Ice skating is a lot of fun
Dec. 14th, 2014 01:25 pmFor the December meme, a question by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
monksandbones: I would love to hear about you learning to skate, or if you already knew how, about learning to skate in hockey skates!
Before signing up for the hockey beginners' class ER and I sent an email to the trainer and asked what level of skating proficiency is required. He said we should be able to stop. So we signed up, and then went skating together to practice stopping. I learned pretty quickly, it's similar to skiing, though I still mostly only use one foot instead of both. So that was the most important part, and I was ready to start the class.
We went ice skating in primary school a few times, and every second winter or so the river 10 minutes from our house freezes over and we go skating there. I knew how to stop eventually, and nobody cared that it sometimes took me a while to slow down.
After signing up for the class I had to get new skates because the old ones weren't suited for hockey. It's important that the laces are tight, and usually I have to tighten them further at least three times when I suit up. (After the first time I had blisters on my fingers.) I'm not sure mine are ideally sharpened for hockey, I keep telling myself I should ask the trainer but forget.
One thing that's immediately different when skating for hockey is the equipment. You're suddenly twice as large! And well-protected. My least favorite piece of equipment is my helmet because it always feels either too tight or too loose. My favorite pieces are the chest protector, the huge gloves, and the pants. Especially the chest protector makes me feel a bit like a gladiator. And the gloves are fantastic because the padding on the back is very thick and my hands feel huge and safe, but I can still use them pretty well, and I get out of them easily when I want to.
Hockey skating is different from how I'd skated before: before I stayed upright because that was easiest. For hockey you need to be lower so you have better balance. It also helps you accelerate, as I found out. It's even more important to have the weight forwards rather than backwards because when you fall forwards you're well protected, but less so on your back.
Usually in class we do 15 minutes warm-up, just skating however we want (because the trainer is usually late.) Then we do exercises, either skating or puck control. Skating exercises we've done include getting done on one knee and up again and how to do a tight curve without losing speed - I'm still having trouble with that one because I don't lean into it enough.
We haven't done skating backwards yet but I've tried a bit on my own. It's fun, and I'm getting better at it: the biggest problem so far is knowing where to go, I often get so nervous that I'm skating into someone that I turn around too far and then almost lose my balance.
I also found out that puck control is very difficult and that Pavel Datsyuk and Patrick Kane really must be wizards. The trainer told us to keep our heads up and not to look at the puck, that makes everything even harder. By now I can (most times) skate the length of the rink without losing the puck, which is good progress!
The only thing that I found easier than it looks is moving the puck with my skates. I always thought it looked very impressive, but it's not that hard because I have a better feeling for where my skates are than for where my stick is.
I finally fell down for the first time two weeks ago. It hurt only for about ten seconds, and now I'm less afraid to skate at other people when we play, which is good. Even though most of them probably weigh 20 kilos more than me.
What worries me at the moment is that since about two weeks ago my knees are hurting a bit. It started after a practice where I fell a bit uncomfortably, but it feels more like runner's knee than an injury. I'm putting ice on it and if it's not getting better I'll visit the doctor, but only after this week's training (it didn't hurt during practice last week.) I hope I won't have to stop skating for very long!
(And right now it would be more difficult to go see a doctor because I don't have health insurance. If there are no problems this will be fixed at the end of next week, but it's not a good feeling.)
monksandbones: I would love to hear about you learning to skate, or if you already knew how, about learning to skate in hockey skates!Before signing up for the hockey beginners' class ER and I sent an email to the trainer and asked what level of skating proficiency is required. He said we should be able to stop. So we signed up, and then went skating together to practice stopping. I learned pretty quickly, it's similar to skiing, though I still mostly only use one foot instead of both. So that was the most important part, and I was ready to start the class.
We went ice skating in primary school a few times, and every second winter or so the river 10 minutes from our house freezes over and we go skating there. I knew how to stop eventually, and nobody cared that it sometimes took me a while to slow down.
After signing up for the class I had to get new skates because the old ones weren't suited for hockey. It's important that the laces are tight, and usually I have to tighten them further at least three times when I suit up. (After the first time I had blisters on my fingers.) I'm not sure mine are ideally sharpened for hockey, I keep telling myself I should ask the trainer but forget.
One thing that's immediately different when skating for hockey is the equipment. You're suddenly twice as large! And well-protected. My least favorite piece of equipment is my helmet because it always feels either too tight or too loose. My favorite pieces are the chest protector, the huge gloves, and the pants. Especially the chest protector makes me feel a bit like a gladiator. And the gloves are fantastic because the padding on the back is very thick and my hands feel huge and safe, but I can still use them pretty well, and I get out of them easily when I want to.
Hockey skating is different from how I'd skated before: before I stayed upright because that was easiest. For hockey you need to be lower so you have better balance. It also helps you accelerate, as I found out. It's even more important to have the weight forwards rather than backwards because when you fall forwards you're well protected, but less so on your back.
Usually in class we do 15 minutes warm-up, just skating however we want (because the trainer is usually late.) Then we do exercises, either skating or puck control. Skating exercises we've done include getting done on one knee and up again and how to do a tight curve without losing speed - I'm still having trouble with that one because I don't lean into it enough.
We haven't done skating backwards yet but I've tried a bit on my own. It's fun, and I'm getting better at it: the biggest problem so far is knowing where to go, I often get so nervous that I'm skating into someone that I turn around too far and then almost lose my balance.
I also found out that puck control is very difficult and that Pavel Datsyuk and Patrick Kane really must be wizards. The trainer told us to keep our heads up and not to look at the puck, that makes everything even harder. By now I can (most times) skate the length of the rink without losing the puck, which is good progress!
The only thing that I found easier than it looks is moving the puck with my skates. I always thought it looked very impressive, but it's not that hard because I have a better feeling for where my skates are than for where my stick is.
I finally fell down for the first time two weeks ago. It hurt only for about ten seconds, and now I'm less afraid to skate at other people when we play, which is good. Even though most of them probably weigh 20 kilos more than me.
What worries me at the moment is that since about two weeks ago my knees are hurting a bit. It started after a practice where I fell a bit uncomfortably, but it feels more like runner's knee than an injury. I'm putting ice on it and if it's not getting better I'll visit the doctor, but only after this week's training (it didn't hurt during practice last week.) I hope I won't have to stop skating for very long!
(And right now it would be more difficult to go see a doctor because I don't have health insurance. If there are no problems this will be fixed at the end of next week, but it's not a good feeling.)
