Did you go ice skating in the late 80s/early 90s?

If you did, you’ll probably remember the sounding of a klaxon horn every half hour or so. It was the cue for everyone to change from skating clockwise to anticlockwise or vice-versa. The change of direction was a welcome break as you’d have the opportunity to skate on your ‘good side’ at some time during the session.

Now, we can definitely agree that everyone skating in the same direction is simply a good idea for safety reasons. However, a friend of mine asked the definitive question:

“Why can’t we change direction anymore?”

I didn’t know the answer but she had a point.

At UK ice rinks, skaters are typically instructed to: ‘skate anticlockwise unless otherwise directed’.

 

 

Why not clockwise?

Curiosity got the better of me so I contacted the UK governing body for ice skating, National Ice Skating Association, to find out:

Response from the National Ice Skating Association (NISA), Nottingham.

Emma Walton, NISA’s Performance and Development Coordinator – (Figure Skating) said:

"The majority of skaters (as with runners, cyclists etc.) are right-handed (and –footed). The natural instinct of a right-handed person is to move to the left. Right-handed figure skaters will use their left leg to take off from jumps and when spinning, which is in an anti-clockwise direction also. This is why all rinks throughout the country request that their skaters skate anti-clockwise."

So, what about those of us who are ‘left-footed’?

Whether we are ‘left-footed’ or ‘right-footed’, in order to pass the Skate UK tests, we must demonstrate that we can skate well both clockwise and anticlockwise.

So nobody is at an advantage on assessment day.

Plus, once we've achieved Skate UK Level 10, we can look to joining a skating club where we will be expected to skate proficiently in both directions.

Other apparent oddities in the ice skating world

‘We skaters don’t slow down as we turn around corners’

As a beginner, I found it odd when I was told that we do ‘crossovers’ in order to gain speed as we turn around corners.

Gain speed…as we turn corners?

In the real world, doing things at speed…and around corners, rarely ends well.

However, in the ice skating world, doing a few crossovers just makes sense. They make our skating appear more fluid, rather than virtually grinding to a halt because we’ve just seen a corner.

‘Falling is quite normal’

Whether you are 7 or 67 years old – when you step onto the ice rink, you will fall at some stage.

In fact, falling is quite normal.

 

“Your thoughts”

Is there anything in the ice skating world that strikes you as a bit strange?

Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments box below.