What keeps you skating as an adult?

[LunarSkater]

So I'm helping one of the coaches at my rink come up with ideas for more adult engagement. We have a lot of people in LTS, but only a small handful of adults in the club. We've done the usual surveys, etc. to see what people want and the answers are always all over in regards to schedules, goals, finances, etc.

I'm interested in finding out what other adults not at my club do to participate. Do you just do public? Skate for low-impact exercise? Like learning freestyle? Do you like the structure of dance and testing, but have no interest in competing? Are you all about competition?

What keeps you skating? What have you always wished you could do at your club? What have you always wished your club would do for you?

[masterblaster]

I learned to skate this winter for the first time, and very soon I was attending adult-only public skate sessions 4x a week and doing LTS lessons one day per week. It is honestly just crazy fun and almost addictive. I haven't had fun like this since I was a kid on the playground.

A lot lot of adults feel they "should" exercise for abstract reasons like fitness or cholesterol-lowering or weight loss or whatever, but I counsel adults like this for a living and the best motivation to actually get someone doing something is because it feels good, straight up. No one wants to work all day and then come home and work some more.

Skating feels good. It's fun and thrilling in the moment because you're flying and gliding, and it feels good to build mastery around something that has nothing to do with pounds lost or cholesterol points, but which is purely about using your one and only body to experience the joy of being alive, and building skills that help you experience that joy in new ways.

Building strength and fitness and sleeping better and having better mental health are just a bonus.

I think about this stuff a lot because of my work. Not enough messaging around exercise or activity focuses on pleasure, and I suspect losing the connection with that pleasure is why a lot of adults stay home.

I've just joined a club, but haven't started lessons there yet. Mostly what I wish for is more ice time to just goof off and practice with other adults.

[Bill_S]

I skated on frozen ponds as a kid, and was inspired by the skaters of the 60s seen on the Wide World of Sports TV shows. I could skate forward, backward, had a waltz jump and a two-foot spin that put me ahead of all the others in my high-school class. I had a bit of pride in that, and that kept me going. I suspect pride (hubris?) even motivated me for the next phase many years later. Read on.

I quit skating after I left for college. Years later when I was 50 and teaching college, one of the graduate students had skated before and she was also eager to return to the ice.  Also, one of my undergraduate students was a coach at the university rink. I announced in my graduate class that we could organize a get-together at the rink and that the undergraduate coach could show us a few tips. (I invited other faculty too.  Beside me, one other came.)

It was a success. We had a blast, and a couple of the graduate students and I skated regularly until the season ended.

For me, I was surprised how little skill I retained from my high-school years. That made me grumpy, so I ended up taking lessons from the undergraduate student. My stated goal was to learn what I lost, plus get a one-foot spin and one jump. That was back in 2000, and I'm still going.

Getting back to the original question about motivation, let me create a list.
1) It really does help me stay in shape and my weight down. Big time!
2) I feel pride in what I'm able to do. Maybe I'm even a little bit of a show-off. And sometimes when I walk into a new rink for a public session, I feel a bit^* like the "old-man" skater in this video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvR2pbU2sdU
^*To a lesser degree, of course.
3) There's always something new to learn, or something already learned that can be done better. It's a challenge
4) If I didn't skate, what would I post on this board?    I guess that this is my alternative to Facebook, of which I am not a member.

[Bill_S]

One more thing - I think being with a number of like-minded adults really helps motivation. I've felt out of place in a rink full of kids with no other adults. I'm used to it and generally shrug it off, but it is so much better when there are other adults there.

I believe that's one of the reasons that I put up with travel to distant rinks - to meet and skate with other adults.

[ChristyRN]

I skate because it's better than running.

An sparkles. Did I mention sparkles?

In actuality, I skate because it's a challenge and an escape from my real life as a nurse. And no matter what I do, non-skaters are impressed, even after they ask if I can do a triple axel.  And most of all, it's (mostly) fun.

[tstop4me]

What keeps me skating?  Self-motivation and making up for lost time.  I skated when I was in grad school (we had our own campus rink), and loved it.  But afterwards, work, marriage, and fatherhood allowed time only for occasional skating on weekends, holidays, and days-off.  Five+ years ago, I semi-retired (and fully retired 3+ years ago), allowing me to skate morning publics Mon - Fri.  I found the right coach for me and have a private lesson/week for 9+ months out of the year (publics are too crowded during the summer for private lessons).

Other adult skaters often approach me to join either a skating club or coffee-club sessions.  I always politely decline:  they really have no value to offer me.  I prefer social interaction with skaters of all ages (from 2 to 80+), rather than with adults only. 

