The hidden costs of skating

I carefully considered the cost of my new skates and blades.  What I didn't consider was the amount I'd then spend on trying to stop them mutilating my feet! 

• Felt padding - stuck it to the skates on the top and the edges of the tongue, not terribly effective
• Blister plasters - stuck to my skin where the boots rub at the tops, during a 30 minute lesson they got rubbed right off, useless
• Foam circle things like corn pads but for your ankles - not that easy to keep in position as they don't stick to anything.
• Bandage - not actually for the rubbing but for support after I hurt my foot doing too many off ice jumps, well it was an extra layer between boot and skin!
• Voltarol painease gel - I use this regularly on my feet (not suitable for broken skin or blisters), to help with aching feet, it does help to numb the pain.

On the same theme, a trip to the rink doesn't just cost the patch money (£4), club (£5), or lesson (£16 plus patch). It's the bus fare, a drink (although I'm usually good and take squash from home), second breakfast when I get to work because I can't last from 5am til lunchtime, snacks, etc.

A competition isn't just the dress and the entry fees, it's the extra lessons, tights, food and drink on the day, a ridiculously overpriced but essential competition hoody, makeup, hairspray, flowers and toys to throw on for your friends, photos, laces with diamonte on them (I resisted these without too much difficulty, mainly cause I couldn't bear the thought of unlacing and relacing my skates, also i think they're pretty tacky), new soakers, new leggings etc.

I think this is why I find it so hard to budget. I budget for the direct costs, but forget the rest!

The minefield of new skates

My feet hurt, my ankles hurt, my bank balance really hurts. I just got new skates and new blades. Jackson Premier and Coronation Ace Parabolic.

I did my research, I chose skates and blades that were appropriate for my level. I didn't really need the parabolic version, but the store didn't have the regular ones in stock, so offered me the parabolic version at no extra charge. They assured me the difference was minimal and wouldn't affect sharpening or skating.

I got my boots and blades from different stores, because the rink shop at my home rink only stocks Jackson boots and Jackson Ultima blades. I didn't want the Ultima blades, so I got them from a different rink shop on the t'interweb. Both shops were very helpful, although the local one seemed personally offended by my choice of blades, but he still mounted them for me.

I anticipated the pain of breaking in new skates. I haven't fallen in them yet (which is surprising!) but fully expect to trip a lot when I start really pushing myself in them, cause I'm still taking it easy at the moment. I laughed at the questions non-skaters asked "what colour are you getting" and "so you use the toepicks to stop, right?".

What I didn't expect was having to justify my choice of boots and blades to other skaters. At my rink everyone has Jackson boots and Ultima blades. Well, like 95% of people anyway. There are a million kids with Jackson Freestyle, then a big group of Jackson Competitor and a smaller group with Jackson Premier. Nobody that I know of has Jackson Elite or anything higher, although in my opinion some of the ones with Premiers probably should've gone for Elite.

For an overweight adult skater struggling with loop to get the same skates as the kids landing doubles seems to strike some as weird. Never mind that I weigh at least twice as much as these kids, who may well need to be in higher level skates ideally anyway, or that increasing numbers of teenagers who haven't got their axel also have Premiers. Or that according to most online sources, they're aimed at my level. I must think I'm an amazing skater for getting these skates. And I'm not, clearly, so I must be full of myself.

As for blades.. the fashionable blades at my rink are Ultima Lite. All the cool kids have them. And apparently I should want them. I don't, and never have, partly because they're the "in" thing. Coronation Aces are the most popular freestyle blade in the world, but I should want the Lites because they have cool holes in them.

It isn't a fluke that opinions are so biased towards Jackson and Ultima at my rink. I'm not disputing them as an excellent make, and as I said, I bought Jackson skates! But the trend is very much led by one or two of the influential coaches. One of my friends has skated for twenty years and has had boots of half a dozen different makes. I've had Risport Antea, Edea Overture and now Jacksons. I would be shocked if some of the kids at the rink had even tried on anything except Jackson. And however good Jackson are, they're not right for eveyrone, and this prejudice towards them is bad for skaters who might find Reidells or Risport or Edea or Graf or Wifa or SP Terri or some other make I can't think of, to be a better fit.

Ballet

I decided that ice skating doesn't have enough strangely named, impossible moves that require more co-ordination than I have by demanding that I move my arms and feet at the same time, I decided to have a go at ballet.

Like most little girls, I did ballet (and tap) briefly. I was not good. My co-ordination hasn't deteriorated with age, I simply never had any to begin with. Even my father admits now that watching me dance was a chore. It's probably for the best that I quit when they wanted me to start working towards ballet exams.

I had the same arm/leg co-ordination issues as I do on the ice, but jumping around was fun. I could feel my posture improve, just need to try and translate that onto the ice. The teacher threw us in at the deep end with lots of words that made me wish I'd studied french at school, and I have forgotten the steps we did already.

