- Joined
- Jan 12, 2012
Hello, folks! I've only been ice skating for about a month. The reason I got involved in it is because my wife and I are homeschooling our five year old son and we take him to a 2-hour event each week to be with other homeschooling families. The interest level in skating has improved greatly for both our son and I. I became interested in it because I wanted to help him learn how to skate, and I enjoy the time with on the ice. The other reason I'm interested in this is that I love challenges and this 39 year old man's body is up for it. As far as my figure skating career goes, I have the *** of Johnny Weir (I do think he's gorgeous, don't worry, wife knows about that side of me, lol) and the feet of Bambi. My son became interested, for two reasons I think. One, he too loves challenges and he's a rough-houser of a kid. The other reason is that he saw Daddy really getting into it and my buying my own skates (rentals suck) -- figure skates through the shop at the rink, and hockey skates through the shop at another rink we visited -- solidified in his mind that "Daddy is serious about this, so it must be a lot of fun!". Today the guy who runs the rink that we've mostly gone to had me try on some old, rusty hockey gear, and then had me just get out there and skate as fast as I could and without fear. I think I set a world record with a 30 slide on my back. (on purpose to get the 'fear factor' out of the way).
Sorry for all the rambling. I have so many things that I want to talk about, but the most pressing issue for me right now is that I am looking for an adult learn-to-skate program and there just don't seem to be any. Here in Western Massachusetts we basically have these towns / cities to go to for ice skating:
Pittsfield, MA (where we live, it's a small rink)
North Adams, MA (the one we've visited mostly, it's a bit run down but they're trying to turn things around)
Springfield, MA (the Olympia Ice Center, folks we spoke to there were snobby, but they have 3 NHL-sized rinks there, shop is run by arrogant know-it-all jocks, the one time we went there was so our son could be in their Holy Name Hockey program, he was planted up against a wall for 15 minutes with no one bothering to help him, before he decided to take off skating across the rink with his 'walker' made of pvc pipe and shoving the walker and wandering around, where still no one bothered to help him)
Westfield, MA (Amelia Park, have heard that it's nice, but the girl who teaches private lessons there never responded to my email inquiry about lessons)
Greenfield, MA (heard today they have a rink, and that there is an adult learn-to-skate program, but it's a hell of a commute)
Troy, NY (heard they have a number of rinks, and they have adult learn-to-skate programs)
I have asked around and it seems that there are no adult figure skating competitions in this area, that there doesn't even seem to be any interest, and most of the talking heads say that "most adults are presumed to know how to skate" But, hey, I've been told that if I get into a men's hockey league that I will suddenly be taught how to skate and "they will give you tips and pointers". Yeah, a stick between the legs and a forearm to the cage :/ Is interest in figure skating, more precisely, interest in adult figure skating, this low in general or am I just in the wrong place? My luck would be moving to the figure skating capital of the world and a nuclear bomb landing just as I step onto the ice. The guy who runs the rink told me that if I play hockey it will greatly help me to improve in figure skating, but it's figure skating that would bring tears of joy to me, not scoring a goal.
Because I was in competitive marching band and concert band as a middle schooler and high schooler years ago I've ever since then had great interest in music, dance and choreography. In my mind I can just about listen to any good song and picture myself as Johnny Weir displaying all the elegance in the world. I can see myself spinning, skating backwards, doing all that stuff, balding head and all.
Today I was working on trying to skate faster, bend my knees more (I fell a lot less), keep my back straighter and my head up and to actually let my arms flow for balance. Yeah, I know I'm never going to win any real competitions (ice dancing, maybe), but I do think I would have a real advantage over those folks who execute well but display no emotion or sense of compositional balance.
I am just desperate to express myself, all these years I've wanted to do that. At one point in my twenties I had fantasies of becoming a drag queen just so that I could express myself to the rhythm of music. I feel that it's there for me in figure skating if someone will just give me a chance. Today I was wearing my tight jeans with a hole in one leg and an oversized shirt (I am not the most masculine man, for sure, wife is equally slanted the other way), and saw glance after glance from the other folks at the rink. I don't know if they just liked my new figure skates, or if I was just that unusual. I hope that some of you here will give me your thoughts on all of this.
Sorry for all the rambling. I have so many things that I want to talk about, but the most pressing issue for me right now is that I am looking for an adult learn-to-skate program and there just don't seem to be any. Here in Western Massachusetts we basically have these towns / cities to go to for ice skating:
Pittsfield, MA (where we live, it's a small rink)
North Adams, MA (the one we've visited mostly, it's a bit run down but they're trying to turn things around)
Springfield, MA (the Olympia Ice Center, folks we spoke to there were snobby, but they have 3 NHL-sized rinks there, shop is run by arrogant know-it-all jocks, the one time we went there was so our son could be in their Holy Name Hockey program, he was planted up against a wall for 15 minutes with no one bothering to help him, before he decided to take off skating across the rink with his 'walker' made of pvc pipe and shoving the walker and wandering around, where still no one bothered to help him)
Westfield, MA (Amelia Park, have heard that it's nice, but the girl who teaches private lessons there never responded to my email inquiry about lessons)
Greenfield, MA (heard today they have a rink, and that there is an adult learn-to-skate program, but it's a hell of a commute)
Troy, NY (heard they have a number of rinks, and they have adult learn-to-skate programs)
I have asked around and it seems that there are no adult figure skating competitions in this area, that there doesn't even seem to be any interest, and most of the talking heads say that "most adults are presumed to know how to skate" But, hey, I've been told that if I get into a men's hockey league that I will suddenly be taught how to skate and "they will give you tips and pointers". Yeah, a stick between the legs and a forearm to the cage :/ Is interest in figure skating, more precisely, interest in adult figure skating, this low in general or am I just in the wrong place? My luck would be moving to the figure skating capital of the world and a nuclear bomb landing just as I step onto the ice. The guy who runs the rink told me that if I play hockey it will greatly help me to improve in figure skating, but it's figure skating that would bring tears of joy to me, not scoring a goal.
Because I was in competitive marching band and concert band as a middle schooler and high schooler years ago I've ever since then had great interest in music, dance and choreography. In my mind I can just about listen to any good song and picture myself as Johnny Weir displaying all the elegance in the world. I can see myself spinning, skating backwards, doing all that stuff, balding head and all.
Today I was working on trying to skate faster, bend my knees more (I fell a lot less), keep my back straighter and my head up and to actually let my arms flow for balance. Yeah, I know I'm never going to win any real competitions (ice dancing, maybe), but I do think I would have a real advantage over those folks who execute well but display no emotion or sense of compositional balance.
I am just desperate to express myself, all these years I've wanted to do that. At one point in my twenties I had fantasies of becoming a drag queen just so that I could express myself to the rhythm of music. I feel that it's there for me in figure skating if someone will just give me a chance. Today I was wearing my tight jeans with a hole in one leg and an oversized shirt (I am not the most masculine man, for sure, wife is equally slanted the other way), and saw glance after glance from the other folks at the rink. I don't know if they just liked my new figure skates, or if I was just that unusual. I hope that some of you here will give me your thoughts on all of this.