What most inspired you to start skating?

[smelltheice]

For me, it was a long unrealised desire (there was no rink in my town or nearby) but I think it was watching Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean at the Olympics and things sprang from there but it would be 15 years before I got to realise that desire to take to the ice. I have an artistic flair but only really express it on the ice

[deannathegeek]

I always like ice skating, but what made me want to pursue it as a hobby was my daughter. She loved skating when she first started, and she was so adorable out there in her cute little costumes and stuff. She loved competing and being the center of attention, but she didn't like working at it (fair enough, considering she was only 4). I didn't want to be a dreaded skate mom, but the whole process was so much fun. SO I just started doing it myself :) Now my baby girl pushes me to practice!

[Helen88]

Oh wow...tough one! Watching Kimmie Meissner at the 06 Olympics was a huge factor I think...but Dancing on Ice series one really lit a spark. I remember begging, literally down on my knees, for skating lessons. And I rember my dad going 'oh you don't really want them...it's just a craze! It'll all be over soon...'. I like to remind him of that pereodically - normally when he's forking out for another lesson, three years on!

[Skittl1321]

I remember watching Kristi Yamaguchi win the olympics, and loving skating before that too. I think that must have been about when I did Basic 1, and my parents bought me my very own skates. (Up here in Iowa it seems everyone owns skates, even if they only go once a year- that was NOT the case in Texas. I didn't know anyone else with skates).

I would go on weekends and just copy the other skaters- I never learned anything fancier than a swizzle.

Fast forward past college and I found the skates in my closet- I had never had the heart to toss them out, they still fit and you never know. So I signed up for learn to skate- was placed in Basic 3 and decided I really loved it.

It's been 2 years now that I've been skating "for real".

[onlyhappyonice]

Me and my partner were looking for more things to do as a couple away from the kids, one night I suggested cinema, she suggesting ice skating.

Guess which won.

It was my second time on the ice in my 26 years on this planet (the first being when I was about 10), I fell three times, once in spectacular style with my arms going everywhere trying to retain my balance and ended up as a heap on the ice much to the amusement of Rachael and some others nearby, we went a few more times as it was alot of fun when not falling :lol:

Something clicked in my head on a session skate and from that day it feels like skating is all I want to do all day every day.

We now have lessons together on tuesday nights (whoo tonight). After two weeks me and my partner were moved up to a higher group where we are working on grade 7 excercises and my daughter has her lessons on a saturday morning where I'm allowed to hit the ice with her during her practice time to help her along.

[FSWer]

For me it was just being a fan of Skating and just wanting to be one of the skaters out there.

[skatergal]

Well, my brother played hockey, so I wanted to follow in his footsteps. After a while I kind of got bored of it, so I quit. I started to go to public skating a little and saw some figure skaters out there and decided to give it a try. What really inspired me to want to be really good were the 2006 olympics, and watching other people skate at my rink. After that I just gat a lot of jumps really fast and i got up to FS 4 ISI in about 9 months.

[AvroArrow409]

I used to skate, until I smashed up my left foot really bad in an accident. If I try to skate now, my left foot swells up, and I am in considerable pain. I ended up having to cut all the laces off, just to get my foot out of the skate. I still keep them in the closet, as a keepsake I guess!