Survival of the Fastest
I was reminded about the perils of free skating sessions last week when I read this wonderful short essay from Current Skate of Mind about surviving a busy free skate session.
If you’ve been bold enough to step on to a senior free skating session, you know it takes the concentration of an air traffic controller, the guts of a tight rope walker and agility of a simian not to get mowed down. I recall watching one disastrous pairs practice session where the tip of a pinky finger was separated from its owner in a spinning collision.
Despite some gruesome tales, it’s incredible how rarely bad accidents happen. More often than not, free skate sessions are beautiful chaos.

May 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I’m glad I read this, because, until now, I thought a free skate session was akin to what happens at community centres — general admission and all that.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I have only been skating one time and absolutely loved it! I fell every two seconds, but it was awesome! I love watching it more though! It is amazing how little horrible accidents happen on the rink!