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Learning to skate at Goggin

Writer who hasn’t been on skates since she was 3 ventures into Basic 1

By Miami University

February 21^st, 2024

Balancing on skates

By Margo Rutledge Kissell

I finished lacing up my rented ice skates and looked up from a bench in the lobby of Goggin Ice Center, which was buzzing with dozens of young kids and their parents on a snowy January morning.

It would be my first of seven weekly skating lessons on Saturdays — that is, if I could even stand up on the blades to walk to the ice.

The last time I wore ice skates was as a 3-year-old on double runner blades, holding onto my dad’s leg for dear life. A newspaper photographer captured the sweet moment on a frozen lake in New York with the caption, “Who’s holding who up?”

I came across the keepsake during Miami University’s winter break and decided to sign up for Basic 1 lessons after seeing adults are welcome to participate, too. I wanted to finally learn how to skate — at the beautiful ice arena just yards from where I work in Nellie Craig Walker Hall.

One of my 2024 goals is to do something each month that scares me, so here I was — excited, but nervous. I strapped on my bicycle helmet (recommended for beginners), took a deep breath, and leaned forward to stand.

My father, John Rutledge, gives me a helping hand when we skated on a frozen New York lake when I was 3.

Discovering the ice

Thanks to the rubberized floor, I was able to stand with relative ease and spent the next few minutes walking around to get comfortable.

I was among 212 people of all ages learning to skate in the group lessons, according to David Goodman, assistant director of skating at Goggin.

Those in my Basic 1 class for beginners, age 6 and older — including one girl sporting light-up skates and another donning a pink unicorn winter hat — would be sharing the ice with Tots 1, 2, and 3; Basic 2-6, and Hockey 1. Eleven other skaters participated in the Intro to Synchronized Skating offered during the week.

Goggin Ice Center on Miami's Oxford campus is a popular destination for those wanting to learn how to skate.

I snapped this quick selfie in the practice arena at Goggin in mid-January.

The rubberized floor in Goggin's lobby allows skaters to stand on their blades.

Learning from Miami's champion skaters

Our coaches — some of Miami’s varsity synchronized skaters and figure skaters with the skating club — took attendance before leading us to the ice for the 30-minute session. We passed the Tots (ages 3-5) getting acquainted with the ice by using stacked, overturned plastic buckets. Each student in my class cautiously stepped onto the ice and clung to the rink wall as we inched along in a single line.

We didn’t get far before the coaches urged us to let go of the wall and skate with small steps to the black line drawn on the ice. There we would learn to fall safely and get back on our feet. They gave us tips as we slowly marched across the ice and back. Then we did it again. And again.

I fell twice on Day 1, but by the end of my second lesson the following Saturday, I was doing “wiggles” — the first step toward skating backward.

A coach gives direction and encouragement to skaters in Basic 1.

A father and daughter learn together

Josh Cumby and his daughter Skylar, 11, of Anderson Township in suburban Cincinnati, have become well acquainted with Goggin — working their way up from Basic 1 last winter to Basic 4 this session.

“It’s been a good bonding experience for us,” he said.

In Basic 4, skaters learn forward crossovers, backward one-foot glides, and beginning two-foot spins.

The Cumbys have seen what Josh described as “drastic change” in their skating skills.

“At the beginning, I don’t want to say we dreaded it, but we were very nervous,” he recalled. “We didn’t want to fall. We were probably on that edge of falling all the time. And now, we’re both really comfortable with everything.”

Added Skylar, “Now we can do a ton of different stuff.”

While it is still challenging, he said, they are rarely nervous about learning a new skill.

He noted their nervousness subsided in the Basic 3 class.

That’s been fun,” he said, “seeing the growth.”

I was relieved to hear the jitters eventually go away.

My biggest fear — falling hard

Coming into this program, as someone old enough to have a kid in college, falling hard was my biggest fear.

It was bound to happen. After a great second practice with no falls, I went to public ice skating to practice.

Little did I know I picked the busiest day of the year, MLK Day, when students are off school. I got caught in traffic out on the main rink where I have watched the hockey team play.

My Apple Watch buzzed after I fell backward, alerting me of a “hard fall” and vibrating until I said I was OK. I wasn’t hurt, thanks to my bicycle helmet. But I was rattled.

I inched my way around the arena and worked my way off the ice briefly to a bench to tighten my laces, then made myself skate around the arena again, twice. I carefully skated around youths who were stopped along the wall, which became my crutch again.

