02 Ice Skating
Enjoyment - 50%
Success - 40%
Will try again - Yes, with Ena
The last time I went ice skating, I must have been about 12 years old, and we went with a big group from school. My main memory from the trip was the fact that they didn’t have a pair of skates to fit my size 11s, and they brought out this knackered old pair where the blade was half hanging off. This of course restricted by ability to do a Triple Salchow, and I spent the next hour gripping the side of the rink and didn’t go again for nearly 20 years. With my natural rhythm, poise and elegance, I could have joined the pantheon of greats – Robin Cousins, the man from Torvill and Dean or Todd Carty.
We didn’t have an ice rink close to where we grew up, the nearest one was in Kent, but I think I missed out as Kayleigh, who grew up in Basingstoke, assured me that it was the place to be on a Saturday, especially when the slush puppie machine and ice disco were running concurrently.
Having read the excellent Played in Britain series of books, I knew a little bit of the history of ice skating and ice hockey in the UK, and the various attempts made to engage the public, which have seen the ice hockey league rebranded as ‘Super’ and then ‘Elite’ in recent years. As arguably the smallest of the big four sports played in America, it has always struggled to gain a foothold in the UK, with its heyday probably being the 1920s and 1930s when the technology to create indoor ice rinks developed, with a pinnacle reached when Great Britain won Olympic Ice Hockey Gold in 1936.
Basingstoke Bison, who play at Planet Ice currently compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey league (the second tier), and I shamefully haven’t been to see them play, something I will remedy this year. They seem to have a small but loyal following, and the American-sized jerseys available from the club shop are well suited to those fans who fill them without the need for pads.
What I am hoping this year is that by trying new sports, Kayleigh and Ena will be able to do some of them with me, and so the three of us stumbled out on to the ice, with one of those penguin skate things to help Ena (and me) keep our balance. She loved it bless her, although spent most of the time laughing as her feet were slipping. Kayleigh was obviously good at it, and as is pretty much always the case when we are out in Basingstoke, she met someone she knew, this time a bloke from school who was now one of the ice cops, who told us off for using a camera, using the penguin thing the wrong way, doing up Ena’s skates on the rink, and every time he would skate off backwards, smiling and spinning. The git.
First timer's recommendation – Just have a go, what’s the worst that could happen apart from falling over and seeing your own fingers sliced off?
