Skate Guards / Ice Monitors

[Isk8NYC]

I was looking at this video of skaters on a public session, when a parade of kids with skate trainers/sleds starts passing by.  Okay.  Then the skate guards come into view, moving against traffic. 

Check out what they're not wearing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Qpgb1zXjw

(It's not naughty.  Shame on you.)

[spoiler]I have never seen that before: skate guards who don't wear skates![/spoiler] 

[icefrog]

It looks like they are walking in a circle on the inside of the "skating circle" still weird especially since they don't have skates on

[Isk8NYC]

They don't seem uncomfortable walking on the surface, do they?  I wonder if it's synthetic ice?

FWIW, at one rink where I used to teach, the guards would "skate sentry" around the center circle when lessons were going on, so they could head off anyone cutting through the coned-off area.

[Sk8Dreams]

FWIW, at one rink where I used to teach, the guards would "skate sentry" around the center circle when lessons were going on, so they could head off anyone cutting through the coned-off area.

NEVER seen that!  I would kill to have guards do that where I work.  This time of year, I feel like the center is some sort of target for the deranged.

[Clarice]

Our rink has started reserving the center circle for kids with tot carts.  Public sessions are now pretty much useless for figure skating.

[FigureSpins]

That's just wrong.  I compare those "sleds" to a demolition derby - more than five on a full sheet of ice and it's mayhem.  Cone off an end for them to play bumper cars. 

Our rink has some rules for their use:

. Kids five and under only.
. Parents must stay with the sled and child.
. Stay with traffic and keep moving.

So why do I see teenagers conning cutting through the middle to play bumper cars with their buddies and tots wandering aimlessly because the parents left them alone (helmetless, I might add) to check the football scores?   :bash :bash

Our rink rents these three-sided plastic things (Think Little Tykes toys) for $5.  I wish they'd make it $10 with $5 back when you return it because they just leave them out when the tot's done with skating.  That's often how the bigger kids get them to play demolition derby.

Since I wear a rink jacket, I've had other guests complain to me about the sleds.  I tell them to write a note and leave it at the front desk because I can't do anything.  The rink has found a new way to make $30-90/session, minimum.

[Sierra]

That's just wrong.  I compare those "sleds" to a demolition derby - more than five on a full sheet of ice and it's mayhem.  Cone off an end for them to play bumper cars. 

I was at a different rink than usual last night and I counted at least fifteen, if not more, of those on the ice. They were mostly those plastic things with a few metal pipe ones thrown in. I was nearly ran over a number of times..

[AgnesNitt]

A rink I skate at a few times a year got rid of them, I guess the liability was greater than the cash they brought in. Instead, on publics they now have a tots area separated by some kind of air-filled foot high bumpers. I like that.

I've related elsewhere about skating on a rink where they used upside down plastic paint pails for tot supports. A boy of around 11 or slightly older, picked one up and threw it at me. I don't think it was personal, I don't even think he thought about it. There was something in front of him, he threw it.

[FigureSpins]

Little boys will attack anything that can't hit back, lol.  I have a set of inflatable toys that I use for toddler classes.  I only bring them now when I have a private lesson or the the tot class is girls-only because invariably, the little boys would kick/step on/try to pull apart/otherwise my toys.  They were my oldest DD's and I've had them for years and year, so I'm a little too attached to them.

I'm not sure an inflatable wall would hold back the little hellions, lol.  They'd try to figure out how to jump it or put their blade through the side.

In a dark corner of our rink, there are some foam-filled bumpers like the concrete "jersey walls" you see on highways.  They've never been used AFAIK and honestly, I think they're a breeding ground for mold. 

I'd love to use them to block off a tot /beginner area for a family skating session but those skaters usually need the wall to get around.  I don't think the bumpers would give them enough support.

[FigureSpins]

NEVER seen that!  I would kill to have guards do that where I work.  This time of year, I feel like the center is some sort of target for the deranged.

PA Announcement: "Will all deranged skaters please head for the center, aimlessly?"
Too funny!

You know the rink, but it was only when a certain HS hockey player was working as a skate guard.  I don't know why, but we got along really well.  I asked him once to stop a couple of hockey kids who thought it was funny to cut off my adult student by racing through the middle just as he was practicing a one-foot glide.  The guard just decided to take charge and keep the middle clear while I was teaching. He really took his responsibility of keeping the session calm and safe seriously.  Since he was a great hockey player, he was well-respected by the younger kids, so if they found a puck and put it on the ice, he just shook his head and they'd put the puck away in a heartbeat.  Really nice kid and well-spoken.  He got canned the next year for running his mouth about the owner/owner's family.  (Not smart, but he learned a valuable lesson about life: don't gossip or bad-mouth where you can be overheard.)