Ice Skating

[Flashy]

i fucking hate it...because i have never been able to do it...

i do not understand why i have never been able to...i am a very good athlete and have good balance etc. which has allowed me to play sports all my life with a high degree of proficiency even if i am nowhere near "exceptional"

i have gotten out on ice about 6-7 times in my life...each time, it was the most horrible, uncomfortable, totally spazzed out sporting experience of my life...

it was shameful...i could barely stand or move...i gripped the sides of the rink for dear life...

it is so strange..i was always an expert level snow skiier, a great rollerblader, a decent water skier, even a decent roller hockey player (and later roller blade hockey player) so i am clearly decent at balance...

but with ice skating, i can never hold my balance...i always feel like i am going to fall usually, backwards, no matter how many instructions i have gotten etc.

i do not actually want to do it now or ever, i just find it baffling that i find the ice so...well...icy and hard to deal with

i have only had this much trouble with one other sport...skateboarding


it is not like i hate ice skating...i have tremendous respect for the incredible talent it takes to play hockey, or figure skate, or speed skate...i just find it exceptionally annoying that i have been such an utter and pathetic to the point of shame, failure at it, which i have never experienced at even the most basic of sports...

anyone else?

love it or hate it? can't do it? thoughts...

 

[SpeedoMike]

nobody is an expert at everything. roller skating can be much the same. my folks operated a rink and I watched a lot of people skating. there are all levels of skill. don't let it bother you. I didn't even try a skateboard or skiing.

 

[nudeyorker]

I love ice skating. I'm surprised that with your rollarblade and snow skiing experience you have difficulty. My first thought was that you need ankle support. I don't know what to say other than try the skates on with blade guards and learn to walk and move with them better before you go on the ice. Then take some lessons.

 

[Flashy]

nobody is an expert at everything. roller skating can be much the same. my folks operated a rink and I watched a lot of people skating. there are all levels of skill. don't let it bother you. I didn't even try a skateboard or skiing.

well, i should clarify, mike...i am not traumatized...it is just annoying :biggrin1:

i would not want to be an expert, i just find it perplexing that i could barely stand up, having tried it several times...i knew i'd never be good at it,,,but to be able to make it once around the rink at a relatively slow constant speed was something i really did not think would be so problematic :redface:

 

[Flashy]

I love ice skating. I'm surprised that with your rollarblade and snow skiing experience you have difficulty. My first thought was that you need ankle support. I don't know what to say other than try the skates on with blade guards and learn to walk and move with them better before you go on the ice. Then take some lessons.

i know...that is what is so perplexing...it is not like i am a spaz, as you mentioned, i am a good roller blader, great skiier...it is bizzare...

i thought it might be my ankles but that didn't seem to be it as they have always been strong from skiing and roller blading...

i never had problems side to side, it was always that i felt if i leaned to far forward, the skates would slide out behind me and if i leaned to far back, obviously they would fly it fron under me to the front...

it was really just baffling...

i mean i was snow skiing when i was about 2 and half years old for god sake...i was racing by the time i was 6 on the mountain juniors squad...and there was always a rink at the mountain, and i would go there and could literally not move...

it is just so strange considering my good history with balance intensive sports...

damn ice.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Keep your knees bent, your skates sharp and your ankles straight.

If you are an ankle skater (like me), then you need skates with good support. Bind them tightly near the top so there is less wiggle.

With your knees bent, you'll fall less often and you'll fall forward--no skull fractures.

Sharp skates let you push off, or stop, without them coming out from under you. Even advanced skaters can fall due to dull blades--just like carving when you ski.

I took this photo just yesterday. This is the longest skating rink in the world. Nobody is using it because it's too bumpy. They'll pump water up from below and let it freeze to smooth it out... then it will be packed full of people, huts and sleighs.

 

[BS1984]

I love ice skating. I'm surprised that with your rollarblade and snow skiing experience you have difficulty. My first thought was that you need ankle support. I don't know what to say other than try the skates on with blade guards and learn to walk and move with them better before you go on the ice. Then take some lessons.

I'd have to agree. I would figure that you can rollerblade than you can ice skate. Don't worry though, I am trying to ski for the first time ever in my life this weekend and I am 25.

Great side story, a few years ago my gf (now my wife) and I went ice skating around Christmas time. She didn't know that I had taken lessons years earlier and constantly played roller hockey so I was fairly comfortable. I got on the ice went around real quick when we got there, did a quick little hockey stop, sprayed some ice and extended my hand to her. The look on her face was priceless. She thought that we were going to be falling down together. I took her hand and she didn't let go the whole night. She said that it was a total turn on seeing that.

