Theft at the Rink.2

A couple of years ago I blogged about theft at the rink as a general topic. Until this weekend it hadn't reached my home rink.

One of the coaches was wandering around barefoot after freestyle was over. She drew Miss Bianca aside and said her shoes were missing. Knock off Uggs, but apparently someone really, really wanted them.

And they never turned up. The coach had to drive home barefoot. Theft has finally reached my home rink.

I admit that when I first started skating, I worried about someone stealing my shoes. I used to keep a spare pair in the car, just in case. I guess I need to start doing that again.

The other rink I skate at has had signs up about theft for over a year now. Someone would walk off with hockey equipment, and sometimes just pick up a skate bag during the LTS class (I guess just hoping there was a wallet in it). That rink I could understand it happening. It's a mall rink with people wandering in and out. My home rink is a rink rink.

Well, the coaches don't have a pros room. They store their bags in an out of the way place, but it's not locked or particularly hidden. Still it seems like an inside job. You have to know the rink and its customs.

This only works if the thief knows where the wallet is.

Anyway, the same day I had to move a gift bag to get to my skate bag. When I bent down to lift it aside, I saw a cell phone on top. Some people are begging to be ripped off.

 Locking things up in a locker may be the safest for public sessions, but not every rink has lockers. And if you're careful, you probably don't need it. My previous post has some good suggestions.

Test Hair-Part Deux--The French Twist

Last year I covered the way I do buns for skating tests. Today, I want to cover doing your hair as a french twist for tests.

I think this looks elegant. It's a
simple alternative for women who
don't look good in a bun.

There are complicated ways to do french twists involving pins and requiring three hands, but my way is simple and takes just a couple of minutes. However, my way requires your hair be close to shoulder length and a blunt cut. Shag cuts will require a lot more pinning.

Here's what you'll need.

A french twist comb:

This is a less expensive one.
Try in ULTA

This is a quality one. More expensive too.
franceluxe.com

If your hair is thin, you may want a 'rat' to pad the twist to make it larger. A hair rat is a roll of hair or foam or netting (the color of your hair) about 3-4" long and an ~inch in diameter. I take an old wiglet and cut a chunk out and make it into a rat. But the best way is to make it out of your own hair so it matches.

Here are a couple of rats someone has
made from their own hair
 (I learned how to do it when I was 5)
 Instructions 

Now, here are instructions on how to actually 'do' the twist and use the twist comb. If you have a little tail above the twist, you can let it wag, or you can tuck it down into the twist at the end for a smoother look. To use the hair rat, as you twist the hair in Step 2, twist the hair around the rat by slipping the rat into the fold of the hair at the beginning then continue as in the instructions. If the rat is too heavy or dense the comb won't work. So don't try using something like a rolled up piece of cloth.

I can do a french twist in about a minute. Zip Zap Thunderclap, it's done.

If you want to do a twist in a casual setting, don't tuck in the tail at the top of the twist. Take a barrette and insert it so it catches the tail of the twist and the hair underneath rather than to use a comb (which looks more formal).

You may be frustrated with barrettes from the drugstore or even the beauty accessories store. I have baby fine hair and find even the nicer ones in beauty stores snag my hair. I've taken to buying France Luxe barrettes online. OMG. If the beauty store barrettes are a Toyota Corolla, dependable, and reliable but lacking in finishing details, France Luxe twist combs and barrettes are Porsches. I love these. But they are expensive. I keep my collection of France Luxe accessories in my jewelry box. (On the nice side, for every 3 you buy in an order, you get a free gift of a barrette or pony tie. I've got a couple of nice ones worth about $20 each for free. But it's catch as catch can.)

Bright to match your costume

Classic colors for subtlety

So there's all my tips about how to do a french twist for a test, with comments on barrettes and combs if you want to try buying something of top of the line quality.

Don't Forget Your Boots!

Ever forget your boots before a competition? Or driving to the rink?

Here's an absolutely easy way to never forget them again.

It will cost you $1.

So 3 times in 2 months I left my boots at home. I used to put my boots in the back seat of the truck, where I could see them. But when I got a sedan, I put them in the trunk.  And 3 times I drove off, leaving them in the living room. It was summer and I didn't like leaving my boots in the back seat, getting all hot and ruining the leather.

And if you're hauling a number of people to the rink, you may not have room in the back seat for the boot bag and have to put it in the trunk.

Here's my solution for never forgetting your boots again.

Go to the Dollar Store and buy a slap bracelet.

Put the bracelet on the handle of your boot bag.

When you put the bag in the trunk of the car, take the bracelet off the boot bag, and put it around one of the spokes of the steering wheel. If you have multiple people with boot bags, everyone gets a different color. When you get home put the slap bracelet back on the bag. Easier and faster than any other solution I could think of.

No slap bracelet, your skates are in the house!

There, I've just saved you a wasted trip to the rink!

The Skater's Logbook

At the end of July, I wrote about my adventures in getting an emergency sharpening. I shouldn't have needed to do that. I should have been keeping track of my hours, so my blades just steadily kept getting duller,
                       and duller,
                                         and duller.
                                                          Until one day,
                                                                                 they were unskateable.


