The Human Zamboni

Friday Night public skating at Asiaf Arena in Brockton was where we went to practice our skating skills when pond ice was not available. Nenna’s friend Jim would pack a bunch of us into his Thunderbird or Bronco and off we would go. David was about 8 years old and still just learning to skate. Learning to skate means falling down a lot. Before you master all of the maneuvers, you fall when you stop, when you turn left or right, when you skate backwards, when you get cut off, bumped, tripped. At a busy public skating session, all of these would happen and David spent a LOT of time “learning”. Actually we spent a lot of time watching him sliding across the ice – on his belly, side, or back. The ice would be pretty scratched up by so many skate blades, but every fall and slide would leave an 8 yr old sized swath of freshly cleaned ice. David “cleaned” the ice so often we started calling him “The Human Zamboni”. Smartly, Nenna always had him thickly dresses with layers of warm clothing , ski pants, gloves, and a hat. He never got hurt, or cold, and he just loved skating so he never minded the falls or the nickname. When we got home he would proudly tell mom just how many times he actually fell (Mom! I only fell 35 times tonight!), and we could gauge his improvement as the number shrunk.

David eventually became the most accomplished hockey player in the family – starring in Youth Hockey, High School, and still playing weekly 40 years after his Asiaf ice cleaning days.