I had lost my confidence as well as the feel of the ice.

It took another practice session for me to stop overthinking it and feel comfortable out there. Once again, it felt like my skates were gripping the ice. No falls and thankfully, no more hugging the wall.

Tots to adults share the ice

I am one of about 10 adults who signed up this winter — the most yet at the newer Goggin Ice Center, which opened in 2006.

Skating beside me every Saturday was Miami alumna Mary Piper MA ’21, who works with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children at the McGuffey Montessori School in Oxford.

Piper wanted to learn to skate because at McGuffey, grades 1-8 go to Goggin on a field trip three times a year, and the whole school goes once a year.

“I wanted to be better prepared to actually be out there on the ice,” she said. “I think it’s a fun way to keep active.”

The girl wearing the light-up skates asked her while on the ice one day why she was taking lessons. Piper told her it’s never too late to learn new things.

“It’s really wonderful that it’s all ages,” she said. “I really believe in cross-generational (activities), even just spending time together with people of widely different ages. I think you can learn a lot."

Miami alumna Mary Piper MA ’21 practices forward swizzles.

Making 'snow' in the arena

Vince and Ericka Harrison of West Chester signed up their three children to introduce them to skating after they learned soccer and swimming.

Basic 1 was the first class for 8-year-old daughters, Avery and Hayden, and son, Tray, 6. The girls said they most enjoyed pushing off the wall to do backward wiggles several times in a row.

Tray, sporting a light-up dinosaur bicycle helmet, enjoyed seeing the result of his “snowplow stop,” which entails scraping the ice with one or both blades. It creates a pile of ice shavings.

“My favorite part is to make snow,” he said.

A Tots mom: 'They love it'

By the end of the last session on Feb. 17, many of the youngsters no longer needed the overturned buckets.

Shelby South of Sommerville said her 4-year-old son, Silas, in Tots 2, can now skate without the buckets. Daughter Marlowe, 3, can, too, but she still enjoys using them as she collects stuffed animals scattered on the ice to put on top of her stack.

“They love it,” said South, who was impressed with the Tots program, which had 100 skaters this winter.

“I love how the teachers are very helpful and how there are more than one for several kids,” she said. “They really pay attention to the kids to get them confident in doing something new.”

Providing a 'first great experience'

Goodman — once a member of a national and international team as a pairs skater — often zipped around the ice to speak to the coaches.

“Much of what I do during classes is seeing if coaches need anything from me that may help with their class,” he said. “Coaches let me know if they think that a skater is ready to move to the next level ahead of the end of a session of classes, so I assess the skater to see if he or she is ready to move up a level and learn new skills.”

Learn-to-skate lessons are nearly year-round, starting in late August and continuing through April. Goggin closes in May so both arenas can be used for Miami divisional commencement ceremonies. Without the ice. “When we reopen in July, we run our hockey and figure skating camps as well as a summer learn-to-skate session,” Goodman said.

He loves seeing so many new skaters. “I remember what it was like to discover skating," he said, "and if we can provide the same kind of great first experience on the ice that may lead to a lifelong enjoyment of the sport, then we have done a great job."

David Goodman said 212 skaters participated in the winter session of group lessons.

April 27-28 Annual Spring Ice Show

Some who have advanced through the learn-to-skate program have competed on Miami’s varsity synchronized skating and varsity hockey teams, Goodman said.

About 110 skaters will participate in the April 27-28 Annual Spring Ice Show, which will feature members of the varsity synchronized team and Miami Ice Skating Club’s synchro team, freestyle college skaters, as well as community competitive skaters and those in the learn-to-skate program.

“It’s a show that brings together all of our figure skating community,” Goodman said, noting that tickets go on sale April 1 in the Goggin Pro Shop.

As for me, I will be in the audience enjoying the performances and cheering on the skaters. I am grateful that I passed all seven criteria in my evaluation of Basic 1 skills, including a forward two-foot glide, dip, forward swizzles, backward wiggles, and the snowplow stop.

This Saturday, I will start Basic 2 lessons. I'm nervous but ready.

Footnotes

Story by Margo Rutledge Kissell, senior writer and editor in University Communications and Marketing; photos by Caroline Mason, student photographer in UCM

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FootNotes

Story by Margo Rutledge Kissell, senior writer and editor in University Communications and Marketing; photos by Caroline Mason, student photographer in UCM