I was certainly a by-product of "Hurricane Tanya/Nancy" that swept through my living room back in 94, though I didn't actually get to skate until the summer of 96. Up until that point I had been perfectly content being a part of my gymnastics club's "X-Team"(which was a group of us gymnasts that, for whatever reason, quit competing and met once a week to tumble, etc.) I gave up competitive gymnastics becuase of a tremendous growth spurt I "suffered" when I was 16; I couldn't swing high bar without my toes scraping the mat underneath!:]

To make a long story short, I started with group lessons when I turned 19 and have been skating ever since...and I still love it:] It's funny, it wasn't until about 2 years into my skating that I began to identify myself as a skater and not a gymnast:]

-Happy skating!

I skated as a kid, no lessons it's just what everyone did. fast forward 30 years - I took it up with lessons at 43. All I wanted to learn was good strokes and cross overs. Well now I'm on freeskate 2 - 3. Those back edges are holding me up in 2. Each new level I feel I've accomplished more than my original goal and that I am comfortable right where I am. Then I pass a test and its off to the next level

hey i was getting worried as i was reading the posts, cuz i started at 13 and most everyone else i know has started much earlier. i've been skating for 3 years and i love it!!!!!!!!!!!! im hoping to start working on my singles soon.

Despite NBC's wretched coverage of the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, I was inspired enough to take the ice at age 17. I taught myself a waltz jump, scratch spin, and ina bauer and with the help of group lessons and the occasional private lesson, learned all the jumps through the loop in about two years.

I continued to skate casually until 2002, 1-2 times a week during the cooler months, taking group lessons on occasion, with a year off here and there. I did a few seasons of ISI, but never really had consistent ice time, training or instruction. Then, inspired by Sarah Hughes' performance at the 2002 Olympics, I decided to take my skating seriously, and at age 47 started taking weekly private lessons and skating at least 3-4 times a week. Talk about trying to unlearn years of bad habits! I'm still trying to figure out how to do back crossovers properly and to reclaim my ina bauer!

Happy Skating!
Raine

I started when I was 26 and had bought myself skates as a Christmas present. I was skating on an outdoor rink near my house when I realized I was going very fast but didn't have a *clue* how to stop or steer myself. I signed up for lessons in the interest of everyone's safety! My lessons started in March 2002.

Before that, I had only rollerskated and ice skated at birthday parties. When I was 16, I got a friend to come with me to the rink--it was her first time skating, her sister accidentally skated in front of her, making her fall and break her ankle in 2 places.

So, I've been skating a little over 2 years, but my actual time in lessons is much less because of breaks between sessions, etc.

My goal is to learn all the singles and at least attemt an axel at some time. We'll see how my knees and my nerves hold up for doubles! My other goals are to pass Adult Gold Moves or higher and to do all the one-foot turns well. (That may take the longest, judging from the stroking class I took recently--the teacher didn't know me very well, and had everyone, myself included, trying brackets on a circle. OY!)

Well, good luck for you all no matter what goals and age you have. After all, Happy Skating
Milkawendy,
Let's hope to attempt an axel some time eh.

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** Skate 'til You Drop **

I guess I'm one of the few on here who has been skating non-stop since I was young! I started CanSkate lessons when I was 6, just because my parents wanted me to learn how to skate. I didn't really like it that much, but they kept registering me for lessons every year so that I would have a winter activity. When I was 11, I started Precision, and then started CanFigureskate shortly afterward. It took a couple of years of precision before I really started to love skating. I quite CanFigure when I was about 14, and did nothing but precision/synchro until I was 22. Last year, I decided I wanted to pass my dances and skills, so after skating regularly for 16 years, and competing in synchro for 12, I had my first private lesson! Now I just have one gold dance left to pass, and I am working on my jr. silver skills. After I'm finished with the skills, I'd like to do my artistic/interpretives, and a bit of freeskate. I still compete in synchro as well.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

I started at age 8, but even tho I fell in love with it from the first time I stepped through the doors I didn't take it very seriously at all. I do not come from a skating family. I started private lessons when I was 11-12 once a week and that was the biggest thing. I was a real figure skater now . I spent 1 year and 8 months on that AXEL but it was a thing of I could land it but I didn't believe I could.

Around that time I just got so sick of seeing skaters younger than me working on double lutz and double axels. So I made a promise to myself that by the end of this year I'll be landing ( or at least working on) double axel. I've pretty much kept my promise to myself !

this is ot, but what does not coming from a skate family have to do with taking it seriously? perhaps you werent really into it it then and now you are ?
Lots of kids arent from skate families, including my kids. we are now a skate family, but werent before.

i got on the ice at about 1 1/2 although i started jumping in the living room at about 1

I don't want to speak for Jumpingbeans, but as a parent in "not a skate family", I can see how that can really slow a child down. My daughter has several friends who don't take lessons year round or who rarely get ice time outside of their lessons. For things like soccer or dance that kind of low key approach is pretty typical for 4-12 year olds and the parents don't see why skating should be any different. In a situation like that, it takes a very demanding child to get more ice time.

On topic, I started skating at 40 and after a year and a half of not really pushing myself, I am doing backwards crossovers, and not pretty ones either. I'm still very nervous on the ice. I know that's slowing me down a lot.

I'm 19 now and just started skating about 4 1/2 months ago (right before I turned 19). I took a class for P.E. two days a week last semester and a 15 week adult group class on Saturdays. Both of those have ended, but I'm starting a 10 week semi-private lesson in June and taking the P.E. class again in the fall. After that I might start taking private lessons, we'll see. My long term goals are to compete, to have a free skating program, and to hopefully learn at least all the single jumps.

Maybe I shouldn't of said a skating family, but rather a sports family. My family is more about education and getting into a good college. We just didn't know how much time went into skating to be an elite skater. We thought that skating once a week would be all you needed. But you are right, I wasn't serious about back then. It was just a fun thing I did.

lol guess I have demanding kids or just listened to them, but this is what they want from life right now.When your kids ask every day when are we skating today. it really is something they want.I had never been on the ice and dh had been once.
Now we all skate. and dh is learning how to zam so we can get cheaper ice.
just call us crazy!!
on topic,i just started a few months ago and im 42.

You can have both,lots of people do.Look at sara hughes right now
We want our kids to get into a good school too, if that is what they want to do.But i do think you can do both if its what you want

I started skating when I was about 8. I started private lessons when I was 10. I started taking skating seriously when I was 12.

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beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

I started skating at age 12 in Stone Mtn., GA, but mainly just group lessons. I skated about 1-2 times a week b/c it was too much trouble for my mom to keep driving me to the rink. I quit at age 15 and then didn't get serious (or should I say, fanatical?) about skating til age 22 when I dropped out of law school in San Francisco-- long story, but I soon went back to a different school in DC. It was a strange time in my life, but I got to skate almost everyday at Berkeley Iceland and Oakland US Ice Center. That's where I made the most progress. I started having "axel dreams" in 1996 and can finally land them about 1/2 the time.