I gotta start this thread because of what happened today....there's a juvenile or intermediate level skater who shared the 6:30 am ice with me today. Since it's summer the rink is super slow so for 6:30-7 am it was only me, my coach and this junior high kid. To take advantage of the empty ice for my waltz 8, my coach drew two big circles--(the size expected for an adult taking the test that is 5'2" tall i guess ) right in the middle of the rink for me to follow--i still tend to shrink the waltz 8 when i dont have a circle to follow--...anyway so this other girl has the majority of the rest of the ice on both sides to do jumps and spins....

But for some this girl kept doing her stuff like right by me! I wanted to say something but I didn't want to sound so #####y and my coach didn't say anything neither. Later I whispered to her "why is she all up on my space?" and my coach was like, "I know! she has the rest of the place to herself!" So instead of me going through it smoothly i kinda have to pause or stop and jerk around because i was never sure where she would end up being. and she was clearly within the boundaries of my circle i didn't buy the whole ice for myself but i would think understandably if it's only two of us practicing shouldn't you be like over the other 80% unoccupied areas and leave me and my two waltz 8 circles ALONE??? should i say something next time? (her coach wasn't there by the way).

After 7 am ther rink starts filling in with the other skaters so it was hard to practice waltz 8s by then because everyone else is zooming by me.

I hate to tell you but it's difficult to avoid the middle of the rink.

Maybe this kid was being a little less than courteous, but she's the right age for that kind of behavior. The only thing you can do is act your age by not saying anything. And maybe not stop yourself every time she comes within a breath of you and she might learn her lesson ...

I've got nerves when anyone comes near me on the ice, but I agree, you sometimes need to hold your own and stand your ground. my coach says if you look like you own the ice people will get out of your way. Sometimes it's easier said than done.
However, I fully agree that it's really annoying that people deliberately ignore you and skate right through you. Some of them might be just going through the age of it, and others are just plain obnoxious and yet others still are plain oblivious. But it's generally easier not to mention it because all these people don't realise that they're doing anything wrong and some will pick a fight. It's best just to get on with things. And maybe mention something to your coach and get her to be the one to say something. Ultimately the person in lesson does have right of way.

Very frustrating....

But, something to think about...maybe she was drilling something specific for her program? For me, I do my axel in a particular place, and yes, I can flip it to the other end of the rink, but mentally, it is better for me to do it in the exact spot I do it in my program.

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

niupartyangel,

Make friend with her and she will be more considerate later.

Haha I think that'll be the best solution too! Talk about what she was doing, "Hey... When I was in my lesson I saw you doing a _______ by me! I could feel the wind in my face! Is this your practice?" and then get the ball rolling.

Not to be too blunt because you'll see her around after all.

If I'm in a bad mood, I'd stop purposely and stare/glare at the offending (usually public) skater.

To be fair, she paid to use the whole ice. As did you. And the middle of the rink is hard to avoid, especially if you're practicing sections of your program. The only time you have the right of way and should expect people to get out of your way is if you're doing a program run through. Even if you're the only two people on the whole ice, it's not fair for her to get out of your way if you're using center ice. She's a kid and probably just wasn't thinking if she was skating close by you.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

I agree with most of what other posters have alread said, however, since you were in a lesson and she was not, you had the right of way. IMO, your coach should have politely asked her to keep her distance until you were through with the waltz-8's. I had a student doing waltz-8's on a freestyle just last night. It happened to be a crazy session, and I had her do them at one end between the hockey circles, which was new for her. The only real problem we had was with an 8 year old who came and stood exactly where our circles met - while my student was in the pattern - to wait for her music to start. Unfortunately, too many coaches do not teach their students to look out for other skaters. Eight is not too early to learn, and that child could have started her program just a few feet farther out and been fine.

Are there posted rules for your freestyle sessions? If not, ask the club or rink about it. That may help.

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Dbny actually brings up an interesting question for me. Is that normal in rinks, if you're in a lesson you have the right of way of those just practicing on their own? All the rinks I've ever skated in, it dosen't matter if you're in a lesson or not that you have right of way. The only skater that has right of way is the person doing a program run through.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

The rinks that I currently skate at, the order of priority goes:

1) In lesson, doing program
2) In lesson
3) Program
4) Everyone else

When I was younger, it was, as you suggested, just those who were doing their program who were given priority.

I know that we run into issues when there are multiple lessons going on, then who moves? Personally, I have had issues with coaches who are giving lessons not moving when I am in my program in a lesson, and also them telling their students who they were giving a lesson to to not move for me when I was doing my moves patterns (in addition to them not moving for moves patterns). It becomes frustrating, particularly now that I am on Junior moves and am getting ready to test both that (hopefully) and my Juv free. And not to sound conceited, but I do move a lot for others, even if I am in a lesson and if I were to run into one of the younger kids on the ice, I would probably hurt them, as I skate with a lot of power and I am a lot bigger than they are!

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

In my rink, the priority is pretty much the same, except that people doing program, regardless of whether they're having lessons get the priority first. Then it's lessons, practice students and public. Well our public session is like the whole day so yeah I have lessons during public lessons and people always come into my way.

Those are our sort of our levels of priority too, unless she was having her music played in order to practice her program in which case she is top dog. So unless she was doing MIF or dance patterns, there really is no excuse and IMO your coach should have said something to her OR you could have let her almost run into you and then apologized profusely, pointing out your circles and explaining your need to practice your MIF. If she has any clue at all, she'd get the point. I disagree about the age thing (defending DD and her friends, here who are all that age and are very careful about avoiding other people - having been on the receiving end before) - I think it's obliviousness more often than not. But your coach should have said something, IMO.

There's no stated rules and stuff. But IMO, it's just basic common courtesy.

