I need something to make me feel good today. Too much stress and strain is starting to wear on me, so I thought I'd start a thread for the happiest moments on ice.

Your happy time doesn't necessarily have to be a skating accomplishment. It could be a terrific day, a fun situation, a great partner, or just that you love the time you get to spend at the rink.

As for me, there are so many happy moments on the ice that it will be hard to pick just one. I may send in another later.

One of my happiest times is during the Monday night freestyle session. There are usually a couple of adults practicing skills, one lovely teen taking a dance class, and a large group of pre-teen skaters taking a lesson.

I know most of the young skaters and their parents from the warming room. They are of various skill levels from "How do I stand up" to "I can skate backward if you hold my hand". Their coach is a terrifically patient, fun girl and keeps the class active.

While practicing my own elements, I take time to watch the group lesson and admire these youngsters on the development they've made in their skills over the past few months. It makes for fun conversation in the warming room during the subsequent ice make.

Kids are so cool!!!! You just can't feel bad while watching them grow.

There, I feel better.

Your turn.

Feel better, my friend!!

I have had a couple of really bad days since I have been skating. I call them "real world" days. Anyway, I remember one day in particular where I had a lesson and was very worried about how distracted I would be. I had even thought about canceling my lesson.

I had a great lesson and didn't even think about the problems that night. When I realized how much my burden was lifted, I was really happy.

So far, my happiest moment has to be a night where my coach had me flying around the rink and I was landing every jump we tried at a terrific speed! The feeling of flying was incredible!

Standing on the podium at the Peach with IceT and Skaternum standing next to me was also a pretty happy moment!! ;-)

Hugs!
Danielle

There are 2 that stand out -

When I FINALLY got the hook on the scratch spin and spun around 2 or 3 times!! That was like magic. I had been working so hard on getting the hook and everyone kept saying it takes time and then finally.


Seeing this little girl, 5 years old?, skating around doing all her singles and some WONDERFUL spins and she was just full of joy and adorable.


Feel better Gary!!

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

Oh Gary, we all have days like that! But skating is a good counter, as you have to concentrate so hard you don't even remember you have problems, never mind what they are!

I had such a glorious moment on the ice today when I found myself doing those Foxtrot cross-roll 3s to tempo, without slowing down (okay not fast enough yet, but even still).....

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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!

Happy skating days have been mostly on weekend public sessions when there are my other adult friends there and we decide to play. We might all stroke around the center circle at the same time, seeing how fast we can all go. Then we'll add a jump in there, or a spin, and we'll all try to do it fairly in unison. Sometimes we'll play "add a jump", starting with one jump, then add a second, then a third and so on....or we'll all work on spins together, showing off the good tracings. I love the no stress atmosphere and everyone just having a good time.

Lately my happy skating days have been learning dance with a partner. It's so much more fun to dance together than solo. We were joking about mooning our dance coach.....and I fear it's only a matter of time before we get up the nerve to do this! (I plan to leave my tights up!)

Once in awhile I'll have the luck of being on the ice with one other girl who loves to dance. We put on the dance tapes and dance the whole session....me the lower level ones, and she does the higher dances. There are no dance sessions at our rink, so this is a treat to have the ice to ourselves and access to the music.

Happy skating Gary!

99% of the time I am happy on the ice. I LOVE to skate. My happiest time however, was at 2002 Adult Nationals. It was a nice skate but it represented a triumph over much adversity in my life. For me, it was such an accomplishment to get my act together and just BE there.
Even though I didn't make finals, I was the happiest skater of all!

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Warm Regards,
Kathleen

"It is never too late to become what you might have been."
George Eliot

Cheater!!!!! ROFLOL

Another fun moment:

As an old Cub/Boy Scout leader, I know that when a child gets hurt the first thing you want to get them to do is talk about it while you treat it. You ask questions like "What were you doing when it happened?" or "Tell me exactly where it hurts and how much?" The sooner you can get them to vocalize and use their minds, the faster they seem to start feeling better. The second thing you need to do is get an ice pack or band-aid on it (depending on the injury) as soon as possible. I carry band-aids and antiseptic gel packets in my wallet and skate bag.

I've used this technique with the kids at the rink numerous times over the last year, most often with good results. However, last week was an exception.

One young lad was skating down the ice, tripped, and banged his knees. He wasn't crying, but was wincing in pain. I carried him to the hockey box where his mother met us, then I took off to get an ice pack.

I sat with him asking my usual questions, but was getting little to no response. He wasn't going to talk, he was just going to hurt.

About that time, the head coach came over to check on him and said "Oh, you banged your knee, huh?".

I took a chance and answered "No, he banged his head, but the ice pack was too cold so we decided to put it on his knee."

The youngster was still laughing as he headed back onto the ice to finish his lesson.

Kids are too fun!!!

They are always the times when I am skating my best. Sometimes if I did not feel like coming to the rink and get there and have a wonderful time and really skate well, I feel very happy and satisfied. What is really great about skating is surprising one's self w/ what can be achieved. Some of my best days are when I learn to do something that previously seemed beyond my reach.

Kay

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Not really an on-ice moment, but a skating-related moment that was really happy -- Adult Nationals 2000. It was my first year at AN, in beautiful Lake Placid. It started snowing the day I arrived, so everything was covered in snow as I went to the rink for a great skate in my Qualifying Round. I met lots of nice skaters and made it to Final Round. It was really wonderful! Dare I say, magical!

Other great skating moment: standing on the podium with Dani!

Like a few of you have mentioned already, I love skating's ability to make you forget the outside world and all your troubles.

On a good skate day, it acts like a natural anti-depressant - or rather "happiness therapy".

