All Pictures are Thumbnails. Click on the Pictures to see a bigger version.

This was the first time I was on skates in Germany in 1979.
(I am the one in the green coat). The fire departement had
flooded a field and it had frozen over to a huge outdoor rink.

I used to skate on my sisters skates on frozen ponds and fields in Germany when I was 9 years old. It took me about 2 days to learn how to skate, and during the holidays I put my skates on and walked on my guards (the plastic covers for the blades) down the street to the frozen field that had been flooded by the fire department. I would not leave until dawn and my mother had to come and tell me it was time to come home. I dreamed about being a Figure Skater and I was not scared to try little things on the ice like skating backwards and spinning on two feet, but unfortunately this is just the kind of sport that was too expensive for my family to afford, and the closest rink was 20 miles away. So I promised myself that I would learn how to skate when I was an adult and could pay for lessons myself.
So here I am, and at the age of 31 I started taking Figure Skating lessons in July 2001. I still had the talent and quickly felt that I needed to take private lessons besides my group lessons. With a lot of encouragement from my coach and lots of practice, bruises, and 5:30 a.m. morning sessions I was able to take my first test in Figure Skating (like leagues in soccer or belts in karate). On September 29th, 2001 I took my Pre-Preliminary Moves in the Field (Edges, Figure Eight etc.) and Pre-Bronze Adult Freestyle (Jumps and Spins) test. This is not a competition but there are real judges that check if you are doing all elements correctly (and this is without music). I was very nervous but somehow I was not that nervous once I was on the ice. I passed both tests that day and it was a very exhilarating experience.

After skating all day Wednesday before we left for Las Vegas, someone took this picture of me and Michelle Kwan (well she is just on the poster but hey, the pose is almost the same ;-)

Back to my
Bruce Boxleitner Webpage