Adult skaters interacting with "muggles"

[Skittl1321]

Do you have a funny story to share about someone who just doesn't 'get' adult skating?
I have a lot of injuries and my PT and doctor both understand my skating is "real" (though not real enough to get a surgery I'd probably get if I was a kid) I appreciate they take me seriously.

However, I recently had a run in with the dentist, that made me laugh.  We were just making small talk and she asked me what I'd be doing after the appointment.  I told her I had a skating lesson.  She asked me if I skated much, and I said "oh, at least 3 times a week".
And then-

"So, can you go backwards?"

Yes! That I can do!  I've had a lot of frustration with progress lately, but backwards- I've got that down!

[irenar5]

Someone recently asked me if I could do a triple salchow.  I think this person was more impressed with himself for knowing the name of the jump.   In general, though, people ask me about more advanced skating than I can do.  I think it is the broadcasting's fault :-). 

[Skittl1321]

Someone recently asked me if I could do a triple salchow.  I think this person was more impressed with himself for knowing the name of the jump.   In general, though, people ask me about more advanced skating than I can do.  I think it is the broadcasting's fault :-).  

Yeah, I've been asked if I could do a triple axel.  I said no, but I've practiced on the same ice as what I believe is the only person in our state who can do them.  (He's since moved though... there may be someone else that I don't know about on the other side of the state, but I doubt it).

The woman, a 60 year old co-worker claimed she could do them as a little girl.  I wonder what she thought a triple axel was? And if she really could, how she never made it to the Olympics. That would have really wowed them!  Maybe her figures weren't strong enough 

[taka]

I get asked if I can do a triple axel too! Ermmmmm only in my dreams! :laugh3

I get the most confusion when I explain I do both free and dance. Everyone seems to associate ice dancing with a TV programme here called Dancing on Ice where a "celeb" is paired with a professional skater and they do some kind of themed program each week and someone gets voted off each week. Often the female celebs get lifted all over the place with not a lot of feet on ice, actual skating. So anyone I mention ice dance to a) looks petrified and b) very confused... as I'm a tall, overweight person... really not someone you'd want to lift! :laugh3 I have to explain that is not really what ice dance is like.

I broke my wrist 3 months after starting skating again. (1st fall! ) and everyone presumed that I'd never get on the ice again. I am now viewed as absolutely nuts at work because I went back again. Mentioning I get up at 5.45am to skate before work or paid several 100 pounds for a new pair of boots recently just adds to this view! :laugh3

[hopskipjump]

Dd and I were planning a vacation to Yosemite and picked up a bunch of travel guides.  One mentioned the outdoor rink and said maybe you would be lucky enough to see someone do a "triple camel".  Dd and I laughed and laughed and then put that one back on the shelf. No longer a travel authority!

[Cush]

I am a newbie to skating. Started in an adult group class January this year. I started with the marching around the rink perimeter just to get used to standing on the skates I suppose. By feb I was able to move around a lot better...then sprained my rt ankle severely in my cheap, ill-fitting, crappy boots. Several months of crutches then PT, Oct 22nd I was back in class and practicing every lunchtime! In new boots of course. 
My family and work colleagues think I am absolutely bonkers.

[Skittl1321]

Welcome to Skatingforums deliapm!  It sounds like you definetly have a severe case of Adult-Onset-Skating-Syndrome.  Way to stick with it!

[AgnesNitt]

Someone at work tried to set me up with a meeting on my test day. I emailed back "I can't meet that day, I have an ice dance test that day."

OMG. By that afternoon it was all over the building. For about two days I couldn't walk into a room without getting an 'ice dance' comment or question.

[FigureSpins]

Start handing out recruiting flyers or club fundraising information, snicker.

When I used to skate at Rock Center during my lunch hour, the guys from my office used to come and watch from street level.  After they saw my axel, they were satisfied that I wasn't bs'ing them.

[SynchKat]

I skate on an adult synchro team.  We recently skated at an exhibition for a club that is a big synchro club--for kids.  Our coach apparently got a lot of e-mails afterwards congratulating her on wha ta good job we did.  One in particular she said was impressed with our ability to actually do the steps!  So an interaction with skating people but not "adult" skating people. 

[fsk8r]

Someone at work tried to set me up with a meeting on my test day. I emailed back "I can't meet that day, I have an ice dance test that day."

OMG. By that afternoon it was all over the building. For about two days I couldn't walk into a room without getting an 'ice dance' comment or question.

I had the whole problem of them trying to send me to the other side of the planet either the week before the test or the week of the test. They had to reorganise a whole international meeting around my skating schedule!

They're learning not to ask when I make unusual requests, they know the answer will be skating.

[AgnesNitt]

I had the whole problem of them trying to send me to the other side of the planet either the week before the test or the week of the test. They had to reorganise a whole international meeting around my skating schedule!