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Ever since I started skating almost 2 years ago, I'm always happy to be at the rink. So I guess my happiest moments on ice is when I'm there.

I just love the feeling of the cold air brushing my face as I skate. It makes me feel so relaxed and I feel all my problems melt away.

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~~==Happy Landings==~~

Gina

I really had to think about this, because I am not generally happy and mostly feel very challenged on the ice.

First one: when I was able to motivate a crying tot to get up after a nast fall right at the beginning and keep going at our school's show last spring.

Second one: when my coach lavished four or five superlatives on me after my pre-juv F power crossover pattern and ended it with "you would definitely have passed!" She is the peeling-the-onion type and I had never in two years heard even one superlative from her before.

Third one: the first time I was able to "own" the ice and not be intimidated off my pattern by another skater. I was in a lesson, and that did help.

Fourth: the few rare occasions when everything feels right the minute I step on the ice, and everything works, and new things just happen. Those are the moments I skate for.

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This is one of my first posts here

I've had three skating days that stand out.

The first was when I first landed the loop ( just a single, but I had literally been two-footing it for a year. The summer session was almost over, and my coach said we weren' t leaving until I did it. With about five minutes left in the session, I landed it perfectly. It felt great.

The next was skating on a pond with my dad. It was a beautiful, sunny, cold February day, and I felt like I was in that Brian Orser special. It seemed like that was the way skating was meant to be enjoyed.

The last one was just a few weeks ago. I had taken three years off skating and when I started again, I landed almost all the jumps I used to do. It made me wonder why I had taken the time off, and I now know that I'll never stay away for that long again.

Cheers!

But, DB, why do it if it doesn't make you happy?

I tell you what, though - when you start dancing with your husband, then you'll learn what fun on the ice is! Dancing with a partner on the ice is terrific. It's even better with a great partner.

I always thoroughly enjoy our Dance Club nights, and those Dance Club nights at other rinks that we occasionally visit. On the other hand, I don't really enjoy the Recreational League matches, although Robert loves them. We're both more than happy to skate for any club that will ask us, but I find that I dislike dancing on a very crowded rink, so tend to watch, and leave Robert to find better partners than me and dance to his heart's content!

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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!

Welcome to the "ice clan", KCS.

If you've been browsing for a while, you'll know that we're a friendly, helpful lot.

Looking forward to seeing more from you.

Also, welcome back to the ice. Now that I've found it, I can't believe I could ever leave it.

That sounds like me on the golf course.

Any time I step on the ice I feel challenged, but it's a good challenge.

I challenge myself to:
Stay vertical
Not hurt anyone
Have fun
Practice what I know
Practice something new
Socialize
Be helpful

These challenges make me happy.

Sorry your feeling down Gary. Skating does have times like this. Anyone who skates knows this. Hang in there, things will improve.

Good - Quiet ice, time to think, and just be. Doing that something extra well for me or for the first time. Right now this would be the 2 sal for me.

Bad - Doing stupid things with your coach watching. Doing something stupid solo is one thing, but with your coach standing there taking notes it's another. Of course, my stupidest times occur when he is. I swear, some days my brain and skills vanish when he shows up for a lesson.

Chico

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

I had to think about this too. Definitely one of the best moments so far was when I landed a clean loop for the first time (I wrote about this in a thread when it happened). My coach, who had been teaching me for a year, had been recently teaching me the loop but as much as I tried, I just couldn't land it on the correct foot (left). It was in my last lesson with him before he was to leave to teach at another rink, and before the lesson, I knew I really really wanted to land it, just to do it before he went. I didn't think I would but I was determined to try. As we got near the end of the lesson, I had had quite a few attempts and landed them all either on the right foot or on both feet, none on just the left. I was so determined though, and he wanted me to do it, and I tried it again concentrating really hard and I did it, for the first time! I was sooo happy. My coach did a dance, gave me a big hug and said I'd made his day. Definitely one of the best moments on the ice for me.

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

When we see that our coach is watching, we start thinking about what we're doing rather than just doing.

It would be best if we could turn our brains off and just react to our training.

I've been told this is the "try too hard syndrome". I have a major case of it during lessons. Seriously, trying hard in a lesson just happens. I'm paying this person (my coach)to teach me and I find the need to be a hard working student. Usually, for me, I find that I hear what I'm being told in my lessons, but obtain my improvements solo.

Chico

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

Gary & Mrs. Redboots: I vividly remember the pleasure of roller dancing, and my goal is to regain that feeling on the ice. I do have those rare wonderful moments, so I keep at it looking for more. Besides, if I quit, I'm sure I would gain back all the weight I've lost and turn into a total couch potato again. I pretty much skate for my life.

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Good for you!!!!

That's what life (and skating) is all about, those rare wonderful moments.

If not for them, it wouldn't be worth it.

Sadly, we have had to put dance on hold. I turned out the this was not the right coach for us. I won't go into details except to say that we made our excuses and parted on good terms. Guess we'll wait until we move and find someone upstate where there are many more choices.

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I've had quite a few happy moments on ice including two this summer. The first was competing in the Adult Opens at my rink and actually doing a completely clean programme. The feeling I got at the end was tremendous. Then two weeks later I passed my Inter-Bronze field moves test. I'm only the second adult at our rink to pass this and when I got the judges' handshakes every adult on the side of the rink let out a huge cheer and I felt such an amazing sense of achievement. One other time that stands out is being presented with the Best Endeavour Trophy at the end of our Christmas Show in front of a full audience. I was presented it for my determination to return to skating after my awful ankle injury. I felt on top of the world!!

Nicki