Guangxun Jin | 金光勋 | 김광훈

The activity center I go to happened to have an beginner skating course, so I signed up for it. Skating equipment needs to be prepared by oneself. According to my investigation, I need to prepare ice skates, guards to protect the blades, a helmet, an ice skate bag (optional), and protective gear for knees, hips, and elbows (optional).

First is the most important item: the ice skates. From what I’ve learned, there are two main types. One is hockey skates, and the other is figure skates. Hockey skates have shorter blades, and both ends of the blade are more rounded. This is more conducive to moving fast and turning quickly, offering better agility. The boot is also stiffer to protect the ankles during hockey games. However, for beginners, they might be relatively harder to start with because the blades are somewhat short and rounded at both ends, making it less easy for beginners to maintain balance. Figure skates have longer blades and have toe picks at the front, which are shapes similar to sawtooth. You can stand up when on your tiptoes. Figure skates are more conducive to jumps, spins, and various artistic movements on the ice. Also, they are easier for beginners to pick up.

(Images of hockey skates and figure skates)

I looked at all the ice skates on the website of a large sporting goods retailer. I found that there were no hockey skates or figure skates that I was particularly satisfied with. One reason is that I’m afraid that if I chose hockey skates, the short blades may increase my learning curve a lot, and I also didn’t see any styles I liked. As for figure skates, the styles were okay, and I felt they would make learning to skate easier for me. But they only had the traditional shoelace type with strings, and did not have the BOA system type of laces. After trying the BOA system on the snowboard boots before, I really wanted to use this kind of lacing system. It really is too convenient. Since I couldn’t find anything satisfactory, I had to keep looking.

Then I discovered another category besides hockey skates and figure skates, called recreational skates. Their characteristic is that the blades look similar to hockey skate blades—meaning no toe picks—but the length of the blades is almost close to that of figure skates. This prevents learning to skate from having a somewhat steep learning curve like hockey skates. Furthermore, there is a model of recreational skates that features the BOA system. I also quite liked the overall style of the shoe, and plus, it was on sale. So, this was the one.

(Image of recreational skates)

Having chosen the specific skates, I then had to choose the specific size. I didn’t know if ice skate sizing was the same as snowboard boots, requiring a size or half a size smaller than daily shoes, so I did research. Especially for this model I selected. After searching for quite a while, I finally found that for these skates, especially as recreational skates, the sizing is the same as daily shoes. But to be safe, I still ordered one pair in my daily shoe size and another pair half a size smaller. In the end, I determined that the half-size smaller pair indeed felt small and uncomfortable. After the skates that were the same size as my daily shoes felt just about right when worn, I kept those. According to my investigation, ice skates need to be taken for sharpening before skating. It is said that my model comes sharpened by default. But out of caution, I still spent some money and time to have them sharpened.

Next was choosing a helmet. A helmet is a piece of equipment that this skating course mandatorily requires students to wear, so one must be prepared. I have a bicycle helmet and a snowboard helmet. Initially, I was wondering if I could wear those. After some investigation, some said those helmets are okay, while others said it must be a specialized skating helmet. Given the importance of protecting the head, I decided to buy a specialized skating helmet. According to what I’ve learned, one of the best types of skating helmets is a hockey helmet. It is specifically designed to protect the head on hard ice. Again, due to the Asian fit issue for the head, I had to go to a physical store and try them on one by one. Luckily, it didn’t take long to find two or three models with a suitable fit. Helmets come in expensive and cheap versions. From the appearance, I couldn’t tell where the specific difference in price was reflected, nor did I want to look into it deeply. Because when I see everyone skating, they actually rarely wear helmets. It’s probably because once you are familiar with skating and are just doing recreational skating, you don’t really need to wear one. Since I might wear a helmet less often after I move past the “beginner” stage, I chose a helmet with a suitable fit and a reasonable price.

