What Was Your Intro to Figure Skating?

[CumulusCat]

Alright, I'll be that person. It was Yuri on Ice.

Then Youtube recommended a video of Yuzuru Hanyu's SP at Sochi, and I've been obsessed ever since.

 

[IceCastles1814v]

My first memory of watching skating was 1996 nationals and then worlds and becoming a Kwan fan. Went through all the (mostly) highs and hiccups of her career and was truly devastated for her in 1998 and especially the 2001-2002 season. I followed mostly ladies skating until she retired and then really started to pay attention to ice dance in 2006 (and also went back and watched lots of ice dance), which remains my favorite discipline today. But I still do a Kwan program marathon every so often and she remains awesome.

 

[Silver Ice]

I remember being a casual figure skating fan while young, but only watched during Olympics until 1994. During that olympics, they had a promotional spot about learn to skate, and I was intrigued. It just never occurred to me that there might be ice rinks nearby and I could learn myself. I signed up and fell in love with the sport and skated every chance I got that year. Life, rinks closing, and my moving to a place without a rink meant little to no skating for 20 years until I moved to a city that has a rink and I could pick it back up.

I followed the sport very closely through the nineties, but probably around 2006 I stopped paying so much attention until a couple years ago when I started skating again. I loved Michelle Kwan though. I saw her once during a champions? on ice tour and I was so overwhelmed by her skating talent I almost cried.

 

[Alifyre]

@CumulusCat you're not alone, I was also a Yuri On Ice person before I got into figure skating. I've always been a big anime fan, and I loved the concept behind Yuri on Ice so of course it totally sucked me in. Just as the Yuri on Ice season was wrapping up, the actual real life grand prix final was also going on so I decided to watch a live stream to see what all the hype was about. The first skater I managed to catch on the stream was Anna Pogorilaya doing her GPF 2016 free skate, and I was totally mesmerized by her. I looked her up and found her Boston 2016 "Bolero" short program and decided I was kind of into the sport, so I decided to look into other skaters from there. I liked what I saw from others, so I kept digging and digging and then whoops I was watching competitions live and checking skating forums for information about when to see skating and getting up at stupid o clock in the morning to see my faves skate.

So basically my anime habit plus a passionate program from Anna Pogorilaya turned me into a super dedicated FS fan and here I am over a year later.

 

[Fish in the sea]

Sochi Olympics. Before that I've never seen a figure skating performance, even thought I new about skaters like Mao Asada, Plushenko, Slutskaya, Sasha Cohen, Brian Joubert and others. Sochi introduced me to newer skaters and after the Olympics were over I followed some of them on Instagram. I also followed some Russian junior skaters like Evgenia Medvedeva, Serafima Sakhanovich and Alexander Petrov. I must admit, at the time I was more inetrested in skaters' personal lives then the skating itself. I was a casual viewer for two years and became a hardcore FS fan after 2016 Worlds.

 

[jillredhand]

I remember being like 7 years old, learning to skate on the outdoor rinks, and daydreaming that maybe for some reason Nancy Kerrigan would happen to walk by and see me and instantly know that I was a prodigy to be trained up to Olympic glory. Loved Disney on Ice as a child, and hey-- did anyone else ever read those Silver Blades middle grade novels published in the 90s? I remember soooo much of those novels, I just devoured them. (Jill deserved the Olympic Gold! Who cares about mean girl Tori???)

I never took lessons, and after the age of 10 or 12 I was pretty much a four year fan. I would always watch the Olympics, as well as any competitions that I happened to catch by accident while channel surfing, but never went out of my way to follow the sport more closely. It's only been in the last couple years that I started following figure skating seriously (Am I allowed to admit that it was Yuri!! on Ice that got me obsessed? Or are we not supposed to cop to that?)

Ahhhh who cares, that show was charming as heck and a godsend to me. Without it, I wouldn't have paid any more than my usual 4-year-fan attention span to the Canadian National Championships that I happened to catch on TV a month later, when I was primed and desperate for more figure skating content. And here I am, a year older, one increasingly fanatic obsession with Gabrielle Daleman later, significantly more sleep-deprived, and happy as a clam.

 

[TontoK]

1976 Olympics. Young southern farm boy and family glued to a small television watching something that may as well have been occurring on a different planet. Never had we seen anything like it.

We were transfixed by John Curry. Even my staunchly anti-communist father loved Rodnina and Zaitsev. But best of all was when Dorothy Hamill won the gold. We cheered like she was family.

My lifelong love affair with skating began in 1976, and I’ve been chasing that first high ever since.

 

[truthbooth]

Turin, 2006. I'll never forget waiting all night for Sasha to skate the SP (she was last in the draw) and she nailed it. Turned me into a fan for life!

