Sometimes it’s nice to get our and do something different. One of my favourite hobbies is ice skating – unless you are lucky enough to have a skating rink in your backyard (and live in a sufficiency cold climate!), you’ll need to get to an Ice rink to do this.
I started it as an adult skater after I saw the former figure skating World Champion Irina Slutskaya perform a magical Biellmann spin on TV. I always wanted to do it – I always admired those strong, graceful figure skaters – but never had the courage to do it. This time however was different. After I saw her spin like a doll on music box at something like 30mph, I just had to do it!
I must admit it wasn’t easy to start ice skating, being an adult, awareness of causing yourself an injury can bring the fear factor into play in a big way and for the first 2 years I always felt scared whenever I stepped onto the ice. But after changing my boots and blade sharpener following my skating mate’s advice, things definitely turned for better. One word of warning here, skates are quite expensive and can easily get left on the tube or in the pub, as happened to a friend of mine, so check that your household insurance includes valuables away from the home cover. When I first started I paid for lessons from a coach but as I started progressing I decided to save some money by teaming up with a friend. She is technically better than me so I choreograph for her and she teaches me some techniques in return.
I have been skating for 10 years now, on and off. I can do a few single jumps and some basic spins. As an average athlete I don’t think it is bad. I could have progressed faster if I had skated regularly, but my work and personal commitment does not really allow that and I am not in a hurry. I love the sensation when I skate, you feel like you became a seagull and flying above the sea!
A final word of caution is with storage of Ice skates – good figure skates can cost in the hundreds of pounds, and despite their relatively chunky appearance (compared with shoes ) , they offer potential thieves a very good size to value ratio. Be sure to store skates securely in the home ,as well as keeping them dry to avoid rust.