Ice Skates Senior

Gender Roles

In browsing through my local library today, I came across a book called The Curious Boy's Book of Adventure. 100 Hijinks and Escapades. Nestled right next to it was a book called The Dangerous Book for Boys. Oh, there's a companion book for that one, called The Daring Book for Girls. Of course, what's considered daring for girls? Changing their hairstyle, or trying on makeup, that's what!

The Curious Boy's Book of Adventure has a sequel, The Curious Boy's Book of Exploration.

What's one of the advertising blurbs for these books?

"Boys of all ages love to hunt, explore, and discover. They like expeditions, secret messages, and remote hideaways. They love to build, fix, and create. In short, they love adventure, and this four-color paperback is jammed full of 100 hijinks and escapades boys can get into right in their own backyards! "

Oh, and girls don't?

Another blurb:

"Adventuring instincts have been dulled over the years by video games, television, and all those electronic toys that short-circuit the imagination".

Well, now as far as video games and electronic toys are concerned, boys on the whole have always seemed to spend more time at that than girls... although there were always exceptions. I loved playing Pong and Galaga when I was a kid, and as a teenager, and if they still had those games in an arcade I'd play them today!

What are some of the things Curious Boys can do, according to the author of this book?

Build a tree house, make a tent, go ice skating, Go orienteering.

Make a bow and arrow. Make a catapult. Campfire cooking.

Launch a bottle rocket. Grow a crystal. Make a telephone

Make Paper airplanes. Model boats. A wooden whistle.

Make spinning tops, juggling, skipping rocks.

All activities that girls can do just as well, if they're not pressured into remaining in their homes playing with their dolls and gabbing with their friends on the phone for hours at a time.

So the title of this book should have been The Curious Kid's Book of Adventure!

What has this got to do with senior citizens and health and living well?

Well, a couple of things.

First off, of course, how long has it been since * you* skipped rocks into a lake, or launched a bottle rocket, or went orienteering?

How long has it been since you had an adventure. Go golfing and see how many balls you can lose in the water or in a sand trap, better still go miniature golfing and have all sorts of adventures with dinosaurs and airplanes and such (depending on the quality of your local miniature golf course, of course.)

Are there things you've always wanted to do but never had the time? Now you've got the time – do those things.

Of course some physical things might not be a good idea, like going ice skating or riding a sled down a hill, but working with your hands, going for walks with the aid of a sturdy stick.... the world's your oyster. Go for it!

Staying active as senior citizens is a must. If you need assistance finding help with ways to do this or other senior living services, visit http://www.seniorservicematch.com, fill out the short survey and you will be sure to find services that match your needs.

About the Author

When It Comes To Figure Skating, Jumps Are King

In an extremely popular figure skating forum there have been an incredible number of threads devoted to how the International Skating Union, under its new scoring system, awards points for jumps. One particular thread is currently dealing with whether the quadruple jumps are indeed getting scored high enough. Another thread is debating a rule change that would award a figure skater additional points if they completed five different triple jumps not including the triple axel. These actions only serve to tell us what we already know. When it comes to figure skating, jumps are king.

Even at the lower levels of figure skating, jumps are often a make or break filter for skaters. Those who can't do them well either drop out or maybe switch to a different discipline such as ice dancing or synchronized skating. (Ice dancing and synchronized skating are good fodder for other articles. There are skaters that ice dance and that participate on synchronized skating teams well into their golden years.) To be on a competitive track in figure skating, though, jumps are king. A prime example of this is a certain senior level lady figure skater who has had some success and is one whom people thought would set the world on fire. She has gorgeous spins and spirals but her jumps were always lacking and inconsistent. Well, she's all but been written off by the figure skating community and the comments about her always included "poor jump technique". Again, we all know, jumps are king.

That phrase "poor jump technique" always bothered me a little. How could a skater get so far with poor technique? How does a skater acquire good technique? How does a coach know how to teach good technique? It occurred to me that at least initially a skating coach is going to teach jumping as it was taught to them. But how many skating coaches actually go the extra mile and try to learn the secrets of the better jumpers because we all know, jumps are king.

I've often wondered whether or not figure skating should look "outside the box" for better jump technique. I've never see any figure skating book specifically about learning figure skating jumps but I see plenty of books geared toward basketball players on how to increase ones vertical leap. Perhaps figure skating can pick up a few pointers from basketball on the proper way to jump? Granted, jumping in a stiff boot with a narrow piece of steel fastened to the bottom is slightly different than jumping in a comfortable shoe with a cushioned sole, but I'm just trying to think "outside the box". In other words, I just want to give figure skaters an "edge" because remember, jumps are king.

About the Author

For more information about improving your jump technique, visit http://www.jumpsareking.com