To be gutted that I've forgotten how to ice skate?

[JellyDiamonds]

The other night, for the first time in years and years I went ice skating. I used to go every Friday night as a child, had my own white skates and everything. Never had lessons, but used to be able to wizz around the rink like a bat out of hell.

Well the other night I got on the ice and I almost shit myself, I was terrified and could barely manage to let go of the side! I clung to it like a lynchpin for the whole time was there and the one time I did let to I fell on my arse! I rarely ever used to fall.

I'm gutted. What happened? I was so looking forward to it but my confidence evaporated as soon as I stepped onto the ice. Is it an age thing? I presumed I'd never forget?

[Ilovehamabeads]

25 years passed in between me whizzing round the ice as a young teen, and then going again recently to introduce my children to the ice. I banged on about how good it was and how they would love it. Reality was, none of us let go of the side for the whole hour. Thoroughly peeved that I appear to have lost my balance and my nerve.

[Taz1212]

YANBU! I learned to skate on a frozen lake when I was very young and spent every winter racing around it, going into a flying heap whenever I caught my skate on a bit of a frozen leaf or twig and still loved every minute of it.

I took DC skating a couple of years ago and holy crap, I had to cling onto the side (no sides to cling onto on a lake!) and I wobbled around for ages before having the nerve to try a tiny glide of maybe two feet!

[Fluffyears]

I used to be great at skating, took lessons in figure skating as a teen. Tried it a few years ago at an outside rink and could stay up but just sort of wobbled along feeling terrified :(

[Whatsthewhatsthebody]

Yes it's strange isn't it as it's a fact that once you learn to ride a byke it's there for life. Wonder why it's different for skating?

[AmeliaPeabody]

I think it's like riding a bike, personally, the not forgetting. I need a few minutes and a couple of turns around the rink to get my balance right, then I'm fine. My longest break was approx a decade, and the children were surprised I could skate so well (as was I!) The children are always because I boast so much at how good I am still. I do love ice skating.

[JellyDiamonds]

The rink was horribly crowed anyway, and there were lots of gangs of teenagers who were obviously unstable on their skates but still showing off, and I think that might have felt unnerved. I was scared they'd crash into me.

[Guyropes]

Do you have dc?

I had great balance before and it's shot now.

I think less balance is required for riding a bike.

[YouTheCat]

Same happened to me. I used to whizz around like a mad thing on the ice. Went with dd and her friends when she was 10 and fell on my bum a lot whilst they all glided about.

Damn centre of gravity and bigger arse.

[Bumply]

Hired skates are rarely sharp enough so you can slide sideways almost as much as forward/backwards which feels very insecure.
I'm a totally different shape/centre of gravity which also doesn't help. And I have dodgy knees a dam far more aware of what a fall could do to me, so it's no longer the carefree experience i remember as a young teen. That and the fact that ds2 has no coordination whatsoever meant I just gave up on reviving it.

[tobysmum77]

I think yabu. I had a break of 20 years and recently took dd. It took me a few minutes and god knows how I used to skate backwards but I could still do it.

I think those hired skates don't help either, they really are awful.

[tobysmum77]

at the risk of sounding smug I'm much the same shape (or slimmer maybe than at 17) that probably does help.

[JellyDiamonds]

Yes, the hire skates were shit. They were exactly the same hire skates as they used 20 plus years ago, and I don't think they'd been sharpened in all that time either! I'd assumed that they'd have replaced the hire skates with shiny new hockey boot style ones for some reason, but no.

[flamingtoaster]

Hire skates have two problems - they are not kept properly sharpened (it's safer for all concerned if they aren't) and they often do not give proper support to the ankle which makes skating virtually impossible.

I still go skating using my own skates - each time I go it takes me a few minutes to find my balance and then I am fine.

[velourvoyageur]

I think you should go again very soon OP, get back on the horse, or it'll build up in your mind and stuff.

I'm always scared just before I get on the ice so I get it (but there's nothing like it is there).

My dad always took me skating when I was little and if he thought the skates were missing something he'd take them up and ask to get them sharpened and it was treated as a perfectly normal request.

[wobblyweebles]

I know what you mean OP. I skate quite a lot on our local pond but I'm nowhere near as confident as I used to be. OTOH I can still ski like a demon.

[MirrorMirror]

I've booked to go to the outside rink at Somerset House in London in a couple of weeks and this thread has worried me! I went skating years ago and was expecting to just take it up again and be the same standard as before! Obviously that is not going to happen!

[Hatespiders]

I agree with flamingtoaster, skates must be firm and supportive around the ankles; your feet/ankles should not bend inwards.
I used to do a lot of ice skating at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, and got quite deedy going backwards, spins etc. But now I'm old and have problems with balance just walking along, and I bet my bones aren't as solid as they were. I'd be terrified of having a fall and breaking a femur.

I also used to ride at every opportunity. Loved it. There's a lovely riding school in our village and I watch wistfully as the line of ponies and horses goes past our house. But I just daren't do it. I'm also a bit plump, and once I'd mounted it, the poor horse would probably turn its head round to look at me and say, "You've got to be joking missus...!"

[BOFster]

Yes, go again SOON. I do think that our centre of gravity shifts as we get fatter older.

[BOFster]

Oh, Hatespiders, I went for a riding lesson years after stopping as a teenager. Everybody was bumbling along in a big circle, except for me, because my horse decided to utterly mock me by randomly weaving around and making me look like an incompetent arse .

[Hatespiders]

LOL BOFster!! I know the owner of our village riding school very well. I told her I used to ride, and she said, "But you must come and have a go! We've got some very large carthorses suitable for carrying weight, and they're very placid..." After I'd punched her on the nose (only joking) I politely declined her 'kind' offer.
This thread has made me reminisce about my ice-skating days up in Scotland. How we used to whizz around that rink!
Actually though, I can still swim, and I expect I could ride a bike at a push, so I don't reckon we forget how to do these things. Oh to be young again! sigh...

[CariadsDarling]

I was an figure skater at competition level until I was about 15 but you'd never know it now. It was a very long time ago and I'd like to say Im like Bambi on the ice but that would be an insult to Bambi.

I am almost 57 however but Oh I yearn for the old days when it comes to skating.

[bigTillyMint]

I am really surprised how people who were hood skaters now can't skate. Surely it's down to fear of falling? I have never been a paticularly good skater but I can still skate the same as when I was 10. However I am getting more and more scared when skiing - I can still ski but I am terrified of hurting myself

[CariadsDarling]

I can skate, but there's skating and there's skating :)

And you are spot on with your comments re a fear of falling. I just dont bounce like I used to and a couple of silly falls I've had recently in my day to day life have shaken me up quite considerably.

[Hatespiders]

I reckon in my case it's about balance. I get bad vertigo and even walking makes me a bit fearful of falling. I'm resisting getting a walking stick, but no doubt I'll soon have to. I really don't want to risk broken bones and being a burden to my dh for weeks on end. I'm only seventy, but I haven't worn too well hahaha! (See thread about giving up teaching!)