I'm used to keeping logbooks. I kept them when I dove, and flew airplanes, and it seems natural to do while skating.

So, in a burst of activity, I went to the Dollar Store and bought a monthly/weekly pocket calendar.

I now record the day of the sharpening, notes on my skating, costs, schedules, and added notes of things my coach had said. It only takes a few minutes after every lesson or practice.

As I pointed out in Negative Self Talk, it's all too easy to remember only the negative things. A logbook helps you remember the positive ones.

But if you want to do it electronically, why not join skatingforms.com and start entering your practice results in the weekly practice thread. The thread is scoped so you can record the good and the 'needs work' results for the week. I find it fun to look back at old posts occasionally and look at my improvements.

Today I mastered my waltz jump--tomorrow the axel!

That cool cat has a very positive outlook!

Oddball Useful Things

I skate on public more than Freestyle, so I have some accessory needs that perhaps Freestyle skaters don't need. So today, I'm going to cover stuff that's very useful

1. Pocket Plus
I don't feel safe leaving money or keys in my skate bag, even if they're hidden. I lock my purse in my car, but I do need somethings on me. I came across a Pocket Plus in a Hallmark, and it's been very useful. It doesn't look like much. It's a sturdy, velcro sealable pouch, with a long tab at the top. The tab has a magnet in it at the end that clicks to a magnet sewn in the pouch. I like to carry cash and keys in it (not credit cards or other cards with magenetized stripes). The pouch can be worn at the waistband, with the tab inside your clothes. The two magnets cling to each other through your clothes. It's very secure. I've never had one move.

I prefer to wear it in a pocket in a jacket. The pouch is inside the pocket, and the tab on the outside.  This means I don't have to find jackets with zippered pockets and can just wear whatever jacket comes to hand. It comes in several sizes and colors. I use the small, 3.5x5.5 inches.

Small Pocket Plus

I know some people won't carry keys on them for fear they'll dig in if the person falls. I personally have never had this problem since the key is in the pouch in a jacket pocket---not the pants pocket. The pocket plus holds the keys flat to the body and is very sturdily built.

2.  Slap Watch
Remember these? The bastard son of the 1990's slap bracelet? It's a slap bracelet with a watch on it. I like it because I can wear it over the sleeve of my jacket. Not all the rinks I skate at have the clock on the scoreboard, or I may just want to time myself skating an exercise. I bought one for $10. It fits over my jacket, or over my wrist guards. In particular, I like the ones with the analog face with a second hand to time myself in laps.

Slap Watch

3. Clear Plastic Box or a Baggie
I have a small waterproof plastic box that came as a freebie  with something I bought (I've seen ones like it in dollar stores or Five and Below). It's been very useful. In it I keep all the stuff that I don't want to get wet or lost: my cards for the various rinks, a pen,  my gummi stone, or a place to store a couple of bucks or just any small thing that would get lost in the depths of the bag. If I didn't have that, I'd go back to using a baggie or zip-loc bag. I've also used a heavy plastic travel bag that's sold to meet TSA requirements. I like the box better.

4. Iron on jeans patches
I iron these on the inner palms of my gloves so my wrist guards don't wear a hole in the gloves prematurely.

So, there are some of the odd ball things I use when I skate. The Pocket Plus is really useful on public skate, the watch helps me with keeping track of my timed exercises, and the bag/box helps me keep stuff together. Nothing spectacular, just some helpful hints.

I'd be interested in seeing what you have in the way of stuff that keeps you organized.

Negative Self Talk

The other day, another skater paid me a compliment. "You're so good," she said.

Immediately, the Demon Negatron that lives in my head started his little speech.

"What would she know? She's just a beginner. 
If you were any good, why don't your coaches tell you so?
Didn't you just mess up that mohawk five minutes ago?
And you still can't do FI3!"

Just like the picture says, Negative Self Talk will swallow your soul. Seriously.

Here's the horror of Negative Self Talk, even if someone pays you a compliment, someone like a coach, or a skater of a higher level, or someone with a knowledgeable 'skater's eye', says "Wow! That was great!" THE DEMON NEGATRON MAKES YOU DOUBT WHAT THEY SAY!

"Oh, they're just being nice. Oh, she can't mean that. Oh, I'm not any good. I suck."

It takes me an act of will to remember the good things coaches have said about my skating.  It's so easy to remember the corrections and instruction as negatives. There is no end to corrections and instruction in skating. It's hard, very hard to not interpret them as criticism.

So, here's my hints to avoid negative self talk.
1. Ask your coach, "How have I improved over the last year?" Because, progress is hard for you to measure yourself over a long period of time. A coach sees it.
2. Make a mental note of the compliments your coach has made. If you keep a skating log (I do), don't forget to write the little triumphs as well as what to work on.
3. Don't allow yourself to disparage your own skating to others. Yes, you need work. So do world champions. Don't go telling people how awful you are. Even if something's not working, try and phrase it in a positive manner. "It's taking longer than I expected, but I'm moving forward." vice "I suck."
4. Don't compare yourself to other skaters. Skating is a journey not a race. (eg."I learned this in a week, she took two.") If you treat learning like a competition, you will be miserable. There.is.always.someone.better.than.you. The less you compare your skating to others' skating, the happier you'll be.
5. Compliment other skaters for their successes. Don't be jealous. Envy makes you miserable.
6. It's easy to let one or two bad elements in a practice session overwhelm you. There's no such thing as a 'bad practice'. Some things will have gone well, don't forget about them.
7. Accept compliments from others with, "Thank you. That means a lot to hear you say that." Then slap the Demon Negatron back to the hell where he belongs!

