Figure Skating On Ice Rinks In Shopping Centres | Golden Skate

Figure Skating On Ice Rinks In Shopping Centres

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
I was just curious on your thoughts about ice rinks that are located in the middle of shopping centres.

When I was looking at the results of the Triglav Trophy, I spotted a skater representing a country that is not normally associated with Winter Sports. And when I looked her up, I discovered that she is from a city that I am VERY familiar with.

Whenever I go to that country (I've been there about 15 times, for 2 weeks at a time), I ALWAYS stay in her hometown. In fact, after my hometown, her hometown is probably the place that I know my way around best… and her hometown is at the opposite side of Europe to mine! (Put it like this, I am more confident going around the city she lives in than I am going around the city I went to University in!)

Anyway, the only ice rink I know of in her hometown is located in the middle of a shopping centre. Now, admittedly, her ISU Bio said that she trained in a different city (which I also know better than my Uni city…! :slink:). But, it nevertheless started me thinking:

How many elite level skaters started off skating in shopping centres? And who?

The girl that competed in the Triglav Trophy was not born in the country she represents. She is actually from Moscow, so probably took up skating back home before she moved to her adopted country (from personal experience, I can confidently say that there is a large Russian community in that country!)

HOWEVER, there are a couple of girls from that country competing in the World Development Trophy. And they are both “natives”.

One of them is from a city that got a purpose-built ice rink 3 years ago (I haven’t been to that city since it opened, so I don't know much about it). But the other girl is from the city I stay in. And, from looking at her Facebook page, she DOES train in the shopping centre I was talking about.

So, what is it like for a competitive skater to be training in a rink in the middle of a shopping centre? Surely there would be too many distractions, and you wouldn't be able to play your music at the proper level.

Then I made a discovery: this year’s National Championships were held in the shopping centre!!! :jaw:

And it is not like it was a small entry. Although there were no Senior skaters, and only 1 Junior (the girl that went to the Triglav Trophy), all the lower age levels had lots of entries.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what the rink is like:

Side view (from Ground Floor)
Aerial view (from 1st Floor)

But, what must it be like for a skater to go from doing a National Championships on a small rink in a shopping centre, to doing Junior GP and Senior B events on a full-size rink?! (Like the Russian did)

I don’t know where the rink the Russian trains at is located. I know that the city mentioned in her ISU Bio had a temporary rink a few years ago. But, surely that is not enough for a competitive skater. Admittedly, it is 3 years since I was last over there, so a permanent rink might have appeared since then. But, I can’t find any reference to one on the internet.

But, I’ll be back over there in September, so I will make sure to find out! ;) :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying shopping centre rinks or temporary rinks are a bad thing. They are a great way for introducing youngsters to skating. But, when you get to the stage where you are doing it seriously, you really need to be training and competing on a full-size rink.
 

nguyenghita

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
How many elite level skaters started off skating in shopping centres? And who?
Not a whole time, but Yuna Kim if you ask me.

She trained at public ice rink in Korea Lotte shopping centre about months prior to 2008 Worlds, end up injuried herself.

However the quality of ice rink is really great, very warm, it was just because there were too many distractions from public people.
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Most of the ice rinks in South East Asia is in the Shopping Mall. MCM from the Philippines is one example but his mother complain about his ice rink condition a lot. From my experiences, the ice rinks usually give the competitive skaters extra ice time outside of business hours. During the business hours, it is very difficult to practice not just because of no. of people but also the ice conditions. My daughter usually skates around to check the ice for coins, hair pins, rubber bands or even the lighters before her practice. As for the spectator, my daughter doesn't really care much but she doesn't like them to record the video. The most dangerous part will be getting hit by the show-off in hockey skates (we call them more harshly at the rink).