[mapleleafmama]

When my daughter started in Learn to Skate...four years ago now...the instructor who would become her (and my) coach and I chatted quite a lot. She knew I'd skated some as a kid and mentioned that there were several adults in the club and I might enjoy doing it again. I thought it would be silly—I knew it was an expensive sport and it seemed like a waste to spend the money on myself to do what always seemed like a sport for kids.

That spring, the lead singer of my favourite band announced he had cancer and the band did one last tour, and during the show they played a song I loved and I thought, "I'd really love to skate a program to this." The next day I texted the coach and asked what I needed to do to start skating again.

No word of a lie: I started skating again because I wanted to skate a program to a particular song!

What keeps me doing it? It *is* good exercise, it's true, and as I careen headlong toward middle age I'm increasingly aware of how many more limitations my body has now. But it keeps me active, so that's good.

I've found I'm pretty good at it, and it's good self-care to spend time doing something I enjoy. And I like the challenge. As adults I think we don't have a lot of opportunity to be working *toward* something—I've already finished school, I'm married, I have a house and kids...all the boxes are ticked off, really, and skating gives me goals to work toward. I've made a lot of friends—young skaters and other adults alike. I like being a part of my club; everyone is supportive and encouraging. (There's nothing like a gaggle of teens and tweens screaming for you when you skate out to start your program during a competition!)

[Doubletoe]

I started off in LTS classes and got all my single jumps through lutz without testing or even committing to private lessons or freestyle sessions.  I found the idea of testing a little intimidating and wasn't sure I wanted to do it, and I found the idea of competing practically abhorrent.  But my husband told me I should do it because it would make me a better skater, and I knew he was right.  So I took the plunge, and here I am 16 years later, still doing it.

What keeps me going to the rink 3 times a week to practice? Now that I'm in my mid-50's, I have to say it's a combination of wanting to master new things--even if it's just one new move each season--and the knowledge that I need to maintain my strength and flexibility because it would be daunting to try to regain them if I ever took a chunk of time off.  Also, I love being part of the skating community--not just my fellow adult skaters but the kids and the Olympic hopefuls and all the coaches. And yes, it's a LOT less boring than going to the gym!

[lutefisk]

This guy is kinda inspiring:  https://www.facebook.com/MTLBlog/videos/648287615642141/UzpfSTcxNzY2Njc0NzoxMDE1NjUzNTA4MzQxMTc0OA/

[Bill_S]

Wow!

I need to start stretching a little more.

[lutefisk]

Yes, he certainly is flexible!  I'm about as flexible as a brick.

[Loops]

This is a question I've been pondering this season.  Our year has just wrapped up, so now I get to think.

The reasons I skate have to do with the physicality of the sport and the mental space it puts me in, when I'm left to my own devices and have a coach with whom I connect.  I love the feeling of hitting a good edge, of holding a position, of the minute control I can sometimes have over my body.  The sound of an active edge, the resulting increase in speed. A centered spin, a perfect three, clean tracings....I love the interaction of my brain talking to my body in a way that it just doesn't in "street" life.  Its something I've done my whole life, so while I'm not amazing, I'm decent and just doing something familiar, while still pushing the boundaries of my body is thrilling.

But it's as much about the community, isn't it?  I love being a part of my synchro team, and the surrogate family that creates.  Plus the synergy of everyone's skating coming together to create something that bigger than all of us.  The thrill of a good skate.....and being able to share in that thrill with the rest of the group.   The friends I've made, the joshing in the locker room- going out and getting to know these wonderful people I share the ice with.

So what do you do when things start falling apart?  And there's no other ice rink, so no plan B...  Here in France, coaches are hired by the club, so you don't get to choose who you work with. We have a head coach who is a former world level dancer.  Her priority is the kids in elite training program, and in the eyes of the club management, she can do no wrong.  The rest of us are just there to pay the bills.  Her managing style, and attitude are causing some coaches to quit, which I fear will ultimately result in her having to coach my synchro team again.  As a coach, she is denigrating, brutish, and downright nasty.  She is a bully, and takes a lot of the joy out of skating.

I don't know that I have the heart to continue synchro if she comes back (there are other factors at play as well, but coaching is the biggest).  Fortunately, she refuses to work weekends, so there's little risk of her coaching the adult solo skaters.  I can focus completely on solo.....but I'm a synchro skater- it's always been my forte and love (after figures).

