Lesson #1: Figure Skating 101

Hello again!

So today was the day my skating began. My first private lesson and registration with the club. Both my coach and the lady whom I registered with were super friendly, helpful and encouraging which was nice. I gleaned a lot of information today as well, which I'll be sharing of course.

First off, it took every ounce of me to actually get off my butt and head into the arena. It's curious, fighting with yourself and fighting anxiety. In the end, I told myself that if I didn't go in, I never would. Good move because it got me in there. As mentioned, the lady whom I registered with was SUPER friendly. It definitely helped nudge me out of my shell.

Now, as for the actual skating. It was definitely very up and down. I wasn't sure how I'd do going into it. After all, it's been a very long time since I skated, minus the public skate I managed to jump into. I expected it would be a long process. And it kind of was. I'm definitely not amazing. But a lot of it did come back fairly quickly. Today was definitely focused on the basics.

Simply Skating Forward: I'm fine. Forward is the easy part. I think this is due to the fact that I have rollerbladed over the years in between skating so I've never really forgotten how to go forwards.

Stopping: Yeah, I'm more than a bit rough here. I remember struggling with proper stops as a kid and it's not really that different now. I'll make sure to practice these at the arena. We focused mostly on side stops today. This was more or less where I wiped out.

Bubbles: These were simple enough, I need to work on building up a bit of strength and speed for these. I struggled to get a bit of speed in there. Not such a big deal but it will come as I rebuild the necessary muscles.

Switchbacks: This came to me a bit easier than I thought. While not perfect, I didn't really wipe out while doing these. I think I'll be able to pick these up easily enough, but time will tell!

Stroking: This I will certainly work hard at. I feel it'll help me build up the right muscles. Back and forth back and forth. A lot of this I feel confident I can practice during public skates!

Forward Crossovers: To the left, pretty decent. To the right...not so much. I'm not sure what it is, but telling my body to do it to the right gets me a touch confused. Once I get the hang of it I'm sure it'll be fine.

Skating Backwards: Last but not least. This is where I feel I likely struggled the most. I don't remember much of skating backwards as a kid. It'll come back to me in time I imagine but in the meantime I have to practice going backwards at a decent speed. Not that speed matters too much.

Balance: I also have to find my balance. Too much leaning in wrong direction, too much wibbly wobbly.

All in all, it wasn't a bad lesson in the slightest. I truly enjoyed it and wish I could have stayed longer. Though due to circumstance I did not remain beyond my lesson tonight. It's funny, I haven't smiled that much about a hobby in a long time. It begs the question why I ever left as a kid? School did pull me away to London for many hours of the day and life threw me curveballs. But why did I stop?

I think that I'll definitely be keeping up with these lessons and working hard at it. Not only will it get me fit but it will bring me a passion. Already I'm excited to go back Friday for my next lesson. Also, I should get my ears checked because I had a hard time hearing...

I have to admit though, It's really a struggle with my anxiety. Being around that many people with so many people around definitely gets my heart and mind thumping. I think this will be a good experience for me to help with it and admittedly after a short bit of skating I was definitely a bit more comfortable.

A big thanks to the president of the club and the coach who made time for me!

Ciao for now!

Sam