I agree with you about the proper training but well...we have no other option in that regard. Even South Korea, people are screaming for proper ice rink for figure skaters. We from poor country only makes the best out of what we have.
 

jennyanydots

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Kaetlyn Osmond trains at a mall rink. Where I'm at there are about about ten rinks in the whole country, only two full-sized, and all of them are in shopping centers. But then again we only have a few junior level skaters, one making it to junior worlds, and currently no seniors. I don't find it that distracting to skate with people looking on and such but I'm just an adult skater. However these rinks usually have only public sessions with some exceptions of late night hockey, so it can make training difficult.
 

Kalina

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Ice Rink Sendai, where Yuzuru used to train before moving to Canada, is located inside a shopping center. It's the only ice rink in Miyagi, used not only by figure skaters, but speed skaters and curling as well. It's open to the public during the day, as you can see here.
He still skates there when he is at home, but only when the rink is closed.
 

fleeting

Queen Anissina
Medalist
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
I believe Harding trained at a mall rink in Portland for a while?
(Not the best example, but it's off the top of my head.)

I would think it would be difficult to train and run programs with the public looking on.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
How many elite level skaters started off skating in shopping centres? And who?
Yuzuru Hanyu's career started from a public ice rink in Sendai, Japan’s first ever ice skating rink. It is located right alongside a few restaurants as it is in a shopping center. This is a video of Hanyu (15 years old) practiced his quad 4T in that ice rink, there were so many people playing around:):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8EYy2MaWIs

If you count Kim Yuna as well, we can say so far Orser have coached 2 Olympic Gold Medalists, and both of them started from skating in shopping centres. I guess no matter where you are, as long as you have the talent and passion, you will eventually rise to the top if you work very hard.:)
 

makaihime

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Yuzuru Hanyu before Orser. Its also one of the main reasons why his basic skills were lacking in the beginning. Not enough ice time forced him to choose between basics and technical, and he chose his jumps.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Yuzuru Hanyu before Orser. Its also one of the main reasons why his basic skills were lacking in the beginning. Not enough ice time forced him to choose between basics and technical, and he chose his jumps.
Well, from the boy who trained at an ice rink in shopping centre with not enough ice time to polish his basic skills, to the guy who could do a 4T-3A-3A-3A sequences like this, he must have paid lots of effort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLI2bKEL5Dc

I hope he will refine his basic skills next season and show us better postures. :)
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Yuzuru Hanyu's career started from a public ice rink in Sendai, Japan’s first ever ice skating rink. It is located right alongside a few restaurants as it is in a shopping center. This is a video of Hanyu (15 years old) practiced his quad 4T in that ice rink, there were so many people playing around:):
I've been to that rink before. It is a closed rink not the open rink inside the mall. I think that what Caroloza means for this thread. It is actually the normal size rink anyway. Most of the rink in Japan open for public in Japan. During summer, there are more than 10 coaches on the ice. Mao's ice time was between midnight to 6 am when she was a teenager. Figure skating is very popular there. No matter where you skate, there are too many people watching.

Five years ago Lu Chen and Denis Petrov (her husband) opened the first of what was to be five ice rinks in Chinese shopping centers. Not sure if others opened, but the one she and Denis manage have produced a young skater to watch.
The World Ice Arena is pretty big and decent rink. But even that, Lu Chen trains her competitive skaters at another rink.
 

PlaysInTheDirt

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
I think Michael Martinez, trained at a mall rink.

