how many Aussie ice skaters do we have here?

*jumps up and down* MEMEMEMEMEME! I am!

You're right, it's not. But you can usually find an ice rink; and where there's a rink, there's coaches, and a learn-to-skate program. (Canterbury's drives me nuts - they decided to ditch Aussie Skate and make their own with no correlation to Aussie Skate at all.)

We actually have some pretty good facilities here in Australia - the new Icehouse in Melbourne is absolutely stunning and a great facility, although unfortunately it would be difficult to get any kind of crowd in. It's designed as a training venue. And the Olympic Arena in Brisbane has hosted the Junior World Championships (where a 13-year-old Evgeni Plushenko came 6th...), and a Junior Grand Prix just a couple of weeks ago!

Of course, the sport struggles to get recognised and has to fight against the unfortunate attitude of "it's not a sport" or better, "it's not tough". Cheltzie Lee did a LOT for the stature of figure skating in Australia, because she showed that the world stage was possible, even coming from here.

The major problem though is cost. Skating costs a fortune anyway, but here, everything is twice the price. Finding apparel, skates and other stuff you need is very, very hard. For example, I have to drive all the way to Sydney to visit a pro shop that sells and fits skates, or sells dresses and tights. Getting skates? Expect to pay a good 50% markup, unless you order them online. Getting a dress? Order it online or you'll go broke. Coaching? Difficult to find. There are eight coaches at my rink and all of them are nearly at capacity in terms of their student numbers. A lot of parents simply cannot keep up with the costs of taking it seriously - sometimes, even the cost of taking it casually can break the bank.

@Riley - Am I that obvious? ;)

I am!

You're right, it's not a well-known sport here at all. And so much more expensive.

I think it's partly down to the lack of rinks here - here in Victoria, we only have two rinks. They're a bit less than an hour within each other, but after those, the next closest rink is in Canberra, about a 10 hour drive away, or Tasmania, which is a whole ferry ride away! It really is rather annoying...I think that because there aren't many rinks, not many people are exposed to the sport, and therefore it is not very popular. And because it's not very popular, more rinks will not be built. Which really sucks.

Plus, there's the cost. I agree with pretty much everything K said.

heey well i am alsoo an aussie skater! (:

I skate at Macquarie Ice Rink because it is very convenient (:

I am very lucky that i live in New South Wales because there are many other possible ice rinks that i can go to for practice or competitions. Such as Canterbury, Penrith Ice Palace and ERINA.

Sadly ice skating is not very popular in Australia but however it is getting more popular :D

True that but i hope in the future they build more ice rinks in Australia!

I think K lives in Australia and she skates :) (I'm sure she'll be posting in the next 24 hrs)

My friend lives in Australia and her dad (who practically owns the entire small town she lives in) had an ice rink built. It's super small, but really nice and clean. But skating is definitely not a well known sport there.

I'm from New Zealand and I skate, it isn't a very well known sport here either and there are only 6 ice rinks!