Regarding the guards for the ice skate blades, there are generally two types. One is made of fabric, which is mainly used to absorb moisture on the blades and protect them from rusting. The other is made of plastic or rubber; this type doesn’t absorb water well, but it can protect the blades from bumps on non-ice surfaces. You can walk on normal ground wearing your skates after putting these plastic or rubber guards on the blades without damaging them. Given that these guards are quite cheap, I bought a set of both types.

Regarding the bag for ice skates, there are bags specifically for holding skates, which are triangular. Some can even hold a helmet. After looking around, I didn’t find any skate bags I was satisfied with. Smaller bags can only hold skates and not a helmet. Skate bags that can hold a helmet are too large. Although they are not too expensive, I didn’t find a style I was satisfied with, and the materials also looked quite mediocre. This didn’t make me particularly want to buy one. So what to do? I remembered I had an old gym duffle bag that I used to take to the gym. It wasn’t broken, and there were no signs of damage on the exterior; it was just put away and unused because I later bought a new gym bag. It might come in handy. I tried putting a pair of ice skates and the helmet inside to see if they would fit. They actually fit perfectly, and the space was just right—not too much, not too little. This is great; I can take this gym bag to go skating again. From now on, it will be my dedicated bag for skating.

As for other protective gear like knee pads, hip pads, and elbow pads, I decided not to buy them. It’s not that I’m not afraid of falling. After falling many times while learning to snowboard last time, I have confirmed that I completely dislike the feeling of falling. But I don’t want to have the feeling of something constricting my body while skating. I prefer to keep my body flexible.

At this point, all my skating equipment preparation is complete. Now I just wait for the day I start learning to skate.

The day for the skating course to begin finally arrived. I arrived at the indoor skating rink on time and waited for the lesson to start. Before our class began, there was another group of people having their lesson. I waited in the spectator area for them to finish, taking the opportunity to see how they were learning.

Gradually, my classmates for the same lesson arrived and began putting on their skates. This was where the advantage of the BOA system skates became apparent. While they were still tying their laces, I finished putting on my skates in half a minute. However, even after the previous group’s lesson ended, no instructor came to call us onto the ice. I noticed some people waiting with me starting to enter the rink. Not knowing what was happening, I followed them to the entrance of the rink. But since I didn’t know how to skate, I hesitated to get on the ice. I kept thinking that shouldn’t someone come and teach us what to do?

At that moment, a person who appeared to be an instructor saw me and said, “Come onto the ice. Is this your first time?” I said yes—after all, I was about to start learning formally, and I didn’t count my childhood experiences. She told me to get on the ice, but I didn’t know how to skate and no one was teaching me yet. I asked her what I should do. She simply told me how my feet should move and then went to attend to other students. Holding onto the window ledge along the edge of the rink, I skated cautiously along the side. After a few minutes, I adjusted slightly—but only slightly—and could barely find my balance. I felt suspicious and wondered: has the lesson started or not? What is the situation? It was only then that another person, who appeared to be the head instructor, called everyone to gather around her. I shakily made my way over.

There were about 20 students in this skating course. There were three instructors: one was the head instructor, the one who called us over; the other two were assistant instructors. One of them was the person who had called me in when I was standing at the rink entrance. I had no impression of the third person.

The head instructor first taught us how to fall and how to stand up after falling. Basically, all sports involving the risk of falling start by teaching how to fall safely.

When falling, you should relax your body and try to fall to the side or forward. Bend your knees and waist, and use your protective gear (if you have any) or larger parts of your body (such as thighs or buttocks) to hit the ground. Avoid using your hands to brace against the ice directly to prevent injury. Furthermore, after falling, do not extend your hands outward; keep them as close to your body as possible. Otherwise, if others cannot swerve in time and skate past you, their skate blades might cut your fingers, causing serious injury. Also, if you feel like you are about to fall, you can try to lower your center of gravity by bending your knees and waist, and placing both hands on your thighs to see if you can maintain balance and avoid the fall.

