Reactions and responses

[Meli]

Being an adult and not possessing the traditional figure skater's body type, it's been interesting to see the reactions of people when they find out where I spend so much of my time these days.  Usually, it's my husband who mentions that I'm off skating, so he tends to get "Why???"

My favorite was from a coworker who simply said, "So, are you more of a Nancy or a Tonya?"   

What kind of reaction/response do you usually get?

[AgnesNitt]

This is usually what I get.

"Oh, okay."

[Skittl1321]

Either "Can you do a triple axel" or "Can you skate backwards?"

There isn't much of a middle.

[SynchKat]

I usually get, "wow that's awesome, where do you do it?"

[supra]

One girl at the gym asked if I was a pro skater and I almost started laughing.

"Dude that's sick bro, do you get to hold girls up in the air and stuff?"
"No, I'm not good enough to do that yet."
"Oh..."

"Yeah man, there's a lot of hot girls there, right?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"Dude you should like totally hook up with them bro."


"So you're saying your skating is the only enjoyable part of your day?"
"Yeah."
"That's sad."
"Maybe."

"Ah yeah, I guess you do kinda look like one."
(I have really giant legs and a small upper body, and I'm like this naturally though skating/training accentuated this...)

Let's see, as I was doing 3 turns in a public session at a non-home rink one person asked if I was professional, too. Which I don't understand how someone could come to that conclusion.

Oddly I've not gotten the "that's totally homo to the max" from guys directly. Maybe they say it after when I'm not looking.

[sampaguita]

"So can you jump? Can you spin? What's the hardest thing that you can do?"

And that's why I keep my skating a secret, lol!

[jjane45]

are you (any) good?

two days before my bronze moves test I crashed into the boards, and went to work with a swollen chin that required icing all day. from there on my boss kept saying be safe be safe.

[karne]

"Oh, that's really cool!" Oddly, from most of my co-workers. Also plenty of teasing about my klutziness, including a semi-serious ban from the rink by my boss approaching stocktake (after showing up injured to two in a row, one of which was my shoulder, which rendered me completely useless...)

[Kitten23]

I usually get "yeah, sure, right..." with an extra portion of disbelief.  Or my personal favorite, hysterical laughter.

My coworkers don't think I can skate.  One told me she was an excellent skater because she could skate backwards. I told her I could too.  She still doesn't believe me.

At the rink, after an exceptionally bad skate, a parent asked me if I had just learned and was this my first time on the ice.  I told him no.  The following week was an exceptionally good skate, to which he said, "Wow, you've improved."  Right....

[nataxa]

One of my friend insisted that she is skating better than me (and she never saw how I'm skating) because she has great skates and they are WHITE!

[AgnesNitt]

Back when my old rink was open, I used to skate 3 days a week (it was close). On separate days, two different women came up to me on ice and said almost the same words.

"I see you skate, and I thought 'If she can do it, I can do it.'"

Okay, whatever. You go sister. Man talk about left handed compliments

[Sk8tmum]

My DD, who is newly an adult skater gets the following:

You mean youre' still skating? But, aren't you at university now?  Didn't you quit? (weirdly, she gets this often from ex-skaters).
Do you really wear those dresses with the short skirts (while eyeing her winter wear of multiple layers of hoodies, sweats, leggings, shirts, jackets)
Can you do anything neat?   (Often from hockey players on public skating sessions).
You have beautiful posture. Is that from skating?   (yes, and also from a mother who was determined her very tall daughter wouldn't stoop).
You don't look like a skater ... are you sure you are really a figure skater? (hmmmm... maybe 5'10 isn't usual for a skater?)
Why do you keep skating?  Doesn't that cost a lot of money?

All of which she smiles and answers with: Yes I am still skating - I've some tests to finish off and I love to skate anyways. Yes, I do wear the skimpy dresses with short skirts ... wanna see a picture (they usually do).  Yes I can do neat stuff, just not on public skate.  Thank you for the compliment on my posture.  Figure skaters can be any shape or size - but yes I am pretty tall for a skater.  It can be really expensive or not, it all depends on what you want to do.

