Reason and background on why you started skating

[DrillingSkills]

 guess this is as good a discussion as any to introduce myself!  Long time lurker, I've been "really" skating for a little over 6 years and am in my 20's. I took a season of learn-to-skate as a child, then quit since I didn't absolutely love it; all I really wanted to do was be able to skate around at public skate with friends. One summer on vacation, I watched a Disney movie featuring a figure skater as the main protagonist ("Go Figure") and thought it might be fun to learn to figure skate - maybe be able to do a 1-foot spin and some kind of jump. Well, here I am now, working on senior bronze/junior silver dances and skills since an injury a year and a half ago ended my freestyle fun.


Mod note: edited at poster's request

[Isk8NYC]

Welcome to skatingforums!

[treesprite]

My older sister took me ice skating for the first time when I was about 6yo. I didn't have another opportunity to ice skate until I was 12yo when the junior HS gym teacher took a group of use once a week for 5 weeks (roller skated a lot around the neighborhood alot, but not ice skating). I couldn't stop skating after that because it felt so "free"! I had no way to get there other than walk, so once or twice a week I walked 1.5 miles to the rink and walked 1.5 miles back home in the dark. We only had an outdoor rink, so there was only skating for 5 months a year. I took group lessons at that rink through Delta, but the group lessons moved too slow and I ended up teaching myself basic freestyle stuff.  Then when I was 15 or 16 an indoor rink opened that took me over 2.5 hours to get to on the bus. I went there, spending basically 5 hours on the bus 2 or 3 times a week to skate, but skated for between 4 to 6 hours each time. My parents wouldn't take me there and would not pay for lessons, so I used all my babysitting money to pay for private lessons and equipment myself,  sewed my own skating outfits, and made money by making skating skirts for other skaters.  I had to quit at 19 for a health reason.  Then at about 22 or 23yo I went to work at a small outdoor rink that opened nearby, and ended up being their only instructor for a couple of years (there was no program, so I  started an ISI lesson program). About 3 years later I had to quit again for health reasons.  I couldn't go back to skating again until my late 30s. 3 months later I suffered 2 spiral fractures in my right leg. I then couldn't skate for a couple years. I went back to skating but developed a horrifying skating phobia (a "true" phobia, not just fear), so after a year of that nightmare I quit, with a plan to go back after I felt like I could try it again. After 4 years I finally decided it was time to go back, which was a year ago. I was worried that if I pushed myself, the phobia would come back, so at first I only skated like half an hour at a time.  When I felt confident that the phobia really was not going to come back and that I wasn't going to quit again, I bought a better pair of skates, which was last spring. I'm serious enough that I recently got a PT skate guard job to keep my budget from my "real" job from suffering.   I'm nowhere near my old skating ability at this point, and at 50yo now, I doubt that I'll ever be able to get it all back, but I can certainly try!

[jjane45]

Wow treesprite, what an inspiring story. Enjoy every minute on ice!!

[Mergen Tatara]

Was searching for something on Youtube when I mistakenly came across a video of a figure skater performing.  I was mesmerized by the beauty, grace and elegance of the moves.  So I was intrigued to try out skating, possibly to correct my clumsy body movements.

I started in March this year without taking lessons or getting a coach.  I just went to the local library and found the only skating book available, authored by a John Misha Petrevich entitled "Figure Skating Championship Techniques".  It was very hard to understand but had pictures.  From it, I learnt the basics of stroking, how to fall & get up, how to put on and take off skate guards, how to stop.  Then I went to Youtube and downloaded demo videos by skating instructors from US, UK, Russia and even Hungary.  I watched them over and over slowly and tried to replicate the movements on ice.

9 months later, still without lessons or a coach, I can skate forwards, backwards, change direction, do forward crossovers (stronger on anticlockwise direction; weaker the other way round), and forward arabesque spiral.  Am still clumsy with 3 turns and Mohawks. Crazily trying out 1 foot spin without falling and tempted by jumps.

After months relying on rental Risport skates, I recently got my own pair of Jackson Marquis with Mirage blade while on holiday in Anaheim, USA.  Told the owner beforehand I was a size 6 "E" width according to the Jackson chart, but she went ahead and ordered a size 5.5 with medium width for me.  My toes and ball area hurt like hell when I first tested the skates in Anaheim Ice and then San Francisco Yerba Buena Gardens.  I was having to stop every 20mins and take off my skates.  After returning home, I eventually found the solution.  Took off the foam insoles and wear thin socks.  Now the skates feel better and I feel no pain.  Current problem now is adapting my skating style & posture to the Mirage blade.  Super big toepick had me scrapping the surface when I first tried to skate backwards.  Almost tripped me into a fall last week when I was attempting a forward spiral.