Angel Positron looks down from heaven and says,
"Keep up the good work!"

Test Hair

Testing is a nightmare. Not only do you have to worry about skating you have to worry about your hair. And I have the classic baby fine blonde hair with all the body of a well cooked noodle. It just hangs there, and escapes from just about any barrette, pin, ribbon or headband. I've tried bun doughnut that's supposed to be a net form for you to arrange your hair over. Said baby fine hair just won't cover the form. You can see right through the hair to the doughnut underneath. Even if I hot roller my hair, use a can of spray, and enough gel to decorate the set of Aliens, by the end of the five minute warmup, my hair is straight and floppy.

I finally found a way to keep my hair neat in tests. I wear a hair scrunchie.  These also go by the name pony tie, circle wiglet, hair wrap, and pony fastener.

Hair scrunchie

I started with a cheap one from Ulta, but I just bought a nicer one from a wig shop. We'll see how that goes and if it's worth the money. Anyway, I've seen some decent ones for $10 or less, so they're cheap enough for an experiment.

They're dead easy to use. Pull your hair back into some kind of ponytail, bun, or doubled over pony (depending on the length of your hair) and plop the scrunchie over it.

When I wear this for work I just use bobby pins to keep it in place. But for skating, I use Goody hair screws called a Spin Pin. Trust me those things are never coming out. And if perchance they do, they're easy to see on the ice.

Goody Spin Pins
How to Use

Maybe you want something more elegant than a fluffy/spiky set to your hair. I find the scrunchie useful for that too. I just plop a hairnet over the scrunchie before I put the pins in, and tug the whole kit and caboodle into something that looks like a bun. Then I screw the pins in.

Total time, 5 minutes.

And now for the obligatory cat picture. A cat in a bun.

"Coach, what do you mean this isn't the kind of
bun you wanted me to wear?"

Graceful Hands

While I was at Lake Placid I learned a graceful hand position from Coach Amazing. She has training in dance and ballet and taught me a lot about arm positioning to stop me skating so stiffly.  Anyway, she taught me what I'll call "Ballet Style Graceful Hands".  The middle finger is bent slightly down, while the index, ring and little fingers frame it from above. Coach Amazing even had a device which I wrapped around my hands to teach me how to do it properly until it became a habit.

Ballet Style Graceful Hands

You can imagine, given the position of the middle finger, that this is a hand position that must be held palm down. Hold it palm up and it looks like you're shooting someone the bird.

Dance Coach wants me to hold my free hand with the middle, ring and little finger together, and the index finger slightly separated. I looked at hundreds of pictures, and this is the only one I could find that shows anything close to what I'm describing.

God's Hand on the right is close to
"Dance Coach Graceful Hands"

After a lively exchange between Dance Coach and I about hand position--I like ballet style, he likes his style, so yes, I do his style--I realized there are other styles out there. Here they are:

Jazz Hands

Bollywood Style

Adele Style--not recommended

Vulcan Style--only if you're feeling Trekkie!

Actually, I'm surprised I've never seen a Star Trek skating program. I'm sure boys have done Star Wars over the years, but Trek has been sadly ignored by figure skating. And it's got the short skirts and everything. Tell me, doesn't this just cry out for ice dance?

Rusty Blades and Gummi Stones

When I first got a dog, every time she got an upset tummy, I rushed her to the vet. After the third visit in a month, my vet told me, "I'm happy to take your money, but trust me, dogs puke at the drop of a hat."

And that is an excellent metaphor for rust formation on upper level blades.  It's going to be part of your life, like it or not. You need learn to prevent both situations with careful daily attention.

When this hits the ground a dog will hurl and a blade will rust

The first time I saw the leprous brown spots on my MK Pro edges, I showed them to a coach, "Is this rust?" I asked, "My Mirages never rusted."

The coach made a rude noise, "That's because they were made of aluminum." Which was a sarcastic way of making fun of the Mirages. Sturdy and forgiving of bad treatment they may have been, they were not top quality blades.

I won't bother you with the chemistry of rust formation on steel--let's just summarize with the statement, some blades rust really fast (in 10 minutes), and aren't forgiving of rough treatment, or an open glass of water in the same room.

Taking tips from the coach, I developed a way of reducing the occurrence of rust on my blades.
1. I do not use hard guards unless for some reason I have to walk across a non-matted area. The coach had me look in my guards, and they are nasty. Even A FEW minutes wear can lead to rust.
2. Instead, I use the TerryTuff blade soakers with the ribbon on the bottom, when I'm walking on rubber matting.
3. I take a blade rag to rinkside and use it to wipe down my blades rather than use the soakers to do it. This keeps the soakers less damp.
4.  When I get to where I'm putting the boots in the bag, I dry them down again, with a different dry blade rag.
5. I store the boots for transport with a separate set of soakers than the ones I walk around in, so these soakers are always dry, and haven't been tramped around in on the wet rink floor.
6. When I get home I take the boots out and store them with the blades exposed so they dry out.

