Best way to deal with drama in a rink? | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Best way to deal with drama in a rink?

treesprite

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
I don't hang out with the kids so I don't see much drama. That doesn't mean the kids aren't experiencing some.

The last few years I've mostly been skating mid-morning freestyles that have more adults than kids, or sometimes mid-afternoon freestyles.

Sometimes there would be two or three skaters practicing the same freestyle program. Even if they weren't connected, that almost makes it harder to avoid all of them at the same time. If they played the music once or twice per session, that's one thing, but if there are multiple pairs of synchro kids doing runthroughs together on the same session, that adds up to a lot of time where it's hard to find a safe right of way, and worse if they're also tracking each other when their music isn't on, and worse for the higher level synchro skaters who are much stronger skaters than me (and probably less aware of what's going on around them the high-level dance teams).

However, that's mainly a traffic safety issue. As I said, I haven't observed much emotional drama, especially since I stopped frequenting the crowded early evening freestyles.

Are you going to open freestyle sessions, or the regular freestyle sessions? Maybe I will ask the skating director about synchro skaters on freestyles. It might help if skaters who fnd it a nuisance made complaints to her. The problem is that there are at least a couple of synchro coaches who will fight any restrictions.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
They are "mixed use" sessions. I haven't noticed a problem recently, but that may be more because I've been skating later in the morning this past year, when most of the kids are in school.
 

concorde

Medalist
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Have you observed the interactions of synchro skaters on freestyle sessions?

*mutters* My only experiences with synchro involve them being completely disrespectful and dismissive towards anyone outside their little synchro "clique" so I'd imagine they could make a rink environment pretty toxic.

Is anyone else at a rink with a very strong synchro presence, who feels the way I do about the impact that presence has on the rink social environment?

Do you mean as far as social behavior or practicing? As far as practice goes, if there is a freestyle monitor, there is no group practice allowed. I don't see the early morning ones, so I don't know if there is a monitor controlling things. I watch the afternoon and evening sometimes, and there are always monitors.

Now I think I will ask my monitor coworkers for their observations of social interactions. Mine are primarily in public sessions and off the ice when skates are going on and off.

What happens during public sessions is entirely different from what happens on freestyle ice.
 

theoreticalgirl

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Is anyone else at a rink with a very strong synchro presence, who feels the way I do about the impact that presence has on the rink social environment?

I skate at one rink with a strong synchro presence and two that do not. I can't speak for the social environment at the synchro rink, as I don't belong to the club there. But I can imagine that any large group setting, along with some degree of questionable governance, is a breeding ground for drama.

That said, I feel like the interactions I've had with junior synchro skaters aren't entirely positive—and I chalk that up to a by-product of age, not discipline. My main issue is that they hog the sound system for the entire session, and usually just run the same section over and over, and the sheer number of them makes it hard to find a spot on the ice to practice without running into them. (It makes me wish there were sessions devoted to synchro/MITF practice in the way they used to offer up sessions for compulsory figures.)

The older, college-age synchro skaters (who compete on well-known teams) are far more receptive to sharing the ice with the rest of us, though they're not entirely warm to us.
 

irenesk806

Spectator
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
For me it's mostly synchro girls hatting on the girls on the other synchro team. There are 3 synchro teams in my area and there is also a bunch of girls, including me, from an out-of-the-state team. One of the head coaches doesn't get out of anyones way. lol. But at my rink there are most sessions "for synchro" but not for synchro, like sessions that everyone knows they skate on.
 

irenesk806

Spectator
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Same, expect it's the coach and the skaters along even though I do synchro, but for a different team. It used to be worse when but when there is two relativly known teams, it's kinda hard to get along espespecially when most people on one team, came from the other team.
 

treesprite

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
There are 16 teams under DC Edge. A while back a lot of the little skaters told me they were going to tryouts, and afterwards, all reported that they did get on teams, no one left out.
 

concorde

Medalist
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
There are 16 teams under DC Edge. A while back a lot of the little skaters told me they were going to tryouts, and afterwards, all reported that they did get on teams, no one left out.

Yep. Just wait until they start to learn that each team within the same level has different skill sets and they all want to be on the best at that level. That was what happened with the old Ashburn Ice Angel's at my rink. And from there some moved to Delaware. I see your Etopia as being short lived -sorry!

What I have learned is that rink in the DC area go through cycles as to what is in vogue. Years ago, Cabin John was "the" place to be for freestyle skaters.
 

chiyung

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
There are 16 teams under DC Edge. A while back a lot of the little skaters told me they were going to tryouts, and afterwards, all reported that they did get on teams, no one left out.
I recently heard from a dumbfounded parent that this is no longer true as of this past spring. Some skaters were left out. The teams were not full so that parent doesn't know why her daughter didn’t get a placement. Her daughter eventually joined another synchro team that's local to them.
 

loopy

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I think the only hard part about freestyle with synchro is that everyone plays their music twice but if there are 5 synchro girls, they play the same song - and the higher the level, of course the longer the music - so many times it is just hard for the freeskate skaters to get in line. They are only allowed to link to 2 skaters so I understand why it is played multiple times, it's just when it is back to back it's just...harder. But we love all of our skaters so it is just something your kid learns to deal with gracefully.
 
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