Skating Fridays

Initiation

kaetlyn osmond fall
My fall wasn’t quite this graceful, but this is probably how my body and face looked

There is a saying that one is not a “real” figure skating until one experiences the following:

  • Stepping on the ice with hard guards on
  • Face planting during a spiral (and therefore knocking all the wind out of yourself)
  • Experiencing the “click of death” during crossovers and taking a hard fall

In my years of skating, I’ve done two of the three. I’ve fallen on a spiral during my younger years and knocked all the wind out of me. I experience the “click of death” several times a year so it’s a fairly regular occurrence. But never in my skating career have I ever gotten on the ice with hard guards on. The main reason is because I rarely wear hard guards while at my home rink.

One afternoon, I put hard guards on because I needed to run to the restroom. When I went to get on the ice, I had forgotten that I had the guards on. I took my phone and notebook with me onto the ice. As I stepped on, I realized something was wrong. My blade didn’t move, and I did a slow, dramatic fall to the ice. I landed on my right knee and elbow pretty hard.

My fall was pretty epic because all the coaches asked me if I was OK. I was fine, minus the pain, but it was really embarrassing. I couldn’t bend my knee the rest of the day but it slowly got better as the days went by.

Now that I’ve completed the trifecta of skating errors, I can now fully call myself a real figure skater.

2 Comments

  1. May 31, 2019 / 8:09 pm

    Ouch, Eva! I’m glad your knee is better after that “epic” fall. And I’m glad it wasn’t worse. A few years ago, one of the coaches here went out with guards, fell, and broke her hip. I stopped wearing guards after that, except on those bathroom breaks (but then I keep repeating “take ’em off” to myself the whole time). Feel better soon and congrats on the “trifecta” completion. Never again!

    • evabakes
      Author
      June 3, 2019 / 6:03 pm

      That broken hip sounds so painful! Hopefully this is a mistake I will never make again!

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