So I find myself in limbo.  Given the reduction in coaching staff, there are going to have to be changes- I'm waiting to see what those are before I make my final decision, but I've already come to terms that I'll be quitting synchro next season.

I need a fresh perspective on how to deal with this?  I don't want to quit, but it's been miserable and only looks to get worse.....  Any advice?  Wise, perspective changing words?

[tstop4me]

I need a fresh perspective on how to deal with this?  I don't want to quit, but it's been miserable and only looks to get worse.....  Any advice?  Wise, perspective changing words?

My home rink is also undergoing disruptive drama.  Negative actions unfortunately seldom occur in isolation:  they often trigger an avalanche of additional negative actions, and the situation rapidly devolves into a state of exponential decay.  Here's how I deal with it.  I list (a) the minimum requirements for skating to be a positive (or at least a neutral) experience and (b) desired (but optional) features for an enhanced positive experience.  If my current home rink can't meet at least the minimum requirements, then it's time to move on (at least there are other rinks in my area; each with its own pluses and minuses) ... I definitely don't want skating to be a net negative overall experience. 

My requirements are fairly basic:  consistent schedules, consistent decent ice quality, and a functioning and clean bathroom.  It's great to have staff and other skaters who are friendly, but I'd be OK if they were neutral (as long as they weren't actively nasty or hostile).  And it's great to have a competent coach who understands my needs; we like each other, and we've been together for 5 years now.  But if she splits, I'd be OK trying out another coach, or just skating on my own.

From your post, it appears your options are highly constrained in that you don't have other rinks to move to.  Is that correct?  If so, you then need to decide what your minimum set of requirements for a positive skating experience is.  E.g., would you be happy just skating public or freestyle sessions on your own, without a coach or the camaraderie of a group?  If you don't have any option that meets your minimum requirements, then it's best to take up some other activity.

[nicklaszlo]

I need a fresh perspective on how to deal with this?  I don't want to quit, but it's been miserable and only looks to get worse.....  Any advice?  Wise, perspective changing words?

Have you tried participating in club leadership?

I feel like you have been complaining about a crappy coaching situation for years now. 

Maybe move to Detroit?

[Loops]

Thanks tstop and Nick. I've actually been on the board for two years now.

 Those are all good suggestions, definitely food for thought.




 

[Loops]

I feel like you have been complaining about a crappy coaching situation for years now. 

So I try really hard not to talk about it- but your comment made me go back through all my old posts from since she took over.  Thankfully I don't seem to whinge and moan, but it is true its been a problem for years.  The club itself is run bizarrely (most of us are severely limited in the ice time we can access, and when there were sessions we could theoretically access, weren't even allowed to pay .  Then there's head coach, who took over 3.5 years ago when the old head coach left.

As I mentioned above, I am on the board.  But it's largely decorative- just there to satisfy a legal requirement for the club, and those who do get to vote on decisions (not most of us) have a vested interest in the head coach staying on (over the years, she's cherry picked that part of the board).  Unfortunately the board doesn't have term limits, so there's no turnover amongst the officers.  This year, the president handed off much of his authority to the head coach, and she's running the club as she wants, with no input from most of us, or even the other 3 coaches.  Hence the exodus.  We've been losing skaters, but no-one, especially the HC seems to be bothered by this.  So, in this climate, I just don't see how things are going to change.

I'm pondering what Tstop suggested.  But ultimately there's nothing to ponder until the schedule for next year comes out.  Then I'll have the data I can use to make my decision.  It just sucks.  Those of you in well run clubs, take a minute and appreciate it- because not all of us have that.

[nicklaszlo]

It's pretty messed up if the board is mostly non-voting members. 

I wasn't saying you should not complain.  That's what this board is for.

Could you organize a competing club?

[AgnesNitt]

So I'm helping one of the coaches at my rink come up with ideas for more adult engagement. We have a lot of people in LTS, but only a small handful of adults in the club. We've done the usual surveys, etc. to see what people want and the answers are always all over in regards to schedules, goals, finances, etc.

I'm interested in finding out what other adults not at my club do to participate. Do you just do public? Skate for low-impact exercise? Like learning freestyle? Do you like the structure of dance and testing, but have no interest in competing? Are you all about competition?

What keeps you skating? What have you always wished you could do at your club? What have you always wished your club would do for you?

Back OT

We have a remarkable number of adult skaters at my rink.  And why don't all of them belong to the club? Because the club is for testing and competing. If adults don't test, the club does nothing for the adults  except push obligations on them to support tests and competitions.  And while there was an attempt to get an 'adult only' session at night, I just don't think the population is there for that. It's not that the club isn't adult friendly, it is. It's just how the USFS drives the club structure because USFS goal is to make more money and identify skaters with potential for the Olympics.   I'm not sure that this is fixable.