 

[cheerknithanson]

My first glimpse of figure skating. Idk. I remember going to a rink one time when I was really little. Like 2-4 years old. Which is where I first heard and saw a Zamboni. My first introduction of it for actual competition was probably the 2002 Olympics cause I remember there was an episode on "Arthur" where Michelle Kwan guest-voiced herself and then a few days later my dad showed me a news article with a picture which probably was the podium from the Olympics and pointed to me which one was Michelle Kwan. I was 6 and a half years old and in 1st grade at the time. Over the years, I learned more names and saw a FEW things relating to the 2010 Olympics and learned more names. During that time, I actually was thinking of songs for skating (Though my urge to find songs that no one else would think of didn't come around until I became a fan of Kevin Reynolds), wondering why no one skated to lyrics (At the time), and was thinking of a few stories. Then the 2014 Olympics came and changed my life forever. I became fans of Yuzuru Hanyu, Jason Brown, and Kevin Reynolds, and later on more skaters, I learned the rules, educated myself more on stuff, followed competitions, and overall a fan of the sport.

 

[notunprepared]

Yuri on Ice for me too, I watched it just before the GP series started last year. I watched the Skate Canada first I think, and was very confused - I understood zero of the jargon, didn't know any of the skaters. But I fell in love with Brendan Kerry and Jason Brown. I really properly got hooked when I watched Adam Rippon do Arrival of the Birds at NHK. And I was like "I MUST watch the rest of the season live and not delayed".

I'm still more of a casual fan compared to most, but I LOVED watching the Olympics, it was so great to see Yuzuru live on the ice for the first time. The man is ridiculously skilled. Next season I'm going to learn more about the ladies competition, now that I'm able to recognise most of the men skaters (I knew I'd get overwhelmed if I tried to follow all the disciplines to start with)

 

[Noxchild]

Yuri On Ice!!

 

[HopeSpringsEternal]

The 2018 Olympics! I'm a newbie! When I saw Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on the ice in the team event, I think I may have had a religious experience. I've never seen skating so beautiful before, nor with such an incredible performance. They looked so free out there. I followed the rest of the Olympic figure skating more closely than I ever have, being wowed over and over again. When it ended, I felt so terribly disappointed, and I couldn't get it out of my head. So the week after the closing ceremony, I drove an hour to the nearest ice rink and skated (horrendously!) for three hours, as long as the public session was open. I don't think I stopped smiling once. There's something very peaceful about it. I signed up for the rink's next learn-to-skate session, and can't wait to skate less horrendously in the future. In the mean time, I'm really enjoying learning all kinds of things about the sport and being a new fan!

 

[chopinskate]

This moment: https://youtu.be/VRi9t-mVWNk?t=1m54s

 

[Ladskater]

I remember being like 7 years old, learning to skate on the outdoor rinks, and daydreaming that maybe for some reason Nancy Kerrigan would happen to walk by and see me and instantly know that I was a prodigy to be trained up to Olympic glory. Loved Disney on Ice as a child, and hey-- did anyone else ever read those Silver Blades middle grade novels published in the 90s? I remember soooo much of those novels, I just devoured them. (Jill deserved the Olympic Gold! Who cares about mean girl Tori???)

I never took lessons, and after the age of 10 or 12 I was pretty much a four year fan. I would always watch the Olympics, as well as any competitions that I happened to catch by accident while channel surfing, but never went out of my way to follow the sport more closely. It's only been in the last couple years that I started following figure skating seriously (Am I allowed to admit that it was Yuri!! on Ice that got me obsessed? Or are we not supposed to cop to that?)

Ahhhh who cares, that show was charming as heck and a godsend to me. Without it, I wouldn't have paid any more than my usual 4-year-fan attention span to the Canadian National Championships that I happened to catch on TV a month later, when I was primed and desperate for more figure skating content. And here I am, a year older, one increasingly fanatic obsession with Gabrielle Daleman later, significantly more sleep-deprived, and happy as a clam.

Hey you sound like me! I spent hours out on my little rink in PG. besides at the rink taking lessons. What an awesome time it was. I think I was my happiest in my skates twirling around on the rink. Yes, I remember reading a book called "White Boots" can't remember who wrote it. My skating hero was Karen Magnussen as she competed the years that I skated. I finally got to briefly meet her and ask for her autograph of course. I was a lot older and felt a little silly, but Karen obliged. I actually have Karen's biography in my huge Figure Skating library. I too like Gabby Daleman, I felt so bad for her during her single skate at the 2018 Olympics, but I figure she'll be back in the game soon. Thanks for your response.