Learning to stand up correctly is also important: first, kneel on one leg, place the blade of the other foot flat and steady, put both hands on your knee, and slowly push yourself up. Alternatively, stand up with one leg first, then support yourself with both hands on the ice, use the momentum to bring the other leg up, and finally straighten your waist to stand firm. During this process, be sure to keep your hands close to your body with fingers tucked in, rather than extending them directly, to avoid being cut by skate blades.

After that, the head instructor began teaching us other skating techniques. The teaching method was roughly as follows: the head instructor would teach us one or two techniques, and then we would practice individually. During this time, the three instructors would provide one-on-one guidance to each student. However, I want to focus on the subsequent skating techniques in the next chapter.

With a start that was somewhat different from what I had expected, I began learning to skate. By the way, I discovered that when bringing skates to the rink, it’s best to bring something like a small towel. After skating, the blades are covered in ice shavings. You can use the towel to wipe them all off, and after drying the residual water as much as possible, put on the absorbent guards. This will minimize the chance of rusting.

I plan to focus on all the skating techniques I learned from the first lesson to the last in this single chapter. Then, I will recount the process in other chapters if necessary.

Before starting, it is necessary to understand inside edges and outside edges. An inside edge refers to skating on the side of the blade that is closer to the inside of the body. An outside edge refers to skating on the side of the blade that is closer to the outside of the body.

The following techniques are arranged according to the order in which they were learned:

Forward Swizzle: Starting with feet together, push outward in a V-shape and then pull them back together, repeating this opening and closing motion to move forward. This is mainly to practice coordination, forward momentum, and edge feel, laying the foundation for braking and turning. Practicing this wasn’t difficult; however, every time I executed it, the distance between my feet would become slightly wider. After a few repetitions, I found it hard to bring my legs back together and had to lift my feet to manually reposition them. Normally, they should close naturally with each repetition without the gap widening. This phenomenon was likely caused by my lack of familiarity.

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Two-Foot Glide: After an initial forward push, keep both feet parallel on the ice with knees slightly bent and the body relaxed, gliding smoothly. This is mainly to establish basic balance and get used to the feel of the ice. I didn’t find this difficult, but the feet must remain parallel; otherwise, it is very easy to fall.

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One-Foot Glide: After a forward push, support yourself on one foot while gliding and lift the other foot, maintaining the glide for a period of time. This is to improve one-foot balance in preparation for one-foot turns and circles. At first, it felt a bit difficult because I wasn’t used to maintaining balance on the ice with only one foot. At that stage, by following the instructor’s guide, I tried to balance for even one or two seconds while gliding. Once I got used to it, I increased the duration from two seconds to three or four. Slowly, I was able to adapt. Eventually, I could perform this move without any pressure.

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Snowplow Stop: This is a braking maneuver. There are many types of stops, but beginners usually start with this one. While gliding, place your feet in an “inverted-V” (pigeon-toed) position and apply outward pressure on the edges to decelerate. It is said that braking is the most difficult basic skill for beginners, much harder to learn than other moves. Since applying pressure outward with both feet simultaneously is too difficult for a novice, one can start by practicing with a single foot. We began by practicing the outward pressure with one foot from a stationary position. When the braking foot extends, the inside edge feels like it is “shaving” the ice.

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Backward Glide: We learned about three types of backward movements at the time. I only remember one clearly because it was relatively easy to execute: the backward swizzle, which is the backward version of the forward swizzle. It is harder than the forward version because you need to apply a certain amount of pressure to the toes at the start of the movement. During this process, I often had to be very cautious; otherwise, I might fall forward. But if I was too cautious, my feet moved too slowly. The feet form a V-shape path backward before closing again. The other two methods involved either moving the hips while keeping the feet together or moving the feet backward in a specific sequence, but I found them both quite difficult and difficult to execute, so didn’t study them specifically.

