Another sort of venting/fun thread, I was just wondering about all those little things that irk you about skating in general.
Here goes:

Coaches who take complete control over every little thing their students do, even out of skating in their lesson.

Rinks who constantly change their entry prices!

Trying to dodge the swervy, unpredictable patterns of ice dancers.

Gold blades. I don't care if you are a novice or an Olympian, nothing says pretentious like gold blades.

People who think their top of the range skates will make up for their lack of discipline or skill.

People who think skating is not exercise! My father said he didn't count my skating as exercise because it's simply gliding along ice! Obviously he hasn't skated a program.

Got any of your own?

People who think ice dancers' patterns are any more unpredictable than their own programmes!

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

...is when rinks change the freestyle schedule without any notice whatsoever to the skaters! This happened last Saturday morning when the rink dumped our only weekend FS for hockey, and told only two people out of about 60 -- so almost all the skaters and coaches ended up wasting an entire morning. It might have been more bearable had this not already happened twice in the past 12 months at the same rink (when they cancelled Sunday morning and Monday early evenings).

From now on I'm calling before every single freestyle to be sure, although even that doesn't work sometimes, as the old manager never told any of his employees when he changed the schedule, then yelled at the customers when they complained because we had talked to his employees instead of him (although I still don't understand how it is our job to keep his employees informed of something we didn't even know about?) Several of us had a small party on the ice during a public session we when found out he was being dismissed to another rink.

I wish I could win the lotto and build my own rink, like in The Cutting Edge, so I wouldn't have to deal with the one I have to skate at....

I totally agree with your first peeve. Especially for adult skaters. For the life of me, I'll never understand why a competent, capable adult would turn over control of their choice in music, clothes, hair, tights (yes, tights), etc. to a coach. Blows my mind. Then they usually complain about it. "I wanted to skate to a waltz this year. ... My coach won't let me compete in that competition." Aargh.

One of my big pet peeves isn't unique to skating, but it is pretty common: inequitable distribution of labor. Once you prove that you're willing to be active with your club, you get pestered to do everything, while most of the parents/skaters don't lift a finger to do anything.

LOL
Sorry Mrs Redboots, I knew I might hit a nerve with a dancer there, but it's just from my free-skater point of view

My main gripe with control freak coaches was one with a young girl who wanted to join our synchro team. Her coach sure did put her foot down, "No you can't! You are going to be a single skater and that is it!". It blows my mind how a coach can be so controlling of someone who is essentially their employer.

Skaters who DON'T even try to learn your dance pattern (quite predictable) after they've shared the ice with you for 6 months!!

Lax "free style" rules that allow children working on cross overs to share the ice with skaters working on doubles and triples, has accident written all over it.

Skaters who practice their program more than 3 times on one freestyle session, enough already, share the music time.

Skaters who work on triples in crowded sessions.

Coaches who don't teach their students the proper rules of conduct during freestyle sessions.

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

Pet peeve of the week: bad ice! and management who doesn't recognize it as such, thus continuing the trend of general dysfunction at my favorite rink! (Will it ever change?)

That is how I met Flutzilla's coach!! Her rink's pro shop had some adult skating dresses (and I had none! ;-) so I stopped there on the way to another branch of that store. Anyway, it was raining and the guy that was supposed to open the place up just didn't come in! There were several coaches and lots of kids waiting outside.

Of course that was before I knew that coach was Flutzilla's coach ;-)

Hugs!
Danielle

ps) My peeve is the "excuse me" kid that I seem to find at each rink. I don't mean the occasional "excuse me" or when doing your program or something, I mean when *I* am in a lesson and she still does it!

When rinks care more about hockey players than figure skaters, and have so much more ice time devoted to the former. Some rink websites have tons of hockey info, but little or nothing about freestyle times. It also disgusts me when the locker rooms always reek of hockey sweat at some rinks! I know hockey is the main source of income keeping rinks going, but still....

