I usually don’t talk much about stuff that I do in my personal life on this blog and the reason for that is I’m not big on putting stuff about that onto the internet for thousands of people to see. However, in today’s case, I feel the story is funny and relatable enough to put on the internet, so let’s talk about my first ever time ice skating. It was painful.
I had known we (my friends from the church I attend and I) were going ice skating for a few weeks at this point. We had a huge group text with a little over ten people on it and it seemed that all of them except me and my brother had gone skating once or twice before. Knowing this and not wanting to look stupid, I naturally went to the wonderful land of YouTube to learn the basics of skating such as how to get onto the rink, how to fall, how to get up, how to maintain balance, and how to propel yourself forward. With this handy knowledge in tow, we picked up two of my friends who I had invited along to join the main group, and drove to the ice skating rink.
The first thing I learned at the rink was that once you put on your skates, they feel deceptively easy to move in. Turns out concrete isn’t slippery (usually) so it’s easier to move around and keep your balance. I was given figure skates, which I also think made it easier to walk around in in comparison with the hockey skates I later tried. However, that soon changed once I stepped onto the ice. The two friends we had picked up (who I’ll call Anna and Richard for anonymity reasons) got on the ice very easily since they have been skating for a while now. I followed behind, feeling very confident in my ability to get on the ice. After all, I had watched numerous videos talking about how to do so. Thus, I stepped parallel to the ice and…immediately slipped and fell on my back.
I expected to fall at some point, just not at this point. But I knew what to do. In order to get up off the ice, I simply needed to bring on knee up under me and use it to push off of so I could get back on two feet. And so, I very gracefully, bought my knee up under me, grabbed the wall, hauled myself up, and proceeded to slide around for a while.
Yeah. Those videos sure helped me to skate like a pro.
Luckily, Anna was there and was very supportive as I made tiny, slow baby-steps around the rink, sliding and jacking up my ankle and shin numerous times as I caught myself on the wall to stop from completely biffing it. Finally, I caved and decided to just get a walker so I didn’t have to rely on the wall as much. That worked pretty well, and I only biffed it a few times and landed on the side of my face one time.
At that point, the main group from my church had arrived and as I was speeding along on my walker, I was watching amazed as they skated along taking pictures, filming their skates, texting, etc. without falling. Thankfully, I was not the only teen using a walker since my brother and another friend were also struggling.
I guess my second lesson was the walkers are there for a reason. Use them. No one will judge you.
However, there was a problem. Though I was doing pretty well on my figure skates, because the walker was way to short for me, I was constantly riding too far up on my blades, causing me to trip over the picks (the spiky part at the very tip of the skate). Tired of this, I decided to trade in my figure skates for hockey skates after Richard recommended them since they didn’t have the pick and (supposedly) had more ankle support. However, while I could wrap the laces around one boot, the other boot’s laces were way too short, so they didn’t feel great on my feet and once I got on the ice, I was sliding around even more than before, which meant I couldn’t go as fast.
I ended up going back to figure skates since they were easier to tie and wear and were more forgiving than hockey skates if I started tipping backwards.
We continued skating around for a while until the Zamboni came out to polish up the ice, which was super cut up and snowy. While we waited for the Zamboni to create a few laps, I hung out with my friends and we all stood by one of the huge fire pits that was by the benches. Once the Zamboni had been put back and we could get back on the ice, I noticed that all the walkers were now taken and I hesitatingly, got back on the ice and clung for dear life the wall, eventually getting enough confidence to get away from it for a while. Did I still suck at balancing? Yes. But it was a start. I only hit the ground on my knees once.
My confidence continued to grow and Anna came up behind me saying, “Wow, you’re doing great!” I was smiling and then my feet started to go out from under me. I desperately grabbed at the wall and I fell. For some context, the ice rink was an outdoor one, which means that the wall had a concrete lip under it that stuck out a good 5-6 inches and I was unlucky enough to hit that when I fell. It was so bad that one of the staff members who was on the ice actually came over and was asking if I was okay as I was trying to get up. I ended up taking a five-minute break after that to get my right side to stop hurting before I got back on the ice.
After all of this, I now have two bruised, swollen knees, a muscle contusion, blisters, a bruised ankle, and a damaged nail bed from accidently bending the nail back when grabbing the wall.
Do I think ice skating was a sport invented by a psychopath who enjoyed seeing people hurt themselves?
Yes.
Do I have more respect for hockey players and figure skaters?
Yes.
Will I go again?
Of course I will! It’s a lot of fun minus the wipeouts and hey, maybe I could get a spot on AFV one day.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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