(Related Images)

One-Foot Circle Glide: Gliding on one foot while moving along a circular path. This improves one-foot edge feel and center-of-gravity control, laying the foundation for complex turns. Specifically, you glide on the outside edge of one foot while the other foot keeps pushing outward, moving along a circular path. Since the rink was a hockey rink, there were circles painted on the ice. We practiced by gliding along those circles—sometimes small ones, sometimes large ones. Overall, it wasn’t too hard, but I discovered that my proficiency differed between my left and right feet. When using my left foot’s outside edge along the circle, it was relatively easy. But when using my right foot’s outside edge, the “circle” I drew ended up being quite jagged and angular.

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Crossovers: Building on the one-foot circle, after the foot pushing outward finishes its push, it is lifted and placed over the outside edge of the gliding foot. Then, the original gliding foot is moved to the inside edge of the other foot. This is repeated until you have turned in the desired direction. This is mainly to improve turning smoothness and speed control. For beginners, this is a more advanced turning maneuver. When I tried it, I found it very difficult to lift one foot to the other side of the gliding foot because I couldn’t lift it high enough while maintaining balance. I tried many times but almost never succeeded. I might have succeeded once or twice, but I can’t remember specifically. Regardless, I felt this move was very difficult at the time.

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Inside Spread Eagle: Opening both feet in opposite directions with toes pointing away from each other (forming a straight line or a slight arc), gliding on the inside edges of both feet while keeping the body upright or slightly leaning forward, with arms naturally extended for balance. This move practices control over the inside edges of both feet and improves balance and stability. Along with crossovers, this was another move I found particularly difficult. Even just getting my body into that posture felt difficult. After trying it, I found it very hard to succeed.

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There were also some moves the instructors mentioned briefly and we tried once or twice without dedicated practice, such as the Two-Foot Spin.

During the learning period, I often looked up information on my own to see what I needed to learn and what the key points were. One thing I noticed was that some very basic skills were not taught in this skating course. For example, marching, which involves lifting the feet to walk forward; it helps beginners practice the pace and rhythm of forward gliding while improving momentum and balance control. Stroking, where you push off the ice with your feet alternately to glide forward, trying to straighten the leg and use the edge for power each time; this is the most fundamental and commonly used way to glide forward. Two-foot turn, where both feet stay parallel or slightly apart while turning along an arc on the ice. You can use inside or outside edges depending on the direction of the turn, leaning slightly into the turn with knees bent to keep the center of gravity stable. This is the most basic way to turn.

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I’m not sure if these moves weren’t taught because they were considered too basic or for some other reason. However, in the end, I slowly and naturally learned these basic moves myself. It seems that once you skate enough, you just start to understand them automatically.

To be honest, this skating course has been the least disciplined of all the courses I have had so far. I don’t mean the students; the students in the class are all great. The course itself is in a sort of “free-range” state, yet whenever the instructors give an instruction, everyone actively cooperates and carries it out. There aren’t any strange people or odd behaviors. Moreover, every time I come to learn skating, I see a group of students who arrive on time and almost never miss a class. So the students, including myself, are actually very disciplined.

However, the instructors of this course are actually the group that lacks discipline. As I mentioned in a previous chapter, there are three instructors in total: one head instructor and two assistant instructors. The head instructor is clearly the most experienced and is the primary person teaching us techniques. But she is often absent. Every now and then, she is nowhere to be seen. I don’t know if she has more important matters to attend to, or if the course itself simply doesn’t require her to be present every time. The first assistant instructor is rarely absent. She seems relatively less experienced, but she taught pretty well, so I have no complaints about her. As for the second assistant instructor, for a long time, I didn’t even know which one she was. Later, I discovered that this assistant instructor basically just glides leisurely and chats with one particular student, completely ignoring the others and offering no guidance to the rest of the class.

