Legends of Freestyle Ice Skating | Ice Freestyle Podcast

So as one of the most experienced teams in freestyle ice skating, this is a very crucial question I want to ask you now. Where do you think will be the future of freestyle ice skating? We really don't know, but... Hello everybody from the Polarion Freestyle Gala 2023. And today it's my pleasure to have an interview, or nowadays we call it podcast, that's more in, very much more clickable, with the legendary team of the ice freestylers Offenburg. Today we'll talk about their history, we'll talk about how you set up a freestyle show, what this team did for years. We'll talk about the big times of freestyle ice skating and how freestyle ice skating developed over the years. At first I hand over the microphone to Alessandro, who is our translator today, who is the guy who will talk for them, because English skills are a little bit worse than mine. So Alessandro will introduce the team at first. Yes, hello Patrick, thank you for this interview. This is Moritz Feger, he is 24 years old and do ice freestyle since about 10 years, I would say. To my right side, this is Dennis Wagner, he is 25 years old and do ice freestyle also since 10 years. At last, my name is Alessandro, I'm 25 years old and I do ice freestyle also 10 years ago. We started all together. Lukas Geiselhardt, our fourth member of our team, is actually in Hamburg, so he can't be here today. But Lukas is 23 years old and do ice freestyle since 8 years. Okay, thank you so much for this. At the beginning, bad thing, I just noticed, you all do freestyle for 10 years, I do freestyle for over 10 years and I'm still not as good as they are. Just saying. But then the history of us is a little bit different because I started freestyle in the mountains where nobody gives a **** about freestyle and I was pretty much alone and they were always together. So the development of freestyle, of skills happens faster if you are together in a team. And now I want to know how this team started, how this team developed over the years. So what was the starting point of freestyle ice skating for all of you in person and how did this team build up together? Okay, it's a little bit funny story and we were also skaters in our home ice rink in Offenburg and we meet us there for every weekend to skate together, train some new tricks or something else. Which time did you start? Around 2012. So ice skating, freestyle ice skating? No, ice skating since 2010, but the first meeting from us was in 2012. And there was an ice freestyle contest in our home ice rink and we saw that also there were two other teams and a third team was missing. So we said, let's start, let's register on the information and we make a fun team. This was under the name Small, Medium, Big French Fries. So we started to be a team. So in Germany, Small, Medium, Big French Fries. Yeah, Medium, Small, Big French Fries. Creativity. And then we don't think about it, we go on the ice and make a ---- show. So just for fun doing stupid things, messing around because you registered for the event like a few days before the event and then you just had to do what you were able to do because there was no time for practice. So we just do anything we can and it was really funny and we reached the second place on this event. So it was much fun for us and then we think about, hey, this team could be cool. If you reach a second place out of nothing, then this is kind of a motivation kickstart, I think. We think about, let's be a team, let's give us a name and make something of this. And then we, I think in 2012, we found the team Ice Freaks Offenburg and this was a funny constellation around 8, 9 members from 21 to 12 years old, the members are. And we do this for two years and then we founded Ice Freaks Offenburg. The founder of this main team was Patrick Kiesling. What is he doing today? Where is he? He's not a member of our team anymore. Just retired. Yes, we don't know, but he also goes ice skating a few times in the year, I think. Then we go on events to Luxembourg, Belgium, everywhere in Europe. France, the parties. France, oh yes, wild time. I just saw the videos, I will put some videos in the B-roll for this. I know some YouTube channels where I can find some footage of them. What they, what those guys did at those high or their peak times is just incredible. At those times I was doing freestyle for longer than them and was just stunning by what those guys are doing. I was thinking they are doing freestyle double as long as I. And now I know you're actually doing freestyle less time, this is still working with me. Yes, we go on events and we have our home ice freestyle contest every year. I think six, seven times. Why are you not doing it anymore because the ice rink is? The ice rink is since four years closed because of Corona and. Any chance to reopen it? We hope, but we don't know if it's possible. We will see. So then