[sk8great]

Super big toepick had me scrapping the surface when I first tried to skate backwards.  Almost tripped me into a fall last week when I was attempting a forward spiral.

Experienced that too during my 2nd-3rd time on the ice with it. 

[KillianL]

When I was a kid, I loved watching skating on TV and had convinced myself I could do everything I saw if only I had the opportunity. A handful of times I was even lucky enough to get to go to a public skate, and I enjoyed every excursion no matter what spills I suffered.  However, we were very poor, and skating as a child was absolutely, unequivocally out of the cards.  It remained for me, as a child, a dream that could not be disproven.  As an adult I dismissed the idea of taking up skating for many years because it is expensive, and I reasoned, purposeless without the potential for what I perceived as the kind of meaningful achievement enjoyed by elite skaters who began at an early age.  By the time I'd turned 28 I realized it's OK to do things for fun, so I signed up for an adult group class and the rest was history.  That was four years ago, and in spite of many setbacks I always find myself back at the rink.  I absolutely relish every challenge and every achievement.  Even at it's most strenuous, it feels effortless in way that no other exercise does.  Skating has taught me not to say that "I can't" but instead that "I haven't learned that yet."  I love it.    

[jjane45]

Oh now I remembered... when I was little, I quite liked a Japanese comic series about figure skating - "One More Jump" by Michiyo Akaishi. That was before I saw figure skating on TV, lol!!   Japanese wiki

[Janie]

Oh now I remembered... when I was little, I quite liked a Japanese comic series about figure skating - "One More Jump" by Michiyo Akaishi. That was before I saw figure skating on TV, lol!!   Japanese wiki

I just found and read this last month lol!

[Skittl1321]

I started ballet my last year of college, after 3 years I had sprained my ankles too many times to continue (not necessarily dancing).
I took up skating because it wasn't hard on my ankles.


(As a little girl I took a LTS class because I wanted to be Kristi Yamaguchi.  My parents weren't interested in taking me to Patch at 5 a.m., so that only lasted about 3 months.)

[Bunny Hop]

I had been skating recreationally with a friend a few times from the age of 9 (funnily enough at the rink where we now skate) but never got past clinging to the boards. Then I did skating for school sport for a year before the school canned it, but by that time the 1984 Winter Olympics had been on TV and many Australians were inspired by Torvill and Dean. At age 13, one of my school friends and I decided to take group classes. Got through what was then the ISIAustralia Learn to Skate which was based on the US  ISI levels (Pre-Alpha thru Delta). Part way through Delta the new Aussie Skate syllabus was introduced and I got up to passing Figure 1, Ballet 1 and Jump 1 (bunny hop, tap toe, 3 jump). I was a week off taking the Ballet 2 and Jump 2 (half flip, ballet jump, toe loop) tests when the rink closed down through lack of money. There were rumours of it reopening for several months, but it never did. There were only two other rinks in the Sydney area at the time, and neither was easily accessible by public transport from where I lived (annoyingly, nowadays there's a train station right outside one of them), so I was pretty much forced to stop taking classes, and only skated recreationally once in a while for the next several years.

Fast forward about twenty years, and my husband and I, now living in the UK, were looking for a sport we could do together. I'd taken him skating a couple of times in Sydney before we were married but the rental skates hurt his feet and I'd ended up with a sore arm holding him up. Anyway, he bought himself some skates whilst on a business trip to the US, and when he got back we went to one of the seasonal Christmas rinks, at Hampton Court Palace. When I was completely unable to teach him swizzles I suggested he take a few lessons to learn the basics (n.b. coach also had trouble with those swizzles, so it wasn't just me!). Then I started taking private lessons as well, for the first time, aiming to get back to the point where I'd been when I stopped at 16 (never quite got back to that point though). Husband started to learn ice dance on one of his US trips, and taught me Dutch Waltz. Then a dance coach started teaching at our rink and we started learning ice dance together. Anyway, he's been skating ever since. I took a break for about 18 months before we came home to Australia, as I was tired of making no progress because I could only get to the rink once a week.

