This may seem to be the wrong place for this topic, but it is skating-related....in a stretch.

I'm thinking about getting a tattoo. I'd like to get it on my shoulder blade. The skating-related question is: does it matter if it shows when I am competing? If it does, then I could do it elsewhere, but if I go through the trouble of getting it, I'd kind of like it to show, but not if it makes a difference in appearance when competing.

Image is almost everything in competitive figure skating. If you're a serious level competitor then I would get a tattoo in a place that will be completely covered by your skating outfit. Judges are usually old fogies and tend to be very conservative in their outlook. My bet is that they will frown if your tattoo is prominantly noticeable when you take the ice.

I remember reading a passage in Christine Brennen's book where some judges mentioned to Mike Weiss coach that he should shave off his little goatee, or judges will tell a skater if they think he/she needs to lose some weight, etc.

If you compete just for fun then get a tattoo wherever you want. If you're a serious competitor then don't put a large old tattoo on your neck and then wear a low cut skating dress with your hair up, for example.

You should have it on your shoulder if you wear competition dresses that cover your shoulder with a sort of skin colour, maybe those dresses which appear to be strapless, but they actually cover you up to your neck.

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Just cover it with a band-aid and it won't be noticeable from a distance. Many skaters I know do that.

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A former coach of my daughter's has a rather large tattoo on his shoulder blade. He was skating with Disney On Ice when he got it, and they fined him for it.

There are kinds of makeup you can use to cover a tattoo. I've competed with a girl who has a pretty large one and I know that's what she did.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much. If you were sixteen I'd be saying something very different, but you're an adult and as long as it's small and not gaudy I don't think a tattoo is going to bother most judges.

Incidentally, the girl I used to skate against who had the tattoo was probably at least 20 or so, but, like me, she a) was competing standard track at a pretty high level, and b) looked younger than she really was. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of why she covered it- judges who didn't know her may well have thought she was fifteen or sixteen.

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My coach has a tatt on his arm, but I don't know whether he ever competed bare-armed so it showed. Or whether he had it done after he stopped being a competitive skater, even, I've never asked!

Me, I like those temporary tatts that wear off, or you can remove them with surgical spirit. Great fun.

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