Ice skating is one of those things that looks so beautiful when it's done well. It's just that in reality, it's flipping hard, as is the ice when you fall on it. I know that for a fact. Although it's also really fun when you get the hang of it so it's worth persevering. At least that's what I told my son.
The Aotea Square Ice Rink has been brightening up Auckland winters for three years now. My son and I enjoyed a most excellent skate there last month when it first opened, and, while we were bursting with enthusiasm, it's fair to say we lacked finesse. Watching my precious child flail and fall and get up only to fall again, I felt like I had several minutes shaved off my life. Yet despite those ups and downs, Theo refused to give in and insisted we stay until closing time. Back home it transpired he had earned a lovely wee bruise on his chin and had even tasted blood after biting the inside of his lip but still he wanted to go back for more - hence our decision to book in for a little instruction.
Popping down to Aotea Square after school is like taking a mini-trip to Budapest or the Rockefeller Centre, it's just so elegantly exotic to have an ice skating rink in the centre of Auckland. At the rink we met Pansie Sun, one of Paradice Botany's finest skating instructors. We knew immediately we were in good hands. Pansie's only been skating for six years but to see her on ice you'd think she'd been at it since childhood. She's so confident and graceful, an accomplished figure skater, even an occasional ice hockey player who also coaches 3-16 year olds in her spare time. Pansie was kind, fun and patient adopting just the right tone to talk to an 8-year-old. She gave clear instructions, used the right amount of humour and possessed such genuine warmth I'm surprised the ice didn't melt. And every time Theo was about to fall, she'd swoop down like a hawk and he'd be back on his feet again, beaming gratefully up at his rescuer.
Starting us with the basics, before we even got on the ice, Pansie told us it is a good idea to kit kids out with helmets and definitely wear gloves because the hands will take a bit of a pounding if you're prone to falling.
