Article: Hennick Hacks it at (Princeton U's) Baker Rink

[Isk8NYC]

This is a great article from the Daily Princetonian, Princeton University's campus newspaper.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/12/01/27047/

Like any other hard surface, ice is unforgiving. Ice is also unpleasantly cold. Skates are very sharp. Rinks are hard to maintain and relatively scarce. Figure skating also has a peculiar reputation in the United States, as evidenced by the 2007 movie "Blades of Glory," among others. So why would anyone ever want to figure skate?

After joining Hacker for a practice one Tuesday morning, the answer to that question was clearer. Although I enjoyed floundering on the ice as she introduced me to the most basic aspects of skating, the most illuminating part of the morning was watching as Hacker and senior Eve Hanson cleanly executed stunning spins and jumps. There was a certain power and freedom to what they were doing, a power and freedom that were lost on me before.

Without the flopping and falling, I would not have been able to appreciate the amount of balance and practice it must take to jump from one thin blade and land on the other. I would not have been able to imagine the amount of patience that it must take to tolerate the falls and cuts as a beginner, and I would not have been able to appreciate how empowering it must feel to master these skills and then fly through the air knowing exactly what you need to do to land gracefully on the ice.

I am glad that I survived my first real encounter with figure skating. In the end, however, the true value of this experience was learning more about what figure skating really is. Figure skating, as it turns out, is much challenging than I could have guessed, and dedication and resilience are more central to the sport than I could have imagined. But a little bit of balance goes a long way, too.

[bollyskater]

Hey, that's one of the places where I skate.

Heh -- aren't the bunny hop and the waltz jump easier than the toe loop, which Hennick told the student reporter was the most basic of all jumps? Perhaps she was messing with him.

[FigureSpins]

I agree she should have taught them first, but Bunny Hops and Waltz Jumps are not considered full-revolution jumps, so that's probably why she cited the Toe Loop as the most basic (single) jump.