So, the actual situation is not three instructors responsible for nearly 20 students. Instead, it is two instructors for nearly 20 students. If the head instructor is absent, it is one instructor responsible for 20 students. Consequently, the instructors cannot provide as much individual guidance to every student as I received in my previous sports lessons. Sometimes, throughout an entire lesson, an instructor might only have about one minute of instructional interaction with me.

That being said, when they are actually teaching or leading us in group practice, they do manage to provide real instruction. Still, I can’t help but complain: why did they say there were three instructors during the initial introduction when there are actually at most two? And what is the deal with that assistant instructor who pays no attention at all to the other students? 🤨

The general teaching flow is that we first enter the rink and skate for a few minutes, and then the head instructor gathers us in one spot. Then she begins to teach us the skating techniques I mentioned before. If a technique is easy to pick up, she might teach two at once. If it’s more difficult, she teaches only one. Afterward, we are left in a “free-range” manner to practice the skills we just learned individually. The instructors then go from student to student to check and correct them. Sometimes we might briefly review some simple techniques learned previously before moving on to new ones.

However, new techniques are not taught every lesson. At those times, the instructors might lead us in practicing previously learned skills. For example, the head instructor (or the assistant instructor if the head is absent) will have us go to one end of the rink. Then we are told to use the Forward Swizzle all the way to the other end. From that end, we perform a Two-Foot Glide back, followed by a One-Foot Glide to the other side, practicing the Snowplow Stop to the other end, and so on. Or they might have us gather at an edge area in the center of the rink and then have us skate in circles around the rink. Again, we use various techniques we’ve learned: for instance, skating normally for the first lap, using the Forward Swizzle for the second, the Backward Glide for the third, and so forth.

Lastly, there is free practice. We can practice any technique we want, and if we have questions, we go find an instructor. I remember a couple of lessons consisted entirely of free practice for the whole hour.

I do feel that you can truly learn how to skate in this course; it isn’t one of those completely useless ones. I just can’t help but wonder if the organization of this skating course needs improvement. Or is the course itself designed this way—where the head instructor doesn’t need to be present every lesson, and one of the assistant instructors doesn’t have to bother with the other students?

After taking the skating course for a while, I had a bit of a realization. The essence of skating lessons is similar to other sports instruction: they teach you the key points in class, but the rest depends on a vast amount of individual practice. At the same time, because they didn’t teach the most basic things for absolute beginners at the start—like how to adapt to the ice—I felt my fundamental skills were very shaky. If the foundation isn’t solid, no matter how much you learn later, you won’t truly master it. This led to a situation where, after learning for a while, I felt I couldn’t even manage a smooth, simple forward glide.

In fact, when I decided to learn skating, I had a small goal in mind: I wanted to be able to do basic skating so I could enjoy it on outdoor rinks. I know Winnipeg has skating trails where many people go, and I really wanted to try skating there. However, at the current pace, I felt I might not necessarily learn how to skate before this winter ends. Moreover, if I practiced every skill equally, I would likely end up in a “jack of all trades, master of none” situation. I had to create a plan for myself to achieve my small goal.

As mentioned before, I frequently search for and watch videos on beginners learning to skate. Combining these videos with some research, I identified the skating skills I needed to master. My goal is to enjoy skating recreationally, not to learn high-difficulty moves or become an advanced skater. It’s not that I have no interest in advancing, but rather that it’s currently too far beyond my level; I have to start from the basics, step by step.

In reality, the skills I need to master are easy to imagine; they are mainly: gliding forward, braking, and turning. As long as I master these few skills, I can enjoy recreational skating.

I also felt that relying solely on practice time during the lessons wasn’t enough. I should spend more of my own time outside of class practicing. Only then can I move past my current state where “even gliding forward normally feels like a struggle.” After all, skating—especially for a beginner—is a sport where you practice repeatedly to build muscle memory until one day it suddenly “clicks.”