Since coming back to Sydney, I've started lessons again, and now that I can skate three times a week, and have found some quiet sessions, have made a huge amount of progress, learning dances I'd never have dreamed of being able to do two years ago. So now I keep going because I can see some progress and I reallly enjoy my lessons. I struggle a lot with confidence issues, but I'm kind of stubborn, and don't like to let something beat me, so I will slog away as long as I'm enjoying myself.

[jjane45]

I just found and read this last month lol!

Seriously??!!! Wow I am impressed, that is a VERY OLD comic series!
I thought the mini story line of each skating program was pretty good.

[nicklaszlo]

Wow I am impressed, that is a VERY OLD comic series!

Where can I find this manga?

[jjane45]

Where can I find this manga?

Minimal chances in English... Amazon Japan has it under the title ワン・ モア・ ジャンプ. I read mine in Chinese.

[eillie]

Occasionally growing up I would watch the Olympic figure skaters on TV, and they make it look so fun, graceful, and easy.  In all of the other sports, the athletes looked like they were trying really hard, but in figure skating they looked like jumping and spinning was the most natural thing in the world!   


Having started skating myself recently I know now that was all an illusion, but it's still definitely fun.  I like skating because I'm usually very un-athletic, but when I skate I can at least pick up a little speed.   

[Janie]

Minimal chances in English... Amazon Japan has it under the title ワン・ モア・ ジャンプ. I read mine in Chinese.

Yeah I read mine in Chinese too.

[Cush]

Always loved looking at skating on TV, but never had a chance to learn or even try it out as a kid. Saw my first rink at age 37 when I tried a terrifying public skate on rentals that hurt like hell.  The feeling of gliding was amazing though! After we returned our rental skates to the desk, I went sneaking back around to the other counter to sign up for classes.

[nicklaszlo]

Minimal chances in English... Amazon Japan has it under the title ワン・ モア・ ジャンプ. I read mine in Chinese.

Well, DW reads Chinese.

[treesprite]

Always loved looking at skating on TV, but never had a chance to learn or even try it out as a kid. Saw my first rink at age 37 when I tried a terrifying public skate on rentals that hurt like hell.  The feeling of gliding was amazing though! After we returned our rental skates to the desk, I went sneaking back around to the other counter to sign up for classes.

Nice!

[LindsayH]

There is an outdoor mall near my house and it has a little skating rink in the winter months. I really enjoyed going and saw an ad for adult classes at the local indoor rink. I thought, "why not try it?" Four days before I started my first class I broke my foot while rock climbing. 5 months, 1 surgery and two crutches later, I actually got to attend my first class! Hurt like crazy on my still recovering foot but that didn't stop me!

Now it's been two years and I still love it.

[ONskater74]

It has been a lifelong desire to figure skate. Pushed onto the back burner for 30 years. Started skating a year and a half ago on public skate sessions, still doing that. Just been in contact with a club with an adult program running a session this April/May, joining the club and signing up 
I was crowding 40 and decided that if I didn't learn to skate soon it would never happen. Do or die. Love it and wish I had started 30 years ago.

[accordion]

First time skating at 16 while on holiday in the UK. Spent more time on my bum than on the blades. Second time was 27 years later when I took my three children to the ice rink one school holidays. They fell frequently whereas I didn't.

I signed up for group lessons and fell frequently. I bought skates after one term and am still falling over two years later. Now my two daughters have started.

[Gabby on Ice]

During the summer of 2011, I started going to public sessions every week. It was so much fun that I signed up for lessons. I started in Learn to Skate in February of last year, and pretty soon, I was hooked. I like skating because it makes me feel good about myself. I just love feeling the cold air on my face when I skate. And I love learning new elements. 

[Robin]

I'm from a cold-weather state, and back before global warming, the ponds used to freeze. Every kid went pond skating in the winter. I started on the ponds before I could walk, according to my mother. (I think she held me up.) I took lessons as a kid but there was never the money to be a serious competitor although I never stopped skating. I'm 46 now and I skate more than ever.

[Skating_Jen]

When I was 2 my brother(then5) started ice hockey and I wanted too, I was too young so they put me I to figure skating. I had to stop due to work when I was 18 but started again 2months ago and love it like even more :-) you could say I'm obsessed ha ha if I could I'd skate everyday and practice all the single and double jumps, spin and steps for hours and hours :-D