Personal Narrative: The Joy Of Ice Skating

One weekend, my friend Hannah and I wanted to go on a quad ride during the night. It was during the summer and we were at Hannah’s house and we were bored. So we thought it would be a good idea to go for a ride, so we asked her step dad if we could and he said yes. We both thought it would be super fun to go for a quad ride. So, we get all geared up in proper clothing because it was cold out and off we went.

It was a Wednesday. At the time, I only had practice on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. I had just gotten my own skates so I wouldn’t have to rent them from the rink. They still gave me blisters since they weren’t broken in, but I didn’t care about the pain when I was flying on the ice. I put on my skates and hobbled over to my teacher. The ice had just been run over by the Zamboni. It shined like a lake of still water. My instructor, Kelsey, told us all to work on our falls as soon as we got on the ice. I got with my partner and worked on my falling and getting up. We had been practicing for about five minutes when I took a bad angle on my way down. My wrists slipped out from under me when I tried to correct myself and my chin slammed into the ice.

Second year as an Under-10 Squirt level hockey player for the New Jersey Colonials ice hockey team proved to be a challenging and harrowing experience that shaped the course of my future hockey career. I was a determined, naïve child with fantasies of playing in the NHL when I grew older. The source of my troubles began with Coach Ruben, a relentless, unforgiving hockey coach. Coach Ruben was in charge of determining the AAA hockey team that I desperately wanted to make. Unfortunately, I would not have that opportunity. My mom, compassionate and sympathetic, guided me through the confusing maze of anger and depression. My dad, a coach and former hockey player, gave me valuable, supportive advice that would change my hockey expectations and

My friends were also trying out for the field hockey team. Kylee asked, “How are you not nervous, I’m so nervous.” I just answered her, “I don’t know, I don’t really get that nervous.” Which is true I don’t get that nervous for really anything. In line 6th grade was in the back and then 7th grade was in front. Six of my anxious friends waited in line for me. Paige had said, “I want to go first just to get it over with.” My friends and I replied at the same time “okay”. Then I took a minute but we decided what the order would be for us to go in. 4 of my friends went in front of me and 2 went behind. While we waited in we were talking about how we would be sad if we didn’t make the team but so excited if we did.

My first Opening season game was two years ago at the Blues Hockey stadium in ST. Louis Mo. It was a cold day, The sun was barely shining and I had just got to ST. Louis driving thru the city making our way to the hockey rink. The traffic was horrible and not safe there was tons of people walking on the streets trying to get to that game. When we finally got there we pulled into the parking garage and got out the car after we did that we put on our jerseys and went to the side of the garage and watched tons of people rolling in and not to mention the band that was there. After the band was done we went inside and found our seats when we got there we had an unlimited buffet of food to eat, I had chicken tenders, hot chocolate, soda, and hot

The futures field hockey camp. The best from all over the state practice from January to April at the nearby college to then compete in one, possibly two, tournaments. Regionals and then, if you make it passed, nationals. A chance to practice with the US Olympic team.

I was 12. I had heard the stories from my Uncle Randy about ski trips, but I wanted to try it for myself. He finally decided I was old enough to tag along. The two and a half hour car ride felt like a lifetime. It was my first time at Chestnut mountain in Galena, and I was very excited. The sun was shining bright. The temperature was in the mid to lower 30’s, which was perfect for skiing. When we got to the locker room, I started putting on all my gear. Excitement filled the air as other skiers geared up to take on the slopes. When I finally got my rental boots tight and buckled up, my uncle looked at me and laughed. My uncle is a short and stocky man, a great

It was cloudy in the late morning, which meant even the weather didn’t look promising, Even more optimistically looking it seemed like the clouds were about to rupture into trillions of droplets each one a part of me about to shatter from humiliation. And obviously rain and humidity were the best conditions for field hockey. The building looked more downcast than I’d ever seen it, and when my dad parked the car it became more evident that this was not going to go as faultlessly as I hoped it would.

The wind howled in the daylight.  Chills ran up my back.  That's how you know it is fall in New Jersey.   The leaves fell to the ground as they turned an ombre color.  “Come on!”, my mom shouted in frustration.

It was approaching the hockey state tournament, but it was not the hockey games that I was nervous for. My rookie haircut was “scheduled” for the Thursday before that weekend.

But back to the problem at hand, I was sitting in the snow, half strapped into my snowboard, trying to remember how to even stand up without absolutely eating it from how slippery the board is on the snow. After a few embarrassing runs down a small hill next to the lift, I realized that I definitely needed a short lesson with an instructor to refresh my memory. Luckily, since April isn’t exactly a popular time to go snowboarding, there were plenty of instructors open for a short 1 hour lesson. There was a lot of falling involved, and I realized pretty quickly how dumb it was of me to not wear waterproof clothing. A little over an hour later, the instructor and I reached the bottom of the last run we had time for, and I was freezing cold and

The service I did was volunteering at the Robin Lee Figure skating competition. The job I took on was being ice monitor. I sat near the door to the ice rink and checked people in. I made sure people were on time for their practice time or for their event. I was in charge of informing people where they had to be at what time. I had to keep track of what was happening because I had to know if they were ahead or on time or even late. I was in charge of all these little things that I had to pay attention to. I was also in charge of helping if someone got hurt on or off the ice.

A couple years ago I was in Nebraska at my family owned restaurant. Its name is Hokes cafe ,of course we don't own it anymore. It was an old styled restaurant with a lot of antiques. It had red booths to sit on and it also had a bar section sort of thing. There were about 5-6 rooms in all including the kitchen. Most of the antiques were on the wall and some were on display but they were all cool. At the time I went by my first name Natalie Piper, I was smaller than I am now and I also LOVE to roller skate, I still do.

Most things people do are measured at the end by success in some way. For myself I am a sales manager, the more events I can sell and produce the more success I bring to the company I work for. Other occupations that come to mind are a retail manager - the more sales, the more profit for the store, happy customers also make for more purchases. I myself am a competitive synchronized ice skater and when I compete judges are scoring based on the moves I do along with how well executed they are which creates a point system scoring. If I skate well and hit all the moves and all moves are in the judge's eyes seen as being “well executed” I will be award with the most points. Each competitor is than scored and the highest score wins, just like

Thud! The ground went when my helpless,weak and hurt body,fell on the slippery skating rink,it felt like I got kicked.Skate City was a very painful,fun,and confusing place to be,at some time you could be playing the games that give you tickets so you can buy those items you want but you can't because your a couple thousands off, or you do because you're spoiled and your parents gave you money,falling because you believe that you can skate but you unfortunately can't so you keep risking that working body of yours,or your walking around trying to find the people that work there because you've never been there or you have bad memory.