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So who taught you how to skate...

N

northeastern

Registered User
..is it October already.. :)

Anyway, was just thinking.. most of us college hockey fans love the sport & (i am assuming), some if not all do some sort of skating..

so, who taught you how to skate?...

I'll go first.. was at a rink in London, England of all places during vacation with parents. I was about 9 (yeah, late starter!) but fell in love with it. Def mom (who skated as a child herself), helped us with the basics. Yup, that's about all. From then on, school buddies & then at NU during open ice at Matthews with friends during the college years.. pretty much recreational level, some pick up hockey outside but always ton of fun..

Had a chance to skate on my first frozen pond pick up game 3 yrs ago & just fell deeper in love with hockey & skating as well. Have been at it every winter since.. now got friends/ family involved as well.

Okay, your turn :)
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

Taught myself. First on roller skates (the old school kind) believe it or not and then on ice skates. Backwards for sure being a Minnesotan.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

We had a pond about 3 blocks from my house growing up, and my folks made sure to get us second-hand skates every year. Being in suburban Chicago, the pond didn't freeze over every winter, so we occasionaly went to the local indoor rink (where I once ran into Darryl Sutter when he was the 'Hawks coach).

I didn't play hockey in any organized form until I went to NMU, when I started playing intermurals. I kept up for a few years with drop-in hockey in the Twin Cities, but hurt my back when I moved to International Falls, so I quit. I still skate rarely, since my daughter has less than zero interest in learning. I hope she changes her mind some day. (I keep asking - maybe she'll go one of these days just to shut me up :cool: ...)
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

When I was three, my dad started taking me to public skating at the Janas Rink in Lowell. They had milk crates there that little kids could use to help keep their balance. The next winter, he signed me up for learn to skate classes in my hometown and bought me my first stick. Since sticks and pucks weren't allowed either at class or at public skating, he took me to a pond down the street and taught me how to stickhandle. When I was five, I moved up to the advanced skating class, and when I was six, I played on my first mite team. My dad built a rink in our backyard when I was seven or eight, and he kept it going until we moved when I was 12. I played up to midgets and JV in high school, but never made varsity. I still play pick-up pond hockey with my friends at home, and I play three or four hours a week for a hockey "class" at BU.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

I havent skated since I was 5 years old.

I never played ice hockey.


However, my love for the game of hockey allowed me to fall in love with the college game in college (UMass when the program restarted in 1993) and I've loved it ever since. Before I went to college, I had no idea college hockey even existed.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

Lil Bit Special said:
Before I went to college, I had no idea college hockey even existed.
Click to expand...

I will add to my comment that I really didn't know anything about college hockey until I visited NMU - and found out that they had just won the National Championship. I went for a second visit durring winter, and NMU was playing UMinn (they were ranked #1 and #2 in the nation that weekend), and the game was sold out. So, the band director (I was considering a music major) offered to sneak me into the game to sit with the pep band... One game and I was hooked.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

Self taught the first few years. Dad took me, but knew nothing about skating! Fortunately back in the day, Madison had a rink at EVERY school and park, and many were lit, and of course all the lakes offered large sheets! All you needed were snow shovels.

Constant skating and trying new things was my training in the early years.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

I learned to skate on double-runners on a pond in my grandfathers woods when I was 3. I was a better walker than a skater at that age, and the pictures show it.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

I taught me how to skate. I watched some Youtube videos, a couple hockey speed DVDs and read the book, "Power Skating" but other than that Im self-taught.
I just went to public skate at the local rink, at public outdoor ice rinks and one my own personal rink on a lake near my home and just skated. I started learning in mid January and my no means would I say that Im a great skater, but Im pretty good.
Im probably going to take some lessons at some point in time though. I have a feeling that a good instructor could take me from being a good skater to being a great skater in a short period of time.
I didnt get started in skating/playing hockey until age 29, so I definetly have some catching up to do!
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

My father at an outdoor rink at the park across the street. He played hockey in high school and has been an official ever since. I usually was a defenseman at the pick-up games, because I was the only one that could skate backwards.