If rust does develop, and this may be inevitable, the coach showed my how to use a hard Gummi Stone (hard). Effectively, this is a diamond rosin embedded in a stiff rubber core. It only looks like a stone. Its purpose is to polish out the rust. It doesn't appear to be hard enough to take an edge off, so it's not like a sharpening stone. A couple of minutes of elbow grease and the rust is gone from your blades without disturbing your sharpening. You can find gummi stones online and in some ski shops.

Gummi Stone (hard)--it doesn't look like much

I've read of people who rub petroleum jelly, or WD-40 or Rustoleum on their blades. I'm not ready to take that step.

But how did I solve the dog problem? My dog was gulping her food down too fast, so I put a tennis ball in her bowl to slow down her eating. Problem solved!

Solving both problems just requires persistent daily attention! You can't let up for a minute.

The Circle

This is a post about skating terminology a lot of coaches use. I thought I'd introduce it for the skater who may hear something in a group or private lesson and not understand it.

Most of skating is on curves. Very little is on straight lines. It's a convention that the curve you skate on is called 'the circle'. It doesn't matter if you're not actually completely skating in a circle. What counts is that you're skating on a curve that is part of a larger imaginary circle. The term 'the circle' for curves originates with compulsory figures, where skating was done on large joined circles.

Sometimes your coach may say something like, "Face into the circle," or, "Put your free leg in the circle in that turn." What does the coach mean?

Fortunately, I was able to find a photo that can help illustrate that point.

Here's what facing 'into the circle' looks like.

This picture of a synchro team shows the circle, and it shows each girl facing 'inside the circle.' It doesn't matter if they're skating clockwise or counter clockwise, when they skate with their chest towards the center of the circle, that's 'facing inside the circle'.

If you were to see this picture with the girl's backs to the circle, that's called 'facing out of the circle.'

Note that their arms are 'on the circle'.

Suppose your coach wants you to put your forward arm 'inside the circle'? If you're skating clockwise as the girls are in the picture above (I think they're skating forward, though the more I look at it they may be skating backwards--just assume for argument they're going forward), you'll move your left arm so it points at an angle away from the 'line of the circle,' but towards the center. Most times coaches don't want you to point directly at the center of the circle, but just to put your arm inside the circle a little.

What about 'outside the circle'?

One of the prominent places where 'outside the circle' becomes most obvious is when a skater does an 'outside spread eagle'. They will actually appear to be leaning into the circle, but facing out of the circle.

So, there's your little skating terminology tip for the day.

Rink Tips

Sometimes I come across a tip that's so amazingly simple that I gasp at how foolish I was to miss it in the first place. And yet, the simple tip solves some annoying off-ice issue that bugs me.

Problem:
Soakers go missing.
I get off the ice, pull my shoes out of the bag and can't find the soakers. I open the end pockets of the bag and find one, then find the other one on the floor across the boot area. Meanwhile I've got one boot on and one boot off, so I have to limp across the rubber and get my feet wet.

Tip
Put the soakers in your shoes before you put them in the bag.
I know. I mean, amazingly simple! Problem solved!
(I got this one off skatingforums.com)

Problem:
My gloves, rags, stockings, arm warmers, and wrist guards not only float around the bag, they go to visit the soakers on the other side of the rink. And sometimes stuff disappears.

Tip
I bought one of those zip-up mesh lingerie bags used to wash bras. I can stuff everything in there, and not only does it dry out in there, a couple of times a month when I get home I just toss it into the washer and wash everything in the cool cycle along with my clothes.

Problem:
Gloves don't match.

Tip:
Well, you can always buy gloves of all the same color, but I don't even bother. I solved this one by not worrying about it. If I'm down to one glove I just go get another glove of any color out of the glove box at home. If I find a glove floating around the house, I toss it into the glove box. Yes, nothing says figure skater like the fact you have a 'glove box'.

Problem:
You have to take your gloves off to use your phone.

Tip:
You can buy expensive special gloves, or even conductive thread, but an alternative is to buy the cheapest special gloves possible*. I've used theses and they work as well as the expensive gloves. You can sometimes find them in the 5 And Below stores in the winter. And if you've established a reputation as a glove rebel, it won't matter if one glove doesn't match. You just keep one at home as a backup.

Got a tip? Please share the wealth!

* If you look carefully, you'll see you can get these for $4.50 from 'other sellers'.

Theft at the Rink

I've only had stuff missing from my bag twice, and it's entirely possible that they fell out or I just left them on the bench. Freestyles are usually safe. Skaters put their purses or wallets and phones out off reach in the hockey boxes at many rinks, and ice monitors keep an eye on what's going on. Public sessions on the other hand--even in the daytime--can be a wild west show. Still it surprises me that I have never heard personal stories about it. So I Googled it.

