Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I am your host, sean Egan. My guest today is Mark Getman, and so when did you start skating, sir?

Speaker 3: 0:52

I started skating I think I was either six or seven, seven, eight, I don't remember exactly, but around that age and bigger skating. And actually I competed with my brother I have an identical twin brother, so we both did it at the same time and we both, you know, took, took the skating test and competed against each other until we were about 16 or 17. He quit first and then I quit after him. My mother was very disappointed that we weren't going to continue. You know, when you're a teenager it's just like it wasn't the cool thing to do as a guy skating at that time. So, plus, you know, you want to do other things. So we compete against each other. Sometimes he'd come in first, I'd come in second, I'd come in first, he'd come in second.

Speaker 3: 1:41

And I think there was one competition that he couldn't compete in in Delaware. It was nine other skaters. He broke his arm, I skated, I came in third out of nine, which was like wow. And then we stopped when I was about 17 years old, before college, or so years old before college or so. Uh, over the years I I continued skating, but in hockey skates just to go around the rink, just to just to do the exercise. I actually used skating as a way to build up my cardio before I went into the military, because I didn't like. I didn't like running.

Speaker 2: 2:19

Okay, yeah and then, how old were you when you started competing? Because I know you started early with the skating. Did you go through figure skating lessons first?

Speaker 3: 2:32

We probably had learned to skate and then we probably did our first competition when we were 9 or 10, I think, I know, when I turned 13, we were competing then. Uh, okay, I know, when I turned 13, we were competing then, because I have pictures from my bar mitzvah of of me and my brother in our skating uh, uniforms, uh, or costumes or whatever you want to call them, and, um, that was our theme, uh, so our bar mitzvah we had ice skating stuff, uh, from what I remember looking at some of the pictures from 30 plus 40 years ago.

Speaker 2: 3:05

Nice and then. So you skated, and then you just kind of kept with hockey skates and just kept going until graduation and then you joined the military. What branch of the military were you in?

Speaker 3: 3:18

Well, in high school when we stopped skating, I just completely gave up skating. In high school, when we stopped skating, I just completely gave up skating and I didn't start back up again until, like graduating college. Maybe I'd go once or twice in between, but after graduating college I bought hockey skates and would just go Olympic, oval and Lake Placid and just to round and around. And it wasn't until about two years ago, three years ago, that I got back into figure skating.

Speaker 2: 3:49

Okay, and then what branch of the military? Because your story you have like a lot happened in between, so you went into the military and how long were you in the military for?

Speaker 3: 4:01

I was Army National Guard. So I was in the Army National Guard from 2006 to 2014. Okay, and during that time I hated running, but I still had my hockey skates and I would just stay in shape by going on the rink and round and round and round laps, round and round and round, and until I was tired enough that I couldn't, my legs were wobbling and I had to get off the now, were you ever deployed across seas or were you always just National Guard here?

Speaker 3: 4:34

I was National Guard. I was always uh stateside okay in New York and then.

Speaker 2: 4:39

So, like some of us, you had a major illness that kind of hit you, and if you would like to discuss that I don't know if you want to or not so because I know you're a survivor and it runs in my family and I've got survivors in my family from it too. So what was that like? Did you start skating again before that happened or after?

Speaker 3: 5:03

I was initially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014. I was still in the military at that time. I had planned to do my 20 years, but then, when I was diagnosed, I asked for a medical profile not to run, not to do you know, because I was going through chemo. And then they said oh, wait, you're. I was trained to be a chaplain candidate. And they said oh, you're a candidate for more than six years. You got to get out. Uh, we can't extend you. Et cetera, et cetera. So I resigned. I resigned. I completed my obligation, my officer obligation. Uh, I was in remission. Um, I finished the treatment. It's 2016, 17. I I've been in remission since well, I want to make a note there. I've been in remission up until this past July, when I found out that I had a reoccurrence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma B-cell low-grade. So now I'm 10 years later. I'm back again getting chemo treatments once a week for the next three more weeks, and then once a month for the next five months.

