The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-08-18
THE HYGIENE
OF SKATING
Mr.. Vernon Tells How to
Benefit by the Sport
HAS A BOSTON TERRIER WHO
CAN SKATE A MILE IN 1:26.

" Young people skate their heads
off," declared Frank Vernon, who
with his wife Lillian Vernon is play
ing a return engagement at the
Honesdale Roller Rink this week, to
a Citizen man. "They skate for two
hours and a half at a time. They
ought to skate ten or twelve minutes
at a time, and then sit down to rest.
They would get more benefit out of
it then, and it wouldn't tire them so
much.
I" A child ought not to begin to
skate until at the age of eight years.
Then, they ought to be properly
coached, so as not to overdo it. The
main thing is that lot of children
are left to skate too long at time.
My first experience was at rink
in Canton, Ohio, when l was nine
years old. | have been skating for
twenty-five years.
"I skated here 22 years ago at the
rink on the corner of Park street.
l was only kid in those days, lit
tie bit of a fellow / came here
through Billy Boyes, of Port Jervis,
one of the noted roller skaters of
those days.
AT that time l held the two and
three-mile championships of the
world | was only a kid, but there
wasn't any of the big fellows could
get the best of me. l did the two
mile in 5:5S and the three-mile in
1856 at the lie Grande Rink in Cleve-
land, in 1886.
A good many people claim they
can't learn to skate. Children
should not skate too young, as their
muscles are weak, and they overdo
themselves, and show bad results.
The best thing for beginner to
do is first to keep the body as supple
as possible. Roller-skating is an en-
tirely different stroke than ice skat-
ing, which is side stroke.
Roller-skating is straight,
walking stroke. If you start to
walk on skates, just as you walk on
the streets, you'll have the best re-
suits.
Many beginners throw them
selves up rigid. If they'd fall in
that position, they are more apt to
break limb than in supple posi-
tion. After beginner starts prop
erly, he will look more graceful
than one who keeps himself in a
rigid condition.
GA number of the leading base
ball stars like Hans Wagner, skate
in winter to condition themselves
for Spring work.
A child should always be guild
ed awhile by an instructor, so as to
get the right motion, and the right
carriage of the body. Boys think
of racing the first thing, and thereby
are apt to take a header. They
oughtn't to wear low shoes as they
weaken the ankles.
81 met my wife at a skating
rink. That's how we happened to
get acquainted" laughingly said
Mr.. Vernon, who admitted that Kinks
were good "Courtin places" She
was at the rink at her home town
where l was giving an exhibition.
She's a Southern girl. She has
only been skating seventeen months.
February %, 1910, was the first
time she ever had on a pair of
skates. Five days after that she
appeared before the public, and to-
day is as good a skater as any
woman in the business.
We are teaching "Tighe" to
skate. Tighe is a Boston terrier
We had special skates made for
him, and boots made with wheels
q inch in diameter attached to
each boot It's a very difficult thing
to teach a dog. He's broke in now
so he'll skate twenty-five feet. Our
object is to use him in quarter and
half-mile races.
Tighe starts from the scratch
just like a person at the word
GO" He's just crazy to go. He
has a record made at the Dyke
Roller Rink, Batavia, N. Y, of a
half-mile in 1926. He beat me
about two feet there,
The Rink here is a 25-lap rink,
that is twenty-five laps to the mile.
l have skated over the United
States, Canada and England. New
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Mich
igan are the four best skating
states in the country.
On October 23, we sail for Paris
where we open four-weeks engage
ment, November 6. Then we go to
Bremen, and play there for the
same length of time, After that we
play a few of the principal places in
Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and
Russia"