Public Humiliation and Not Caring

So on Wednesday nights, I take a skating class called Jump C at my rink. We work on loops, flips and lutz jumps. I have had to work through the fact that I am in full view of mommies and daddies watching their dear little ones as I attempt to do these jumps. Not to mention that the average age of my classmates is 9 years. So there I am in all of my glory - jumping away.

I didn't want to go tonight. It is a 30 minute drive for a 30 minute class and then a 30 minute "dodge the unbalanced" practice session afterwards. However my little princess had axel class and therefore we went to the rink. I was 5 minutes late which meant that I missed the warm-up. My old bones take a bit longer to get going. I was not looking for much progress tonight.

The instructor is new to my class and I was impressed with him the last time he was a sub. We worked through toe loop, then loop and to flip. He took the time to really get me to break down the jump into components and told me to fix specific parts of the jump. He then even worked with my an extra 5 minutes after the class was over on the flip. When our time was up I landed a fairly clean flip with only a slight flat foot.

It is when I am able to concentrate on the ice and myself that I can let go of the thought of humiliation. It was only the coach, the ice and me - the rest of it disappeared for a few moments. Then I remember why I do this crazy sport. It is not about what others think of me, it is about how I feel when I skate. Some may call it humiliation, I call it fun!