in the direction I was going, and my coach was watching my feet and yelling at me about them (LOL) and the other coach blindsided me, knocked me literally up in the air and off my feet. My coach saved me from a worse injury, but I landed on my tailbone and had back spasms and was off the ice as a result. Pissed me off. Another time, a dance coach was with a student and they were skating forward, and my coach and I had paused in the middle of the ice for a moment. Yep, this other coach can totally see us (since he is skating forward right at us) and he ran into us. My coach kept me on my feet. Again, really pissed me off. No injury this time.

Another time, I was skating CW forward crossovers and a teenager crossed accidentally right in front of me and we both tried to stop but collided. She went down and I didn't, but she was fine. I felt really bad about that.

Sometimes these things happen, but coaches should know better and should have some clue of where others are on the ice.

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I won't even count the number of times I've collided in synchro -- it's just a hazard of team skating, LOL!

However, I did bang into a little kid on the warm-up of my freeskate competition a couple of weeks ago. I got out there and was skating a fast lap to get my legs moving. I normally have no issue figuring out where a skater is going -- I understand MIF AND DANCE patterns and can spot a jump prep easily, but this little one was warming up the foot work sequence from ISI Freestyle 2. Well, that's on a prescribed pattern, so I saw her practicing it and "knew" which way she'd be stepping as it was the same footwork we all had in our program. Except she decided to do it incorrectly and counter-rotated the step forward RIGHT INTO ME. I bobbled, tried to jump out of the way, slammed into the boards and ended up catching her under her armpits. Neither of us went down, thankfully, but I laughed through the rest of the warm-up. And didn't skate anywhere near her as she apparently wanted to do everything at the boards.

I've collided a few times, but the worst was when I was a teenager on a frozen pond, and a friend fell in front of me. He landed facing me, and I tried to stop, but managed to put my toe picks right into his mouth as I was falling over backwards. He lost his two front teeth. I've always felt bad for him when I remember it, and I never saw him again.

These days I'm extremely cautious, but still manage to bump into other skaters from time to time. With toddlers, I've grabbed them just before impact, and absorbed the energy in a sacrificial fall while trying to hold them upright.

I also remember seeing an out-of-control-but-skating-very-fast hockey wannabe run into a very tall adult recreational skater at a public session. Because he fell at speed, slid, and hit the adult skater from behind, she went over backwards and hit her head very hard. She was unconscious for many minutes. (Uhhg, that sound of head hitting ice!) They cleared the ice for that one, and the squad was called. She was coming to by the time the squad arrived, but certainly suffered a concussion. I'll bet she hasn't skated since.

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Bill Schneider

Oh geez, all the time. As Coach L says, "This is a contact sport. At the least the hockey players get to wear pads!"

I currently have a 3 inch gash on my R thigh from someone's blade, and my L shin is completely black and blue (although that's more from being kicked by inexperienced partners at ice dance weekend than collisions). Most recently one of our teen queens barrelled into me at full speed and grabbed me to make sure I didn't fall. "OMG!" She squeaked, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to grab your b@@b like that!" I just laughed. I'd rather be inadvertently groped than fall!

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

As a teenager I was on a dance session one summer with two novice dance teams, a juvenile dance team, 2 other single skaters, and occasionally a junior dance team, so it was pretty crazy. I once got in a sandwich collision with the 2 novice teams (the one team and I crashed somehow and the other coming at us couldn't stop in time and the girl fell over us). Luckily everyone was ok, we were all friends and this stuff happens. That's probably the worst on a session.

I also had an incident last year where I was doing a dance pattern and when I stepped forward there was a little kid there in my way, I wouldn't have stopped in time, so I just scooped her up, did my 3 turn, and set her back down. She thought it was fun, her dad (who was standing right there in the hockey box) wasn't amused, he didn't understand that I probably would have plowed her over and hurt her.

After 15 yrs of synchro I've had my fair share of collisions, getting bladed in the shin or calf, concussions, etc.

One of the worst ones I ever had was on a public session. I was having a lesson (before I got onto patch) and I was doing back crossovers round the centre circle. I was looking where I was going, but somehow this kid came up, skating the wrong way round the rink, and smashed RIGHT into my OTHER side. I tried not to fall on top of him, but he had kinda slid across the ice so I did actually end up landing on him. Well - knee first - THEN him. And even though my coach was insistant that it was his fault (although both me and my coach had apologised to him, he just skated recklessly off - the wrong way again), I still felt really bad - I mean, I was at least three times his size...

I'm sure I've had a few others but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I skate with much more advanced skaters, me being probably the worst, and I just try and stay out of everyone's way, regardless of what they're going.

Yes, synchro collisions are the worst, especially during intersections!

thanks for all the responses! Some of them made me giggle and others were just scary (especially that toepicks taking out teeth one ). You've all made me feel so much better. I think this one bothered me because it could've been really bad if I hadn't been able to catch her.

Actually, my worst collision was also with a dance coach. She was skating backwards, leading her student (hint: if you are leading, but skating backwards, looking behind you might be a good idea). They were not coming my direction when I started my straight line Ina Bauer with laid back head position. They must have changed direction because the next thing I knew, something knocked me down. I looked up and it was the ice dance coach. She hadn't fallen, so I assumed she was OK and I was secretly annoyed that she hadn't looked where she was going.

Once we were off the ice, she kept asking if I was OK, but in sort of a weird way. I saw her the next week and she asked again (again, kind of weird). Then she finally brought up that I had never asked HER if SHE was OK. It turns out my blade had slashed her shin and she'd had to get stitches! I felt terrible! Oh, did I mention she was an Olympic gold medalist?

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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