If I'm having lesson, I don't want people standing near my coach/me, regardless of what I'm doing. Sometimes I'd to abort jumps because another skater landed a jump at where I was going towards. That's unintentional, of course, the skater wouldn't have known I'm going there unless she noticed that's where my coach and I are doing jumps. Same with spins.

We all understand the limits of the small rink, with public skaters and whatnot. Sometimes the skaters who are practicing move to the side during someone's program runthrough.

I think it's a lot of courtesy applied here. I mean, if you're driving, isn't it the same? If you're a learner with the L displayed (at least that's how it's like over here), people tend to give you some room.

Hi

Quite interesting discussion here.

I also got another problem, boys with skating frames (basically those whose first time to skate) at my rink always came up into my lesson area, which is coned off. They will fall right in front of me. My coach helped them up most times.

My question is: if I was doing jumps and spins, and some other moves, and knocked the boy(s) down coz they came into my lesson area, can the parents of the boy(s) ask me for compensation?

I do know that there is an exclusion clause of accidents and liability in my rink.

londonicechamp

I'm afraid it's one of the Laws of Skating, that the fewer people there are on the ice, the more likely it is that you will collide.... don't know why it should be, but it happens every time!

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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'm sure they'd make a valiant effort. I don't know if they'd win it or not. People tend to go relatively ga-ga when a kid's involved, and I suppose they'd try to paint it as you doing daaaaaaaaaaaaaaangerous things when there are children present.

Hi Kat 12

Many thanks for your reply. However, my rink also has a clause that states that: skating is a dangerous sport. All patrons skate at their own risks.

Does that mean that that rule apply in my case?

londonicechamp

I think that unless you intentionally went after these boys, then most people would consider what happened to be an accident that would fall under that clause. If, however, you were purposely trying to knock someone down, then that's a different case.

It sounds as though this was an accident, that your coach was there supervising the situation and even helping the young boys who skated into this coned off area, so I'm not what grounds the parents would have for asking you for compensation of any sort.

Perhaps your coach can ask the boys to be more aware of staying out of the coned off lesson area and explain why (jumps, spins, more advanced skating, etc.). From there if they choose to continue to skate into this area, then that's a risk they are creating for themselves, and I'd hope that the parents would take note of this.

While it is possible that this skater was being inconsiderate, I think most skaters are just concerned about practicing the elements they came to practice that day, since ice time is not cheap. If you are in the middle of the rink for your entire lesson (20 minutes? 30 minutes?), you are bound to be right where other skaters need to be at times, especially if they are practicing sections of their programs.
I say this because I often find myself on the other side of this scenario, where a skater and instructor are working on something at one end of the rink--usually involving one or both of the hockey circles. They will stay there for the entire 20 or 30 minute lesson and that means I can't do anything at that end of the rink, even though I've got at least 6 sections of my Intermediate moves-in-the-field that require me to go through that area and another 3-4 elements in my program that need to happen there. The only way I can squeeze anything in is to jump in right as they are at a part of their pattern where I won't hit them. This still brings me pretty close to them, though, and I sometimes wonder if the less experienced skaters who don't recognize my patterns think I'm just trying to intimidate them on purpose.
Meanwhile, I'm always amazed when coaches don't occasionally move themselves and their students to the wall in order to let another skater complete a pattern in their area, especially if they are at a part of the lesson where the coach is standing there explaining something to the student. While it's true that lessons have right of way over skaters just practicing, I would say most of the coaches at my rink are aware of the need to share the ice and will not monopolize one area of the rink for their entire lesson time. However, there are two or three of them who just don't care and won't move no matter what, and IMO it is a disservice to their students because the students don't learn to recognize other skaters' patterns, a real necessity on freestyle sessions.

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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

I understand your frustration, but if a juv/intermediate skater was running through her program, the center is unavoidable. You and your coach could have moved the waltz 8 pattern somewhere else or negotiated some right of way with her.

The other issue is dealing with sharing the ice, you just have to. If she buzzes you and is not good at sharing, buzz her back.

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Wang chung!

Hi doubletoe

What is IMO?

Hi CoachPA

Thanks for your advice. The thing that annoys me and my coach most is that the ice marshalls probably know that the middle area is coned off for lessons, yet they do not tell the young boy(s) with skating frames to not go into my lesson area. Thus the situation happens once already during my lessons last week. I currently have lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings.

londonicechamp

IMO is forum/msn/instant messaging/sms shortform for in my opinion. IMHO is in my honest opinion. I took a while to figure it out.

When your coach does not use the orange cones, how can the public skaters know that you're having a lesson and to stay out? Someone told me that I paid for my lesson, but they paid for their skating time too. You just have to suck it up. It happens all the time around here, and everyone finds some way to deal with it. Not sure how things are done when you were in London, but here, the "ice marshalls" are not there permanently and are usually out when it's crowded (they mainly issue skates!). I usually skate my way around them, or if I'm going slow enough, tap them on the shoulder and point them in the right direction. You're the one who's more able to maneuver around them, so, go skate around them! If it's the same kid over and over, give a shout of excuse me and be on your way.

Now, back to the OP. Even if the skater was on a program runthrough, it should be done in a way that it does not disrupt the one in lesson, like skate around them, or try to avoid that area. It is a runthrough so the skater shouldn't have to cut through those circles, right? Once or twice is forgiveable, though.

At my rinks, flip 2 and 3. I can always redo an element in isolation during my lesson, but it's much harder to redo part of your program properly.

That's weird question! You are asking us? You are the lawyer, not us. And, you are in a country most of us have probably never been to. How useful do you think our opinion in this matter may be?

In the United States, you cannot give up your rights, which means that you have a right to sue for negligence even if you signed a waiver acknowledging the danger.

Another meaning of IMHO - In My Humble Opinion

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