Ice skating is HARD!

[hopskipjump]

I am a parent.  I watch from a bleacher.  I can tie skates, kiss injuries, worry and fret, pay the rink and coaches, and cheer my skater on. 

I don't skate.

Until today. 

I went out with the goal of learning how to stop.  In the handful of times I have put on skates in my lifetime I have always waited for motion to stop - on it's own or by careening into a wall.

I skated during the session but could not do more than glide and the feet did not learn to stop.  My skater is disappointed - she thought I could do it (love that she thinks I can do anything).  Maybe next time!  I have to say my hips are really sore.  My friend said my ankles would be tired, but my hips gave out long before my ankles. 

Kudos to all of you skaters!!!!

[nicklaszlo]

I went out with the goal of learning how to stop.

Stopping is hard.  But keep trying!

[hopskipjump]

I don't think she will stop hounding me until I can stop.     I am going to try again next week.  I can stop on roller skates though!

[Harleyboy]

Congratulations!! The 1st day is the worst, they get better from here on out.. Well, sometimes..oh, never mind that. Sounds like you are hooked, you'll be shopping for skates before you know it..

[hopskipjump]

We can barely afford one skater.   

[jjane45]

I was not able to stop properly until officially picking up lessons. You did great for the little time you spent skating! Watch out for AOSS, it's a black hole

[AgnesNitt]

I assume you're in rental skates, so that's your problem.   No support, no edges, they probably don't fit either.

You'll know you're a real figure skater when you blame something else for your failures: the ice, the blades, the boots, other people.....

[ls99]

Fear not.

 You can get the hang of it. How do I know? In January I was hanging onto the railing for dear life. After getting some real cheap skates and having them sharpened I was off and running. They were infinitely better than rentals. Granted now I have better boots and OK blades, MK double star.

No lessons, just memory of stuff  I remembered when last on Ice at age 12 or so, 51 years ago.

FWIW I find the snowplow stop impossible, unless blades are dull, but then they are useless for anything else.

I can do a very elegant T stop on either L or R. A few instructors remarked on the quality. A few of them seem to keep an eye on this geezer doing stuff. Do comment at times on my antics. I have lots of fun on the ice, have got the hang of L crossovers and nice stroking. Bent knees and all that. Love to glide, a few strokes gets me to glide the length of the rink on either L or R blade. Getting good at doing them backwards as well.  Playing with figure eights is like meditation. Can do it for half hour and not notice the passing of time until finally seeing the clock.

I am not taking nor do I intend to get lessons, would take all the fun out of it for me. Especially since I do skate for the fun of it.

So get out there and play.

[bollyskater]

I thought ice skating was hard and then I took beginner lessons. It turns out I had a real facility for it, as long as someone gave me some guidance on what to do. Also, I enjoy being coached. It's not often in an adult's life when you have someone cheering for every tiny advance you make!

[Laneybug7]

Yes ice skating is hard! It's very hard! I tell my brothers or anyone who has ever doubted the difficulty of it..'okay lets see you properly land an axel and then we'll talk'.  I officially started skating when I was in college and NEVER would have thought I'd be where I am now.  While skating is hard, it takes alot of patience, falls(where you aren't too badly injured), persistance, humility and a sense of humor(honestly sometimes you just have to laugh at it, at yourself, and at the challenge).  Keep trying.  Yes, this time stopping was hard and maybe next time it will be...but you'll be surprised soon you'll be making more and more progress until you're doing a T stop at the start of your very first competition.  Like alot of things in life, skating takes work, practice, and has it's ups and downs(no pun intended).  But if it's something you really want to learn...even just recreationally...stick to it, because you'll be amazed at what you will learn and accomplish.  Silly background story...I literally thought I was never going to land my loop jump and worried that my grave would read "Here Lies Laneybug7, Age 20, Died of a Loop Jump.'  But on one magical day, after alot of falls, I finally landed it! It was such an amazing feeling!!  I'll bet you'll get that exciting rush of good feeling when you stop on your own and then your first 3 turn, then your first jump, and then holy crap you're doing doubles...hehe.   All joking aside, keep working at it..some things will take more time than others, but if you stay persistant and continue to practice, you'll reach your skating goals.

[turnip]

Well done for getting on the ice!!!

  And i also love that your skater thinks you can do anything!

Skating is REALLY hard. I always think the BEST skaters can make everything they do look easy. They're the ones who make people think skating is easy because they can pop out a triple and look like they could do it in their sleep. They don't let the hours of practice show in their skating.

[dak_rbb]

We can barely afford one skater.  

I can relate to that!  However, I started skating when my daughter began five years ago in group class and I'm still in group class. (We have a small "advanced" adult class at our rink.)  Yes, I progress REALLY slowly, but that's okay.  No plans to compete, etc.  I would like to take privates, but I can't quite bring myself to do it when my daughter could use more lessons at her level.  However, it's fun and great exercise once you get going (meaning once you learn to stop).  Lessons help a lot with that!  You'll do much better with just a few sessions of LTS and group lessons are usually very reasonable.

[Skate@Delaware]

I spent my first year of skating using the wall to stop. Just get out there and have fun and enjoy it. It will come with time and when you become more comfortable with it. Welcome to the sport!