 

[Ladskater]

The 2018 Olympics! I'm a newbie! When I saw Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on the ice in the team event, I think I may have had a religious experience. I've never seen skating so beautiful before, nor with such an incredible performance. They looked so free out there. I followed the rest of the Olympic figure skating more closely than I ever have, being wowed over and over again. When it ended, I felt so terribly disappointed, and I couldn't get it out of my head. So the week after the closing ceremony, I drove an hour to the nearest ice rink and skated (horrendously!) for three hours, as long as the public session was open. I don't think I stopped smiling once. There's something very peaceful about it. I signed up for the rink's next learn-to-skate session, and can't wait to skate less horrendously in the future. In the mean time, I'm really enjoying learning all kinds of things about the sport and being a new fan!

Cool! Good for you. Keep up the skating, you'll be landing a Waltz Jump before you know it!

 

[[email protected]]

When I was 5 most of the time I stayed at home with colds and fevers. My mom decided to try figure skating for me (someone advised). Even in the Soviet days it was not the cheapest sports for the kids. The family had to pay 20 rbls. a month (about 5% of total family budget) plus skates and costumes. The rink was outdoors so that half of the year we just did running, stretching, etc. But everything was on the fresh air. And the magic worked - I stopped getting colds!

After I quit at the age of 10 I kept for a while the skill of jumping. My next sports was speed skating - my team mates always cheered my skill to jump various singles with speed skating blades. Now the jumping skills are gone, I guess, forever. But the skill to tell the jumps has been with me through all those decades. Regular fans like my wife think it's a magic - for them they all look more or less the same.

As for being fan - when I skated, of course, I did not miss a single competition that were shown on the Soviet TV. And I knew all the names in the 70s and early 80s. Then it became once every 4 years for OG. After Torino I stopped watching all together. And if it were not Yulia Lipnitskaya I might not have started watching again. Even more I have become sort of "a crazy fan" who tries not to miss any important competition in Russia when the venues are in Moscow, St.Petersburg, Sochi, and even the Urals. Thank you, Yulia! Or really "thank you"? Any addiction has its dark side.

 

[plushyfan]

I really don't remember. I watched the FS in my whole life. My mother was a fan and I watched with her. In my country the TV aired only the ECH and the WCH no more competition or galas for a long time. I almost cried when the WCH finished. I knew I had to wait for almost a year! There was no internet then! When I was a little girl I was drawing skater girls in beautiful costumes! As a little girl I felt in love with Robin Cousins.

 

[iluvtodd]

As a kid, my mom took us to the Ice Follies/Ice Capades. My first time actually skating recreationally was when I was 17. I enjoyed it so much, that I asked for a pair of skates for my birthday.

I remember watching Peggy Fleming during the 1968 Winter Olympics, had the Dorothy Hamill wedge cut for several years, but became a superfan during the 1988 Calgary Olympics, thanks to "the Battle of the Brians," G&G, & Midori Ito. I was so thrilled that Brian Orser was back for another Olympics, and I regret that I didn't follow the rivalry between 1984 & 1988.

 

[Anni234]

I've been thinking about it myself and I cannot really put a finger on the moment I really got into figure skating, but there are a several moments, which played their part.

1. Seeing the movie Ice Princess circa 2005, was the movie, which made me want to be a figure skater, but there was no rink near my hometown, so I sort of started just watching. I remember watching Europeans with my grandmother, but the memories are pretty vague, since I didn't really know the figure skaters. I think the first figure skater I started following was Plushenko after he won Eurovision with Dima Bilan and Plushenko's loss of eligibility to compete and reinstatement was one of the first figure skating dramas, which I was very passionate about.

2. 2010 Olympics/2013 worlds - even though I was more of a casual Olympics-fan back then, I think it was the performance of Yuna-Kim Gershwin FS that made me follow her. She did not compete much after Olympics though so I sort of lost interest in figure skating again until 2013 worlds. That was the first time I woke up in the middle of the night to watch figure skating, so I also consider that a turning point.

3. I had begun to also like Adelina Sotnikova, she had an exhibition to Burlesque and I was a huge fan of Burlesque back then. So can you imagine my dilemma after Sochi 2014 results. I think Sochi 2014 was the moment where I got really into figure skating - ladies' drama, V/T winning in pairs, tears after Plushenko withdrew. So I somehow decided I need more of that.

4. So it happened that 2014/2015 became the first season I really watched most of the GP series and all other competitions. So in time I became to watch more and more, not only GP-s and senior B-s, but last year I introduced myself to juniors as well.

It's been a journey, but it's been a fun one. I can only imagine what it would be like to have been a fan for decades and seeing all this development.

 

[rlopen]

Yuna's Bond SP/Mirai's Pirates SP at 2010 Olympics. I still remember watching those two programs on the TV live and thinking how amazing the sport was.