Speaker 3: 6:09

But I'm skating. I'm still skating, yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:12

And what was like your mindset after your first bout with it. And after that all came out.

Speaker 3: 6:22

I tried to stay active. I I mean I would, I would, still, um, go skating once in a while with the hockey skates and, uh, just just try to keep active. The cool air, uh, not overdo it. But I was like I am not gonna, you know, let this exhaust me and uh, you know, I want to stay motivated and, and even now, after two days after getting chemo treatment, or one day after getting chemo treatment last week, I was back on the ice.

Speaker 2: 6:49

So, um, because they give me steroids, so kind of gives me enough energy we know you're just using it to get like big, thick thighs again for skating so um, now are you working your way back in, because you said you started figure skating again a couple of years ago, right, yes, yeah. Now are you working your way back into competing again, or what's the story behind that?

Speaker 3: 7:15

No, when I went back on the ice about two years ago, I went back in March and I did my first program in May or June. I did a show in May or June, so I I was on the ice twice a week just to get used to skating, get my jumps down, get my spins down, uh, and get a program down, and I did about eight shows. Uh, my first season back. Uh, last season I ended up with injuries Uh, just a shoulder injury tripped on a kid. I do public session ring guarding.

Speaker 3: 7:54

So, I tried to avoid a kid. He fell in front of me. I tripped over him, hit my shoulder, so I was out for a couple of weeks. It was just hard to move my shoulder. Went to the VA, they gave me a nice you know what is that shot that they give you, um, cortisone, yeah, right there. So, um, my wrist, my back, uh, you know. And then then, then, uh, the end of the season, last year, may june, I just I had trouble breathing and that's when I found out I had the, the lymph again. So last season was a wash.

Speaker 2: 8:25

Yeah, so now, when you get through your treatment and you make your full recovery and it goes into remission again, are you planning on doing?

Speaker 3: 8:33

programs again, I'm still doing a program.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Okay.

Speaker 3: 8:36

I'm even yeah, I go when I can, at least once a week twice. I try to go twice but my work schedule is hard. I started working on a new program for this for show coming up in December.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Okay, and now, what kind of shows are you doing?

Speaker 3: 8:50

Just like competitions or actual like, just like demonstration type shows, or Just local showcases, local, uh, like my, my skating club, green neck figure skating club, they do a a winter show and then they do an end of season show. Uh, then they'll do one like kids getting ready before a competition to practice. I'm not going to competitions, but it's a chance to get out there and just to uh say, hey look, I'm double, triple your age almost, and uh, I'm still got it.

Speaker 3: 9:21

I'm not doing axles anymore, but uh, you know, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't reattempted my axles yet, but uh, doing doing single jumps, spins, combo spins, and they're just like, wow, you know, you're, you're, you know, just to see an adult out there and one of the shows. One of the shows, I was the only adult guy skating.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Okay, uh, I've been there when speed skating practice happens. I'm the only adult, and I think the next youngest person under me is probably like 48 years younger than me, or even maybe 46 years younger than me, so I understand. So what is the difference of, like, your whole mentality and your skating between the time when you were younger and doing the figure skating and now doing the figure skating? Is there like a huge difference in mindset?

Speaker 3: 10:11

yes, um, and and I get asked that you know, why are you doing it now, or why did you do it then? I said then, because my mother wanted us to do it and we weren't good at other sports. And I, I mean, you know, uh, I wasn't good with baseball, I didn't play football and uh, it's something. My mother started us a walk and we did it because when we're teenagers and you know, we enjoyed it up until a point. And then it became like, okay, we're doing it because my mother wanted us to do it. And and, uh, you lose interest and it felt like I was stuck in a rut and we competed. Now I'm doing it. If I mess up, no big deal, nobody's not gonna know. It's not a competition. I'm not stressing, um, I do stress if I do myself, because I get mad at myself, but, but I'm not, I'm doing it for fun and I'm doing it to to, uh, because I love being on the ice. It's just, it's just like my solitude.

Speaker 2: 11:07

Yeah, and do you find you have more of a passion for it now than you did when you were younger?