My idea was this: when the instructors teach new techniques during the lessons, I will listen carefully. During the specific drills for those skills, I will also practice seriously to at least master the method of practicing them. Then, for all the remaining free practice time and my own practice outside of the lessons, I will continuously practice gliding forward, braking, and turning until I am proficient. It’s not that I’m abandoning those new techniques, but rather I feel I should practice from the most basic level. I want to build a solid foundation and master it before moving on to more difficult things in the future.

There are many variations for gliding forward, braking, and turning, so I had to choose one for each. As a pure beginner, this choice wasn’t hard: I chose the most fundamental moves. It wasn’t just about picking the easy ones; it was because the basics are what need the most practice. Since all advanced skills are extensions of basic ones, only by mastering the basics can I make better progress in the future. Therefore, for forward gliding I chose stroking, for braking I chose the one-foot snowplow stop, and for turning I chose the basic two-foot turn. It was only while researching and selecting these moves that I realized some very fundamental things were never taught to us by the instructors. Was it because they were so basic that we were expected to figure them out ourselves?

After formulating these plans, I followed this direction for the remainder of the course.

In addition to the lessons, I went to the rink on my own to practice, usually once or twice a week. I actually wanted to go more often, but getting to the rink was quite a hassle.

The rink at the activity center isn’t open all the time. Just like the swimming pool I went to before, it’s only open to the public during specific time slots, usually for about an hour and a half to two hours, mostly in the morning or afternoon. The problem is that there is almost no parking at my activity center before 4:30 PM. It’s either paid parking (which isn’t cheap) or simply no parking allowed during those hours. I had to park in a free lot in a nearby commercial area and walk about 20 to 25 minutes to the rink. In summer, or even spring or fall, that would be fine—I could even bike there. But it was winter, so I had to check the weather forecast before deciding whether to go. Walking for over 20 minutes outside in a freezing Winnipeg winter is a major challenge. Once, long time ago, while wearing a winter hat, I walked for 20 minutes and ended up with frostbite on my ears; they were red and painful for days. Furthermore, the rink is closed during the summer. I considered going to other rinks or outdoor ones, but driving elsewhere and paying extra didn’t seem practically different from my current situation. Plus, outdoor rinks don’t seem to have ledges for beginners to hold onto, so they aren’t suitable for me yet. Consequently, I decided against those options, which limited my practice to once or twice a week. But every time I went, I made sure to practice for the entire duration of the public session.

At first, I tried practicing the Forward Swizzle. There must be a reason it’s taught first—it’s likely the most fundamental movement from which others are derived. But after practicing it for a while, it felt a bit boring, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I decided to just practice gliding forward directly, regardless of the specific technique; I just wanted to glide. I wanted to see if I could build some general muscle memory first.

In the beginning, I basically couldn’t leave the window ledges along the edge of the rink because they provided something to hold onto. I would just glide along while holding the ledge. Then try to glide a short distance before grabbing it again, repeating this over and over. Slowly, I started to get a feel for it and could manage a basic forward glide, though I still stayed near the edge. Since I didn’t know how to brake yet, whenever I wanted to stop, I would glide to the edge and use my hands on the window ledge to “hand-brake.” If I had gone to the center of the rink, I wouldn’t have been able to stop normally—I’d have to fall down to stop. So, I didn’t practice in the middle.

I kept practicing like this. Skating truly requires a lot of practice to build up. My feel for it got better and better, but there was an interesting phenomenon: whenever I first arrived at the rink and started skating, I often felt very rusty, as if even a simple, slow forward glide was unfamiliar. However, once I skated for a few minutes and my body warmed up, that feeling disappeared completely.

Gradually, I found I could naturally perform a Two-Foot Glide. Then followed by a One-Foot Glide. With more practice, I could hold the One-Foot Glide for a longer duration. Now that stroking shouldn’t be much of an issue, I started practicing that as well.