Made me feel good :smile:

 

[D_Jurgen Klitgaard]

Same here. I was a roller hockey player all throughout jr. high and high school and I still can't ice skate as well as rollerblade. Hell I can't even stop on the ice worth a flip.

 

[Serial Kisser]

I LOVE ice skating.
I didn't know I was even good at it until I went on this SUPER lame first date with this guy. We decided to go ice skating because I'd never been. I was living in Connecticut at the time, from Florida. We don't have many rinks here. So, we go out on the ice and I took to it naturally. And the guy got pissed at me! He accused me of lying. He thought I duped him. He thought I lied about never having been skating before! I was going front, backwards, spinning. He was just being a big lame ass about the whole thing. That was the last time I saw him.

I did go on to take figure skating lessons for a year. I love it. I'm supposed to hit up a rink in FL soon.

 

[Serial Kisser]

Same here. I was a roller hockey player all throughout jr. high and high school and I still can't ice skate as well as rollerblade. Hell I can't even stop on the ice worth a flip.

Haha, I took a year of figure skating lessons. I never learned how to stop. Well, they taught me, but I'd always just spin out like on roller blades.

 

[Deno]

I already know how to skate but I'd take lessons if Apollo Ohno was teaching. I never could stand on a skateboard though.

 

[deleted3782]

i fucking hate it...because i have never been able to do it...

I'm the same way. I tried to ice skate once in my life and I just couldn't get away from the wall. I was pretty pitiful in light of the little kids who gracefully wizzed by me on the ice.

Of course, I've never done well with wheels or ice under my feet. Similarly, I've not been able to roller skate either...

...or roller blade
...or skateboard
...or ski
...or snowboard
...or surf. :tongue:

 

[justmeincal]

I suck at many sports, but ice skating is a piece of cake for me. I absolutely love to do jumps, but you have to have a really good pair of skates (and blades) to do them. Cheap skates don't give you any ankle support which is crucial.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Nobody is using it because it's too bumpy. They'll pump water up from below and let it freeze to smooth it out... then it will be packed full of people, huts and sleighs.

Finally...

 

[mitchymo]

I love to try and skate, i slip on the ice often but i can move around the rink a bit before i do.

I think with skating and boarding the mind must take a response of either 'this is a challenge i'm going to conquer' or like me 'i have feet on my ankles for a reason'.

 

[joyboytoy79]

I'm not a great skater. I don't fall, but it takes me quite a while to make it around the rink. I do, however, know many many skaters. (I used to work for a skate shop)

All of the pros I know tell me roller and ice are VERY different animals. And they're absolutely right. Ice skates have the smallest contact surface of any type of skate. They're narrower and shorter than hockey blades, and by far narrower and shorter than roller blades. Plus, there's that pesky pick at the front, that tends to trip people up.

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

i'm an awesome roller skater, though the winter weather has me out of endurance practices at the rink. I go once a week anymore, can't wait until the summer hits so i can go several times a week.

I've skated for 20 years, i still fall and hurt myself. Sometimes its embarassing, most times not. It's sore for days unlike when i was a kid and nothing hurt for days after falling.

I've never done ice skating.

 

[Gillette]

Can ice skate and ski, was pretty good on wheels but that was when the wheels were parallel. Rollerblades make me feel like I'll fall backward.

One year when I was coaching Ringette (ice sport) some people from work organised a staff party at a roller rink. The motions felt familiar, I knew what I was doing, could skate backwards, do jumps and quick reversals. I was the picture of fluidity and grace...until I tried to stop and forgot I wasn't on ice.

Well.

I recovered from the embarrassment and enjoyed the rest of the evening mindful of the use of toe stops. Cool.

The following week, back on ice coaching again. Skating backwards with the girls following me, all was well until I wanted to show one of them something and tried to use toe stops that weren't there. Nothing commands the respect of your team like faceplanting at their feet.

Ah, memories.

 

[DiscoBoy]

Love it.

I learned as a child one day when my mother brought me to the rink, dumped me on the ice and went on her way. I stood in one spot for about an hour until I gathered up the courage to actually try and move. I fell a couple of times before finally getting the hang of moving around. Using a fence, and just smashing into walls/fences when wanting to stop worked wonders for me. I learned to stop a year or two later once I started playing hockey.

It just takes determination and a readiness to fall on one's ass over, and over, and over again. It pays off though.:smile:

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

Finally...

I lost my hat in that canal. :frown1:

Great photo Rex