Pre-Skate Preparations

Kellie and I arrived at the Flyers Skate Zone in Philadelphia a good twenty minutes before the time I was told to report to register for the Philly Clinic, eager to begin my Great Skating Adventure (well, at least Kellie was eager to begin my adventure - at this point I was more in the Do I Really Know What I'm Doing? mode , at any second ready to merge into the What Have I Gotten Myself Into? mode). My noon session was the first up, but already by 10:45 am the registration line extended from the desk at the end of the building's lobby through the lobby and out the front doors, filled with other eager acolytes and their probably even more eager support groups. The line, however, moved fairly quickly and soon we were through the doors and actually inside the building. It was at this point that Richard spotted us and came over to say Hi. After a brief visit, he left us to my registering which was duly accomplished in good order after I'd signed all sorts of release forms (or so it seemed ) basically absolving the rink, Chevrolet and everyone else of responsibility for what was about to happen to me (in other words, I had only myself to blame).

In spite of my having actually had formal lessons seven odd years ago, considering that I hadn't been skating since and after they'd taken one look at me, without hesitation I was placed in the first (beginners) group - which, as it happened, turned out to be a *good* thing. I was then given a ticket to go round up some rental skates for myself and after first choosing one size, changing my mind and trying another and then going back to my first choice, I propped the skates under one arm and we went in search of where to go next. At this point I spotted Janet and her sister Maureen in line getting Janet registered and learned with relief that Janet would be in both my session and my group. Adventures are always best when shared (or misery loves company, at this point I couldn't be sure which expression would turn out to apply to the present situation).

Leaving Janet to register, we went off in search of the right rink (there were at least two at this facility that I could see) and in the process observed Todd and Richard, with Richard's daughter Crissy and her husband Andrew, just beyond the glass doors leading to a rink that was being zambonied. We went in to find out if that was the place, as well as to say Hi to those of the group we hadn't seen yet. Seeing the skates under my arm, Richard immediately relieved me of one of them, turned it upside down and ran his fingers along the blade. "This isn't bad!" was the pronouncement that resulted from this examination. Not sure whether to feel relieved or alarmed (shades of what happened when I was a kid and my father turned my roller skates from bad to "good" by oiling them - the end result was me on my keester charging my father with having "ruined" my skates), I smiled wanly and said "That's good to know, thanks." Giving the assembled group a "We who are about to die salute you" farewell smile and "See ya later" I went off to put on the skates while Kellie found a spot from which to get a photographic record of what was about to unfold.

Skates on I then went for a little walk to test them out, which journey took me into the lobby again where I promptly proceeded to fall over a skatebag someone had left on the floor. Only a major miracle kept me upright, but I couldn't help but think "Great, at this rate I'm going to break my neck before I even *get* on the ice!". It was at this point that I moved from the What Have I Gotten Myself Into? mode to the What was I Thinking? mode, which in turn led me to wish for a moment that I'd been a tennis instead of a skating fan where, as winner of a "It's Great to Play Tennis" contest my only fear would be getting hit on the head by a stray tennis ball. As I made my way perilously back to the rink, it was cheery thoughts such as these that no doubt prompted me, as I passed by Crissy and Andrew on the way in, to tell them how much I had enjoyed knowing them, etc., etc., wondering how much time I had left for further farewells. However, Andrew laughed at my attempts to say Goodbye with a "Don't worry, you'll be fine!" which prompted me to take a deep breath and sally forth to my fate.

On the Ice With Richard and Todd

All too soon it was High Noon and time to take to the ice. I went with the flow of the others in the session to the brink of the ice, looked down, saw all that white stuff, and thought "That's ice down there and I'm actually supposed to step out on it! Help!" It was at this point that I looked up, probably with a look of total panic on my face, to find Richard standing in front of me, holding out his hand. So of course I took the offered hand, stepped onto the ice and then had him right there to steady me. When I was about as steady as I was going to get for the moment (for some odd reason I kept moving slightly forward and my right leg kept trying to take off on its own), he went back to assist Janet onto the ice, as she described in her report.

The whole beginners group having then assembled, he proceeded to give us all a group lesson in standing and finding our balance and then moving forward as though we were walking. Then he came back to me, and I immediately asked him if he had any theories as to why my right leg seemed to want to go off on its own. After thinking this over for the moment he said "Maybe those skates aren't as good as I'd thought." "Aha!," I said, seizing on this explanation, "so you mean it's not just *me*? It's really the skates?" "Now you're sounding just like a male skater," he answered, "when in doubt, blame the skates!"

At this point I tried to actually skate, propelling myself forward, with Richard there to steady me each time I seemed about ready to keel over. It was at this point that he reminded me of something I really did know seven years ago - and that is, that when skating (or trying to skate ) one should never, ever look down at the ice (which is what I'd been doing). Once I remembered that, it got easier, though in frustration at one point when I was only skating forward successfully thanks to Richard hanging on to me and virtually propelling me along, I said "I'm not as good at this as I used to be!" Without missing a beat Richard laughed and said "Neither am I!".