As I continued practicing, I am way more familiar with gliding forward right now. Next came braking. It’s absolutely true that braking is one of the hardest skills for a beginner to master. I tried using the one-foot snowplow stop to brake, but I didn’t feel any braking force at all; it felt like my leg was just sliding outward without the inside edge “shaving” the ice. I started by repeatedly practicing the shaving motion with my inside edge while standing still to get a feel for it.

Once I felt ready, I began practicing the snowplow stop while gliding forward. I found that if I tried to brake while moving a bit faster, I would easily fall because I wasn’t familiar with it yet. I had to practice braking from a very slow movement. Slowly, I started to get a feel for it until I could execute a relatively effective stop, albeit from a slow speed. Then, I increased the difficulty and practiced braking while gliding at a normal speed. Gradually, I was able to perform the move without falling like before. However, the braking force wasn’t very strong—the speed would decrease a bit, but it wasn’t a full stop. Besides practicing on my own, I would spend the entire free practice time during my skating lessons working on braking.

Braking also proved that skating requires cumulative practice. I started to find the knack bit by bit, such as the angle the foot needs to be extended, and so on. Eventually, I could perform an effective stop at a normal speed. As I became more proficient, I started trying to brake from a full sprint. If you keep practicing and know the feeling, progress comes quickly. Soon, I was able to execute a very effective stop while moving fast—and I could do it with ease, not like a one-off fluke I had to be lucky to achieve.

Having be familiar with both forward gliding and braking, my performance during the training sessions in class was excellent. When the instructor led us in drills from one end of the rink to the other using various techniques, I was often the first person to reach the other side (except for backward skating).

Next was the planned turning maneuver. I was still wondering how to practice turning. Then, I suddenly realized that once you can glide forward proficiently, the basic two-foot turn comes naturally. In fact, I already knew how to do it; I just hadn’t realized it until then. Basically, as long as you are comfortable gliding forward and know how to maintain balance, you can turn using the angle of your feet and your center of gravity when not moving too fast. When going at full speed and needing to make a wide turn, I just stop accelerating and glide through it easily. Alternatively, I use the circular gliding method I learned before, mainly using one leg to turn. What about when I’m going very fast and need to turn urgently? The two-foot turn isn’t suitable for sudden turns (others might be able to do it, but I can’t yet). What to do? Simple: I just brake to slow down and then I can turn😁 Regardless, I can now turn freely. Since I am familiar with gliding forward, braking, and turning, I no longer skate along the edges of the rink. Now, I can choose any path I want.

I originally just wanted to enjoy skating slowly and recreationally, but during my practice, I discovered that I really enjoy the feeling of a fast sprint. For some reason, I love that sense of speed, and then doing a hard brake when I want to stop. It gives me a great sense of achievement. 😂

Did I fall during my practice? Of course, many times. Although the instructor taught us how to fall at the beginning, a beginner doesn’t have much time to think about what to do in the split second of a fall. However, after falling enough, you naturally start doing the falling moves the instructor taught. Not because you’re constantly remembering the instructor’s advice, but because it hurts too much to fall the wrong way anymore😂 In the beginning, I would naturally use my hands to brace against the ice, but that caused the impact to go straight to my hands and wrists, which was hurt. I also frequently used my knees to hit the ice, which resulted in bruises that would hurt for days—not a constant dull ache, but painful to the touch. And when I fell again, I would hit the already-bruised knee, which was “pain on top of pain.” Sometimes I would go to the gym after skating, but after those sessions, I felt like my body was falling apart and I needed a moment to recover.

After falling more often, I naturally found the technique. It was exactly what the instructor taught: don’t brace with your hands or your knees. When you feel you’ve lost your balance and are going to fall, just accept it and fall sideways with the momentum. Be careful not to extend your hands and pull them in as quickly as possible to avoid being cut by someone else’s skate blades. Later, when I felt I was about to lose my balance, I would lower my center of gravity and put both hands on my knees or thighs; that way, I could regain my balance. Once I became proficient at lowering my center of gravity, the number of falls I had dropped drastically.

