Practice Interrupted by Another Skater

[Kitten23]

Has this ever happened to you?

You're on the ice.  You're in "the zone", working hard, getting a lot accomplished. 

Then you stop for a moment to blow your nose, cough, think... whatever.  Then it happens!   Someone you know skates up to you and in a round about (or direct) way asks that you watch their jump, spin, footwork... whatever.  Once... twice... three times... wait, one more...

Before you know it, you've lost your groove.  You're no longer in the zone.  You've suddenly become that skater's surrogate coach.  And the session is over. 

Surely this has happened to others and not just me.  I have tried EVERYTHING to stop this from happening, short of shouting "get away from me!"

Any suggestions as to what to do to stop this from happening on almost every session I skate?

[AgnesNitt]

"Can we talk later? I'm in the zone right now."
Then smile.

[Kitten23]

If that only worked. 

There appears to be something in my face and lack of eye contact when I'm working hard that makes other adult skaters come up to me and ask me to watch them.  I usually skate around talking to myself in ASL before doing a jump and yet, somehow, others seem to think that's an invitation.

I'll try your suggestion Agnes (love that name!), but don't be surprised if you hear an exasperated scream from the east coast of the US.

[4711]

They can only encroach on you of you let them. 

[sarahonice]

I don't have suggestions, but I can vent with you! This happens to me too, though it's not to ask for advice, it's to give me some. It's well-intentioned so often I'll say "thanks" and try to skate off quickly. But there's one particular person who cannot take a hint, and will FOLLOW me around the rink to offer advice for elements they cannot do themselves, and I feel like the only way to get rid of them is to be mean about it. I'm a wuss so I end up just trying to outskate them and pick a new place to practice.

[4711]

Nice guys finish last.


I mean, one does not need to be rude, but some people just don't get 'nice'. They have to be told, point blank, to back off.

I heard some people suggest to stare blankly at the offenders and repeat the same question as of 'what did you say?' or a fitting variation, before they skedaddle...
(on the other hand, I had to tell somebody they were no longer welcome...not skating related...and I am ow off their Christmas list for good...)
Life is way too short to put up with this BS!

[Kitten23]

Hmmm.... Interesting.  I will have to try not to be so nice in the future.  What I really don't understand is I usually have either a far-off look in my eye, or I look mad as all get out.   So why others would think I was being approachable, I will never understand.  I'm a native New Yorker; no one can give the "get out of my face" look better than we can  .

Off to practice my "get out of my face and out of my way" look.  Lefty coming through!!!

[AgnesNitt]

I don't have suggestions, but I can vent with you! This happens to me too, though it's not to ask for advice, it's to give me some. It's well-intentioned so often I'll say "thanks" and try to skate off quickly. But there's one particular person who cannot take a hint, and will FOLLOW me around the rink to offer advice for elements they cannot do themselves, and I feel like the only way to get rid of them is to be mean about it. I'm a wuss so I end up just trying to outskate them and pick a new place to practice.

Smile and say, "Thanks, but I only take advice from my coach."
If they persist a few more times you have my leave to say, "You're not a coach and you don't know what you're talking about."

[irenar5]

It is uncanny how many people offer advice when they can not do that particular element.  I always wondered why they would do it unsolicited.  Any ideas?

[KateSkates]

Keep tissues in your pocket, keep your water bottle away from everyone else's, and don't stop. Skate laps while you think, blow your nose etc. but I am coaching without having mastered this element myself I guess because I don't have this problem. :-p I am the first skater on my session and by the time the others get out I am on lesson. :-)

[sk8lady]

I'm with Agnes. When people try to offer me advice I tell them that my coach is very particular and I don't dare take advice from someone else. Ditto for people who want me to do things for them on the ice for more than about a second--I tell them that I have to practice my [spin, jump, program] because my coach will kill me if it's not better than it is right now. Seems to work.

[taka]

What if it is judges that are doing the interrupting? 2 of our dance judges love to be helpful at our club session - this is sometimes a double edged sword.

Often they will point out how to correct something you totally made a mess of in the previous dance interval - often just a brief sentence or 2 plus demo, and that can be quite useful. It is nice that they are so accessible and they want to encourage us and help us improve. They happily discuss our skating with our coaches too if our coaches feel feedback would be useful.

Sometimes, however, it falls under the umbrella of an unwanted interruption. Judge 1 spend 20+ minutes (out of the 30 mins available between dance intervals) last week "helping" us. I still have no idea what he was wanting us to do / correct.

