#its less so in pickleball becuase reach and wingspan is important but also being low to the ground is also key

[supernovacat]

Bro, taking figure skating lessons for about 2.5 ish years, was probably the biggest improvement to my life, ever.

Like I was so clumsy before, and I would knock stuff over all the time, which gave me really good reflexes but since I was so clumsy it usually didn't help.

But now, I have literally caught stuff with the side of my foot while sitting in a chair. I almost never fall over, and when I do, I know how to do it and not get hurt. (Minus the one time I launched myself into a wall head first)

And now I can sort of do a few single jumps and some halves too, I can pivot forward and back on one foot in almost any direction. I can also raise my leg straight above 90 degrees and do a basic catch spiral.

I definitely am not going to be competing any time soon, especially considering that I haven't skated in months, much less taken lessons in nearly two years. (I wasn't flexible enough to do ten spirals on alternate turning edges, I could get my leg high enough but I only had like 2 seconds to do so before I had to switch legs, and I didn't have enough power to do larger turns since you only get one push.) I also should have failed the salchow jump as I couldn't get the timing right and wasn't even doing the blade Part of the blade jump. But I also missed 2 weeks before my exam because I had covid, so idk.

But anyway, the amount of stuff I use my feet for, flushing the toilet, opening low drawers, picking stuff up, it is so nice to have balance now. And the best part I got to keep my reflexes, so now I have good balance and have reflexes, though my hands are still pretty clumsy.

Honestly, I would recommend anyone try some ice-skating lessons, even just so that they can skate comfortably and not worry about falling every two seconds. Though I am a wisconsinite so I have no Idea how common ice rinks are around the world, here most modest size schools have either an ice rink that is considered "on campus" but is closer to the rest of the town, or there is one more by the general sports stuff, we probably have more ice rinks than roller skating rinks.