The closest rink to my house (but it's not my home rink) has a power class followed by an hour of freestyle. And it's the cheapest freestyle around. The skaters in program wear a ribbon around their waist to indicate they're in program. It looks like a piece of cop tape, but when I hear program music I glance around and I can usually spot the skater. The skaters at this session seem to be small. So maybe this ribbon is a nice compromise as it fits both the adult and the child skaters. It can be hard to see, but it's something.
The freestyle session at Big City Rink has the skaters wear a full up florescent vest. There's some high level skaters here (no elites, but you see some occasional triples), a strong ice dance program, and a lot of skater traffic. As I said, full up vest. Most of the skaters at this session are either adults in ice dance or teens. I've only seen a rare child skater. So the vest is the norm.
My home rink.
No Vest.
Zip. Nada. Zed.
I guess you're supposed to use psychic powers if you're a visiting skater.
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| Madame Zelda senses GLENDA is in program! |
My previous home rink (the one that closed) had no vests either. The skating director told me:
1. Hockey boys steal them (my comment--because coaches leave them lying around)
2. Everyone knows everyone else's music so they know who's in program
As a visiting skater, I hear music and I look around for someone in pose. But, there will sometimes be more than one skater practicing a pose, or I'll look around too late and miss it. I lose a lot of time guessing. If Dance Coach is with me, he'll just tell me to move to the boards if it's necessary. Otherwise we keep going in lesson. If I'm at a rink and EVERYONE skates to the boards, I know to follow. Someone fast with big jumps is out there.
Strangely enough, in a sport with all sorts of custom tchotchkes and custom costumes, I'm rather surprised no one's come up with something that will work for skaters.
Anyway, I need to work on my psychic powers, for next week's freestyle. I sense.... I sense.....that girl over there is in progam! (I hope).
