Tuesday, February 7, 2017

First Year of Figure Skating at Middle Age

I haven't written in my skating blog for way too long. Many things have happened with my skate scene. The first is, I am now 45 years in skating age. Yes, I can feel it in my body I am indeed a middle aged skating mom, grand mom and wife. But it's absolutely great.

In the past year I have progressed in my opinion at a medium pace. I have had many discouraged moments, finding myself feeling down because I wasn't progressing as fast as I would like.  I also found out I am not the quitter I was when I was a child and much more patient and focused. I'm now wearing my Silver Star Reidell skates after retiring my Bronze stars a few months ago. The blades are Coronation Ace's and yes they have made all the difference in my skating.

Today at the rink I could have done some spins and the "fun" stuff but forced myself to work my 3 turn's both ways for almost an hour and a half.  We all have that one "bad" side that we try to avoid because the other way looks oh so much better.

I have taken a lot of time helping my 11 year old daughter with her skating. I make sure she has extra skating time and her teacher is excited to see her accomplish her skating goals. I hear many schools and teachers frown on kids missing school to skate. We have not had that issue yet.

She has made it up to Basic Level 6 in less than a year. Her last group class is this week and we are hoping she passes into Pre Free Skate. She also has her first competition this month in Basic 5. I designed and made her figure skating competition dress. I used a basic pattern I purchased cheap on ebay.

As a mom I certainly put my daughters skating first. If there is a fee for classes she comes first. I have more time to practice during the day so it's up to me to show up at the rink.

As far as my progress goes. I took group lessons a few months ago and I am now Adult Level 3 on the books. I can do many moves from Adult level 3 to 6. I'm going to see if I can test up into at least level 4 soon. I earned my first skating patch and I'm still not sure what to put it on. I felt a little embarrassed about it at first because it wasn't a higher number. Feeling not good enough is an unfortunate habit i've dragged with me through my entire life. I'm not quitting anytime soon. I am planning to do my first competition in 2018.







Thursday, March 10, 2016

Affordable Figure Skating Bags!

We know that Zuca bags are the rage with skaters. Hockey skaters and figure skaters can purchase many, many different colors and styles. Let's be real, not everyone can afford the $200 price tag they come with and especially when there is more than one "skater" in the family.

There are cute, affordable alternatives for skate bags.  Honestly a backpack would do the trick, but I wanted the girls to have something just for their skate bags. Luckily as I was browsing Ebay I found a store RK's Boutique Get It Fast that sells personalized embroidered bags. I chose a duffle bag and large bag with an embroidered skate logo and my girls names embroidered on them. It was nice to be able to find a bag with an "ice skate" logo.












Happy Skating!

Friday, February 12, 2016

Figure Skating Books For Girls

Christmas is behind us and on my quest to find figure skating gifts for my daughter I found some great ideas in books. She loved getting these for Christmas and of course getting kids to read is so hard job sometimes. She has a passion for skating like myself and I am seriously tempted to sneak some of her books and read them myself.

During the 1990's the Silver Blades Series of books was being read by millions of girls. I found these Silver Blades books on ebay which can be purchased one at a time or in lots.

Below is the Gold Medal Series of 3 Books.


Silver Blades - On The Edge - Gold Medal Dreams #1



Silver Blades - Chance of A Lifetime - Gold Medal Dream - #3


I also found that American Girl had a figure skating series of books. My daughter was thrilled to get these for Christmas as she is also obsessed with American Girl Dolls.

Mia - American Girl








Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Fun Figure Skating Craft - Ice Skate Bookmarks

I have noticed there aren't very many figure skating crafts or websites focusing on life "figure skating". I found this fun craft to do with our skaters. These would make great gifts or just to use ourselves. These are adorable and easy to make. How To Make Felt Ice Skate Bookmarks




Please Follow this link for the How To Make Felt Ice Skate Bookmarks

Happy Skating!