Figure skating in the community

It was in December 2017, that my then 8 year old daughter said “Daddy, can we go ice skating”.  She had seen some skating simulator in the Roblox gaming environment on her laptop and decided that she wanted to experience it in real life.

I could just about stand upright on ice skates.  Enough to push her and the polar bear skating aid around the local ice rink.  My wife briefly put on ice skates, stepped gingerly onto the ice, stepped back off the ice, took them off and that was the end of her involvement.

After a couple of more trips to the ice rink, my daughter said “Daddy, can we have lessons”.  So I researched times and the local rink did lessons on a Sunday morning.  We started figure skating lessons together on level 1.  It took us 2 years to get to the point where we had outgrown the public skating lessons and started private coaching too.

Then COVID hit and took more or less a year out.

Fast forward to now. We both recently started skating in the Basingstoke Synchro Skating Club.

Here is what I have learned.

1. We push and motivate each other.
2. My daughter can remember the step sequences from the get-go.  It takes me longer to learn them.
3. I just “go for it” with the big new moves like jumps, whereas my daughter is more cautious.
4. I’ve hurt myself – mostly ribs – both more often and more painfully than my daughter has.  Maybe that is connected with the “go for it” mentality.

We have our first Spin, Spiral, Jump competition – nicknamed “Spin, Spiral, Splat”, aka “Slip, Trip & Fall” –  at the local rink on Sunday October 31.  Here is the video we took today of my practice run.  I look at it and wish my lines were better and that my spins were more elegant, but that is the nature of these things.

Wish us luck!

P.S This is an entry for the 2021 SAP Community Talent Show, follow the link for more details.  Likes are much appreciated as part of this 🙂