What I have learnt about skating in Germany… including summer ice! (& Romania)

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AlbaNY:
Query, yes. There are rinks open in Bavaria, but that is over seven hours driving or even more by train each way from the part of the country where I live. Other northern countries also melt their ice in summer for the most part, I’m told. The rink in Willingen claims to even host skaters from neighbouring countries in the summer, but I only saw crowded public sessions with a handful of figure skaters at the centre.

They love hockey, but they accept that ice is just available for six months or less and turn to other sports the rest of the year.

Query:
7 or more hours each way... I guess you couldn't do that every day after work. :(

I gather there are artificial (i.e., lubricated plastic) ice rinks in Germany. But that would wear out your expensive blades very, very quickly. Some time ago, I skated on an artificial rink, and my blades felt like they needed sharpening (by my picky stands) after about 20 minutes. I was told by locals they resharpened after every hour. But they used cheap blades on artificial ice, and reserved their better blades for real ice...

AlbaNY:

--- Quote from: Query on October 16, 2023, 10:36:26 AM ---7 or more hours each way... I guess you couldn't do that every day after work. :(

I gather there are artificial (i.e., lubricated plastic) ice rinks in Germany. But that would wear out your expensive blades very, very quickly. Some time ago, I skated on an artificial rink, and my blades felt like they needed sharpening (by my picky stands) after about 20 minutes. I was told by locals they resharpened after every hour. But they used cheap blades on artificial ice, and reserved their better blades for real ice...

--- End quote ---

My new coach here has 40 metres of artificial ice for the summer. I tried some that my friend had for her hockey skater son, and yikes. It was not well maintained, so I could hardly skate at all. It was murder on the blades, so I definitely am not inclined on my more expensive pair now. I can drive an hour+ for ice in summer and rather do that. I am thankful for that option!

AlbaNY:
So, I had my first private lesson today. Afterwards we had coffee, and we discussed some skating things as well as just friendly chat. I’ll be able to report back more about testing here and such once I muddle through a German website. There are 8 levels, and it’s kind of Moves and Freestyle in one bundle, but more heavy on the freestyle?
Soon I’ll be an official club member and have a skating license or whatever to call that. They have some pretty nice club jackets, shirts, hoodies, skirts… I like this!
Also, I was wrong. It is 12 euros a month for adults, not 22. I suppose I couldn’t believe it when I wrote that down. Kids are half that.

My coach is lovely. I’m naming her Coach Generous, because she wouldn’t accept more than ten euros… for an hour and half lesson. :o :o :o

AlbaNY:
So, they do actually have a website and show testing requirements here. It’s a headache to wade through, because Google translate is rather useless for skating terms making brainpower a better option.

There are 8 levels, and they begin at 8 and get more advanced as the number lowers. (Weird to me.)
I’ll post more about that as I can better translate, but as an adult I’m not likely to get past 7 or 6 since it requires axel and doubles by then. Bummer. There is a form to have my US testing recognised, but given how advanced they expect things to be for their tests I don’t expect to get much from adult pre-bronze. 88) Maybe not even bronze if I can manage that on a trip back either?