When Your Blades Guards go Missing at the Rink

I've never lost a pair of blade guards at the rink--but I have lost them in my own home-- but I hear from people who have.  There's a kind of general agreement that kids pick them up from the boards and just take them. They don't know what they're for, but they're laying there and kids with a certain kind of parent (ones that let them get away with theft) just take them.

I think though that guard manufacturers are complicit in this. Guard manufacturers should put a smooth area on them where a skater can write their name. Even ROCKERZ which merely has a kind of decorative scrolling doesn't do this. These things cost $40, at that price yeah, I'm not worried about aesthetics, I want my name on them.

Theft doesn't appear to be much of a problem on freestyle, but even freestyle skaters go on public where the trouble is with theft. (There's a certain superior kind of skater that will say: "But I wouldn't be caught dead on public, I only skate freestyle." Well, goody for you sweetheart.  I skate publics and it's my blog, so I can bitch about what I want.)

Moving on.

Anyway, first option is to search for the guards. Did they fall behind something? Did someone turn them into lost and found? Did someone move them into the hockey boxes? Bad places to put them

1. Next to the gate on the outside
2. On the boards on the inside

 If you put them in the hockey box, it lowers the risk, but it still happens.

I've come to think of guard theft as inevitable.  There's really no way to get around it. Even with your name on it, and hiding them in the hockey boxes, there are weaseley little kids, with inattentive parents. There's no place weaseley kids won't stick their nasty thieving hands.

So you've got 3 options:

Cry

Make a Scene

Say something under your breat

None of these work. So, just go to the lost and found and ask. And keep an extra pair in the car!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before

AFTER!

Laying Down the Law for Freestyle Rules

My club just came up with a list of freestyle rules that must be signed to skate on freestyle. There's nothing extraordinary about the rules, they appear to be standard at every other rink I've skated at. However, my rink (the most expensive per hour in the region) has always taken a rather relaxed attitude towards rules.

Now the silent glare of stricture is about kick some ass at  what frankly has been pretty loosey-goosey freestyles.

Obey the rules or the ice monitor will throw you off!

 Here are the Rules Summarized

1. You have to sign in AND PAY before you step on the ice....

I've heard a rumor that some people weren't paying.  So, it's about time that this got enforced.

2 . No bridging.

Bridging is where you could skate across sessions--say 15 min in one session, then finish the hour in the next. This was always a nice privilege, but I guess it got abused. You now have to get off the ice at the end of the session.

3.  Skaters must have an etiquette lesson before they are allowed to solo--and must sign the freestyle rules.

This is a relief. It will be nice if the coaches also enforce the rules. 

4.  Must wear vests when in program--And skater in program has right of way--except for ice dancers

Yeah, right.  Last year enforcement of vest wearing lasted a couple of weeks, then it was 'Guess who's in program'. I don't expect this to last unless the coaches enforce it. And I'm pretty sure the violation of right of way will continue.

But Doggy has the vest on!

5.  Limited number of times an individual's program music can be played in session

I think we may be the only rink I've ever skated at that has this rule, but I've seen it enforced. 

 6. Parents cannot coach from the gates.

I've never seen this at my rink. I mean, every other rink I've ever skated at even for a single session,  there's some parent hanging inside the gate yelling at their kid, but not this one. So there must be one annoying parent I've never run into that has everyone's hackles up.

7. No swearing or bad language.

No guarantees if I fall on my ass. Usually it's just one word...you know which one.

 8. Be nice. Especially to coaches.

In Russia, students used to have to bow or curtsey to their coach at the end of a lesson. I'd pay to see today's kids do that!