Big Ice Wednesday Night

Having got my wheels (previous post) I headed into the building and put on my ice skates and headed out to the big ice for a couple hours public session to classic hits from the 50's to the 80's by Steve the DJ.  He's been doing this for over thirty years and is a nice guy.

It was good to be on the big ice again on Wednesday.  Ice Hockey takes its Easter break, we get off of the small ice.  Which left the small ice for the beginners, as it should be.  And on the big ice, what would have been a crowd on the small was scattered over the larger area leaving the ice relatively empty and open for the entertainment and use of the skaters who were there.

Which, as always, was composed of quite a few familiar faces, some of whom have names, and always the pleasure of watching new comers who had all degrees of skill from tyro to veteran.  To good music.  With a couple hours with nothing else to concentrate on except for the experience of the ice.

I've often said that the standard of skaters can be highest on Wednesday nights, and so it again proved.  So I was able to play around and just be relaxed as I did so, pushing it but not stressing.  The techniques I continued to work on were the open hipped splay footed turn (learned on inline) and the backwards inside-C cutting drill (one that works on the 'cross under' to generate greater power when traveling backwards).  I also had another go at 'three turns' (one footed pivot transition) and seemed to have progressed in the art to the point that some of it is sublimating in my muscles. 

Finally, a neat trick I saw a figure skater do in an idle moment and just immediately had to try it myself, whereby one turns either left or right on both skates but in which one does it with the outside skate leading into the turn rather than the usual inside skate.  Uses of this trick could be everything from preparing for a pushed acceleration into reverse direction to outright deception.  Surprisingly, if use the edges right, it's not much less stable than a 'regular' hockey turn.  Will add this to the list of things to play with in future sessions.

I didn't push myself at maximum intensity, leaving more room for playfulness to come through in my skating.  It seemed to fit well with the vibe of the evening,  as throughout the night everyone seemed to be having fun, and 80% of more of them were getting at least some of their joy from learning stuff through 'playing around'.  It's quite a liberating environment. 

Which is a reason why I reckon I might go fortnightly to inline training if I can know that I'll have the big ice to be on.