My skating obsession

The big advantage to the whole "helicopter parenting" thing is that I ended up with a hobby. Okay, hobby is maybe the wrong word... Obsession could possibly be more accurate. I only admit that because I personally subscribe to 14 skating blogs that I check on a daily basis. I pay $29.95 for an annual pass to a website where I can watch all the skating they don't show on TV, on my computer, live in the middle of the night while it's happening in Russia or wherever, so I don't have to wait to read about it on a blog. I didn't intend to be a skating fan. I didn't even intend to be a skating mom! If fate hadn't thrown my daughter together with another little skater in kindergarden, I might be following women's soccer today. But a mother can only hang around a rink SO LONG before she got to stop smiling and nodding and actually find out the difference between ISI and USFSA, what a salchow is and how to pronounce it, why your darling daughter insists on wearing tights and a dress when a nice warm pair of pants seems so much more sensible and how I can possibly watch her fall THAT many times without losing my mind.

The good news is I learned all that stuff. And more. And the more I learned, the closer I watched her. And the closer I watched, the more I wanted her to do better. And the more I wanted her to do better, the more I realized I had no control over it. And the more I realized I had no control over it, the more frustrated I got. So I turned my attention away from the ice. I drank coffee in the snack bar. I read a novel. I chatted with the other mothers. Eventually I started to follow the sport. BINGO!!!! Suddenly, I had a way to participate without putting pressure on my daughter!! I could watch skating on TV and root for my favorites and my daughter could tell me what they were doing. "That's a good spiral, isn't it honey?" "That's not a spiral, mom - that's a spin. A sit spin followed by a camel spin." "Why is it called a camel spin, honey?" "I don't know. Can I go watch something else in the other room?" So had to I let Dick Button and Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic take over. The axel is the hardest jump because it has a forward take off and an extra half rotation - so a triple axel goes around three and a half times. The jumps in the second half of the program get an extra 10% point value because the skater is tired by then. The whole judging system changed because of the cheating scandal in the Salt Lake City Olympics.

I got a book on the cheating scandal. And a Dorothy Hamill biography. And a Scott Hamilton self-help book. And a history of figure skating. I watched videos on You Tube of the skaters I read about. I watched regionals on the computer. I started reading message boards. I became obsessed. And that hasn't been all bad. Skating is a beautiful sport. A skater is not just a dancer on skates. They are amazing athletes who are expected to do the impossible while donning sequins and eyeliner and make it look so easy that most people think it's not even a sport!

This weekend was the first part of the 2010 U.S. Nationals, the competition which helps decide the members of our Olympic team. It was thrilling, frustrating, exciting, depressing and satisfying. And that was just watching it on TV. Imagine what it must have been like to be there. We were at Worlds last year (one of the perks of Mommy's obsession - my daughter actually got to skip school twice to come with me to the competition!) and there was nothing like seeing such amazing skating live. Tonight while we watched Jeremy Abbott take his second National title, my daughter told me I should be a skating commentator. Because she thinks I know so much. Sometimes at the rink she gets mad that I can't help her with her jumps - she thinks I should be able to with the amount of skating I watch. But the truth is, I STILL can't tell the difference between a flip and a toe loop and while I may be able to skate around the rink without falling, I can't stop unless I run right into the boards! I have a fan's knowledge - not a skater's knowledge.

But now skating isn't just "her" thing anymore. Sure, I take her to the rink and watch during her lessons. I might even go sit beside the ice and remind her what she needs to practice. But skating to me is an exciting, heart-breaking, exhilarating sport that I love to watch and probably always will. I NEVER wanted to be a figure skater. My sister was a figure skater. But years after she had given it up, and was married with kids of her own, my dad would call her on the phone whenever skating was on TV. "Are you watching the skating, honey?" he would say and my sister would laugh. "No, Dad. We only watch gymnastics - the kids do gymnastics!" So years from now I'll be calling my daughter... "Are you watching the skating, honey?" I wonder what she'll be watching? But me, I'll be watching the skating.

(Next weekend - Ladies and Ice Dance at Nationals on NBC. The big question... is Sasha Cohen really going to show and will she snag one of the two spots on the Olympic team?)