I don't ice skate much anymore, and I have forgotten how to stop. I am truly that Mendoza kid on the Mighty Ducks. I can absolutely fly and carve and circle around all over the place. Stopping? Have to use the boards or a snowbank. Big mental block at this point, I know I am thinking about it way too hard.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

northeastern said:
..is it October already.. :)

Anyway, was just thinking.. most of us college hockey fans love the sport & (i am assuming), some if not all do some sort of skating..

so, who taught you how to skate?...

I'll go first.. was at a rink in London, England of all places during vacation with parents. I was about 9 (yeah, late starter!) but fell in love with it. Def mom (who skated as a child herself), helped us with the basics. Yup, that's about all. From then on, school buddies & then at NU during open ice at Matthews with friends during the college years.. pretty much recreational level, some pick up hockey outside but always ton of fun..

Had a chance to skate on my first frozen pond pick up game 3 yrs ago & just fell deeper in love with hockey & skating as well. Have been at it every winter since.. now got friends/ family involved as well.

Okay, your turn :)
Click to expand...

Your mom
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

Got taught how by an uncle when I was 8 or 9, then never skated again until college, and pretty much taught myself...and now I'm playing hockey, only 2 years later, and now I pick up things from other guys as I go...
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

I taught myself mostly, I had been skating on roller blades for years and playing pick up games of roller hockey. Then one winter I went to an ice rink when I was in Spicer, MN visiting my grandparents, and it wasn't hard for me to adapt. Stopping took a while for me to learn though, even after hockey camps and such.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

Federal League said:
When I was three, my dad started taking me to public skating at the Janas Rink in Lowell. They had milk crates there that little kids could use to help keep their balance. The next winter, he signed me up for learn to skate classes in my hometown and bought me my first stick. Since sticks and pucks weren't allowed either at class or at public skating, he took me to a pond down the street and taught me how to stickhandle. When I was five, I moved up to the advanced skating class, and when I was six, I played on my first mite team. My dad built a rink in our backyard when I was seven or eight, and he kept it going until we moved when I was 12. I played up to midgets and JV in high school, but never made varsity. I still play pick-up pond hockey with my friends at home, and I play three or four hours a week for a hockey "class" at BU.
Click to expand...

Is Barb Pinch still the hockey teacher at BU? She was awesome.

I loved that class so much. I got so much better (from atrocious to sucky) in the year I took it, and it was just so much fun. Plus, there's something special about playing on the WBA ice, no matter how terrible it is.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

ScoobyDoo said:
Taught myself. First on roller skates (the old school kind) believe it or not and then on ice skates. Backwards for sure being a Minnesotan.
Click to expand...

same here. my catholic grade school in PA had a 'first tuesday skating night' where we got to dark skate with girls to songs like 'take it on the run' and 'we are the champions' :D first hundred times i played hockey was on roller skates too where i emulated syl apps and pierre larouche (ie, lost:( ).
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

25 N Countin' said:
Is Barb Pinch still the hockey teacher at BU? She was awesome.

I loved that class so much. I got so much better (from atrocious to sucky) in the year I took it, and it was just so much fun. Plus, there's something special about playing on the WBA ice, no matter how terrible it is.
Click to expand...

No, Andrea Mohns-Brilla runs it now. I'm not really sure what the beginner's class is like, but the advanced class is all scrimmage from Day 1, which is awesome. It's great getting to play at WBA two or three times a week.
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

I was taught when I was 3 or 4 years old by my uncle. He was a forward for the Sioux back in the 70's, so he could get us into the old REA every now and then to skate with some other former players and their families. He never actually played in the old REA though...his playing days were in the Winter Sports Garden (The Barn).
 
Re: So who taught you how to skate...

TBD. I've been doing something not even closely resembling skating on and off for 40+ years, but at some point before my bones turn to powder I'd love to actually have lessons. Crossovers can't be that hard, right?:p
 
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