The Rink Rats

I feel like I should introduce you to my usual "rink rats"-- the kids who i see on a near-daily basis here at the rink.

I start almost every day spending time with Megan. She gets to the rink around 7:30 every morning and gets on the ice around 8. She's 11 years old and in the 5th grade and is very very sweet. She's an excellent skater and is landing most of her doubles consistently. She's a very polite child and her mother is often with her. Megan speaks fluent Japanese and has a very solid skating work ethic. She skates pre-juv.

Sam is probably my favorite of the kids...he's one of the only boys at the rink and is a really funny kid. He's 13 and entering 7th grade. He'll be competing pre-juv this season and is regualrly landing doubles and has a combination jump of 3 doubles in a row. I often call him my "little coach" because he likes to coach me on the ice and make me skate even when I'm not feeling it. He's also very...umm...expressive.

Roxy is probably my other favorite. She's very cute, very funny, and has a huge smile that just goes on and on forever. She's a good skater, but lacks the drive to improve even more. She's her on worst enemy on the ice. Her mom is one of the skater moms that has a firm grip on reality and realizes her child's limitations and shortcomings.

Robin..oh Robin. Of all the kids at the rink with the most potential to really go far, Robin is the one. She could be an olympic champion. She's 12 years old, is home schooled, and is a beautiful skater. But this child...she has no drive and no self discipline. She has all of the potential in the world, natural skating talent, natural grace, but she's so un-committed to the sport. I think her mother and her coach want her to succeed more than she wants it for herself and it really shows. She doesn't do her warm up, she doesn't skate unless her coach is here to make her, and she's very very very rude.

Tara is such a beautiful girl and a beautiful skater. She's got these long beautiful legs that make her jumps gigantic. She struggles with being graceful, as her limbs kind of get tangled up around each other, but when everything works in her favor, it's beautiful.

Michele is gone now...and it makes me sad. She taught classes with me and was working on her Senior Moves test. She didnt' pass. She is a very committed skater, but is now off to college and will likely not skate anymore. I'm hoping she misses skating and makes a commitment to keep going at least until she can pass her tests, but in the meantime, i'm going to miss her at the rink and during class sessions.

Carrie is another one of thse high potential skaters who doesn't have the work ethic to follow through on what she does. She got a level 3 spin at her last competition, which is pretty awesome, but I have to be honest that I'm suprised she did that well. She doesn't even seem to care at all.

Jilll is probably the most beautiful skater at the rink. She's graceful  and talented and her jumps and spins are really developing into a quality that will be competitive on a national level. She's also one of the most polite self diciplined skaters here. She does everything she's supposed to do, follows the direction of her coaches and listens to all of the adults. Her largest downfall is her mother. She has one of  *those* mothers...a pushy overbearing skate mom. Gah.

The other kid with a crazy mom is Sarah. Sarah is also a lovely skater and also skates on a synchro (not mine) team. But her mom...her mom is a braggart talking about how wonderful Sarah is and how special she is and how special her team is and as a person who sits here all day, i can assure you listening to Sarah's mom begins to feel like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

Finally, for this group at least, is Moica. Monica kind of just decided to start skating a year or so ago and suddenly has an axel. She's flat out amazing. She's only 10 but is already 5'8 and still growing and her jumps are enormous. She's a little princess, but her mom is NOT one of those over indulgent princess pampering types, so Monica doesn't get away with much. It's actually quite funny to watch the two of them together.

So...those are the usual suspects...more introductions to come as necessary, and a coaches' overview is coming soon.