They're learning not to ask when I make unusual requests, they know the answer will be skating.

You're braver than I am to tell them it's skating. I wimp out. I tell them I have to take care of my elderly mother.

[ChristyRN]

I broke my ankle skating about six years ago.  I was back on the ice about two hours after the doc OK'd it.  Would have been sooner, but I needed to eat first.

I get asked the triple axel question alot, too.  My laughing response is "Does this look like a triple axel body??" Followed by "I can do 1/3 of an axel" 

[Harleyboy]

Skittl, I got quite a chuckle from your use of the word "muggles" but after reflection I have decided the usage is correct as adult skaters are typically a bit magical.

If they are not most of my family and friends are correct and I am "nuts" for doing this.

I prefer to think of us as magical.

[fsk8r]

You're braver than I am to tell them it's skating. I wimp out. I tell them I have to take care of my elderly mother.

No I'm not, I burst into tears with the stress of it. I didn't want to move the test date, and I didn't want to move the meeting.
In the end a wonderful manager negotiated with the customer the perfect solution to my skating / work conundrum, but I really hated being in that position. It's the first time it's happened and I really hope it doesn't happen again.
But work is good at letting me out for skating. They let the working parents go early for school plays, so why not me to go to skating show rehearsals? They get their pound of flesh the rest of the time.

[kiwiskater]

The coach we had looking after us at the end of the lesson yesterday got asked by a child, can you do a back flip, an astonished response was forward yes back no - thats an Olympic move for seasoned professionals

[turnip]

My old manager thought I skated with my hugely puffy soakers on my blades 

Everyone at work things i'm mad for spending £300 on my boots and blades last spring. I pointed out that my feet arent' gonna grow, so i'll have these until i wear them out, which will be a long time! When I was shopping for them, people asked me "what colour are you getting?" so I had to explain girls have white, boys have black, some coaches have beige. Then get asked why I don't have pink skates lol

Getting up at 5am to be on the ice for 6am is incomprehensible!

"Do you use the toepick to stop?"

[karne]

I've been asked if I'm going to the Olympics more times than I can count. My co-worker found out that I skated the other weekend and was all, "THAT'S SO COOL!" (she's 17) and regaled me with questions for an hour, including the "are you going to the Olympics" question.

My own dad asked me yesterday if I could do doubles yet.

"No Dad, I'd have to have landed all my singles first."

"Oh."

*pause*

"Have you landed your singles yet?"

"Yes Dad, I have my salchow and my toeloop."


"....."

".....there's more than one single?"

[Skittl1321]

After watching my program for the first time, my Mom said "Oh, that's very nice- but you'd jump much higher if you skated faster..."

Well, no, if I skate faster (which I can do), I don't jump at all.

[Jennymd]

I brought my skates in to work one day so that I could go straight from there to the rink after I finished work...

A co-worker who sat near me noticed them and said the usual "Ohh you ice skate!" then commented "I've never seen ice skates before, do they have little rollers on the bottom? Can I have a look?"

*facepalm*

[sarahspins]

Well, no, if I skate faster (which I can do), I don't jump at all.

Yes, speed definitely takes the "ZOMG, scary!!!!!" up about a gazillion notches

[Icicle]

I broke my wrist in September, but I only took a week off from skating. My coworkers know that I skate. And then I asked for a day off to go to Skate Canada. One of the guys at work asked, sounding alarmed, "But how can you compete if you wrist hasn't completely healed yet?"

[sampaguita]

I broke my wrist in September, but I only took a week off from skating. My coworkers know that I skate. And then I asked for a day off to go to Skate Canada. One of the guys at work asked, sounding alarmed, "But how can you compete if you wrist hasn't completely healed yet?"

ROFL 

[Bunny Hop]

Reading these stories makes me realise that there actually is an advantage to coming from a country where skating is only shown on TV once every four years. Nobody outside of the skating community has seen enough of it to be able to name any jumps, so don't ask questions about triples! Explaining ice dance isn't too bad as most people over 30 have heard of Torvill and Dean (their shows always sold out here back when they were touring as professionals).

[kiwiskater]

Reading these stories makes me realise that there actually is an advantage to coming from a country where skating is only shown on TV once every four years. Nobody outside of the skating community has seen enough of it to be able to name any jumps, so don't ask questions about triples! Explaining ice dance isn't too bad as most people over 30 have heard of Torvill and Dean (their shows always sold out here back when they were touring as professionals).

or more recently have watched dancing on ice.... I pip in just under that 30yr bracket but 99% of friends/co-workers are above that point & rarely know anything to ask specific questions, though I have been asked recently if I can jump so I'm like teeny jump like a very beginner waltz jump yes, big fancy Olympic jumps - not even close