__________________
This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Kids who just stand there and stare at you when you're coming out of a MIF pattern!! I've had SO MANY close calls and a few collisions with one small boy (who's been skating for years so he should know to get out of the way) who will just stand there and look at me. I was coming out of the backward power crossovers this morning and actually had to bend my free leg to not hit him on the exit glide.
Really, that's my biggest peeve, kids who don't move or just stand around on the ice. When you're skating straight at them, they should move if they're just standing there! Arrrrgh!

Boy, oh boy do I feel your pain! Last Sunday night, we had a scheduled 6-8pm freestyle. We show up for practice and find out that the owner or the figure skating director( who's job it was I don't know) "forgot" to put the ice time in the ice book!
On Labor Day, several skaters arrived for a afternoon freestyle to find that the time had been given to a hockey team !
Oh and this morning, no one showed up to open the doors for the 6am freestyle!
We also lost 4 hours of freestyle the week in August before a test session!

Coaches who stay in one spot with their students, and don't yield the right of way - especially when it's a dance, and the coach should know by the music that's playing that they're standing right in the middle of your pattern.

Coaches who think that because they're working with an "elite" skater they don't have to abide by the same music/ice rules as everyone else.

Some of those coaches don't even wear skates. They stand around in shoes!

__________________
This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

AAUUGH - if I have to bail out of my program ONE MORE TIME on account of one particular coach at our rink...

Other peeves -

Coaches who teach their little ones crossovers on the circle in the lutz corner.

Skaters who run their program five or six times in a one-hour session. I know it shouldn't be a big deal if nobody else is waiting to use the tape, but it gets old to have to dodge the same kid on their fifth run-through.

Kids standing around in the center of the ice talking!

Ok I admit it, I'm one of those skaters that takes a corner circle, but wait! I usually watch to see if anyone is using it, and I always keep an eye out. But I still get problems as people seem to pick a random corner at times! And you can't use the middle one as everyone is cutting through it!

Peeve? At my summer rink, people were really polite, and always watched out for little ol me since I was a lower level then they were. My winter rink? Well, lets say it seems I have to move out of the way more often then they move out of my way, and I'm the one always saying sorry.

Steven

__________________
"A sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." - Albert Einstein
"A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular." - Adlai Stevenson
"Got Edge?" - Steven J. Arness - Coachless, two years and counting.
"He who carves himself to suit others will soon whittle himself away."
"Sometimes you get what you want but loose what you have."

Skate brats (the ones whose confidence (cockiness) in themselves FAR outweighs their ability .....) who expect everyone to get out of their way at ALL times irrespective of whether they're in a lesson or not. These are usually the same ones who put their music on CONSTANTLY and expect you to stand at the barrier while they run through their programme 3,000,000 times in one session.

Skaters who put their music on (usually these are the same as above) and ALWAYS stop part way through but leave their music on, you think that they've finished but NO just as you start on your way again they decided to pick up their programme and then give you dirty looks and then shout or swear at you! (I'm not talking about this happening once or twice here, I'm talking about repeat offenders ).

Coaches who think that they are the only ones who have a right to be on the ice and pupils who copy this attitude.

Ice rink management who 'forget' that you've paid for a year in advance and go on at you about 'paying customers' when you complain about them letting the general public on patch ice that you've paid for!

Skaters/coaches who think that just because you're an adult means that they don't have to move out of their way when YOUR programme music is on (I had one coach once who actually let his pupil go into a camel spin at JUST the spot where I needed to do a sit spin for my test programme ... a couple of days before my test so he KNEW where I was heading!)

Skating parents (usually mothers) .... you know, the ones that live their lives through their offspring! Not the nice ones who come to the rink and are supportive, the ones that shout instructions to their beloved angels from the barrier even though they (the parent) can't skate and their kids are in the middle of a lesson and generally cause problems within the rink.

Anyone who is rude when they're on the ice ..... I was waiting to start a dance with my ex-partner (the music was on, we were waiting for the 'off') and another adult skater came by, decided that we were where he wanted to be and actually PUSHED me in the back out of his way!!!!!

