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I used to enjoy skating when I was a kid, although I wasn't particularly good at it. For a long time I didn't have the side to side weight shift concept and I would simply try to walk on the ice. One night when I was by myself at the local outdoor elementary school rink, I got it, and was in ecstasy. Later my mother bought me a good pair of Bauer hockey skates and I learned to skate backwards on the swamp in my backyard. I also enjoyed playing pond hockey with my friends.
I outgrew my skates at about the age of 15 and except for one time in college, never skated again until the age of
about 31. I skated occasionally for about 2 years, always renting skates at the rink.
Then I bought a pair of skates. My friend Susan convinced me to get figure skates since with my knee problems
I wouldn't be playing much hockey, and I'm way too old to be worried about the masculinity of figure skating.
I had a lot of trouble with the toe pick for about the first 2 sessions, but then things were great.
Skating on a good pair of skates, versus rental skates is like day and night.
Eventually I realized I would never be jumping and I enjoyed watching the ice dancers who practiced
after the public session so I directed my skating efforts towards ice dancing...although I still want to develop a good scratch spin before I die.
I took ice dancing lessons with my skating partner Susan
from Dawn Ponte at the skating club of Boston for several years and then with
Nick Moormann.
I lost my job and discontinued lessons for awhile, but became employed again last year and started taking lessons from Dawn
again.
In recent years I've also taught ice skating.
I started with the kids skating program at MIT. I taught one semester for the MIT physical education skating class and
I've taught with the Bay State Skating School for three years. This past
year I taught two morning classes at the MIT figure skating club on Saturday.
In the summer of 2005, Susan and I try competing. First in Lake Placid NY at the national ice dance championships and then in the Providence Open in Rhode Island. Below are links to pictures from those competitions.