Secret Adult Freestyle

At my first rink, I was a regular. I skated public several times a week, and I'd made friends with the the two pairs of ice dancers, the skating director, and the adult freestyle skaters. I was just learning, but unknown to me, I had a reputation for being alert on the ice (thank you horse show peripheral vision). So, one day the skating director said, "Why don't you come to Secret Adult Freestyle."

"I'm not out of Basic Skills."

"Oh, that's okay. You're aware of other skaters. A lot of people aren't."

So, she told me the schedule. "Sunday, 8-10."

I looked at the freestyle schedule on my way out, I'd never bothered before, there was nothing on the schedule Sunday before 11 am when there was stick and puck.

Invitation Only Secret Adult Freestyle

For some reason, I got the impression that every rink had invitation only secret adult freestyle. I was new to figure skating and I thought this was one of those little secrets of the sport that you only learn about if you know the right people.  It makes perfect sense to have invitation only secret adult freestyle. One person to open the rink on a Sunday morning when there's dead ice is all it takes, and then pass the word out to the adults.  Bam! Profit!

Ours was the honor system. There was an envelope and a sign up sheet. You shoved your $8 for an hour (oh, halcyon days of yore! EIGHT DOLLARS! I now pay EIGHTEEN!) in the envelope and got on the ice.

One day kid skaters started showing up for the session to get ready for a comp. After a few weeks of this I said to my friend, a male skater, "I miss when it was Secret Adult Freestyle."

He gave me a funny look. "What are you talking about?"

I told him about the invitation, my vision of clandestine freestyles in rinks across the U.S.

He burst into hysterical laughter. "It's not 'secret', it's on the schedule!"

"No it's not. I checked."

He pulled out the schedule and there it was. "See! It's not SECRET adult freestyle. It's SUNDAY adult freestyle."