All Skate

Tomorrow is my last skating lesson for awhile. I begin again in the Spring. I do love my coach, he is really an awesome and enthusiastic skater. What I truly appreciate is his other worldly patience for someone like me who couldn't do anything except skate round and round in the most boring way possible and was afraid to fall. His ability to teach skating is really a skill. Now I'm doing ribbons, skating on one leg, going backwards and doing cross-overs. I do need work on spinning and turning  and I could also practice the switching leg thing.  Now I just practice, practice, practice. I still don't come close to looking as good as the regulars on Tuesday night. Not even. Since the rink won't be open to me like it was during lessons, I'll be at the tennis and basketball courts taking spills.

It's been years since I picked up something like this. When I was in ballet, there were lessons five days a week, bloody toes and practice was after school where I had a full hour of running and jumping rope, sit-ups and chin ups. I continued being athletic on some level through college  but it all came to a screeching halt when I turned 26 or 27 because all of a sudden I felt old.  What was I thinking?! I should have kept it all up.  It had something to do with being around other late twentysomethings who felt old.

It feels good to be involved in some sort of sport again. It took awhile to work up the enthusiasm for a more active lifestyle. It was finding the right gym a few years ago that put me back on track.  Skating practice has been three hours of non-stop movement three days a week and that is nothing compared to the speed skaters I see practicing or the roller derby girls.  Now that it's up to me to practice, I feel the need to really push it.  I would like to be able to skate every day for at least two hours.

When I skate I am using all my concentration because it's all new, so there is no room in my head for anything else.  My coach has said a few things regarding how to attack skating and skating form that I find myself thinking of when I am not in the rink like always chin up, never look down,  then there is stay flexible, bend those knees because stiffness causes falls and he is always reminding me of the constant trust I have to have in myself and in what I can do. For all those people who spend money on life coaches, taking up a sport keeps you nice and fit and you get plenty of life coaching, teehee.