By now, I have the core skills needed for recreational skating. At the very least, I have achieved one of the core goals of my small target.

In the process of learning to skate, there were also a couple of small regrets.

The first regret was not being more proactive in communicating with others. The skating course was different from other sports-type lessons I’ve taken before; it didn’t have that strong sense of connection among people. For example, Judo and boxing both require partners, and you often have to rotate through different partners to cooperate. Thus, interpersonal communication is inevitable. Swimming lessons only had a few people, so seeing each other frequently made it easier to talk. The skating course, however, was a “free-range” style of practice with about 20 people. It required absolutely no interaction between students; you just practiced on your own. Of course, you could choose to interact with others, but that’s where the problem lay.

I realized that some people, including myself, are not very good at proactively communicating with strangers. I actually really wanted to talk to them. However, for one thing, since it was a skating lesson, I naturally focused more energy on the skating itself. Secondly, I was not good at initiating a conversation naturally without disturbing others while everyone is practicing individually. I believe many people in the class are similar to me, especially the younger ones. I noticed that middle-aged people were quite talkative and got along well, though they also didn’t seem to be putting their primary energy into skating 😅, which of course is perfectly fine. There was also one younger guy who was very talkative and chatted with everyone, but he probably belongs to that “super extroverted” category.

But not everyone is super extroverted. I noticed some people in the class who seemed very smart and learned very quickly, but didn’t talk much—yet I felt they, like me, wanted to connect. Looking back, I really should have taken the initiative to talk to them. In fact, I truly wanted to have some interaction with those people at the time.

For instance, when we were practicing backward skating, I was struggling because it was difficult and I didn’t quite know how to do it. But there was a girl who was so proficient that she made me wonder if I had accidentally missed a lesson specifically dedicated to backward skating. When we were practicing backward from one end of the rink to the other, she was next to me. By the time I had only covered two-thirds of the rink, she seemed to have finished her run already, but then she skated back to where I was and continued practicing her backward skating from there. I really should have asked her then if she had learned or practiced it somewhere else and why she was so good at it. On another occasion, while I was gliding forward, I saw another girl stop. She seemed to be looking at me. I wondered at the time: is she waiting for me to go over and say something? She was also a smart girl who learned fast; I noticed she skated very well when we practiced laps using various techniques. I wasn’t sure if she was looking at me or someone else, or even something else, so I just skated right past her. As I passed, I noticed that once she saw me leave, she left as well. I really should have used that moment to communicate. We were all in the same class learning to skate; regardless of the reason, a little more interaction would have been fine. But my actions didn’t keep up with my thoughts.

Also, when I practiced on my own outside of class, I would see some regulars. Some I saw occasionally, some often, and some all the time. There was a girl who often skated during those sessions with her beginner friend, and she skated so well that I thought she might be a professional. I saw her almost every time. She seemed to notice me too and would sometimes look my way. Thinking about it now, I could have politely greeted her and briefly asked for some skating tips that wouldn’t have taken up too much of her time. Since there were only a few people on the rink during those hours, it would have been normal to say hello or get to know someone I saw frequently. Again, my actions didn’t keep up with my thoughts.

In many situations like these, I wanted to communicate. And in reality, in this kind of environment, as long as I am polite and friendly, others would most likely treat me kindly in return—after all, they all seemed bright and friendly. I should have worried less and just acted. At the same time, I’ve become more aware of the importance of taking action. I need to strengthen my ability to act so that my thoughts can be fulfilled.

The second regret is that the other part of my small goal could not be completed. I learned basic skating and can enjoy it recreationally, but the snow melted a bit faster this year. Before I had completely had the skills to skate, the outdoor ice had already begun to thaw. By the time I learned, it was essentially impossible to go skating outdoors. But that’s okay; at least the core part—”learning to skate”—was accomplished. If there is an opportunity next year, I can go to an outdoor rink to see what the experience is like. This year can only be counted as a small regret.