From the Google news, it's usually people who either break into the rink after it's closed and take money from the office, or steal money out of locker rooms. One woman who bucked this trend would steal money from purses during birthday parties at the rink--and she was stupid enough to get caught twice at different rinks. The interesting thing about the thieves I read about was that they KNEW THE RINK. One man dressed up as someone coming in to play hockey by carrying a large obvious hockey bag before he waltzed into a locker with the key in the door. Other locker room break ins were perpetrated by teens who knew the rink layout. Even the woman who stole at birthday parties, knew how the rinks worked.

I found one case only, where someone lost something other than out of a locker room or a party. This person left their wallet and cell phone under their bag, under the bench. Okay, there's world's stupidest criminals, there's also world's stupidest victims.

Don't make it easy

So herewith is some common sense advice for rink theft if you skate at public sessions or are attending a game or competition:

1. Don't bring a lot of money and credit cards to the rink--unless you carry them on your person
2. Don't leave your car keys in the bag--especially if they have a remote opener on the ring. With that remote opener, even if someone doesn't know what you drive, they can still find your car.
3. If you leave stuff in the locker room, bring your own lock. Better still leave your money, cards and phone with a friend, family member or coach.
4.  For public sessions, zip your bag up. It won't deter a thief, but it helps keep children's wandering hands out of it. I like to put my bag on top of a vending machine especially to avoid the problem of unattended children riffling through my bag.
5. Carry a duffel or other cheap bag. You can stuff one of these in out of the way places to make it hard to get to. Zuca's are too unwieldy to do anything with other than to set them out in the open.
6. If you have to leave money, phone or wallet in a bag (and I don't recommend this at all) don't put it in there in front of everyone watching in the lobby. Put it in the bag while you're still in the car and bury it deep in the bottom or in a pocket with a lot of junk at the top. Turn your phone off.

Is it worth it to use the public lockers? Geeze, I don't know. My rink charges about $2 to use a locker. I've never seen anyone use them. However, at one rink I skated at once, the rink creeped me out so much, I put my shoes and empty bag in a rented locker. What can I say, it was a sleezy rink. Don't miss it at all.

Depending on where you live, leaving stuff in the trunk of a car is usually a safe bet. Don't leave a purse in view in the car. Just common sense.

Fortunately, the rink security cameras appear to be pretty effective. In several cases I read about, they were the direct cause of capturing the perp.

 

What? The rink cameras caught me?

 

Mental Rehearsal

Taking a lesson from anyone can  be overwhelming. Move the body here, twist here, hold the arm here, don't do that-do this, BEND THE KNEE, hold the leg up, pputyourrighfootin, puullyourleftfootout, shakeitallabout. .......

This is my brain

This is my brain on skates

 This week between Dance Coach and Coach Cruella, I was mentally swamped. It's easy to lose track of everything in a lesson, especially when you're a beginner like myself. Losing old habits while building new ones requires a lot of effort, probably more than most adults can find ice time for.

Fortunately, there's a way to solve this. I'll call it Mental Rehearsal.

It's an hour each way for me to any rink I skate at. So to use that hour usefully, I've developed some habits of mentally rehearsing what I'm about to do (on the way up), and what I learned (on the way home).  Driving to a dance lesson, I put on my dance music and mentally go through the steps. Driving to an edge lesson, I review what I learned last week; driving home, I review what I learned this week--and attempt to merge it with previous lessons.

Back when I was in the Air Force, the trainee pilots I knew had a procedure called 'Chair Flying'. They would sit in a chair and mimic a training flight they had scheduled. Although they were physically pretending to flip switches, making radio callsk and moving the stick, the actual rehearsal was all in their head. The rule was "Ten in the Chair, is worth one in the air."

If you watch the Olympic skaters before they go on the ice, they'll be stepping through their program, or they'll be standing with their eyes closed. In both cases they're mentally reviewing every stroke, gesture, twirl, jump and stop. Mental rehearsal really works.

Secondly, taking a private lesson is something like drinking from a fire hose. How I envy advanced skaters who only need to tweak a skill. I have to construct my skills like a single person building a castle, one brick at a time. My lessons are filled with corrections, skill upgrades, moves etc. I need the mental rehearsal immediately after the lesson to retain all those little skills. The silence of the car allows me an opportunity to review each skill we went through, and every technique I was taught in the lesson. No distractions of the radio, or music on the iPod. This is focused learning, not just running though a checklist. It's best when you can feel the muscles as you mentally think about the moves. It takes effort and concentration to get to that level of Mental Rehearsal, but it's worth it.

So my 3 rules are:
1. Review skills before the lesson
2. Review the lesson after the lesson
3. Review in a quiet environment.

By the way, Coach Cruella Reads My Blog!

The Okay Plateau

When learning a new skill there comes a point when you've mastered it.

Not.

Even chess grand masters, world champion skaters, and famous cricketers (hello UK visitors) never master their skills.

They're much, much better than the rest of us are, but no skill is ever 'mastered'. What the world champions, grand masters, etc. are is 'they're much, much better than the rest of us'.

So how do they get there?

What happens is 'the rest of us' (you and me), we get to a point where we're comfortable with a skill and we decide 'There, I've mastered that' and we move on. 

This is called the Okay Plateau. As in, "I'm OK with that skill, I'll move on." Amateurs learn a skill and go on autopilot after that.

