Last weekend, I competed in my home rink's competition For this competition, I did FS 2 compulsories, FS 2 Artistic (using my old FS 2 program), a Bronze level solo (which was completely brand new for me), and decided to give interpretive skating a try. I did compete "against the book" in all events, as I was the only adult skater in the whole competition, but I skated well enough for a first place finish in all events. I had posted a picture of me and my coach with my medals, although I was the most proud of just going out there, facing myself--no matter what recent frustrations I've had skating wise, and skating well as a result. My coach even later told me that the girls from our rink were also super proud of me for competing. Afterwards, a friend of mine and I went to local restaurant for much deserved "Irish Nachos" (waffle fries with nacho toppings), and I had a drink or two of choice. :)
Since I was proud of how I did at the competition (as well as for our other skaters), I decided to post a picture of my coach and I with my medals on Facebook. This caused some nasty backlash from another adult skater (who skates at about my level), who basically told me that my medals were not deserved as I didn't compete against anyone else, that people are so into the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality, all I care about are jumps and spins and not "real" skating, and that I'm basically not the "whole package." THEN, this skater had the nerve to insult my coach by telling him that he doesn't have nearly the experience that her current coach has, that all he cares about is having students win medals, and that he's basically not a good coach, just because he's young and doesn't have 30+ (or whatever) years of teaching experience behind him.To be all out honest, I did try to step back and see a lot of her comments as way for me to keep improving my skating, as yes, there are elements of my skating that are needing work. However, I'm doing my best to improve them, and that process takes time. At the same time, seeing those comments REALLY hurt because I felt like I was just getting shot down, and she had no clue on how much work I've put in this past year to improve my skating. Even my coach and another skating friend, who saw those postings, jumped in and defended me, which I was appreciative of. However, when the skater insulted my coach (it wasn't the first time, either), that's where I drew the line. It's one thing for a skater to tell me something rude, but to insult my coach was WAY below the belt. I don't care so much if someone insults me personally, but insulting my coach takes things to a whole different level, as this skater has NO CLUE on how hard we have worked together, both on and off-ice, to get me where I am today. Sure, my coach is young and ambitious, but that's because we both have goals that we want to achieve. I may not be a 10-13 year old skater, but I am willing and working towards ours goals to the best of my ability, and I'm glad that he is a part of this process.
So I guess the moral of this posting is that sometimes, I think adults create more drama than kids do. In this situation, my advice to those adult skaters to who want to insult adult skaters is to keep their mouths closed, take a good hard look at themselves in the mirror, and make sure that they're aware of Karma, because "she" can be a real witch with a "B" when she comes around. Plus, bottom line, it's just poor sportsmanship. We're all on different skating levels, skating at different rinks, and frankly, none of us are going to the Olympics, so there really shouldn't be this type of drama among the adult skating community. I got into skating because I found it fun (still do) and challenging. I know that I don't have access to the top notch coaches, and, in reality, top notch coaches probably wouldn't want to work with me anyways since I won't be winning major skating championships. However, I'm am very happy to be working with MY coach, as he is the best coach that I could possibly have at this time.
