Anonymous wrote:Figure skating at a high level is not a lifetime sport, the adult championships notwithstanding. It’s a toxic, perfectionist culture with abusive coaching practices that are not acknowledged or addressed. My daughter’s coach still weighed his skater and told my daughter to find ways to punish herself every time she missed a jump. Please, tell me another sport where two major female competitors (Gracie Gold, Amber Glenn) spent time in inpatient mental health treatment during their competitive years. Choose hockey or basically anything else.

While this is all true, so many of us end up back in the sport one way or another I would say a third of the competitive skaters at our rink are second generation figure skaters.

Figure skating at a high level is not a lifetime sport, the adult championships notwithstanding. It’s a toxic, perfectionist culture with abusive coaching practices that are not acknowledged or addressed. My daughter’s coach still weighed his skater and told my daughter to find ways to punish herself every time she missed a jump. Please, tell me another sport where two major female competitors (Gracie Gold, Amber Glenn) spent time in inpatient mental health treatment during their competitive years. Choose hockey or basically anything else.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, and hockey is a lifetime sport, rec leagues, etc. Figure skating is...not.

You are loud wrong about that. If you feel like a road trip, the 2026 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships, sanctioned by US Figure Skating, is next week in Duluth, Georgia. Every year at Adult Nationals, the youngest skater presents the oldest skater with the Yvonne M. Dowlen Trophy. Last year, 21-year-old Maggie Altmann had the honors in presenting Connie Curry with the Trophy. Connie was 86 years old. In 2025, twenty-four women and two men skated in Class V technical events. As they proudly state, Class V is for skaters aged 66 'til death.

Oh, wait, there's more. The International Skating Union sponsors an annual event for adult skaters in Oberstdorf, Germany. Last year, Jana Pribylova from the Czech Republic was the oldest skater in the competition, taking silver in Silver Ladies V. Jana's daughter, also named Jana, greeted her mother in the Kiss and Cry after the elder Jana's skate. (For her part, the younger Jana won her event, Masters Elite Ladies IV, the highest technical level.)

And those are the singles skaters. If the ages of both partners equal at least 100, they can skate in dance and pairs Centennial events at Adult Nationals. And how many sports can you compete against your children for a national championship? In 2015, Tim Bookwalter and Barbara Walker won a national pewter (4th) medal in Championship Adult Dance, two places behind Tim's son, Erich Bookwalter, and Melissa Patsalides' silver medal winning performance.

Many adults don't compete, but they grow their skills in pursuit of passing aptitude tests in free skating, Moves in the Field (I refuse to recognize the silly new name), dance, and even school figures. Adults who pass the gold level tests earn the same gold medalist status and jackets as the kids.

If that ain't lifetime, I'm not sure what is. Adults Skate Too.

https://usfigureskating.org/sports/2025/11/3/2026-us-adult-figure-skating-championships-presented-by-prevagen.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/USFSAdultSkatingCommittee/posts/at-86-years-connie-curry-was-honored-with-the-yvonne-m-dowlen-trophy-at-the-2025/1276894067770115/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mrqwim-A6s&list=PL-CheZaoFWwT1yF7IVOlRQ7lCRN8fOfid&index=10
https://usfigureskating.org/sports/2025/9/4/adult-skating.aspx

Anonymous wrote:Hockey is more fun, and you don't have to diet yourself into oblivion, just work out and stay strong / skillful.

I agree. If you don't mind spending a good part of your life in an ice rink, let your daughter do both. Nathan Chen played AA hockey through 14U. Which one is a better fit will largely be dictated by body type.

Hockey is more fun, and you don't have to diet yourself into oblivion, just work out and stay strong / skillful.

I have a figure skater and we have only known one girl switch over to hockey. Lots of girls shift from singles to more team based figure skating like synchro or theater on ice etc. to keep skating when they know they aren't going to be or want to be super competitive as a singles skater. The figure skater to hockey player we know was easily the best skater on her hockey team but they had some catching up to do on the stick/puck skills.

Anonymous wrote:It's popular but a much different skating skill

No, I play in a women's league from time to time after figure skating through the gold level as a kid, and the skating skills are very transferable. You just assume a deeper knee bend and remember not to stand upright, but I can "hockey" skate as well, if not better, than the former D1 player on my women's team. It was a very easy transition. The edges are essentially the same. The rocker and the lack of picking take about a week to adjust to. Where I am absolutely incompetent is in hand-eye coordination. I can't complete or receive a pass because I never played a hand-eye sport. I play defense and just disrupt play, but outskating people.

I've seen more than one teenager in the current batch at our rink make the switch after puberty, when they gained weight and lost their triple jumps (hard to compete at a high level in figure skating if you're over 100 lbs). One in particular, who also played lacrosse, was good enough to make a high-level travel team and the high school team within one year of switching to hockey.

It's popular but a much different skating skill

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean...are the figure skaters prepared to gain like at least 50 pounds and start getting smashed into the boards...and possibly fighting?

Just seems a little strange. Like saying that a downhill skier is now going to become a freestyle skier...both sports take place on skis, but require a different physique and mental approach.

Dum dum has entered the chat.

OP is not talking pro level. She is talking girls.

Huh? your comment makes no sense.

Flag football is really where it's at.

Anonymous wrote:I mean...are the figure skaters prepared to gain like at least 50 pounds and start getting smashed into the boards...and possibly fighting?

Just seems a little strange. Like saying that a downhill skier is now going to become a freestyle skier...both sports take place on skis, but require a different physique and mental approach.

Dum dum has entered the chat.

OP is not talking pro level. She is talking girls.

I mean...are the figure skaters prepared to gain like at least 50 pounds and start getting smashed into the boards...and possibly fighting?

Just seems a little strange. Like saying that a downhill skier is now going to become a freestyle skier...both sports take place on skis, but require a different physique and mental approach.

Yes, and hockey is a lifetime sport, rec leagues, etc. Figure skating is...not.

In my area, not dc but a major east coast city where a lot of people participate in ice sports, I’ve noticed that some girls, especially the white ones, are sticking less with figure skating and a lot of them are moving over to ice hockey if they want to keep skating.

Are you noticing this as well?

Girls’ / women’s hockey is becoming way more popular.