And last but not least .... the way I NEVER used to give myself a break! I expected far too much from myself and used to beat myself up when I couldn't do something the first time I tried it!!!!

__________________

The best whisper is a click

My primary coach wears gold blades and brown boots... and wears "pretentious" QUITE well, thank you!!!

__________________
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!!!

Ooh and another one: Slack coaches who start their kids on all the fancy jumps before they can hold a decent back outside edge or do a crossover! I know the tricks are more exciting, but you've GOT to start at the basics to be able to do those tricks properly!

I pity those who've mentioned having FS sessions pushed around the hockey sessions, can't say I've had the same though. I'm lucky, my rink doesn't care for either FS or Hockey and packs in as many money making public sessions as possible.

Our rink always seems to close for repairs right before major competitions. Last year the ice was out for a whole month right before Regionals, and this year we've just opened after another two-week repair stint. The ice was also unavailable right before our State Games, which made some parents and skaters hopping mad. Our rink really has no sense of the needs of skaters, any skaters, which sucks because I have enjoyed so many of the people I've met there. Can't enjoy skating with them if there's no ice.

__________________
All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Yes, but the key here is that you at least keep an eye out! You would be amazed at how far that small courtesy goes. The ones that make me nutty, anyway, are the 5 year olds whose coaches take them specifically TO that circle and work crossovers for 1/2 hour straight. Then, the kids think that because they've been "taught" to do their crossovers on THAT circle, that it must be the "only" place to do them and they practice them there - and only there - for the NEXT 1/2 hour.

Oh, another peeve on the same vein, mothers of tiny little kids on freestyle who say "Oh, they're only 5-6-7 years old, how can they be expected to know watch out for the big kids". Granted, they aren't born knowing this. Taz Jr. certainly wasn't. She was 4 1/2 when she started skating low freestyles and her coach darned well made sure she knew what to look out for. They do need to be *taught* this like everything else. If they aren't "old enough" to learn this, they aren't "old enough" to be on a freestyle, IMHO.

My pet peeve: Combining kds and adults in one class for group lessons. I understand that if there are only two kids and two adults -- it doesn't make sense to have a class for two people. But there are four adults and six kids in my Freestlye 1 class. Four is the minimum requirement to hold a class, so we could have easily had an adult Freestyle 1 class AND a kid class.

Don't get me wrong -- I love my little skating buddies, but having them in a crowded class with adults makes things difficult. Although I am not a powerful skate by any means, I skate with longer strokes and more speed than they do simply because my legs are longer and I'm taller. When we're trying to do a footwork or edge pattern, I nearly always end up aborting because the kids' patterns are much smaller and I don't want to skate right over the top of them. If I stand at the front of the line, they complain they can't see, which is true -- I'm nearly a foot taller than they are. None of this is their fault, nor mine.

My other pet peeve: Parents who send their kids to Learn-to-Skate classes when they don't learn well in a group environment. There's one child in my class who appears to have ADD (not that this is a bad thing, just a thing). The poor girl cannot stay with the class to save her life -- she seems to get overwhelmed and then zones out or "does her own thing". With 10 people in the 1/2 hour class she's not getting the individual attention she needs and therefore she wanders. And "does her own thing" right in the middle of your pattern without watching where she's going. Right now her "own thing" is practicing intentionally falling and sliding across the ice on her back instead of stopping properly. She is greatly amused by this. I am not! I've practiced with her on club ice and one-on-one she does a great job of staying focused and doing things right. I've never seen a better candidate for private lessons!