A few years ago, D/W practiced Nutcracker at Galleria Dallas. I guess you take ice time where you can get it.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
I've been to that rink before. It is a closed rink not the open rink inside the mall. I think that what Caroloza means for this thread. It is actually the normal size rink anyway. Most of the rink in Japan open for public in Japan. During summer, there are more than 10 coaches on the ice. Mao's ice time was between midnight to 6 am when she was a teenager. Figure skating is very popular there. No matter where you skate, there are too many people watching.
Oh really, then why the internet says it's is located right alongside a few restaurants as it is in a shopping centre? :think: So it's near the mall but not inside the mall? Or it is in the mall but not open or located in the middle of the mall?
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Oh really, then why the internet says it's is located right alongside a few restaurants as it is in a shopping centre? :think: So it's near the mall but not inside the mall? Or it is in the mall but not open or located in the middle of the mall?
It is in the complex with its own entrance. Kind of separated from the shopping area.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
It is in the complex with its own entrance. Kind of separated from the shopping area.
Thanks for the information. :) So Sendai ice rink belongs to the complex but has different entrance. I guess I misunderstood what the internet says.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
It is still not a perfect environment for training for Yuzuru anyway. But compare to MCM (Philippines) http://s188.photobucket.com/user/JIMBING/media/DSC02540.jpg.html I still think Yuzuru got a better training ground.
Well as long as they have the ice rink to practice, it's better than nothing. There is no ice rink in my country. When I moved to Australia it was different though.
I hope these young skaters have the training that they deserve, they have to endure so much.:cry:
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Wow! Thank you all for replying. I was half expecting this to be one of those threads that nobody bothered with.

Instead, we have found out a whole pile of interesting facts! :biggrin:

So, quite a few elite level skaters not only started out in shopping centre rinks, but still train in them. I would never have thought that!

Ice Rink Sendai, where Yuzuru used to train before moving to Canada, is located inside a shopping center. It's the only ice rink in Miyagi, used not only by figure skaters, but speed skaters and curling as well. It's open to the public during the day, as you can see here.
He still skates there when he is at home, but only when the rink is closed.

But, when the only rink that is nearby is in a shopping centre, I can understand why Yuzu uses it. Mind you, I wonder what the general public using it think when they see him going past doing fancy things...! :eek: (Great jump in the vid, by the way!)

It was open rinks within shopping centres that my question was originally about. But, I also found it interesting the stories about closed rinks attached to shopping centres.

Five years ago Lu Chen and Denis Petrov (her husband) opened the first of what was to be five ice rinks in Chinese shopping centers. Not sure if others opened, but the one she and Denis manage have produced a young skater to watch.

http://photobucket.com/images/world ice arena shenzhen?page=1

From those photos, that rink looks a lot like the rink where Jenna McCorkell and I both had our first on-ice experiences. The difference, of course, being that the Jet Centre in Coleraine didn't have any shops anywhere nearby! (It was in an industrial estate and had a 10-pin bowling alley attached to it).

Well as long as they have the ice rink to practice, it's better than nothing. There is no ice rink in my country. When I moved to Australia it was different though.
I hope these young skaters have the training that they deserve, they have to endure so much.

You know, I feel sorry for people who live in countries who do not have access to a variety of sporting facilities, and so are not able to find out if they are good at something.

In Northern Ireland, we used to have 2 rinks - one in the West of the province (The Jet Centre in Coleraine), and one in the East (Dundonal Ice Bowl, just outside Belfast). But then the Jet Centre's rink closed. So, we only have one rink now.

Of course, one rink is better than none. And, it is easy to access for those in the Greater Belfast area. But, with our public transport network being so dire, it is not always easy for us in rural areas in the West of the Province to get to Belfast.

Which is probably why, since Jenna came through, we have had NO skaters from this side of the Province. All the skaters that have started competing have been from the greater Belfast area.

But, last summer we had a temporary rink in Portrush (7 miles from Coleraine). And it was a roaring success. So, hopefully somebody will get the hint and open a permanent rink this side of the Province again... even if it is just a small one in a shopping centre! ;)

I think Michael Martinez, trained at a mall rink.

A few years ago, D/W practiced Nutcracker at Galleria Dallas. I guess you take ice time where you can get it.

And that is exactly the right attitude to have! :clap:

But, I don't think it would be a good idea to be skating on a small rink ALL the time. You wouldn't get the spatial awareness that you would need when you come to compete on a full-size rink.

But then again, to use Unite's words, "I know nothing about skating". :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan
 
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