Speaker 3: 11:13

No, it's hard to remember that part, but, uh, I think now, um with with social media and uh, content creating it also adds to it, because I will go skating, record what I'm doing and then the fun part is taking that and making content and seeing how many people respond and say, wow, you know, you're an inspiration. Oh, wow, you know, you know. That's amazing. People who I work with can't believe that I do it. People who I served with in the army they're like you're a skater. We didn't know that. I was like, yeah, they're like we don't picture you as a, as a figure skater. So it's, it's something that you know, people think I just started now. I'm like, no, I did it 30 plus years ago, but no, I love it. I have a. I have my wife got me a jacket that says us figure skating, adult figure skating on the back. I put my name on it, I put my patches on it and and um, I'm always doing content about it. That's probably probably where you saw me, but yeah yeah so

Speaker 2: 12:14

it's it's fun. Did your brother get back into it, or once he was done, he was done um, no, yeah, he hasn't gone back into it.

Speaker 3: 12:23

Yeah, uh, he he's gone a few times rental, but he's like, yeah, it's not not his thing, and uh, I mean he says he would like to.

Speaker 2: 12:31

But uh, we'll see it's one of those things that, um, you have to really put your mindset into it in your heart. And sometimes training isn't the fun part, because you know you have to make sacrifices, like good junk food and you know the soft drinks, and right now I have a competition coming up at the end of january and people make fun of me because my drink of choice was shirley temples. I'm like not even drinking those right now. So, um, but yeah it's, you find yourself giving up a lot of stuff to get where you want to be. Since you're more of doing it just out of fun and doing that kind of stuff, you're probably not doing as strict of a regimen as you were when you were younger.

Speaker 3: 13:17

When we were younger, I think, we skated three times a week. From our recall I know we went early, early morning, and then we'd also go back after school at night and remember doing homework in the car. My mother would drive us and she'd have dinner in the car and everything and we would skate two, three. Now when I first came back about two years ago, I tried to go at least twice a week, but it becomes costly and also time. My schedule changed. But I at least try to go now once a week and skate for an hour, hour and a half, but it's not a full hour and a half. You know you're checking your social media, you're recording, oh yeah, but I still come out with my legs so sore, my shirt's drenched and you know I feel like, ok, that was refreshing.

Speaker 2: 14:10

But I'm exhausted. Yeah, skating does take its toll on you, because the nice thing about skating is, like you said, you don't like running. I hate running. It's like why would I run when I got a perfectly good car? But are you doing other kinds of fitness training outside of skating, or is skating your only thing that you're doing right now?

Speaker 3: 14:34

That's it. And you know, walking, uh work keeps me active. I, a lot of times we have a lot of events and I'm walking around and, uh, I, I do photography for the army, uh, okay, for the army, uh, as an army, civilian public affairs, so there's always events happening. I'm walking from one building to the other or event to event.

Speaker 3: 14:55

Um, it's not we're on a small base in for in brooklyn that I'm just lazy, I'll get in the car and I'll drive. They're like you can easily walk it, but I just, you know it's, it's, it's, it's just uh, just uh, yeah, just mostly walking and, uh, and and the skating, and, and now I I do uh ring guarding, so that on a weekend, when it's quiet, I'm on the ice for an hour and a half nonstop. I mean I'll rest a little bit, stand on the boards a little bit, but when it's empty, yeah, I'll showboat and do some spins or I'll show people some jumps and stuff, but yeah, that's about it. I mean I see people do ballet and they do aerobics and weightlifting. I don't have time for that.

Speaker 2: 15:45

True, it can be take up a little bit of extra time because I know I'm in the gym sometimes twice a day, so between skating and the gym. But so what was the first trick that you learned? What was, what was that first key point that you learned when you started?

Speaker 3: 16:04

Oh, I wouldn't remember, but I know the basic jump is a waltz jump, okay, and that was the first jump that I restarted with. Now, again, I found a coach and she said, okay, let's see what you remember, what's what you don't remember? Um, and let's start with. You know some moves in the field and whatever. And she wanted me to start from the very beginning. And I'm like wait a minute, I'm grandfathered in. Do I have to do all this? I know how to do spirals, I know how to do all this stuff. Uh, so she's like oh, she looked it up and she's like hey, yeah, yeah, I'm grandfathered in intermediate, which is now pre-silver, okay.

