brecht colo: Ice-skating clearly isn't my cup of tea

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Ice-skating clearly isn't my cup of tea | Waffles and Windmills

Living in Europe, and in a country where it does snow in the winter season, there seems to be this assumption all around that you must practice some winter sport (or at least have done so in the past), something to do with ice or snow! I think this assumption stems from the fact that people in these regions of the world truly are active in a sport like skiing, snow boarding or skating for recreation. That?s a major part of what winter brings for them ? their ice-skating hobby coming out of hiatus, a family trip ?to the mountains to ski, or something of the sort.

Living in the Netherlands, I decided that I must at least give one of these a shot. I wanted to be able to tell people I had in fact done something, without having to lie bluntly to their faces. Now, if you ask me to choose a winter sport only on the basis of what sounds more appealing to me, I?d have to go with snowboarding. But with the Netherlands being the flattest country in the world, you would have to go all the way to France or Austria to find a decent slope. Nuisance, i know. Fortunately, there is an ice-skating rink in the city, Kardinge, and ACLO Sports Centre was offering courses for it. I checked it out and found a nice beginners speed-skating course (a competitive form of ice-skating in which you race against each other) for myself and I signed up. Regular ice-skating wasn?t an option. The Dutch love their competitive nature; loitering around on the ice doesn?t work for them apparently.

So anyway, looking forward to my new activity, I bought myself a pair of second-hand skates. I had a 5-week course in front of me, and I had full intentions of becoming a pro by the end of it. What I didn?t realise was how difficult this was going to be! The course description had said it was a ?course for beginner skaters, teaching the basics of speed-skating?, and that obviously gave me the impression that everyone there would be in the same position as me. What I saw when I got there was that these guys were already all pro?s in my eyes! Not one of them was stepping onto the ice for the first time, no one had difficulty standing on the thin blades of the skate, and absolutely no one was an actual beginner! So while I was still trying to figure out how to get up from my chair and walk on those skates towards the ice, these guys were already doing laps around the circuit. Once in a while when the coaches realised there was this one Indian guy so wouldn?t leave the railing, they?d come up to me and give me a tip or two. ?Bend your knees. Bend your knees.? When even they could see this was going to be hopeless, they?d support me by my hands and take me ahead a few metres. Then they?d just leave, hoping they?d kept me happy for a bit. I could?ve persisted and asked for more guidance from them, but honestly, I already felt embarrassed enough in the crowd there. So I?d do my one round of the whole circuit, never leaving the side railing for more than a second, somehow pushing myself forward till I reached the exit. There?s something humiliating about falling on your butt when you?re anything older than a 6 or 7-year old, and I wasn?t going to have my face flushing red at any point while ice-skating. I had perfect timing though ? one lap in exactly an hour. And that was the end of the class! Time to leave.

Telling yourself I?m your head ?This guy must have never gone back.?, right? You?re wrong. I did go back the next time. And the time after that. I persisted, I really did. I worked hard to get better. And at the end of the 5 classes, I saw I could do my one lap much faster than earlier. Then was no going again for a second round though. I would never have made it. So yes, I tried, I toiled hard, I did all I could. But I have to accept the obvious. Ice-skating isn?t really my thing. Not at all.