Thoughts on my 1st speed skating meet

Several weeks ago, my speed skating daughter attended her first meet (competition). Here is the story about that momentous event. Hey, who knows, my daughter could one day skate for Team Canada and having a record of her first time is good. Besides, I’m a proud parent, so why not tell her story to the world.

My original plan for her this year was to wait until the club had their meet (February 2012) before she would compete. IMO, this would allow her 5 months to become a better skater before dealing with the competitive side of the sport. After 2 months of seeing her greatly improve, hearing from other skaters and parents on how this particular meet was an excellent choice for a skater’s first competition, and asking her if should would like to try it out, she/we decided to register for it. Things never go as planned. As it turned out, 35 other skaters from our club would also be attending, so there would be plenty of familiar faces there, making it easier for her (and us).

A quick note about the meet. The fact that many people considered this meet to be an excellent first meet is that it is a ladder meet. This means that no matter your age, you are seeded based on your best time submitted. After each race, skaters are re-seeded accordingly. This allows skaters to feel like with each race, they have a chance to finish first, since the other kids in the race finished their last race with a similar time as their own.

Although she wanted to go to the meet, it was scheduled for the same weekend as her birthday, and she really wanted a birthday party. This meant that we had to work things around so that she could go and still have the party. It also meant that the party would not turn into a sleep-over like she had hoped, which was disappointing for her while making me happier (I’m sorry, as a father, having your house invaded by 7 little girls for a whole night is not high up on my enjoyment list). After all birthday plans were finalized, all that was left was to plan for the meet.

With the meet location almost 2 hrs away from where we live (remember our club is 1hr from our home), we decided to go up the night before and stay in a hotel, so to not have an over-tired little girl at her first meet. Before deciding to stay over night, I had talked to several parents about what they have done in the past. Several commented that the meets their kids didn’t perform well at were the ones they had to wake up early and drive a long time to get there. Not that I think my daughter is a top caliber speed skater and having her a little tired might make the difference between finishing 1st overall or not, it was just easier than dealing with a grumpy little girl at 5 am and later on in the day. Those of us with kids know that there is a line that they all pass at some point in the day that turns adorable well-behaved children into grumpy-crying-rude-we-should-have-stopped-having-kids-before-you creatures. I love my kids, but there are days that I don’t really LIKE them. So a hotel was booked.

On the day of the race we arrived at the rink at 7:30am. To our surprise, we were not the first from our club, not even close. Once the coach came into the change room, she announced the warm-up schedule. Being that my daughter is a) young, b) not fast and c) all races went by fastest to slowest, she was put in the last warm-up group. That gave us over 1 hour before she would go on the ice. For those of you who don’t already know, most rink’s change rooms are not too big. Add to the fact that there were 36 skaters from our club in one room, ranging from the youngest skaters to the masters group, throw in the fact that there were parents there helping their kids out, the room was over full. This meant that we had to plan our getting dressed accordingly, and once the racing started, things would clear up a bit.

Nearly 3 hours into the meet (includes arriving and practice time), my daughter was stepping on the ice for her first race. Leading up to the start I kept reminding her to have fun and try her best. I also told her that if she fell, get up and keep racing until the whistle went. I think I was more nervous than she was. One good thing about this race was that her coach’s daughter was in her group and competing with her. This gave her someone to stand and sit beside (read: talk to) on the bench when getting in-place for the race. My daughter’s first race went off nicely. She didn’t fall and she managed to finished 2nd (out of 4). She also had a Personal Best time. Yes, I know this was her first official race, meaning no matter what time she had, it would be considered a PB, but her time was nearly 3 seconds faster than when the club tested her (which was the time we submitted for this meet). She came off the ice all smiles, and I was there to greet her, all smiles. Success!

With nearly 160 skaters participating in the meet, we found out that it would be a while before she would race again. If anyone has ever been to the Cataraqui Community Center, you know how cold it is. It seems that when the center was being built, nobody took into consideration that people may want to sit in the stands and watch, and those people would like to feel a little warmth. Because of this lack of thinking, the heaters were installed too close to the ice, and they couldn't be turned on or the ice near the boards would melt. That meant those sticking around and watching the races would have to endure being cold (very cold). The change rooms were very warm, but you couldn’t see the races from there. We decided to hang out in our vehicle between races, let her relax away from the others while playing with some toys she brought, have some “healthy” snacks, and stay warm.