Big Mistake.

Going on Autopilot doesn't improve your skills

Getting a skill to an expert level requires challenging the skill in practice. If you just practice and are satisfied with the skill, then you probably will not reach expert skill levels. For example, chess grand masters spend enormous amounts of time on the basics, studying each move in the games of famous masters move by move. World champion skaters not only work on jumps but also skating skills. Amateurs spend their time on jumps and spins.

This is where deliberate practice comes in. In an earlier post I wrote about the concept of Achieving Failure. That's a two part concept. First, figure out how to do a skill in a way that you achieve an 'educational failure', a failure you can learn from. Sometimes it might mean doing something with more speed, other times odd entry angles, or different arm or body positions. It depends on the skill. Second, meticulously take apart that failure and fix it.

The problem is, in skating, fixing a skill is difficult for beginner skaters. We simply don't have the breadth of experience to analyze how to fix it.  We rely on our coaches or group classes. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of things we have to learn. Kids usually learn basic skills quickly. But it's the rare child who has the mental maturity to focus on practice and work on skills that aren't naturally easy.

As adults we can do what most kid skaters can't do, we can apply our mental maturity to getting past the OK Plateau.  That means working to achieve an educational failure, then building the skills to fix that. Stroking along and doing things we're comfortable with won't hack it.

This means.....I have it in me to learn spins. And at least some half jumps. My age and my fears may stop me from going further, but there is no reason I can't learn single jumps with enough focus, time and fearlessness.

So those of you who are reading this, take heart. In theory, even if you didn't skate as a kid, even an axel is within your grasp! (with enough money, time, coaching, and good knees).

Skate Wisely. Skate with Focus. Kick yourself into action.

Dealing with Ice Tourists

Public skate is for 'the public'.  Most of 'the public' are Ice Tourists  who don't skate regularly and only visit the rink on public sessions. I'm happy they're there. They help keep the rink open.

I don't expect them to know about the coned off center. Really, rinks should post signs, "The coned off center ice is for lessons, jumps and spins." for it to have any meaning.

I don't expect the children to exhibit good sense. It's my job to look out for them.

But older teens and adults? Sadly, 20% of them appear to be lobotomy survivors.

The dads and moms that carry their children in their arms. Yes, I saw one mom fall on her little girl.

The dads that take their son out on the ice in hockey skates then act upset when the 4 or 5 year old can't figure out how to skate, sits down and cries. 

The grown men who skate backwards fast without looking behind them.  

The older teens who link arms and play crack-the-whip, never mind that they're surrounded by tiny kids.

The young men who get in a fight in center rink. Ditto the ones who get in a shoving fight along the boards. Ditto the ones who play tag through the stream of kids.

The adults of either gender who don't look before they step into the stream. Or who have some skating skills, but don't look before they turn or step in a new direction. I don't mind that they change direction. I just want a hint. Anything! PLEASE! 

And for me here's the kicker. I said I don't expect them to know about the coned off area, but I do expect them to have enough sense to see Dance Coach and I practicing fast crossovers in hold. We're a big fast moving train going in a circle and someone (always a man for some reason), will skate into the center and stand there in our path gawping at us. You know, I just want to give them a dope slap! How do these people drive to the rink? 

But public ice is for the public. I'm lucky my rink allows lessons on ice, otherwise I'd never get to skate. Thank you rink.

Hey, You. You, fat guy over there skating backwards....kid behind you...stop!....stop!....stop!

.............

RINK GUARD! 

How Much Does it Cost?

I'm a beginner skater. But I'm a serious beginner skater. I have a private lesson every week, plus I take group so I get mid-week ice time. And since I'm 'mature', I figured I'd never advance unless my lesson was an hour a week, so that's more than most people (also, I've found the hour lesson really built up my old lady stamina).

Does it run into money? Yeah. Serious money? Well, to me it's a costly sport, but not an expensive sport. If I was a teenage girl working part time, yeah, it would be serious money. But I've had more expensive hobbies. I flew single engine and aerobatic aircraft back in the 80s,  and rode horses in the 90s. Skating is a lot less expensive than those. To me skating is like 'golf expensive' without the country club membership but not 'skiing expensive' or 'cruise ship vacation expensive'. If in my twilight years I want to have some good times, I hope you won't go all "Occupy Skating Rink" on me.

Let's break it down with some rough numbers:

$2100 a year for privates or $1050 if I took half hour lessons
$400 for group
$600 for gas to/from the rink
$100 for boot care and sharpening
$240 for test fees (6 tests)
$220 for coach fees for tests

So roughly a little over $3500.  or say $2600 if I took half hour lessons. Maybe $2200 if I dropped group too. Note I don't count ice time. Publics are covered by my group tickets, and my freestyle sessions are just a few times a year. Not enough to count. If I had to add ice time, since I can only get to skate on publics that's bout $1400 a year, if I have to pay it for myself. If I skated on freestyles, It would cost me $450 a year per hour a week I skated. Two hours a week--$900. Four hours a week--$1800. 10 hours a week--$4500.  Even then it's cheaper than many other sports.

