We have seen threads on the benefits of skating such as physical fitness, etc.

But how has figure skating helped you in other aspects of your life.

Here are some of mine:

1) A sense of humor and the ability to laugh at yourself....looking at at video of you skating will teach you this.

2) Patience....these skills do not come easy!! It takes time and practice.

3) Time management....you make a schedule for skating, now apply to other aspects of your life. Things are easier aren't they?

4) respect for the ladies (being a male here)...being vastly outnumbered by the ladies, I have learned quickly to work with them. Everywhere I have skated I have always been well recieved. The ladies willingly give advice and help and I am always appreciative. This is has definitely spilled over at work. My team is the only one who has women on it, they don't want to work on other teams because they feel they don't get a fair shake and don't like the "macho" nonsense.

I have others but believe it or not, I have ice in about 20 minutes and I have to get my butt to the rink.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

OOOH fun, let's see... figure skating has taught me

1. It's OK if my feet never look like they used to before I skated. That is what the beauty of nail polish is for.

2. It is possible to sweat in an icebox of a rink.

3. An important lesson: never eat eggs before skating, or any kind of exercise.

4. Skating has taught me how nice it feels to actually look nice in a 2 piece bathing suit. A lot of hard work went into my body and so I should be damn proud. I think so anyway.

5. Skating has taught me that it is possible to survive off of $15 for the week.

I've got more, but I've got to go to the mall. I have to go to a chemistry banquet tonight, and realized all my clothes are back home, and I'm at school, so I need to buy something to wear. OK, I also want to go to the mall, I haven't bought anything in a long time. My ice time comes tomorrow.

OK - I'll play

Skating has taught me that I can skate in front of an audience even when I am shaking like a leaf!

Lara

I will second the "patience" lesson. I have also learned persistence and to find satisfaction in infintessimal progress.

I have learned that humiliation can be fun if you wear a funny costume.

Coming in last is not a bad thing and it is not necessary to win or be the best to enjoy what you're doing.

It's possible to be friends with people who are and always will be better skaters than you are.

You can be happier about skating your best and not winning a gold medal than not skating your best and winning a gold medal.

If you believe you can do it, you're 90% there.

Ice is hard, but not as hard as pavement!

Skating can at times make you feel very old, and very young!

From seeing people's smiles on the podium I learned that you don't have to be an Olympian to have the same joy of an Olympian.

My husband said he could see me trembling across the rink in my first competition.

I have learned time management and priority setting. Ice time and lessons are (X) time and I have to make it work. It's not like the gym that's open all the time for anyone.

I have also learned what is worth working for. (I guess that kind of goes along with priority setting.) And that I can do anything I want to....as long as I am willing to try, and look like a fool while learning it.

Patience, both on and off the ice. How else would I have survived sitting out 14 weeks without an incentive to rest and comply with the MD's instructions? (I'm notoriously non-compliant)

Finally, I have learned what fun is. I've never really had anything in my life where no matter how bad it is, I feel better when I'm done....unless I break something.

Do you mean what I think you mean? So much for a high protein diet. Should I stick with beef jerkey and cheese? Actually, I do stay away from eggs anyhow.

Let's see, what figure skating has taught me.....

1) I can actually get out there on the ice and learn some new things that I never would have thought were possible (with the help of my awesome coach, Scott!).

2) That I am brave enough to participate in an ice show and perform in front of lots of people, even though I really can't do a lot of moves and tricks yet, even at the risk of humiliating myself, or gasp, even falling (although both nights went well, no falls and I made sure to SMILE SMILE SMILE the whole time, LOL).

3) That I can pack my lunch & snacks for work each day instead of spending $$$ at our overpriced cafeteria. After all, I need the dough-re-mi for my skating lessons, .

4) That I have a lot of new skating buddies/friends, since all of us adults tend to stick together.

5) That it's fun to go to other rinks and see their ice shows and competitions, just to appreciate the skill and dedication of all the participants and hope that I can get good enough to compete some day.

And last, but not least, LOL, skating has taught me perseverance. Keep at it and it can become reality if you work hard enough.

Suz

I could type an endless list. Here are a few:

1. I'm braver than I thought.
2.I love being challenged.
3. I enjoy working hard and getting frusterated. (Sick huh?)
4. Friends can come in all ages.

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

Most important lesson in skating: (skater's point of view, not the coach's)

It's not a failure to fall... -- as long as I can and DO still get up afterwards!!!

For me one of the main things skating has brought me is:

Wonderful, wonderful friends from all round the world.

And I've learnt that competitions are the most fun you can have with your clothes on..... even if you are nervous (so who isn't?).

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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've learned that I really do like rhinestones after all!

Thin-Ice,

My old coach used to say, "If you don't fall your not pushing yourself as a skater." Needless to say, I fall. =-)

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

1. The patience and ability to watch for tiny small progress, because they eventually build up to become BIG progress!!!
2. That there are others factors in being fit besides strength and endurance.
3. That I can make friends from all walks of life and ages...
4. That even though I hate skating dress, with a lot of make up, a great hairdo and the right skating dress, I can go from casual sporty to MAJOR glam in a short time!
5. That I'm a masochist. Anyone who can handle some of my secondary coaches' torment on the ice (AND comes back for MORE!!!) is definitely a masochist...
6. I know it's mentioned but I also learned that falling on the ice, as hard as it is, is much preferred to falling on concrete!!!
7. Most important of all... that I'm able to skate far better as an adult than as a kid. I can't believe I'm now FAR beyond what I set myself up to do when I first lace up those powdered blue ski boot of a pair of rental skates! (I thought I was too old and didn't think that I would go beyond skating around the rink.)

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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!!!

My primary coach CHEERS when I fall on the ice...THEN asks if I'm okay!!!

EVIL!!! Truly EVIL!!!

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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!!!

jazzpants,

+-) Too true!!

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

Maybe our "old coaches" are related in some way.. my first coach used to charge me MORE if I didn't fall at least three times during a 30-minute lesson. (Okay, it was only $2 more (and lessons were $18).. but you know, it sure made it easier to get those three falls in early.. which then made the rest of the lesson easier...) She said "If you're not falling, you're not trying, and if you're not trying, it's harder to teach you anything".

What skating has taught me.....

That the rest of my life is a lot like skating. After traveling the World with skatiing as my guide for over 23 years, I have learned more about life than i ever did about skating. Still a terrible skater but the experience and lessons in living have been preety good..

"THE GREATEST RISK IN LIFE IS NOT TAKING ONE".

I just started to go to the "Coffee Club" here at the rink (which seeing what the weather guessers are predicting for this weekend makes me think I'll be spending a LOT of time there now!) and was talking to an older English gentleman (and that description is right on!) who started skating at the tender age of 69...and is pretty good at it (found out the meaning of the term "skate rings around me"!)

Guess that I'm really not too old to learn.

Figure Skating has taught me ...

That sports are better when you have friends to share the practices.
That there is a difference between criticizing and critiquing.
That sportsmanship and friends are more important than gold medals.
That "giving back" makes your life better than before.

That judges and coaches really aren't evil, it's for your own good!

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Though I may really stink as a figure skater it really doesn't matter. Figure skating has introduced me to a world of a lot of really nice people.

I was thinking about it this morning and have come to realize that more than half of my friends are adult figure skaters. These are people I would have never known if I hadn't decided to lace up a pair of skates...only wish I had done it about 30 years sooner.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!