Nearly 2 hours later and she was getting back on the ice for her 2nd race. Again, the coach’s daughter was in her group, and these 2 little girls we starting to become BFF’s. Even though they practice together twice a week, there isn’t much time to chit-chat on the ice, so friendships really aren’t built. Spend a whole day together in the change room and on the ice, friendships begin to blossom. For her 2nd race, they added a 5th skater to the group and this time though, she didn’t have as good of a race with her falling several times and finishing last. Albeit she seemed disappointed with her finish, she still came off the ice smiling and commenting on how she fell. I mentioned that I liked how after she fell she got right back up and kept going. Focus on the positive.

Her 3rd race was better than her second, as she didn’t fall, but her time was not as fast as her first. You could tell that the day was starting to wear on her, but her spirits were still up (thankfully). She raced against her BFF again and finished behind her for the 2nd time, with her friend having a PB on that race. Now, competitiveness is a healthy part of life and although the 2 girls weren’t saying much, their eyes lit up when I mentioned that my daughter was down 2-1 over the 3 races to her friend. Now I’m wasn’t there to cause problems or to say that I think my daughter is better than her friend, but giving them both a little incentive to skate a little faster is good.

Knowing that there would only be 1 more race and that my daughter had celebrated her birthday the day before the meet, my wife and I had brought in a cake to share with all the club. It also turned out that there were 4 other club members who were celebrating their birthday in November, so this became a club celebration.

Either it was knowing that it the last race for the day, or the sugar rush she got from the cake, or the fact that she was racing her friend again and wanted to beat her, my daughter came out strong. She was leading the group as she started her 3rd and final lap. Unfortunately, right around the start line, she had a little fall allowing 2 skaters to pass her and ended up finishing 3rd, still ahead of her friend. She came off the ice saying how she was leading and was close to winning the race, but wasn’t upset that she fell. Although the times weren’t posted immediately, I later found out that with the fall, her time was a little slower than her PB set earlier, so we will never know if she could have beaten it. I did tell her that she had a chance to beat it and to skate like that at her next event and she would get a new PB. Give her something to strive for.

As the day ended, she wanted to go to the awards ceremony, not because she thought she would win, but to see what it was like. With this type of meet, awards are given out based on how much a skater has improved since the previous year’s results. They then brake the skaters into groups based on birth month. It make sense and really favours the younger kids, as they are the ones who make great improvements (with their times) from year to year. As expected, my daughter did not win her month, since she hadn’t competed the year before, but 4 other club members did win their respective months, making this a successful meet for out club. All in all, 25 skaters from our club finished the day with new PB’s, with 4 skaters officially braking the 60 seconds barrier in the 333 m races, and 1 skater going under 60 seconds in the 500 m races. Well done to all.

After doing a little shopping (my daughter had birthday money to spend) and having some supper, we finally embarked on the 2 hr drive home, arriving later than my daughter’s typical bed time. She did fall asleep as we were getting close. Expected after the eventful day she just had. For the record, mom and dad were also very tired and didn’t stay up much later.

Sometimes Parents can give good advice

Last week, my oldest daughter came home talking about the Nutcracker play their school will be hosting before Christmas. She mentioned how she wanted to be in it, so we signed the approval form and off she went.

Upon arriving home after her first rehearsal, she said she wanted to try out for either the role of Clara or the Sugar Plum Fairy. Both roles are fairly important to the play, so I expected several students to try out. Keep in mind, this play is open to all the students from Grade 3 to Grade 8, with my daughter currently in Grade 4.

That evening after supper and homework, I mentioned to my oldest daughter that she should start practicing her lines, if she wanted to get the part. She thought it was a good idea and proceeded to read all her lines several times over. During this time, her younger siblings were watching some TV and she asked if she could also go watch. I said sure, but if she wanted the main role, she should practice more. After thinking about it for a few minutes, she returned to her bedroom and kept reading.

As the kids were settling for bed, I spoke to both my daughters at the same. I said to them that people who are really good at things, like singing, acting, skating, etc, try really hard at becoming really good at things. I told them that if they practiced hard enough they could become really good at something. They seem to understand what I was telling them, but with a 9 and 7 year old, you never know.

