The Hardest Thing About Skating Is the Ice
I began my love affair with the ice as a teenager, skating at public rinks, going ’round and ‘round, forward and even backward. Without any instruction, however, that’s as far as I got. In high school, my friend Jack and I went to a rink on Roosevelt Boulevard several times a week each winter, skating and trying to find dates in what we thought was the girl-rich Northeast. No girls, ever, but we had a ball weaving in and out the slower, older skaters, kicking ice chunks while pretending to play ice hockey (or perhaps ice soccer). We never fell.
Through college, law school and young adulthood, I skated a lot less, but with more success finding dates. But by the time I moved into my second house, I hadn’t been to a rink for some time, and I reluctantly tossed out my old, now too-small skates. At some point I tried in-line skating, but the protective gear, the difficulty in stopping, and falling on the pavement (ripping exposed skin) quickly soured me on that. So I decided to give the ice another try. And to take lessons!
Sporting goods stores didn’t sell men’s figure skates, but a salesman advised me to visit the pro shop of a skating club. There, a pro fitted me with a medium-level real skate boot and a blade with a full beginner’s toe-pick. On my first outing in many years, in February 1998, I fell more than a dozen times, but I quickly got used to the toe-picks and rediscovered my skating legs. From that point on I rarely fell.
Soon I began adult group lessons, learning some basic jumps and spins (skating lingo: tricks). Shortly thereafter I added private lessons, where I refined my tricks and slowly began to learn new ones. I still loved skating.
In 2004, I began to compete in adult competitions. I synced my teaching schedule to match the rinks’ schedules, and I ramped up my private lessons and even attended adult weekend skating camps. Now my coaches (private and group) included Olympians, national and international medal winners, and even their coaches. Heady stuff. I actually know many of the famous skaters you see on TV.
Today I am in my third pair of custom skate boots and on my sixth pair of blades. I compete several times a year and skate in local shows. I’ve won my share of medals, many of them gold.
Adult skaters are a supportive group, so I’ve made many good friends. You’d be surprised how many of us are lawyers, doctors, and have Ph.D.s or other advanced degrees — most of us! And I love it more than ever.
Steven R. Sher, J.D., is an associate professor of legal studies at Drexel LeBow.
Photography by Charles Cerrone, a student at Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
