- Joined
- Jan 20, 2017
Mom and the grandparents loved quad skating. Nothing fancy, just backwards skating at most. But since they loved it, we went many times when I was a kid. I started out in quad skates since that’s what they did. But eventually switched to roller blades because I decided I liked those better. Once again, the most I ever did was skate backwards in them. I didn’t even know artistic roller skating existed until the past year!!! I’d never seen anything like that and my mom and grandparents crazy enough never knew it existed either! So our family and town was 100% roller skating is something you do for fun. There’s no such thing as artistic tricks.
I learned about figure skating’s existence from seeing Michelle Kwan on TV around 2001-2002. Love at first sight. Mom took me to our ice rink a couple times, but I hated it because the rental skates made my feet bleed every time and I couldn’t stand up without holding onto the wall. Completely different from quad skates or roller blades. I still desperately wished I could skate like Michelle Kwan, just had no freakin clue how to make it happen. Mom wasn’t aware our rink had lessons and didn’t bother to find out. Eventually, I found out myself when I made another attempt to skate another public session at age 14 and spotted some local figure skaters on the session. Begged mom for lessons and managed to get a year of lessons of out her before she forced me to quit.
I haven’t been roller skating in years, but any time I do, I generally hate it, because it feel like I’ve got rocks tied to my feet. I can’t do anything in roller skates like what I can do on ice. It’s all wrong and feels wrong.
I always felt like I was “upgrading” to the smoother experience: quad skating -> roller blades -> ice skates.
Each upgrade was smoother and less clunky than the previous. The only reason I struggled with ice skates at first is because it was too smooth and too slippery.
It seems really strange, but everyone seems to know about figure skating, while hardly anyone knows about artistic roller skating. Even though it seems like artistic roller skating is how a lot of people transferred into figure skating....
EDIT: I think roller skating is way easier for a total beginner to enjoy because they’re easy enough to stand up in without hugging the wall. But I think in the long run, especially if you want to do tricks, figure skating is way easier and more pleasant.
I learned about figure skating’s existence from seeing Michelle Kwan on TV around 2001-2002. Love at first sight. Mom took me to our ice rink a couple times, but I hated it because the rental skates made my feet bleed every time and I couldn’t stand up without holding onto the wall. Completely different from quad skates or roller blades. I still desperately wished I could skate like Michelle Kwan, just had no freakin clue how to make it happen. Mom wasn’t aware our rink had lessons and didn’t bother to find out. Eventually, I found out myself when I made another attempt to skate another public session at age 14 and spotted some local figure skaters on the session. Begged mom for lessons and managed to get a year of lessons of out her before she forced me to quit.
I haven’t been roller skating in years, but any time I do, I generally hate it, because it feel like I’ve got rocks tied to my feet. I can’t do anything in roller skates like what I can do on ice. It’s all wrong and feels wrong.
I always felt like I was “upgrading” to the smoother experience: quad skating -> roller blades -> ice skates.
Each upgrade was smoother and less clunky than the previous. The only reason I struggled with ice skates at first is because it was too smooth and too slippery.
It seems really strange, but everyone seems to know about figure skating, while hardly anyone knows about artistic roller skating. Even though it seems like artistic roller skating is how a lot of people transferred into figure skating....
EDIT: I think roller skating is way easier for a total beginner to enjoy because they’re easy enough to stand up in without hugging the wall. But I think in the long run, especially if you want to do tricks, figure skating is way easier and more pleasant.