Tag Archives: skating

day 3351: odin (finally) asks me to teach him some skating tricks!

day 3351: odin (finally) asks me to teach him some skating tricks!

odin has had a skateboard for many years, and while he’s jumped on it from time to time it’s never really captured his attention the way his ripstik has, mostly i think because many of his friends and cousins have ripstiks.

he’s known that i used to skate a looooooooong time ago but hasn’t ever asked me to teach him to skate and i’m certainly not interested in pushing it on him. i figured someday he might ask and if he did i’d be happy to show him a thing or two.

recently he decided he wanted to order a pair of vans for back to school shoes. i thought it was curious, since he’s never shown an interest in wearing his poppi’s favorite brand of skating shoes ( yes, i still wear vans even though i haven’t skated in years. i like the brand and genuinely think they are some of the most comfortable and durable shoes around ). i wondered if there was something more to his choice and, sure enough, when they arrived he asked if i’d show him some basic moves and tricks.

much to my suprise, i jumped on his board ( my first time on a deck in well over a decade ) and showed him how to push off, tic-tac ( move the front of the board back and forth to gain momentum ), do a 180 shove-it a little ollie and a backside nose stall on the curb. i’m not sure who was more impressed that i didn’t hurt myself – him or me 🙂

i’ve actually been thinking about starting skating again for a long time. i used to love skating but stopped in my early 20s because of a bum knee from the cumulative toll from a car accident ( not wearing my seat belt! dumb! don’t do that! ) and skating injuries. in my early 30s when i started training for marathons i learned i could cure my bum knee with physical therapy. but then i stopped running marathons, gained a bunch of weight because i kept eating like i was still running marathons and started to feel like i was too old and out of shape to skate.

now that i’ve lost 110 pounds and am in better shape that i ever was in my 20s, i wonder about picking it up again in a low-key way. odin asking me to teach him a few things is all the excuse i need.

so who knows, maybe i will do boardslides while wearing sunglasses after dark once again. only this time, with odin.

day 3186: a few scenes from The Last Open Skate of The Season.

while we’re Beginning of The Neverending Hockey Season in the big city of onalaska, wisconsin, our community ice arena is closing down for the season in our little town of viroqua which means The Last Open Skate of The Season is upon us.

what will we do from 6-8pm on saturdays and sundays?!

i thought it’d be fun to see if i can still shoot clumsy video and skate at the same time while attempting to avoid the rink rats. is it just me or does odin appear to take out a kid on the ice as he races around the rink? whoops!

day 3186: a few scenes from The Last Open Skate of The Season. I.

after skating around for an hour with his poppi ( yes, he still tolerates me skating with him for awhile before ditching me for his buddies ), it’s time for The Races!

and yes, he won again. but next year he’ll migrate to the next age group and have to skate against the 9 and 10 year olds. so this might be his last win for awhile. but maybe not, he’s pretty fast.

day 3186: a few scenes from The Last Open Skate of The Season. II.

want to know what motivates a eight year old to win every race? the prize is rink concession food that he most certainly mostly doesn’t get at home 🙂

and so The Last Open Skate of The Season ends, with The Prized Nacho with Weird Cheese Food in hand and maybe just a bit of an attitude about his poppi taking his picture.

day 3158: odin wins the open skate race. again.

day 3158: odin wins the open skate race. again.

when we’re not sitting watching odin in hockey practice a couple nights a week and not watching him play in hockey games a couple nights a week, we’re at “open skate” with him at the hockey arena for a couple of hours each night on saturday and sundays so he can “relax” on the ice and goof around with other kids when the arena is open to the general public.

each night they have races for “all comers” divided into age groups and odin has progressed this year from being marginally competitive to being The Kid To Beat in the 7-8 year old races. now he handily wins every race against a group of maybe a half dozen kids.

not sure if he’s actually faster, or maybe just more motivated to get the free bratwurst that’s awarded to the winner 🙂

normally they do two laps around the rink but i was caught off guard when i framing this shot at the end of the first and final lap in this race. i was testing the light and didn’t get the other kids in the frame behind odin who didn’t stand a chance even as he slowed down and paused to give me a “poppi! what are you doing on the ice embarrassing me!” look.

aaaaand he’s blurry because i didn’t have the shutter speed right. gah. might have to try for a re-do next week when he wins. again.