In comparison, Spin Guy from my rink and I got into a discussion about what he paid for his daughter's synchro.
$1800 for the team fees
$2200 for travel, costumes, and hotels, but not including coach fees, boot care, etc.
~$1250 for private lesson fees (my estimate)
He's a dad. As he says, "I just write the checks." He started skating when his daughter did. He's taught himself some wicked spins, but as he says, "My money goes to synchro".

How does this compare to hockey? Youth hockey can be inexpensive, but once you get on a travel team, I read it goes up to $10,000 a year.  And that's for 10 year olds. How much it costs for an adult league, I have no idea.

So for a beginner skater, who skates almost every week it's something between $2500-$4500 a year including ice time.  You could make it less by not taking privates, and restricting the number of Freestyles. I suspect it could get really expensive with custom costumes, competition travel and fees, but I'm a rec skater, those fees are not in my budget.

As an adult you won't have the deadlines that kids have if they want to go to the elite level. You can shape your budget to meet your needs and income. You can skate on publics rather than Freestyles to keep ice fees down. If you can sew you can make your own costumes or skating outfits.  This is an affordable sport for those interested in skating for exercise and maybe some testing. Those wanting to compete can go as high as they want!

For Men Only

Men don't get enough attention in the figure skating world.  I'm not talking about the elite skaters; They have their coach and the USFSA, and management to look after them. I'm talking about the adult male skater who never skated as a competitor, and who may not know any other male skaters, or a mom who may have a son who is the only male skater at the rink. So, as a service to the handful of male skaters who read this blog (or the moms of young male skaters), I've pulled together a couple of references that may be of use in case you men are pulled into a local ice show  and have to wear a tight costume, or decide to partner above a certain level, or even if you're a man who likes to wear tight pants to test/skate in. This isn't information that the ordinary male rec skater in group lessons will need (unless they are in a local ice show).

Dancers and male figure skaters above a certain level share a common need. They both find themselves with their legs in extreme positions where movement of the legs may result in great personal discomfort. They also may find themselves in costumes where underwear can be seen through the material under theatrical level lights, or where the trousers are tight and can outline the naughty bits. No one wants to see the naughty bits. 

From the dance world there comes the solution for that, it's called a dance belt (There's also a dance brief). Actually a specialized form of athletic supporter, it's required in the dance world, and I've seen plenty of references for its wear by male skaters for local ice shows (such as this one). However, it's not enough just to pull it on, there's a certain technique to fitting it. As a woman who's thinking of the safety of her male readers, I'm providing links to the two best sites on the topic. (Note: These are dance sites.)

Doctor Dancebelt's Complete Guide to Dance Belts

What a mom might need to teach her son about dance belts.

I don't know how this information gets transmitted to male skaters when needed, especially if there's no male coach at the rink. It might even be embarrassing man to man. A male coach might hesitate to explain the niceties to a young male skater, given the hysterical paranoia of some mothers. I can't imagine a female coach broaching the subject.  This is where the Internet comes in handy. 

Don't Panic

Selecting a coach

When the time comes that you decide you want a private coach,  I think you should look at yourself first, rather than the coaches. Ask yourself some questions.

 What's your goal with skating? Figures, hockey, dance moves? Knowing this can help you select a coach.

What's your commitment in time? Will you have time to practice? Or will you only skate during lessons? If you won't have time to practice, then look long and hard at yourself and your skating. You're going to need to practice. If you can't commit to practice, then getting a coach may not be the option for you. Just sayin', you might be wasting your money.

How much are you willing to spend?  It's not just the lesson cost, it's the ice time too. A rule of thumb, I've been told is 4 hours for every hour of coaching. Lot's of adults can't do that. Adults have commitments in time, and availability of ice. But 2 to 1 is still a useful planning ratio.

Is the ice time available? If you work, can you make time for lessons and practice? 

Once you have a sense of what you want, how much time and money you'll be able to spend, and your availability for practice, start looking for the person to be your coach.

1.  Are you ready for a private coach? Ask yourself that honestly.  Are your skills such that a coach would find you worth his/her time?  Would you actually be better off staying in group? If group is not working out, maybe a private coach plus group would be a good idea.
2. If you decide to go the  private route , have in mind either a number of lessons, or a period of time (say 3-6 months) as a trial period for your lessons. I've heard this called a try-out of a coach. Too short a time and the coach may not want to bother with you. 

3. Look at the available coaches. Do you like one of your group coaches? Lots of people go this route. Do you see a coach that teaches adults in the discipline you want? Another good option. Do any of your rink buddies have suggestions? 

4. Look the coach up on the bio page of the rink (if your rink has one). Find the lesson cost, and the skills listed. 

5. Have a lot of internal debates.

6. Pick one to approach. Ask the question.

I once switched rinks and approached the skating director about coach availability. (Failed to observe rule number 3-4, because I'd only been skating 6 months and didn't know how to get a coach) She snatched me up in a heart beat. It was not a good match.  I didn't obey rule number 2. I should have had a deadline.

After I broke my ankle and was off ice for a year, I returned to skating. What minor skills I had, were gone. The rink I had been at previously was gone now, so I went to Rink 2. I knew the rules now. I took my time.  I had two coaches in mind that I thought would work out. Both turned me down. Looking back, I think my post-injury skating was too awful. I should have just gone into group. Rule number 1.