Speaker 3: 16:38

So once she started showing me again, she's like okay, do a wall jump. I said I forgot how, how do we do it? So she had to show me do a loop jump. I would get them confused and I'm a righty, so usually righties jump lefty. But I jump righty and she's like you're backwards and I spin righty too. So she's like, okay, and she had to show me the jumps again and everything. And waltz jump, toe, loop, loop, flip. I don't lutz, because I fell out of lutz and hit my jaw, so I don't try those anymore and that's a bit. And then doing the combos. So once I started doing them, I think muscle memory took over.

Speaker 2: 17:27

Yeah, and what is or was your favorite trick that you used to do or still can do?

Speaker 3: 17:36

Well, I wish I could do my axles, can't? I haven't reattempted those yet. Uh, spread eagles. Um, they, they say, do a great spread eagle. And they said um, my coach even said she has younger skaters who are like 14, 15, 16, that are, you know, national level, and they said they can't even do good spread eagles. She's like that's your move, that's your signature move. And I, I, I use that now. Spread Eagle into a spin, spread Eagle into a jump. You know, I'll do like a sort of like a wave in and out, like I'm skiing, so that that that's what I do now. As far as back then, I, I, I don't remember, but I do now. As far as back then, I don't remember, but I enjoy jumping. I look at my old videos and I could see I had the height, I had the. You know, I got some height on my jumps and I'm trying to get those back again.

Speaker 2: 18:29

Lots of jump squats. I'm telling you, put a little extra weight and then it'll come back, trust me, put a little extra weight and then it'll come back, trust me. So now, with going through chemo and everything, are you having like off days with trying? Because my mother went through three different forms of cancer, so I know what the chemo can do as far as making you tired and everything. So how is how are you managing? Just you just keep, just fight through it, or is it?

Speaker 3: 19:00

Yeah, after the first week, after the first treatment that I had, I wanted to go skating but I was just so exhausted I think you know my body was just exhausted from the treatment and just getting readjusted I just I didn't have any energy, I just want to go home and sleep. But now I feel that I go back and it does. I mean I get out there and I start jumping, spinning. The first time I went back after starting the chemo I got a little winded a little bit and had to take it slower and a little dizzy at first, but I think that's from the spinning, you know, just getting my head back into the spinning motion. And now I'm just I'm going out there and doing sit spins and scratch spins and people like, damn, you're fast.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Yeah, that's good. Now is your? What does your doctor say? That you're still figure skating, even going through all this treatment? Because when the show's over I'll actually tell you what I've been going through.

Speaker 3: 20:08

No. They asked me if I'm exercising and actually, before I was re-diagnosed, I've got the same doctor for the past 10 years. So they checked my weight and they weighed me this was last year or something and they said oh, you lost weight. What have you been doing? It's concerning because if you lose weight, they think there's something wrong. And they said is it intentional? I said, well, I went back skating. They said oh, what do you mean skating? I said ice skating. They go oh, what, what do you mean skating? I said ice skating. They go go around the rink. I was like no, and I showed the doctor my my, my jumps and some videos she's like oh my gosh, she's like so it is intentional.

Speaker 3: 20:49

I was like well, I'm back on the ice because I want to go on the ice. She's like, yeah, but it's, it's helped you to lose weight. And I said, yeah, probably. I lost, maybe about five to seven pounds. Well, uh, water wise, weight wise, sweating it off. And and she said, no, it's good. She's like you look healthy, you look good, you know just uh, she's like just make sure to hydrate.

Speaker 2: 21:10

Yeah, definitely, that's always the most important thing. You might do too much and especially it's like different with, cause I do in much, and especially it's like different with, because I do inline and ice. So it's different when you get dehydrated, when it's colder, as opposed to like during summer, when you're sweating, it's like. And I've only been in colorado for two years, so my first like real experiences with winter I've noticed a huge difference in trying to stay hydrated during winter as opposed to summer and but you're skating year-round right yeah, I went.

