I was practising backward
swizzles on an empty rink. Saw two other skaters in the corner of my eye. Suddenly my pony tail moves and one of the skaters gently holds my shoulders and steadies me. The other comes around looking a tad embarrassed and offers me a coffee. I HAD NO IDEA WHY! Later learnt why.
Fast forward 12 months and I fight a few family and traffic and snafu's to get on the ice. Same time, same day (Friday 9.00am), same two skaters. Only now I know one is a senior coach and the other one is Olympic skater. I am so keen to get on the ice I totally forget the blade guards and go down. They both see me, come over and each takes off a guard, check I'm uninjured and help me up again. Jeepers I felt old!
They are very kind and reassure me that everyone does it at least once.
The second time was barely months later and I was struggling to get onto the ice through several people and get to my child
who had fallen heavily on her knees.
Down I went. The rink guard helped my very distressed child, and asked generally if the parents were around. Sees me and helps me up, then gently suggests we both sit down for a little while.
Haven't done it since!