Let me begin by saying that I have a whole new appreciation for Olympic figure skaters, because it is difficult to just stand on those skinny, sharp blades, much more so to learn how to skate backwards. If you add the fear of falling backwards, cracking your head open and needing a dozen stitches, it’s a wonder why anyone does it at all.
Learning How to Ice Skate Backwards
I started this goal by joining the beginning Adult lessons at my local rink, Redwood Ice (home of Snoopy). It was a six-week course and, to my surprise, I wasn’t the only one in the class! We started by simply learning how to lace up the boots, I can do this…I used to roller skate back in the day. I tied my laces in a double knot, eliminating the fear of tripping over them and plummeting to the unwelcoming ice.
Next, it was time to take to the ice…you mean we actually have to skate on the first day? What happened to the chalkboard diagram lessons and getting acquainted period?
On that first day we learned how to lace our boots, stand without falling and swizzle skate forward. I couldn’t help but feel like I was 5 years old, which was part of the excitement and charm. When do we get to learn how to ice skate backwards? Maybe I will come back next week.
By the end of the six weeks I could swizzle ice skate backwards, it wasn’t pretty, but it was backwards.
I enjoyed my ice skating experience so much (not to mention the great exercise it was for my thighs) that I took four more sets of lessons and bought my own skates! My ice skating backwards skating now looks like the professionals…okay, maybe on their worst day…after getting over the flu…and heavily medicated…while being blind-folded.
Welcome to the world of adult skating! I'm glad you continued in your lessons and hope you are still out there skating. There's nothing more fun– and as one wise coach told me, even if you never get a lot of the higher-level jumps, at least you always have the glide. There's no other sport that has that fluid frictionless glide across the ice and the incredible feeling of freedom that it brings.
There is such a sense of freedom when you are gliding on the ice, even when I am not doing jumps ;)