They are lovely and we don't want to be rude or unkind to them (especially as they will both, at some point over the years, judge our assorted dance tests and are part of the backbone of our club committee!) but I'm at a loss as to how to "encourage" them to go help others, or leave us to practice their corrections instead sometimes!

Judge 1 just stays and stays... and sometimes comes back the week after to check on our improvements on move X. Judge 2 hates twizzles so will often loose interest rapidly if I'm / we're working on them! Useful to know sometimes!

[4711]

maybe a 'thank you so much, let me go and try right now!' will help?

[techskater]

4711, no, that doesn't help.  They typically watch.  A hearty, thanks for the advice, but my coach is particular about technique is usually best.

[taka]

Yep, they always watch! They expect to see you practising it! Not sure the technique thing would wash either. They've known my coach for 50 odd years if not longer and (one of them especially) worked alongside my coach for a good while.

My coach just rolls her eyes and says just to get on with it!

[Loops]

Yikes Taka.....diplomacy might say consider it a free lesson?

[4711]

I think it's pretty cool though, that they bother to help out (even if it can be counter productive).
Especially at this day and age, when everybody expects compensation for nearly nothing.

[taka]

I feel bad now. They are lovely and generous with their time and knowledge and do mean well... They just don't always have great timing and my ice time is limited!

I have test papers in, so once they work their way through from NISA they'll keep their distance more until after the test unless I do something really stupidly ugly or dire right in front of them!

[fsk8r]

I have test papers in, so once they work their way through from NISA they'll keep their distance more until after the test unless I do something really stupidly ugly or dire right in front of them!

There you go, that's your solution. Permanently have test papers in if you want to be able to get on and practice!

[lilicedreamer]

What bugs me the most is when the kids try to get in onto a private lesson.  No, it's not happened to me but I've seen little skaters listening to a coaching session, and wonder if they're trying to get a free lesson.  My personal take is that it's easier to just not make eye contact and "turn the other way" when you see another skater approaching.  I must ask though, are you skating infrequently enough that a two minute "hi how are you doing" is too much to take?  Even though I'm not skating at the moment because of my knees, it's easy to be free and loose with my time on the ice.  I typically get at least an hour of private ice a week at the rink. 

[DressmakingMomma]

You need a distractor person! Occasionally when my dd skates at a particular public session, there is a lady in her 70's that comes to practice. She literally follows my daughter as she is skating around the rink and shouts out 'pointers'. My DD is kind of shy, focused on her own practice, and set in what she wants to be doing during her ice time so this is extremely uncomfortable for her. I have found that waving over the lady and asking her questions about her own skating seems to distract her from the 'free' coaching.

Here's something strange. we went to a few of the busy public sessions over Christmas break and there was a man with his young daughter skating both times. He kept pointing at my DD with his daughter and then he called over my DD and started talking with her. I called her off the ice to be sure he was being appropriate and he was just asking all sorts of questions about her skating. The next time that we went, though, he was there and actually whipped out his video camera to film her. My DD doesn't having her picture taken by me, no less being recorded by a stranger. I called her off again and then she started skating behind him or in the far corner of the rink. I thought that was pretty brazen, to be a man filming somebody's daughter without asking first. My DH was with us and when the man came off the ice during a break, he told him that our DD didn't like being filmed and the guy didn't do it again - but geesh!

[AgnesNitt]

Here's something strange. we went to a few of the busy public sessions over Christmas break and there was a man with his young daughter skating both times. He kept pointing at my DD with his daughter and then he called over my DD and started talking with her. I called her off the ice to be sure he was being appropriate and he was just asking all sorts of questions about her skating. The next time that we went, though, he was there and actually whipped out his video camera to film her. My DD doesn't having her picture taken by me, no less being recorded by a stranger. I called her off again and then she started skating behind him or in the far corner of the rink. I thought that was pretty brazen, to be a man filming somebody's daughter without asking first. My DH was with us and when the man came off the ice during a break, he told him that our DD didn't like being filmed and the guy didn't do it again - but geesh!

You should complain to the rink staff, formally. Start with the rink guard if you can, but if you can't, then tell whoever is at the front desk that you have a child safety issue, that a man is persisting in pestering your daughter and taking her picture.

Look, there are panicky people who think that having their child appear in the background of someone's video of their own child is a threat. Those people are nut-jobs. But if a guy is being a pest, then the rink will help you out.

H*** I'm i my 60s and I'VE had a stalker at the rink. Yes, there are some very strange people out there.