Which is actually what happened. I went to Rink 3 and signed up for group. (Rink 2 disappeared. Literally. The roof collapsed under 6 feet of snow) I ran into a coach I knew from Rink 1 and we started lessons to supplement group. Then she decided to move to another part of the country. One day she said, "We need to think about another coach for you." She and I had been sharing the ice for 6 months with another coach and his students. He sounded pretty good (I could overhear him talking to his students), even though I'd never spoken to him, or even knew his name. "What about that guy?" I said pointing to him.

That's how I ended up with Dance Coach. See, perfectly planned out.

The Rust Beater

(Still working on the Center of Mass is the Center of Everything post. Here's some mindless filler)

I am not a coach. I'm not a high level skater. My comments about skating have no ring of authority.  I can give no advice except in one area.

Blade rags.

These often under rated tools of the skaters trade are known by low class names: blade towel, blade rag, and 'that blue thing at the bottom of the bag'.  Some people use any thing handy, an old bar towel, something from the kitchen or the bathroom, a piece of cloth cut from an old flannel robe. I dis those things. Dis them hard. Ptooey!

Cotton is okay for drying yourself off after a shower, but we're talking about your skates here. These are worthy of royal treatment. You must only allow the most absorptive, soft, scratch free fibers to touch your precious blades, or the skating demon with sprinkle them with rust. The towel must be made from the inner fiber of the rypoff tree from the deepest jungle in the forest of Bongo-bongoland. This fiber is harvested by artisans wearing special gloves dampened with the first dew of morning, and placed lovingly in handwoven pine baskets. The strict inspection regimen means that only half the harvest is ever used for these magical creations which are available for only $15.99.

SCREECHing halt!

Sorry, I've been looking at catalogs and everything has a little story to make the enormous friggin' markup palatable. But here it's not necessary. I'll tell you the secret. Yes, I've found a blade towel that is better than anything else I've tried.  I've used these for years and I swear by them.

Welcome to the freakishly cheap 'super-absorbtive' microfiber towels from the Dollar Store. I kid you not. A couple of swipes of these and my blades are dry. I dry my blades, pop on the cheap soakers, and leave everything in the bag in the car. According to traditional wisdom I should be skating on little red stubs of rust, but they're as perfect as the day I bought them (except for the fact my rocker is getting to end of life, but that's another story).

I tried cotton towels of various kinds when I started out, but they were almost worthless. They took a lot longer to dry the blades, and I don't think they did a good job. These sweet little one dollar babies (in various colors, and sometimes 2 for a dollar) do the job, do it fast, do it well. Got a dollar to spare? They're worth a try.

Warming up is more than keeping Warm

I wasted the first 3 years of my skating life by not warming up before I skated.

3 years of ice fees, 3 years of lessons, 3 years of time on the ice down the drain.

Then I was off ice for a year. This is about what happened when I restarted.

If you're a teenager or in your twenties you may not see the benefits of warming up. But once you hit your 30's the natural resilience of your body begins to fade. One day you say to yourself "I was a little 'off' today." and you wonder why. There's other little hints, the spiral that doesn't go as high as it used to, the sore knee that appears out of nowhere.  When you pass your peak of strength and speed in your twenties there is a gradual diminution of your skills; you can help deal with that with a proper warm up.

How did I get to be such a warm up hot shot?  I was taking a lesson with Coach Great Hair while Dance Coach was on his honeymoon. She flatly told me I needed to warm up, and that skating a half hour before a lesson wasn't enough. It was warm up tough love.

So before Dance Coach (aka Coach Frowny Face) got back from his honeymoon I had instituted a warm up boot camp. I stopped at a mall near the rink and did 45 minutes of fast walking including going up and down stairs as quick as I could without running. Then I got to the rink and did 10 minutes of stretching before I put on my boots.

After a month coach did his frowny face at the end of a lesson. "You're doing much better. Usually students get a little better a little at a time, but you just got better like an explosion. I've never seen it happen before."  Notice what he said: I had a SKILL EXPLOSION.  How many lessons is that worth? So even though it takes time, it's worth it.

Is there anything special about my warm up? Not particularly.  You want to get the large muscles of the legs warmed up and walking is excellent for this. Going up and down stairs warms up the knees. It's not rocket science. How long I take is due to my age. As I approach social security payment time, I find I need more time. It's a part of my life now. If I was younger I might jump rope or jog in place, but no one exercise is absolutely essential. What is essential is getting the blood moving into the legs.

What about stretching?

It's hard to do stretching at my rink because the party rooms are always booked, there's a hockey game in the rink area and no place in the boot changing area to do anything.  I've had to make do by finding a little corner off of the rink and doing 10 minutes of standing stretches. Holding each stretch for 30 seconds and repeating it 3 times does appear to be critical for me.  There's lots of books, articles and web pages out there about stretching. Pick the ones that work for you. I need stretches for my hips and I pick exercises for that.

Have I convinced you to warm up before skating? I hope so. I don't want anyone thinking as I do about the wasted money, time, and effort that I spent because I didn't think I needed to warm up before getting on the ice.