Speaker 3: 21:43

I went in june, may, june I didn't go so much. July I really didn't go, but august when the rink near me, uh, reopened. But I would, yeah, I'll go june, july, or you know. And um, people like ice skating in the summer. I was like, would you rather be in the a hundred degree heat or the 40 degree cold? I'd rather be in a cold.

Speaker 2: 22:05

I have to agree with you on that one. So, but so now is this something that you're just going to keep on Like? What's your future plans going forward with the skating? Are you just going to keep doing programs? And your future plans going forward with the skating?

Speaker 3: 22:17

are you just going to keep doing programs and um, showcases and stuff I want to, yeah, I want to get to the point that I'm doing an axle again, not doubles. You know, just the, the fact that I could do it again and say I did it, okay, great, and I, I want to at least try to get into one competitive showcase, um, just just just to say, you know, I did it, uh, it's just timing and cost and everything else, uh, but no, I'm gonna do it for a while and uh, you know, just keep doing it. My, my wife says it's good to get out of the house. She, she, uh, she said when I come back I'm calm, um, you know I'm, I'm mellow, as I care, because I had, I, you know, I had that that down time, that yeah.

Speaker 3: 23:05

I could be on the ice by myself, I could be skating freestyle session and there's nobody out there and I have the rink all to myself. I'm like that is the most amazing feeling. You're not, you're not competing or doing anything, you're not, but there's nobody there, just you and the ice.

Speaker 2: 23:21

Yeah, and it's nice just cause, I know, mentally just being active, but when you're doing something that you're passionate about, like skating, it's, it's like it has like a incredible effect on your mental health too. So, especially when you go through tough times, it's like the one thing. It doesn't matter what we go through, we know we still have skating and it never lets us down.

Speaker 2: 23:44

We might let ourselves down, but skating will never let us down. Might fall down and that kind of stuff, but but so I know I've had some nasty falls Aside from the jaw. One was that your nastiest fall where you hit your jaw, or have you had worse?

Speaker 3: 24:02

That was the most recent coming back that I hit the jaw and also when I first came back I slipped on the edges and I'll hit my shoulder, I'll hit my thigh, but years ago I know I hit my elbow, probably chipped it. There's still a chipped bone in my elbow but it didn't break anything. But probably that was. You know, that was the extent of it.

Speaker 2: 24:28

So okay, and now with skating, everybody's got their major influence. The person that was very influential to them skating. So who was your biggest influence with skating?

Speaker 3: 24:41

Well, I would say I grew up with Scott Hamilton, ok, and he's still an inspiration, and actually I follow him on his Instagram I don't know if it's him or his marketing team or whoever, but he follows me and sometimes I tag him and he'll, he'll give a thumbs up, or you know, and he, I think he wrote once welcome back. So, um, I I saw that I was like, oh my god, you see who wrote, who just texted me, who just liked my stuff and I sent it to my brother.

Speaker 3: 25:12

My sister's like so what, who's that? I was like so what, and? And I had to explain, and she's like, oh, okay, that's cool your sister did not know who scott hamilton is.

Speaker 2: 25:21

I think she didn't put two and two together. She, she did she skate too, or no?

Speaker 3: 25:27

they did. They're older than me, but they did. But they probably, you know she. At first she didn't remember and it's like scott hamilton, the olympic skater. And then she's like, oh, okay, okay, now I know who it is, okay.

Speaker 2: 25:50

Man he was, he was huge.

Speaker 3: 25:51

And I've actually me being from.

Speaker 2: 25:52

California. I've actually seen him a couple of times at some of the rinks because the rink that was near my house, christy Yamaguchi, trained there. So I ran into her once and when I mean I ran into her, I mean I ran into her and almost knocked her over. So that's my whole running into Christy Yamaguchi story. But it's just cool because I know we all have our influences and some people like so influential that some of my guests have taken it to the next level, taking it to the next level. But what is one piece of advice you were given or you can give about figure skating? I mean because I know it's not the easiest sport in the world. To me it's right up there with wrestling as being one of the hardest because of what you have to do, except for you don't have to throw people around, but it's just having that poise, having the balance and having enough confidence to do some of the things figure skaters do. So what's advice that you have gotten or that you can give for that?