The next day, my oldest daughter had her audition and came home all excited as she was given the role of Clara (her 1st choice). She said that she was the only one who tried to memorize her lines out of the 5 girls that tried out. I think it really sunk in that because she worked at learning her lines, she got the part.

On a side note, I think my speed skating daughter is also getting the significance of trying hard to become better. Over the past few speed skating lessons, on the times that I had to stay a bit longer to either speak with someone, or sharpen our skates, my daughter has taken it upon herself to run up and down the stairs. She has seen the bigger kids do it, while she is on the ice, and has put the two together in hopes that it will help her out.

Inspired to blog again

After recently reading speedskatingmom.com, I have been inspired to start blogging again. This time, instead of blogging about me, I am going to blog about my kids activities. At the moment, my oldest daughter is involved in dancing (ballet and tap), my other daughter (middle child) is involved in speed skating, while my son (youngest of the 3) is involved in hip-hop dancing. All three take swimming lessons and all three, including myself, are involved in Karate. My son talks about how he wants to play football when he’s old enough, but that is not for another 4 years, so we will cross that bridge when we get to it. During the summer months, all three are involved in soccer. For this post, I will focus on the middle child and speed skating, because that is not your typical kid sport

A brief history on how my daughter, and eventually I, became involved in speed skating. First off, my daughter just celebrated her 7th birthday, so the fact that she wants to do speed skating blows all our minds.

Back during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, speed skating was on TV a fair bit. I, being the athletic type, was very interested in all of the Olympics, but speed skating really caught my attention. Because of this, I made a point to watch as many of the races as possible, and having only 1 TV in the house, my kids also sat through many events. At some point during one of the events the idea of her (and her brother and sister) doing that came up.  I’m not sure if she said she wanted to try it or if I suggested it to them. Either way, she seemed interested, even though she had barely been on skates to that point in her life (she was 5 at the time).

The fact that she was interested stayed with me after the Olympics were done and I began researching speed skating in general and what option we had in our area. It turned out that within 1.5 hrs there were 3 clubs that offered speed skating for all ages. With the end of skating season almost over, I let that information go until after the summer months (really, who wants to think about skating when it’s sunny and warm outside). The following fall, my wife and I registered all 3 of our kids into the local CanSkate program (geared towards basic skating technique all the way to figure skating techniques) so that they could all learn to skate properly. It wasn’t speed skating, but it was skating none-the-less.

On the first day of the CanSkate program, my daughter (the one who said she wanted to speed skate) refused to go on the ice. My wife (I was already on the ice with our youngest son in his program) spent about 15 minutes (out of a 30 minute class) dealing with her crying and refusing to go. Through much of my wife’s frustration and finally physically putting her on the ice, she finally began skating with her group and by then end of the session was grinning from ear to ear (which we figured she would do). Keep in mind, this wasn’t my daughter’s first time on the ice as I had taken them several times during the winter months before to public skating events, so nothing should have upset her. Then again, she is a little girl, and girls have a tendency to be over-emotional (just my opinion). From that point on, there never was an issue getting her on the ice, and with each passing week, she became a better skater. By the time the mid-season progress reports came out, my daughter had already achieved her Level 1 AND Level 2 badge, while her older sister and younger brother had not yet reached Level 1. She was starting to show some skating talents and a month later, she received her Level 3 badge, while her older sister finally received her Level 1 badge. Progress was being achieved all around.

During each skating lesson, I was on the ice with my son who was in the Parent and Tot program. This program was taught by the club’s head coach, so I had plenty of opportunity to talk to her and at various times, she would approach me and comment on how my youngest daughter had great form, always wants to go fast, and how I should look at getting her into speed skating. Now, as parents we all think our kids are the next best thing at what ever they do, but in reality, that is not always the case, so we don’t always act upon it. When an impartial person suggest something other than their program (or something that benefits them), it is something to consider.

