Wednesday, April 20, 2011

July 1, 2006

Just a little public skate
Kevin and I went up to Hobart for the public skate last night. We skated about 90 minutes. It was great to be on the ice, but I found myself feeling that if I was being watched by a coach I would be killed. No bent knees, pushing from a straight skate instead of stroking properly. But in that sort of environment it's hard to skate properly.

I showed Kevin 3-turns. Both of my forward inside ones were awesome. I was so impressed I could do them while he was watching. I showed him my bunny hop (at the wall) and it was wussier than I remember it being. I couldn't get the guts to do it without the wall with so many people around. I also showed him a pathetic spiral, but I was scared to glide for too long because my free leg is about head height of the kids who were skating back and forth through the center (where is a rink guard!!!) and I know it's my fault if they skate straight into my blade.

I couldn't do my back crossovers to save my life. Some of it might have been the environment I was in (no one yields to anyone) but when I finally got them going, I lost my balance, and made myself fall forward before I fell backwards. My hips/thighs are apparently not as padded as much as they look like they are.

Overall it wasn't a great public session- Kettering is run much better. The center is kept coned off and enforced. This rink had the general figure skaters in the middle and circlers on the sides (which I would have been doing for the most part) but four kids (maybe 7?) were playing tag straight across the center! Three girls were practicing jumps and spins and were knocked down more than once. I couldn't believe the audacity of these little boys to just run into someone spinning.

The rink also rents hockey skates unless you request figure skates, which I really think builds the skate anywhere doing whatever mentality. Really.

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