Clara in hockey mode
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT (BLADES)
On average, I skate about 25 kilometres a day. The distance is gained skating circles around the 400m oval here in Calgary. I’ve always said there’s nothing more beautiful than the purity of speed skating. After yesterday, and only an hour or so up on Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains, I can honestly say there is nothing more fun than skating, either. Only this time, it wasn’t the fluid motion marked by the metronome of the klap of the long blades snapping back after each push to the side that made me happy. Instead, it was the carving of the short blades of hockey skates that made me feel like a kid again.
In the past 18 years, I’ve been on hockey skates once. I grew up playing ringette and hockey, and can probably skate more efficiently than I can walk. But hockey skates and speed skates are worlds apart in terms of feel. I must admit there was a twinge of fear of skating on these stubby blades. The National Championships begin this week, and the fear came from the thought of losing my ‘feel’ on the long blades.
Jerry in full flight
When faced with a cleared rink on the massive Lake, surrounded by glaciers and monstrous peaks, weakness set in and I could not refuse to call to go out and skate hard. Partnered with my friend Jerry Kobalenko: he on a pair of my speed skates and me on his hockey skates with stick and puck in hand, we were quite the pair. It was Jerry’s second time on speed skates and, like I said, it had been awhile since my last foray on hockey skates. Jerry is no slouch, and happens to be Canada’s premier Arctic traveller with thousands of kilometres walked (while pulling a few hundred kilos in a sled behind) on Ellesmere Island alone. The only other person I’ve seen so determined to learn how to skate well is my husband, Peter.
After a few tentative moments, I gave into an innate urge to skate all out, pivot, stop, skate backwards, sprint from end to end of the small rink and just have some fun! I felt like I was ten years old again and nothing could hold me back. I watched Jerry in between my bursts of effort and saw the same concentration I have while speed skating. He was trying to do everything well and produce the fluidity and grace only possible on the long blades. Me, on the other hand, did the hockey skates justice and skated with reckless abandon. The fear of losing my ice ‘feel’ was overwhelmed and thus ignored by the sheer joy of tearing around that rink with no thoughts of technique or form.
Giving tips to the pro!
The hockey skates allowed me to do all of the fun things I couldn’t do on speed skates. Oh how rich I am to be able to move so freely on both the long and the short blades! I can’t think of a better holiday gift than that of skating in the open, fresh mountain air, surrounded by such grandeur, sharing tips with a friend so he can feel the beauty of skating too….
After a training session this afternoon, back on the long blades skating the counter-clockwise direction I know so well at the oval, I know that my skating has not suffered. If anything, I felt great gliding around with thoughts of pivots and hockey stops dancing in my head!
Clara and Jerry Kobalenko