She also gets dragged over to be shown off to little girls as an "inspiration", used as an "If SHE can do it WHY CAN'T YOU' weapon by some skating moms against their daughters who have quit skating (AWKWARD!), and a source of info for anything involved with the sport

[SynchKat]

I too often get the comment about posture/carriage.  My neighbour told me she should have known I do something like skating or dance because of my posture.  I never think I have very good posture. 

[icedancer]

Because I skate at a mall rink in my city I often see people I know walking by.  One friend said, "Wow, you are a lot more graceful on the ice than when you are just walking around!"

I thought that was hilarious.

[Traceekins]

The best (well, the funniest) response I've ever received was from a guy on a dating website:

"Figure skating? Isn't that a little kid's sport?"

Hahaha! If you say so. 

[rosereedy]

My favorite since I am in Alabama, " there's ice skating in Alabama?!" We have a few rinks here. I also get "can you do all the twirls and stuff?"

[4711]

My favorite since I am in Alabama, " there's ice skating in Alabama?!" We have a few rinks here. I also get "can you do all the twirls and stuff?"

HA, there is no ice in Alabama, unless it's in your soda! 

But rest assure, friends, you are not alone with the asinine questions.

The ladies I normally talk to get the same thing about riding their horses.
'When are you growing out of it'
'when the baby comes, you have to sell the horse' (and do what? sit on the couch, melt your brain with barney, eating bon-bons all day?)
'Why are you still taking lessons, don't you know how to ride by now'
'I can ride, I was on a pony at a carnival once'

The remarks and question usually come from people who do nothing else but watch TV and play on the computer.
Heck, even this lovely older couple gets grief from the crowd, being called crazy for enjoying the outdoors. I guess since they are pushing 80, they need to sit in a wheel chair, instead of running circles around us younger folk!

[iomoon]

Most reactions: "Cool!" "I want to skate too!"

[icedancer]

'Why are you still taking lessons, don't you know how to ride by now'

This is my favorite one!  I hear this all of the time.

My weirdest time was when I did some public sessions late in the afternoon - there were lots of hockey kids and no figure skaters - the hockey parents would just look right through me as though I wasn't there - like they couldn't acknowlege that there was an adult skating on the same ice as their kids. 

Very strange.

[sarahspins]

Most reactions: "Cool!" "I want to skate too!"

Funny, most of the time I get the "Really?!  I could never do that!" line

[alejeather]

The worst one I ever got was from a manager at work. He said, "what is this, the 80s?" which I'm not sure if that even makes sense.

One lady asked me if I could go in a circle. It was a vague question, but I figured that I could truthfully answer yes, since basically everything in skating is a circle. Then she asked me how many circles I could do. I asked for clarification at that point and it turns out she was talking about spinning.

My boss always asks if I can do a triple salchow whenever my skating happens to come up. He admitted that he has no idea what that is but that he likes to say it.

Also, if you haven't seen this, it covers a lot of typical reactions

[Icicle]

"Are you a ballerina or a gymnast?"
"I'm an adult figure skater."
"Ah, cool." (I think the word "adult" didn't register)

"Can you do a triple toe loop?"
"No, just a single toe loop."
"Oh, that's great."

[ChristyRN]

"Figure skating? Isn't that a little kid's sport?"

I *use* that line all the time.  Usually after I fall or injure myself.  As in "That's what I get for participating in a young person's sport!"

[techskater]

My husband's company pays a "lifetime learning" credit annually.  We use the money for our (dog) agility training.  He had to explain WHY we continue to take lessons each year - I mean didn't we learn that already? 

[mamabear]

"That is great.  I could never do that."  is what I usually hear from friends who have nothing to do with skating. 

"I keep meaning to do it. "  What I hear from moms at the rink.