And ultimately just to get rid of me they created a developmental project for adult skating. I wasn’t alone – there were some other people in the USFSA establishment, most noticeably Phyllis Howard, who got it. And I think ultimately they just wanted me to go away. I kept going to the annual meeting and raising my hand, going “New business – to talk about adult skating”. On how US Adult Nationals got started: I really was a thorn in the side of the USFSA. Rhea with me at the 2007 Adult Figure Skating Championships But eventually we’ll get there! And usually there are lots of laughs in between, so that’s great. You can’t just say to an adult “just do this” because it’s just not going to happen. Well, it’s going to take me a week to figure out how to put my left foot out first and then jump. Some little kid is out there, and the coach says “put your left foot out first, and then take off”. We question everything, and we think about it. Adults address skating in a different physical and psychological manner. And so I think the coaches are happier now to deal with adults.īut it’s more challenging in many ways, both physically and mentally. We’re there for much, much longer than the kids are. They have a stable of adult skaters to complement and supplement their kids who in relatively short order will be leaving for college. In the Washington area we have several wonderful coaches whose bread and butter is adult skaters. On skating coaches and adult skater students: The coaching world has had to adjust as well, and frankly the smart coaches realize that this is a good way to earn a living. And from the group lessons, I started taking semi-private lessons, and then private lessons. Now what am I going to do? So I went, and started taking this group lesson. And then finally one day she accosted me at a cocktail party, and said “I signed you up! For skating lessons! You start next Tuesday! And I paid for you!” “Oh, you’ve been a dancer, you’d be a good skater, you should take skating lessons.” And I just ignored her for a while. And she kept bothering me about being a good dancer – I had been a ballet dancer as a child. On how she started skating at age 30: I was a new bride, and one of the couples that had been friendly with all the years that he was single, the woman was a skater as a child, and was a coach in our area, Washington DC. Thanks to Fiona Mcquarrie for transcribing these interview highlights: An interview with Rhea Schwartz, the force behind the adult figure skating movement in the USA and beyond.
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