Switched From Ice Skating to Roller Skating:
Many figure skaters once were roller skaters that skated in traditional quad roller skates. It is easy for roller skaters to make the switch to ice skating, but it is very unusual to hear of people that switch from ice skating to roller skating. How and why did Irene and David switch from ice skating to roller skating?Began on Inline Skates:
David writes:
- "We started learning to skate on recreational inlines, which is much closer to ice-skating than to skating on quads. We then went indoors, and eventually began learning American Roller Dance on our inlines.
A couple years later, while still beginner roller skaters, we also learned ice-skating. I took the USFSA Basics 3-8 series of lessons and Freestyle 1 & 2. As an older adult, I was able to go from nothing to single toe-loops in about a year. Children have a much longer learning curve. Part way through, my wife decided join me, so she took the USFSA Adult 2-4 series. Now that we were ice-skating together, I abandoned freestyle, and we focused on skate dancing."
No Support for Inline Dance:
- "In our geographic area there was no peer or coach support for inline roller dancing, although it exists elsewhere. So, from peer pressure and lack of support, we switched to quads, and began learning to skate all over again. But the second time, one learns much more quickly because so much of the already acquired skills are transferable.
We were still working at the time, and needed evening artistic ice time for lessons, which became ever scarcer as the hockey teams bought up all the prime ice time. So eventually we abandoned ice all but for recreational skating, and focused our artistic development on roller skating. As we became more dedicated to our roller endeavors, we went ice skating less and less, and eventually not at all."
