Gordon's Sk8er Boi Blog

My adventures as an adult male figure skater in Tucson, Arizona Portland, Oregon Chandler, Arizona.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Saturday Zoo Pro & Con


I've spent some time thinking about my mishap Saturday afternoon. I have been injured twice now at the Saturday public session, once seriously and now once less so. Both times involved collisions with little kids and both involved backward skating. I've also had occasional incidents without injury that didn't necessarily involve backward skating or any action on my part at all.

I'm wondering if I should drop skating at the Zoo entirely. Here's my pro and con for the Zoo:

Pro:
  • Getting to see people I know and socialize with them. Some of these people I would not see any other time than Saturdays; others I would see elsewhere but not too often. I'm an extrovert and this is one way to get my "people fix" since freestyle sessions are not for socializing.
  • Getting to skate to music I enjoy. There's a DJ on Saturdays and she often indulges me.
  • Skating a crowded session can be good for you in terms of not being afraid to skate around other people or expecting good conditions. In other words, the Zoo can be good because you get used to skate on poor ice and in crowded conditions, which can be handy sometimes. It also can improve one's stops!
Con:
  • Risk of injury. Like I said, I've had two mishaps and a number of close calls. Interestingly enough I've never seriously hurt myself (knock wood) when working on ANY element, period.
  • Generally speaking, the Zoo is not productive in terms of quality time on the ice. Indeed, I don't really expect it to be. While I am often able to work "smaller" elements like turns and spins, things like stroking, Russian stroking, crossovers, Moves patterns, etc. are usually out.
I suspect when I tell Anna that I hurt my wrist I'm going to get "the talk." I'm not sure what I think. Should I stop skating the Zoo entirely? Should I go less often or for less time? Should I change my behavior at the Zoo -- for example, have a "no backward skating at all" rule?

It's pretty clear to me that generally the "good" skaters don't bother with public sessions at all; but almost all of them are kids who have ample time during the week to skate.

Anyway, I'll be mulling this over for a bit, and I'd welcome feedback from readers, either by mail or in the comments box (or in person!). Thanks!

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