People that think themselves much more important than everyone else. They're often of a higher level than the other skaters and so they seem to think they are the most important. I remember right back when I hadn't started lessons yet, I was on a public session where most people were just trying to get round, but there was one guy who was quite fast and was doing crossovers and stuff (looked very good to the layman though). He was SO rude! He actually pushed past me and my friend when we were just trying to go forwards, making us both fall, and didn't even look back. I even had someone brush past me when I was doing a spiral once! A spiral is something precariously balanced as it is. I make a lot of effort to give way and to give everyone enough space, so it irritates me when some other people can't do the same. Also I hate it when people act really snobby or superior, like one time recently when I asked someone (a boy about 15) where I had to go to ask about lessons, and he looked at me like I was mad and completely ignored me, walking off! By the way he was acting he clearly thought he was the next Plushenko. I saw him skate the next week - he isn't.

Another thing that annoyed me once was when I was skating solo on a dance interval. I had started the dance at the right place, at the right time in the music, and was skating at the right speed. One coach was dancing it with another skater, and he just started the dance from anywhere, any point in the music, etc. We nearly collided several times (clearly not my fault, as he was the one doing a random pattern) and he looked at me like I'd done it on purpose, like their dance was more important than mine and I was getting in the way! Grr. One time, he was giving a lesson and teaching a skater a camel spin, and just standing still and without looking behind him, he swung his leg up into the camel position and then back down again, almost kicking a child in the head and he didn't even realise what he'd done! Some people are just so inconsiderate. And uncaring.

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

I have a FEW pet peeves...

People who create craters (you know the type -- as big as the Grand Canyon?) on the ice and doesn't bother to patch it back up afterwards. I've caught a couple of bad spills on those...

The lovely little tots who go barreling through the middle of the ice on public sessions. BIG GUYS too for that matter!!! You know who you are... the ones that hang out with your frat boys trying to show up to impress your dates. You grammar school/middle school/high school kids who can't afford skates, much less, tie them correctly but think that your $6.50-7.00 entitles you to not only go through the middle but SHOVE other skaters (who ARE practicing spins and jumps) out of your way! Remember, center of the ice is for JUMPS AND SPINS only!!! And when I get good enough, I will take the 2 point penalty for "checking."

Skating parents who tell their kid that they're not practicing their <insert-the-jump-here> after falling on the umpthteen million time on said jump. If the kid is consistently falling on that jump after about 10 times, it's time to put the jump away for the day! You're reinforcing bad habits if you keep at it! (And of course, you want to save the kid's tailbone, hip bone, butt, etc...)

And on the same vain in many cases... when I ask those parents why they're not on the ice with them, they say "Oh, I'm too old and fragile to learn skating." I'm usually maybe two years younger than them... no excuse considering that I know skaters who are older than them who are skating and they didn't start out as little kiddies either! Now, if you're skating mom w/no dad to help out, I could understand the fear since your kid is relying on you as "chef" and "shuttle service." Then again, accident can happen ANYWHERE and you don't HAVE to learn how to jump and spin. Just learning how to get around on your own on the ice w/o help on rentals is enough... You DO want to be able to get to your kid if he or she takes a nasty spill on the ice, don't you?

Skating parents who force their "Olympic dreams" on their kid. Remember it's YOUR dream!!! Live your OWN dream!!! Don't make the kid do it for you!

And one MAJOR one for the hockey guys. We love 'ya, but we don't love the smell of your hockey gear!!! That stench is bad enough to be used as WMD (no offense to the 9/11 folks...) One word: FEBREEZE!!! Another word: Detergent

__________________
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!!!

This thread is so therapeutic.

I tend to avoid public sessions all together these days. Just impossible to do anything other than mosey around in the herd.
Off to one side you have the brats in rentals kicking huge holes in the ice to throw snow at their buddies (rink seems to have remedied this somewhat by hardly ever giving out the "toepick" skates to kids). Whizzing precariously past you in their ill fitting skates are the adolescents or preteens playing "chasey", to call it skating is the wrong word - I'd call it running on ice, which they do as fast as they can without looking where they are going. Nevermind the fact that they CANNOT STOP to save themselves!
It just isn't worth it, unless you find one of the completely deserted public sessions at 9:30pm during a weekday.