Finally it was time for him to move off to other groups and other skaters in the session and with a "Now be careful!" admonition to me he skated off and I was left to forge on ahead. But not alone! As Janet mentioned, we had minders - in my case, first an older lady who looked like she was one of the coaches at the rink, and then a young girl (who couldn't have been much out of her teens, if that) who told me she was a skating guard, or something like that. It was the latter who hardly left my side after Richard left. My theory is that Janet and I were instantly nominated as the two in our session most likely to break their necks and thus the very close attention we got from the rink minder staff.

After about ten minutes or so of skating forward while looking straight ahead it was actually all starting to come back to me and I was even able to pick up a bit of speed. Richard and Todd were both down at the other end of the rink with the two more advanced groups and not wanting to get in the way of people on the sidelines trying to snap photos of those groups, I confined my own endeavors to skating back and forth along the other half of the rink. Kellie (in the hockey penalty box, they tell me it's called) was at one end of the crescent I was negotiating; at the other end were Maureen and another friend, Heather (whom I couldn't resist shouting at through the glass "Look I'm skating!")

Finally, as I was making my way back in Kellie's direction again, which was also in the direction of the most advanced group, Todd skated past me, seemingly headed toward my group. As he sped (and I do mean sped ) past he said something like "Hey Fran, you're headed in the wrong direction!". By this time I was doing well enough and was feeling spunky enough to rejoin my group - just in time for Todd's lesson!

"Okay," he said shortly after I pulled up, "now we're going to do backward twizzles." By this time spunkiness had turned to downright cockiness as I flashed back to the lessons seven years ago and found myself blurting out "Oh, you mean like this?" Whereupon I did a backward twizzle. Todd did a total double take, then pointed at my feet and said "Yeah, like that." Pretty soon Todd had everyone twizzling like they were born to it, and off they all went. Next thing I knew they were all gone, twizzling off into the sunset leaving me to daydream alone. "Whoops, better catch up," I said to myself, so I turned around and pedalled like mad to get even with them. As I pulled up to the twizzling group, Todd looked over at me and said (clearly amused, but with deadpan expression) "Uh, Fran, we're going backwards." Which of course prompted me to turn around as quickly as I could to match the pace of the others. Big mistake as I nearly lost my balance. But then Todd sprang into action. Next thing I knew he had me by the hands (one of my hands in each of his) and was both steadying me and guiding me backwards. Thus for about 30 seconds or so I was ice dancing with Todd, with me actually skating backwards while he skated forwards. Definitely one for my record books .

Next up........."Now," Todd said, "we'll going to learn how to fall, something with which I've had quite a bit of experience." As everyone laughed, I was thinking, "Ah yes, I remember this part too from my prior lessons." Since the last time I'd tried to fall on purpose I'd nearly killed myself, I had already decided this was one part of the lesson I was going to skip. "I think I'll skip this part if you don't mind," I said. Whereupon I was treated to a cocked eyebrow from our instructor, followed by a "Are you part of this group or not?" He insisted he'd have me down on the ice before the session was over, but ultimately I managed to convince him that this was *not* a good idea. So when Todd and the others proceeded to hurl themselves gracefully onto the ice, I remained firmly on my feet. I don't know if Kellie managed to get a picture of this, but if so, this will be the explanation for why exactly Todd is sitting on the ice at my feet .

Shortly, after this, the session ended (our group had been Todd's last stop), and as I began to make my way back toward solid ground, Todd thanked me for participating. I told him that after all the years I've spent watching him skate in 7 countries over three Continents it was past time for me to return the favor .

The Rest of the Day

As I got off the ice, the next session participants were getting on it, so I made my way over to where Kellie was positioned, removed my skates, and then took out my camera to photograph highlights of the next session. An hour break followed, during which Todd had an autograph session outside under a tent. We got out there before he did and when we arrived there was already a long line. Todd had a huge stack of Chevy postcards he was autographing for those who wanted one (yes, the same card that I was mailing out to Edgers last January). While Todd signed, Kellie and I took advantage of the opportunity for a visit with Richard.

There were a couple more skating sessions after the autograph break. Kellie and I positioned ourselves in a hockey penalty box a bit farther down from where we'd been earlier and not too far from the more advanced groups. It seemed throughout the day that there were far more people in the two more advanced groups than there were in the two beginners groups (the true beginners and the virtually beginners groups). During one session the most advanced group was so large that Richard and Todd divided it, with one part staying with Todd while a larger contingent went off with Richard. Kellie said "I bet one group is going to work on spins and the other on jumps" which turned out to be the case exactly (you can just guess which group had which instructor ).

The final session looked more like a free for all, but was actually a session reserved for the volunteers, meaning mostly the rink minders and other assorted helpers. Since all of these people were fairly advanced, they weren't divided into groups as the contest winners had been. As this session was ending and right before he made his final exit from the ice, Richard came over to us and, as he skated by he said to me "Now if you could only do this you could have been a star!" while executing a very comic mock spiral. I got the impression Richard had had a very good time that afternoon .

Thus ended a day that really was a whole lot of fun and I echo Janet in saying it was well worth attending and participating in. As I said a final Goodbye to Richard he indicated he was really proud of me for having chosen to participate rather than just spectate. But then Heck, I was proud of myself! And in spite of my initial terror, I do think that had I chickened out and not gone through with this, I really would have regretted it.

Richard and Todd are both very good at doing these clinics and have a genius for making it a fun and memorable experience for all concerned.

Two Thumbs Up!

Fran