Speaker 3: 26:49

So the advice that I've gotten and this guy was a veteran, he got me back into it.

Speaker 3: 26:56

He kind of told me he was a adult hockey skater and we're talking about skating and I don't know how we got into it, but he's like he's 50 something and he's like dude, you're not that old. You know, the guy was older than me, a few years older than me, and he went back and he said I think he, he figure skated when he was younger, but then he switched to hockey and he said go back, why not? He's like you're not too old. I was like oh yeah, and he's like no, he's like listen, there's hockey players who are old and you know they're fifties, fifty-fives older and there's, and it's like go back, even if you, you know, not doing what you used to do. He's like just just try and and and you'll see, it'll reignite your passion. So that's the advice he gave me. That advice and that kind of that kind of pushed me to go and look into it and and if I would've known earlier that there was a such a big community for adult skating, I would've gone back years ago.

Speaker 3: 27:49

The advice that I give is if you did it when you were younger, don't be afraid to do it again, but start off slow and it will all come back to you. And if you, if you were able to do stuff in the past, you may not be able to do what you did 30, 40 years ago, but at least you'll have your balance. You could do. You know single jumps. Do you know two feet spin, just you know. Just go back and don't say I can. Never say I can't, because you know you don't want to say it would have, should have, could have. And um, from skating, it's also.

Speaker 3: 28:21

I do background acting, tv acting. I've gotten um hired as a background actor to be an ice skater in tv shows. Um featured in a tv show. Uh, did a show with billy crystal skating right in front of him. Um, and it's just like. You know, not everybody's like wait, you know. You say to the production assistant I'm a skater, oh yeah, you're all skaters. I was like no, no, I'm a skater, I do jumps and spin. Oh, really, come, come, come, all right, we want you front and center.

Speaker 2: 28:51

We want you yeah, I had a guest on. He was actually last Friday's episode, but he talks about with, like TikTok and your Instagram, that you want your top three posts pinned across the top, and he said, because you never know who's watching or who's whatever. And he said by the time you find out they're looking for someone. With the skill that you have, they've already made their decision and found their person. So I found that kind of ironic that you said that at the same time where you've done the background stuff with the skating.

Speaker 2: 29:26

And the funny thing is is, as you get older a lot of people I know being older we use age as an excuse to not be able to. It's almost like having writers block that, oh, I can't do it because I'm going to say my age I'm 52, so I can't do something because I'm 52. I can't do it like I did when I was younger. That's very good advice that you gave it's. I think you're setting an example with everything that you've been through with cancer and having the resurgence of it and having to go through it again, that, hey, it's not a life-threatening thing, although it can be, but you're still moving forward and you're still going and you're not letting something like that set you back, so I commend you for that, and I think that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 30:24

Thank you so now, all right.

Speaker 2: 30:27

Now the important question what kind of skates do you use? What's your, what's your choice of skate?

Speaker 3: 30:36

So I had to do some research. I didn't, you know, things changed. I used to use randell's uh years and years ago, so I had to. You know, look at the different type of skates out there and I kept coming across jackson, jackson, jackson, jackson. So I used jackson freestyle, uh, and the aspire blade that came with them. Um, I went to the, I looked up online first and looked at prices and everything else and I went to the skate shop in Great Neck where my coach is from, and she recommended going there and he fitted me and they fit like a glove. I'll tell you they're suede, not like the old leather. They put them in a hot box, they heat molded them and then they cool to my and they're. They're lightweight, they're great, they're comfortable. They took me a while to break them in, of course, but yeah, yeah, I, I mean I, I love them, they're great nice and this is gonna be a weird question, but do you have a favorite figure skating movie?

Speaker 3: 31:42

Figure skating movie. I remember watching Ice Castles years ago.

Speaker 2: 31:48

Okay.

Speaker 3: 31:50

That's an old one.

Speaker 2: 31:51

I watched it too.