Obviously, after just one lesson, I don't know how much it'll help my skating, but it's good for me and it's fun!

My competition experience

Yesterday I bullet pointed the things I learned from my first competition. Today is gonna be the "what I did on my summer holiday" version. Sorry about that.

While waiting at the rink for my coach (I was very early!) I watched patch (amazing skaters, an extrordinary number of sit spins and program run throughs from one coach's skaters dodging skaters from other rinks who didn't know whose music it was) and began to think that entering a competition was one of those things that sounds like a great idea at the time...

Coach arrived. Me and another beginner skater stared into each other's panic-stricken eyes instead of running round while coach rounded up her other skaters. She was extremely impressed with our warm up technique... Coach then led an actual off ice warm up. As well as being good physically, this is also good mentally as it gives a panicky mind something else to focus on. Took a break from my off ice program run through to watch the cutest little girl from my rink being the first skater of the day. Final off ice program run through and then off to get changed.

For some reason, I found out about the changing room situation from a message left on my mother's answering machine. My mother lives a couple of hundred miles away and I haven't lived with her for at least six years. But at least she called to pass on the message "some lady phoned for you, something about changing rooms". After suggesting she might take a note of the lady's name, number, and what it was about the changing rooms, she phoned back to tell me I was getting changed in the disabled toilet. Being over 18 I'm not allowed in the changing rooms.

Dress on, skates on, battled with my over the boot tights that decided they didn't actually want to go over my left boot. Coach told me I had plenty of time. She untangled my make up bag from my zuca bag and I untangled the hooks on my tights from my sock. Tights fastened over my boots and jacket on. Start to feel seriously sick, not helped when a little girl comes off the ice at the end of her program with her hand over her mouth bolting for the exit.

Waiting for the warm up to start took for.ev.er. But I knew four out of the five girls in my warm up group, so we were talking and they reassured me I was unlikely to actually die in the competition. Warm up seemed pretty long actually, I had time to skate round, do backwards crossovers, several salchows, toe loops and spins, and my step sequence and a couple of spirals.

While I waited for my turn to skate (I was sixth in my warm up group of six), my legs turned to jelly, my coach reminded me that jumps actually need to jump up, and I felt more sick. Wondered briefly if my coach would let me make a run for it, decided she probably wouln't.

My turn. Stood on the ice by the door for an eternity while the previous skaters marks were called. Coach instilled a brand new fear that my blades would get stuck to the ice if I didn't shuffle them. Coach remined me to breath but I got distracted while she made me breath in and breath out and became the only skater ever to mess up breahing! They called my name and I was very grateful Coach had made my starting point just a couple of pushes from the entrance. We'd practiced entering from a different door, so I got the angle slightly wrong, but I covered it.

I struck my starting pose and waited. Wow, it seemed like everyone elses music started straight away, why didn't mine? Why is man in the music box waving manically? Oh dear God my music isn't working! Oh there goes Coach racing up the side of the rink, presumably with my spare CD. Crap, remember to breath. Deep breath. Relax. Oh crap. Coach is running into the coach's room. Judges say something to me. I don't really hear them but it seems like they're calling me over so I sort of move in their general direction. Okay, they're definately calling me over. Referee explains my music isn't working, observes that someone has been racing up the side of the rink, I confirm this is my coach. I'm instructed strictly not to get off the ice, an offered a blanket to keep warm. The judges are nice, they remind me they're people. Some of the kids who're skating later run up an offer to sing my music, which makes me laugh nervously an hope it won't come to that. More silence. Silence means no music. Oh crap. I shuffle my feet some more. Then a blast of music but it isn't mine. Then oh thank the lord, my music! The judges ask me if its mine and I confirm it is with much relief. I skate back to my starting position and am already in my pose when they announce my name again.

Finally, my music starts and I skate my program. Nothing goes wrong, I do a nice upright spin, making sure I hold it for 4 or 5 revolutions (I need 3), I land all my jumps which at least take off even if they're not as high and springy as Coach would like. I give the judges a big smile as I strike my finishing pose, relieved that I finished on time, then skate to the centre to curtsey. I'm getting cheered and something gets thrown on the ice for me.

Off the ice and Coach comes out of the music box looking at least as stressed as me by the music fiasco and hugs me. The kids from the rink come up to say well done and are bursting to tell me how much Coach was shaking as they used her iPod for my music. I get given two flowers and a teddy that got thrown on for me, plus a certificate, a towel for my blades, and a bottle of water. The kids also tell me there was a pair of headphones on the ice right near where I started, and that they were scared I would skate over them. I'm amazed that I didn't notice but relieved I didn't skate over them and fall.

Still shaking, I head back to my zuca to recover. Don't stop shaking for well over ten minutes. Have no idea of my marks until a kind SkateMum shows me where she's written down everyone's marks.

I came last, but I had a good skate, didn't fall, didn't embarrass myself or my coach, everyone said well done, especially for holding it together with the music failure, and for going out at all being an adult.