 

[LunarSkater]

Thanks for all your responses, everyone! We all have such varied reasons why and it's awesome to see them all.

Loops, I have no knowledge of how France runs the national federation, but could you have any possible recourse through them?

Agnes, I think what it comes down to for adult participation in clubs just might come down to how the clubs want to run themselves. Just because USFS is focused on those specific goals you mentioned doesn't mean the individual club will be. My first club existed primarily for testing/membership in USFS because the head coach ran everything else (there were maybe 25 skaters outside of LTS). My current club has over 200 people in the LTS program alone and over 100 active skaters. It is run very differently - but they have always been very, very welcoming to adults. There's an adult-only free style in the summer and we're currently running a charity lap-a-thon. Most of the adults don't compete and aren't real interested in it. But the club supports them nonetheless. It's why I was interested in this question - what do adults want out of skating and how can skating clubs best provide that?

[dlbritton]

Back OT

We have a remarkable number of adult skaters at my rink.  And why don't all of them belong to the club? Because the club is for testing and competing. If adults don't test, the club does nothing for the adults  except push obligations on them to support tests and competitions.  And while there was an attempt to get an 'adult only' session at night, I just don't think the population is there for that. It's not that the club isn't adult friendly, it is. It's just how the USFS drives the club structure because USFS goal is to make more money and identify skaters with potential for the Olympics.   I'm not sure that this is fixable.

My rink is reasonably supportive of adults. There are 8-10 regular adults that come to the noon adult skate or early afternoon (1:45 - 3:00 or 4:00 PM) public sessions. We are lucky the rink gives us an adult only slot from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Mo, Tu and Thu.

I think 6 of us are USFSA members but most are unaffiliated Individual members because the club is expensive for the area on its own plus requires each member to buy a Club Ice punch card. The Club Ice card is for 18 thirty minute Tuesday 4:15-5:45 Club Ice session. The other adults are not interested in competing at this time.

Most of the evening slots are given over to hockey which is what really keeps the rink going.

[ChristyRN]

Hey, DL! We did an adult takeover of FS on Memorial Day and are planning it again of July 4th if there's ice. Had two men, just needed you!

[dlbritton]

Hey, DL! We did an adult takeover of FS on Memorial Day and are planning it again of July 4th if there's ice. Had two men, just needed you!

Thanks. I will probably be at Wintergreen over the 4th.
Which rink do you skate at normally? I have only been skating at the Hillsboro rink in the Triangle area.

[ChristyRN]

Thanks. I will probably be at Wintergreen over the 4th.
Which rink do you skate at normally? I have only been skating at the Hillsboro rink in the Triangle area.

Right now, I spend most of my time at WF. Occasionally, I go somewhere else. Of course, I'm off ice for a few weeks right now.

[Arwen17]

So I'm helping one of the coaches at my rink come up with ideas for more adult engagement. We have a lot of people in LTS, but only a small handful of adults in the club. We've done the usual surveys, etc. to see what people want and the answers are always all over in regards to schedules, goals, finances, etc.

I'm interested in finding out what other adults not at my club do to participate. Do you just do public? Skate for low-impact exercise? Like learning freestyle? Do you like the structure of dance and testing, but have no interest in competing? Are you all about competition?

What keeps you skating? What have you always wished you could do at your club? What have you always wished your club would do for you?

I think the vast majority of people will never have an interest in skating, no matter how much you talk about it. The best you can do is just make sure it’s widely known that adults-skate-too because the few adults who might try skating might decide not to since it looks like only kids-do-it.

I’m skating as an adult to fulfill a childhood dream that was denied to me. I definitely would have skated as a kid if I had had supportive parents. The only thing I eventually got out of them was LTS group classes, after that I was forced by my mom to quit.
So here I am 12 years later, determined to get all the way to senior level because I don’t half-ass anything that I truly love. I passed all the way to Adult Gold MIF and Adult Silver FS in only 2 years. But I’ve been quite stymied by axel and doubles so far since I’m a slow rotator in the air. I’m confident I’ll get all the way to senior level in footwork and spins, but jumps are still uncertain since I suck so bad at rotating quickly enough.

[Bill_S]

You've done very well making up for lost time. That's a great inventory of skills and tests!

A friend of mine once told me that she got roller skates as a gift when she was young. However her mother was so worried about injury that she permitted her to wear only one skate at a time.

Needless to say, she's not a skater today.