Speaker 3: 31:55

The new one that came out that I finally watched and I downloaded. It was called Free Skate Okay, and it's very interesting. It was a pretty good movie and that's a more recent movie. That's one of the newer ones, and then there's other ones, but I can't remember the names of them.

Speaker 2: 32:14

Mine was the Cutting Edge, the couple skating. I loved that movie and just you know the scene where he's like, well, eight seconds after our thing's done, I'll be good to go after he got sick and everything. So that was. That was such a great movie and it's just kind of stuck with me and it's God, what year did that come out? That was a 92, 93. It came out.

Speaker 2: 32:38

So hockey player that went into figure skating right Because he got injured and he couldn't see out of like one eye, so he couldn't play hockey anymore.

Speaker 1: 32:45

So he went to the.

Speaker 2: 32:45

Olympics for hockey and she went to the Olympics for figure skating, and then they paired up and it's one of my favorite love stories. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to so. But but was there any like influential? Like did ice castles? Like did you enjoy that? And like look at it, say hey, I can do that, because isn't that the one where she went blind?

Speaker 3: 33:07

yeah, they went blind. I I was too young at that time, but it was I. I remember that because you know it's just like okay, um, that's one of the ones you remember from that time growing up. There's gotta been other ones throughout the years, but I don't remember. But yeah, it's, it's. There aren't that many. There aren't that many skating movies that are that are memorable. Besides, oh, who's the one that blaze of glory with?

Speaker 2: 33:34

Oh my God, yeah, I keep telling my friend I invited him to the roller rink. He's like what are we going to be blades of glory? I'm like, yeah, I'll lift you up and do a spin with you. And he just looks at me like I'm crazy.

Speaker 3: 33:46

That's funny, because the two guys yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:50

So now are you planning, like, are you going to try to work in more skating then I know, with everything that's going on, sometimes time is difficult and stuff. But if you decide that, hey, I'm going to do another competitive showcase, are you going to kind of up your game with, uh, practice and training, or yeah, I have a, I have a club show in in december, so I want to get this new program down, uh, before then.

Speaker 3: 34:16

I'm trying to go at least one twice a week. It's just hard, because after work I'm exhausted, it takes me an hour to an hour and a half to get home, uh, and I want to go 20 miles. That's new york, new york traffic for you and, uh, you can. You know they have weekends so it's hard. But yeah, if I, once I get through this, this, this treatment this year, yeah, then then I'm gonna.

Speaker 3: 34:42

My goal for the following is to to uh, do it, you know, to showcase this, to compete and actually see if I'll place anywhere. And they said don't worry, your place, you'll.

Speaker 2: 34:51

You, you got nobody to compete against, so your place it's kind of nice that at our age they do have master's divisions, even though there's not as many masters. And I always make jokes. I told my girlfriend I go yeah, I'm going to be competing in the geriatric division, but now how can my followers find and follow you? Because I know you use social media and that's how I found you. Um, how can they find you and follow you and see what you're doing and give you extra support as far as your skating goes?

Speaker 3: 35:26

Great, yeah, I appreciate it. So I have my personal profile that's under my name, but then I have a skating profile. That's that's public. It's I'm under I'm an adult. I'm an adult ice skater. So it's I'm underscore adult, underscore ice skater. So it's I'm underscore an adult ice skater.

Speaker 2: 35:47

But I I could always uh, send that to you, or you know um I think that's the one I follow and I will have it in the show notes.

Speaker 3: 35:54

So yeah, yeah, that, that, that, that one there. Uh, I don't have TikTok, I have Instagram and then Facebook, but yeah, that's the main one and I usually put most of my skating content there, even when I'm doing public skating stuff, I'll take pictures of the rink. I'm like, look, there's nobody here. I get to practice, I get to practice you know it's so nice when that happens.

Speaker 2: 36:19

I've had a few times you show up just for adult skate at the roller rink and there's like nobody there and you're like, all right, cool, get some labs in before people get in my way. So I understand so well. I appreciate having you on the show and telling us your story.

Speaker 3: 36:35

Thank you, thank you, thank you.