Skater Boy - Coming of Age Story Part II

Title: Skater Boy – Coming of Age Story

Part II

We drove down to Elmira on a school night to join their “Learn to Skate Program.”  The official definition of Learn to Skate Program is “O­ffering fundamental and specialty badge curriculums that are fun, challenging and rewarding for skaters of all ages and abilities to develop and enhance their skating skills.”  I had no idea ice skating was so organized and I was also surprised that there was a fair amount of boys in the program.  Over the next few months I would realize the boys were hockey skaters and that even Matt’s coach was a hockey girl trying to score free ice time.  She was very nice though and Matt excelled under her.  Four weeks later, Matt took his test, and he passed getting a little United States Figure Skating patch for the level.  It was obvious Matt was hooked!  He was very proud of that little patch and wanted the others.

Mom Card offered to pay for lessons and so we started to go up on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  After school, Matthew, Adrianna and I would get into the minivan and drive to Elmira.  Matt and Adrianna would have their lesson and then we headed over to the library a few blocks away to kill time and do homework until 9 pm!  That was when they had ice time for a 30 minutes!  After that we would get back in the car and head back home.  The next morning the kids got up for school!  What a schedule! 

Matt continued to excel.  He learned something called, “Stroking” and “Crossovers”, often done around a circle.  The coaches also taught him how to skate backwards!  The excitement of watching the kids did wear off a little and at times I would bring a book or wander the mini-arcade, wishing I had money to play the games there.  Yes, we were poor enough that even spending a dollar a week on quarter eaters seemed like a crime.  I also learned to bring a jacket!  Ice skating rinks are cold!  Matt blasted through his next level, and even the third level!  Then Bob came along.

Bob was a real figure skater and he demanded perfection.  The rink had brought him on to up the level of their program and boy, was it a new level!!  Matthew’s love of ice skating dipped precipitously and he wanted to quit.  As proud as I was of him, I was kind of relieved!  Matt had learned some nice skills and we were done with this crazy schedule!  Mom Card was the hero here.  She took Matthew aside and told him quietly, “Matthew, if your serious about going to the Olympics, you need someone like Bob, instead of a nice hockey girl.  He’s going to help you.”

Matt was so young!  There are teenagers and adults that wouldn’t have grasped the wisdom of that advice but Matt did.  He started to like Bob.  Bob liked him too BUT that didn’t mean that Bob went any easier.  It seemed like Matt was doing a move called, “Five Step” forever.  I mean FOREVER!!!!  Bob explained that it was a foundational move and needed to be done correctly.  Bob did not pass Matthew up the next time the test came around but Matt was okay with that now.  He wasn’t worried about blasting through a test but rather wanted to learn how to skate correctly.

Bob was the perfect mentor for a “Coming of Age Character.”  He was old and wise.  Bob was serious and fun all at the same time.  One time he wore a clown nose for lessons much to the children’s delight!  Bob had an ice skating wife and they clearly loved each other.  Bob was just what Matthew needed.  Once again God had intervened in Matt’s ice skating career.  He brought Bob, just when he needed him.  Why is that so miraculous?  Because soon the rink hired a new woman to run the program at Elmira and she didn’t care for Bob.  We didn’t realize that she would eventually dismiss Bob but our first foreshadowing of what was to come was when she cut Tuesday night for learn to skate kids.

I should have been elated, right?  Less time in the car and an easier schedule... but I wasn’t.  I was beginning to believe in Matt’s figure skating dream.  Gail, Grandma, and I scrambled to find ice time and we discovered that Corning had a program for children.  Grandma Card said sourly, “I hear it’s not as good as Elmira, but it’s ice time!”  The first time we went up to Corning we were running late and I wanted Matt to be on time!  I went into the front parking lot and every spot was full!  I told Matt, “Get in there and sign up for lessons, while I park the car!  And Matt?  Make sure you tell them you are a good skater!”  Yes, I had grown a lot in my opinions of figure skating and was proud of my sons skills.  Well, poor Matt was intimidated and he was still young, so he just signed up quietly, and was promptly dumped into the bottom program!  Ugg!!

I hustled down dark streets to the rink and went up to the cold bleacher area to watch Matt’s first Corning lesson.  Matt was with some kid that could barely stand on ice skates!  Ugg!!!!!  “Matt!” I thought angrily, wishing he had followed my advice.  I now realize he was very little and that was asking a lot for a kid in a new place.  Then I got a grip on myself.  “Adrian,” I told me angry side, “his coaches are just kids!  DON’T be THAT parent!”  “Coaches?” you ask.  Yeah, coaches, as in plural!  Matt had three “coaches” for that first class, all who looked like they were still in high school and were probably hockey kids trying to earn some free ice time.  Hockey is expensive... not even close to figure skating mind you, but compared to most children’s programs, expensive!!  Well, except for maybe fencing or a sailing team.  How do I know about fencing lessons?  I tried to take them as a kid but I couldn’t afford them.  It was $100 a lesson and that didn’t include the foil!!!

Anyway, poor Matt got bored as he nailed anything they “taught” him and the poor kid next to him was still valiantly fighting to stay on his feet.  Matt began to practice five step.  The two female assistant coaches started paying attention.  They tried to do what he was doing and failed miserably.  Matt began to teach them five step!  “They should be paying Matt!” I groused from the peanut gallery.  But it was really cute to watch this little blond haired boy teaching these two teenage girls how to skate.  The boy “teacher” was not impressed because his two assistant coaches were cute girls.  BUT he quickly learned he was not Matt’s equal in skating as he tried to show off his “skills”.  I’m sure he was a great hockey player but Matthew knew far more about skating than he did. 

This is a perfect “Coming of Age” chapter.  Our hero, Matthew, had met the wise mentor figure.  Initially Matt disliked him, not understanding why he was so “mean.”  Matt gets some wise advice and accepts that the teacher was wiser and devotes himself to his training.  It was a Karate Kid moment, where the teacher sets the student to a task that seems pointless and demands it be done right.  Then the apprentice faces a minor hurdle and uses his fledgling skills to beat it, impressing others around him.  As the parent, I grew too.  I had grown weary of five step and wondered when Bob was going to teach him something else!  Now, watching those girls fail miserably to do what Matt was doing so gracefully, I grasped how superior a teacher Bob was.  How blessed we were to have him.  How good the Lord was to bring Bob in just when we needed him.  But Bob is not the Gandalf figure in this story.  Maybe he could have been but his days were numbered at Elmira and we were blissfully ignorant of what was coming!! 

*** Author Adrian Essigmann has eighteen books in print on Amazon.com, soon to be nineteen!  All of them are $.99 cents on Kindle, with the exception of “An Assumed Risk” which will be (Lord willing) an e-book before summer.  All of his books are available in soft cover too!  Type Amazon Adrian Essigmann and his author’s page should come up ***

Book of the Week – American Fairytale - $.99 cents on Amazon Kindle books (paper version is available too) – “This book blends the magic of a Fairytale with historical fiction. Although it is set in the years leading up to the American Revolution, it has an evil wizard, a princess, and other worldly weapons. It is a book that can be enjoyed by the whole family, yet has hidden meanings that an adult will find stimulating.”