Posted 15 June 2007 - 12:16 PM
Hey Iceskating is my specialty. I played up until bantam level hockey here in Canada and I've taught many of my friends, especially Asian friends, to skate. The reason I mention this, is because I've been able to witness the development of new skaters many times. I can tell you this much, there is no quick solution. My suggestion for you is to go there with the mindset of having fun, don't worry about falling, because it is inevitable if your new. You will fall. Try holding someone's hand and going really slowly. Keep your weight forward, make sure your arms are not flailing all over the place, make sure you can feel your skate digging into the ice somewhat (moderately), don't angle them excessively but just a bit so you can cut into the ice a bit and maintain balance, push from side to side slowly being cautious of your overall body balance (arms included). This much is good enough for day 1, your bound to fall. There's much to be learnt in the ensuing days and years, but for beginners, these are the first steps. Once again, I haven't met beginners that don't fall.
In addition, I also am an inline skater in the summer and I can 100% tell you that ice skating and inline skating will have a totally different feel for beginners (once your a pro tho' they both feel like they are your part of your feet). The advanced techniques like turning and stopping will be different on blades and iceskates, although the basic techniques are the same as far as ever so slight angular positioning of skates, pushing off from side to side one at a time, weight forward, and good overall body balance. If you progress enough, let me know, and I'll help you out with some more tips, this is the one thing that comes second nature to me. laterz.
oh wait, so lemme just sum it up succintly for you, just go out and have fun, you will fall guaranteed, try holding ur friends hand, make sure your skates are nice and sharp, do up your laces just a tad bit less than tight but don't have them loose!!...and yea go slowly and try out the tips, oh oh and sit down on a bench from time to time to rest your ankles (it hurts beginners sometimes as their ankles aren't used to it). k laterz.
i don`t know what to do. is there any excuses i can use to get out of it or is there anyway i can learn? i`ve iceskated maybe 1-3 times in my life but i`m always afraid of falling so i think that`s why i fall. i can`t help but think that. 
have fun!
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honestly, i'm pretty sure you're not going to enjoy yourself because you're going to be too busy trying to avoid embarassment rather than going there to have some fun.