[Skittl1321]

Good job for getting out there and trying! 

I tell adults not to worry about stopping until they have mastered the basics.  Stopping is really difficult.  (I've seen a pre-bronze moves test where the skater ran into the wall after ALL her moves as a means to stop.  She passed.  Technically, stopping is not on the test.)

Even if you just want to skate occasionaly, I recommend getting a pair of skates, just $100 or so.  Your feet aren't growing, so they won't have to be replaced for a long time, and your own skates are infinetly better than rentals, even if they are crappy skates compared to "real" figure skates.

[nicklaszlo]

Technically, stopping is not on the test.

In my prebronze test, the judge said I should not be afraid of her because I stopped far away.  Actually I stopped far away because I was afraid of running over her.

[jjane45]

(I've seen a pre-bronze moves test where the skater ran into the wall after ALL her moves as a means to stop.  She passed.  Technically, stopping is not on the test.)

I would like to meet her coach if she had one... Actually the first stops in LTS would require comfortable glide on one foot, right? (snowplow and T-stop). The easiest (albeit slow) stop in my opinion is pointing toes inward and slowly pressing on inside edges. Is there a name for it?

[Skittl1321]

She could stop well enough on public skate sessions, and could do the stops in LTS, where you usually do a few light pushes and come to a stop, but the MITF test means most skaters skate with a lot more power than they prefer, and also have nerves.  Her stops just weren't there that day.

I know for my PB moves I was all set to do lovely t-stops, and snowplowed every one of them- I just just too darn nervous and kept catching my inside edge rather than the outside, and aborting to a stop I knew would work.  I don't remember which I did for bronze (though I do know that I stopped backwards moves with a back snowplow.  I couldn't turn comfortably to face forward after moves when I was skating that fast.  My coach was really nervous about letting me do it, because everyone turns and glides forward, I just did a nice extension but backwards, but the judges didn't say anything.  If  I had done the moves around the rink in the other direction and could have stepped forward CW then I would have been able to.)

[aussieskater]

I passed the first of the presilver dances with a ugly one-foot hockey stop.  I can do the t-stop fine, just used my normal ugly (but very efficient) stop automatically!  Coach (partner in the test) did the same, then commented afterwards "we need to pretty up our stops  ".

[hopskipjump]

Love the stories!!!!!  Yes, I like it because it is "play".

[kiwiskater]

I think it took a good 10 lessons to get a decent stop...even now at a year I still can't get the fast stop and rasp that says you're doing it right, but it suffices.....

[blue111moon]

Actually the first stops in LTS would require comfortable glide on one foot, right? (snowplow and T-stop). The easiest (albeit slow) stop in my opinion is pointing toes inward and slowly pressing on inside edges. Is there a name for it?

The turning-toes-in stop IS a snowplow stop and uses both feet.  (The trick is to bend your knees a lot more than you think you are before you press on the inside edges.) Think of snowplows on skis and make a V with your feet. 

Similar is the hockey stop, again on two feet but with the feet parallel, one on an inside edge, the other on an outside.

Those are the first two stops I've ever taught.  The T-stop and a one-foot snowplow/skid stop come later.

[hopskipjump]

I can t-stop now!  It's not pretty, but it's a stop.  But sometimes, instead of stopping, I end up facing the wrong direction.    My daughter said her friend does the same thing and she doesn't know what we are doing wrong.    

[Skittl1321]

I can t-stop now!  It's not pretty, but it's a stop.  But sometimes, instead of stopping, I end up facing the wrong direction.    My daughter said her friend does the same thing and she doesn't know what we are doing wrong.    

That usually happens when you are dragging the inside edge rather than the outside edge.   Many skaters get the edge wrong and think a t-stop is just dragging the blade behind them.

[TheAquarian]

I am a parent.  I watch from a bleacher.  I can tie skates, kiss injuries, worry and fret, pay the rink and coaches, and cheer my skater on. 

I don't skate.

Until today. 

I went out with the goal of learning how to stop.  In the handful of times I have put on skates in my lifetime I have always waited for motion to stop - on it's own or by careening into a wall.

I skated during the session but could not do more than glide and the feet did not learn to stop.  My skater is disappointed - she thought I could do it (love that she thinks I can do anything).  Maybe next time!  I have to say my hips are really sore.  My friend said my ankles would be tired, but my hips gave out long before my ankles. 

Kudos to all of you skaters!!!!

I didn't learn how to stop until my 2nd-3rd week of skating.  ^^   Until then it was just learning how to move and running into/grabbing the boards was sufficient for stopping.   

The most important thing in learning at any level is to  cast aside your fear and assume you'll be amazing either now or in the near future.    When you fall,  it's just a natural and necessary step along the path leading you to that point.   I find this attitude has the effect of my learning faster and making fewer mistakes.

[sarahspins]

When you fall,  it's just a natural and necessary step along the path leading you to that point.

I tell my daughter (6) that if she's not falling, she's not trying hard enough

It made her day the first time I told her that, after she had come off the ice cold, wet, and covered in snow.  She lit up when she realized that it was a good thing