Reason and background on why you started skating

[Neverdull44]

I was in the second grade.  In the winter 1975/1976, my family moved from Miami to New Hampshire.  I saw snow for the first time.  We lived near a lake, and a Canadian neighbor "tested" the first ice.  I was amazed at how he moved across that lake. 

Then, my mother took me to see "Ice Capades" (it could have been Holiday on Ice, but I think it was Ice Capades) in the Boston Gardens.  I saw a woman, don't know who it was, but she was a prima skate.  I remember the song as "You and Me Against the World"  It was a slow ballad, and she was a very beautiful skater.  I could have the song wrong.   But, from that day forward, I wanted to skate.

[Kitten23]

I wanted to skate as a kid, but education was much more important and so was attending a private school.  Fast forward to my first real boy friend, who crushed my heart and my severe depression (college).  My sisters got together and gave me group lessons for Christmas.  I was hooked.

Also, when you and your sisters are all in theatre and they are much, much more successful than you are, it's nice to have one thing that you excel at that they don't.  I continued skating partially out of love for the sport and partially because I could and they couldn't.

[icedancer]

I can't believe I haven't posted on this thread!

I started when I was 5 or 6 - Carol Heiss had won the Olypics in 1960 and I had a little set of cut-out dolls of her - I wanted my own skates and got some for Christmas.

My dad said the first time he took me skating on a frozen pond at a park near our home in Detroit, I must have fallen 50 times the first time around!!  I still wanted to skate though.

But it was my dad who REALLY got into it - he had skated as a boy in Northern Michigan and so he took it upon himself to get really into the sport.  Before I knew it we had joined a skating club (Detroit Skating Club) and I was on my way with lessons and everything just kind of went from there.  He became quite the accomplished ice-dancer and the club at that time had evening dance sessions 4 nights a week and he was always there.  My mom also skated but she always had trouble with anything but the lower dances - I remember her constantly complaining about trying to learn a mohawk.

Things were kind of tough though with our family - my dad's health was not so great and he stopped skating.  I skated for a few years after that but failed a couple of tests - 2nd figure and Pre-Silver dances and so they they made me quit - I didn't have a choice at that time because - well, they paid for the club and lessons and the rink was quite a drive and impossible to get to by any other means so that was that.

I always thought about skating though through the years - always had a pair of skates and when I was in high school a lot more rinks opened up in the area and of course I could drive so I went to the area rinks as much as possible - crazy wild public sessions with millions of teenagers - I was probably the only person on the ice who really knew how to skate...

Continued this pattern through my twenties - always wanting to get back into it but no time, no money, trying to establish my career, graduate school, etc. I was in my Jr year of graduate school when Torville and Dean won the Olympics and they I started to get back into it - I had a pair of used men's skates and would skate more and more - eventually once I finished school started working at a clinic that was very close to one of the rinks where they had an ice-dance session at Noon (this was in Massachusetts) and started to go to the sessions and met a coach who took me through my Pre-Silvers and one Silver - they moved on to another coach when he left the area - got through my Silvers and one Pre-Gold... then moved to Oregon...

Have not tested any more dance but have learned Moves and gone back to doing figures - social dances, etc. - my coach encouraged me to become a judge - which has been great - and difficult - but knew I would do that one day as well.

Skating has been good to me!