With this new enthusiasm about speed skating and talking with my wife and daughter about it, I restarted my search for a club for her to try it out. As it turned out, all the clubs in our area offered some type of try it out session (for a minimal fee) and the club we were interested in was having a upcoming race meet (competition), so we (the whole family) decided to go and check it out to see what it was all about. At the time, our Saturdays were already busy with all 3 kids involved in some sort of dance class, so although we wanted to go, we knew we would be limited for time. On the day of the event, we all woke up early and made the 1 hr drive to the club/arena to watch the race. We arrive shortly after it started and only had time to stay for 1 hr before heading home and getting the kids to dance lessons. During that time, my daughter could not keep her eyes off the ice and my wife and I decided right then that we would look into signing her up as soon as possible. After talking to the club secretary, we were able to register our daughter for 4 try-it-before-joining classes, that included skate rentals. All we needed to purchase/pick-up were cut-resistant gloves, glasses, helmet (we were told her other skating helmet would do fine), knee and shin pads.

After trying on some skates, she got dressed and made her way to the rink. On the way there, she commented on how the skates hurt her ankles, but she would still try it out. For the next 45 minutes (out of a possible 60), she slowly moved across the ice smiling from ear-to-ear. There was also two very proud parents in the stands smiling from ear-to-ear. As the class progressed, although still smiling, you could tell she wasn’t happy. As it turned out, the skates were causing a blister on one of her ankles. So here you had a girl crying due to pain and smiling due to the sheer enjoyment of being the only person her whole family knew on speed skates. She almost made it to the end before finally giving in to the pain and getting off the ice. Although her first experience wasn’t the best, she wanted to come back the next week, so I spoke to the equipment manager and we picked up another pair of skates. The next 3 sessions were awesome and without pain compelling us to sign her up for another 4 more sessions, taking her to the end of the season, while still working with the CanSkate program. Her ice time went from 30 minutes a week to 90 minutes a week. During this time she managed to achieve her Level 4 CanSkate badge and was selected as “CanSkate Skater of the Year” for being the youngest to work through 4 Levels during one season. At the same time, she managed to complete the first 2 levels of the Speed Skating program. That is quite an accomplishment for someone who was 6 years old and only learnt how to skate within the past year. Now don’t get me wrong, she may never become the next Marianne St-Gelais, Kristina Groves or Christine Nesbitt, but this girl loves to skate and everybody comments on how she is always smiling when she is on the ice. As a parent, when your kids find something they are passionate about, you let them follow it and see where it takes them.

Fast forward to September past and we are back on the ice. This time she is registered for the full year, has a new proper helmet, gloves that fit, and better shin and knee pads, to make everything look and feel right. The only thing she doesn’t have is a skin suit, and one has been order (albeit too big because she is small, but it will hopefully last her 2-3 years). Right from the first class you could tell that this year would be different. Gone was the slow moving girl and found was a girl who was showing skills at this sport. What wasn’t lost was that huge grin. It is amazing on how just a few months of natural growth can make a difference in a person’s ability. Add to that the fact that I convinced both my girls that training for and running a 5k race will help them with their other activities (the oldest does ballet and tap dancing, while this one chose skating over dancing). For a 6 and 9 year old, running (and partly walking) 5k with 11 thousand people is an accomplishment, and when you do it in 43 minutes, it is a big accomplishment (I did get a little chocked up when we crossed the finish line together)! Her potential to do well this year looks promising and that makes me happy that she decided to commit to it.

A few weeks into the season and the coach sends out a request for a parent to help out on the ice with my daughters group. Now even before my daughter became interested in speed skating, I wanted to try it out. Having spent many years of my youth playing competitive hockey as a goalie, I figured I could pick it up quickly, despite all the comments I have heard about how different a skating motion it is. In reality, goalie skates are not much shorter than speed skates and they both use a crosscut pattern to sharpen. This opportunity was exactly what I was looking, so I contacted her and have been skating with the club for over a month and a half now. For the record, the motion is different but I have yet to fall, and I can maintain a decent pace while doing crossovers, so all is good. Maybe in a few years, I may actually become a club member and compete, but for now, helping out the coach on the ice is fun for me, especially when I’m already at the rink.

So that is how my daughter, and I, have become involved with speed skating. In the posts to follow I will talk about her first meet and any other interesting things that come up.

Here’s a video I made of her speed skating. The first few clips are from her 1st session (before the crying started), while the remaining are from a month and half ago. Ignore the iMovie comments, as this was originally made to share with family members. Notice the improvements she made over the summer. I would say she is even faster now.