after that you formed as a team, you became bigger, you did practices, you were traveling. You saw other teams got inspirations and then you built it up shows. Yes. How long does it take to build up a show? I mean those are like five to ten minutes of show. But how long does it take to build such a show up? How many different shows have you done or just one show at a time and then building next one? Or how is this all working with the shows? We build up a main show. So this show goes three to four minutes and the show was already due for contest. And there were one contest in the year with three. Okay, so now we try to figure it out in German because as I said English skills a little bit less than mine. Anyway, what they wanted to say is that they had one core show which was about three to four minutes. This is what they were doing at every contest or everywhere they were going. They were also selling this show. I guess you did also ice shows between ice hockey matches in the breaks. Yes, yes. For example this. And then for every contest, for every show, for everything they did, they added some special add-ons. Let's call them add-ons where they did something for a few more seconds or just some extras which are easy to learn, easy to practice and to add to the show which fit to the event. I guess that's what you wanted to say. Yes, yes. And then the last year, so after this peak, let's call it peak of freestyle ice skating. So 2017, 2018 where everybody was traveling and Jay was still active and so many people. We had the Budapest events, we had the Vienna events. Those guys just told me outside that they were on a show or at an event every weekend. Yes. But what happened after this peak of freestyle ice skating? Because it's not just that other people stopped freestyle ice skating. You also became a little bit slower and you're just around 25 years old. So younger than me. So it's not about the age. So what were the reasons that this peak time also in your group went a little bit down? We think it was the Corona time. So every ice rink was closed. We can't do our training. We can't perform our shows. But after that, the community was very small. So there are less events than 2017, 2018. And this is the main part of this getting smaller and smaller. But we want to reactivate our team and go bigger, go on more events and maybe start our own event. We did this in 2016, I think. Did our own ice freestyle skating event in Offenburg. It's called Show Night. And we think about to reactivate this show. If the ice rink reopens again. And it's also something I noticed over the last years. Not just freestyle ice skating. YouTube is rapidly decreasing because everybody is doing this stupid upright content, by the way. Just saying. But also the whole freestyle community due to Corona. A lot of teams didn't survive it. A lot of teams went smaller. The community was less active. But I also noticed that last year, since Corona. So let's say 2022, 2023. It was already rising again. So do you think that freestyle ice skating will have a second spring? So a second peak after 2017, 2018. Because it was not going down due to Corona in 2020. It was going down. 2018 was the peak. And 2019 was a little bit weaker. And the season 19, 20 was also like free thoughts were working. Do you think the freestyle graph. So let's say freestyle was going up. 2018, 19, 20. And now I think we're at this point. We're going up again. Do you think we'll reach another peak? Which will be even higher? That more people will start freestyle ice skating? One theory of mine is. I'm a skiing instructor. Just saying. And I haven't been skiing for over a year. Because skiing is getting more and more expensive. Winter sports at all. And climate changes. Skiing slopes. It's getting complicated. And my theory is that freestyle ice skating will take some of those. Like every people's sports part that skiing has. And will become bigger. So probably freestyle ice skating will grow. So do you think freestyle ice skating can have a second spring? We can't say. But I think there are two problems. First of all. The next generation has not such a discipline. Like the older teams I think. Like Turtle Style. And the second problem is. Many ice rinks will be closed. Or are closed. Because of the costs. The costs are getting higher and higher. And I think the most ice rinks can't do this for the next time. So they have to be closed. The energy crisis. The costs are rising. Everything is a little bit complicated. I know it from my hometown ice rink. Which is a pretty modern one still. They are strong with the energy costs. The same here with this ice rink. Nearly every ice rink has problems like that. And if ice rinks are closing. Then the people don't have ice rinks closed. If you don't have an ice rink in your city. The way to go to an ice rink. Not just in distance. Is getting bigger. Yes. I definitely hope that my theory is going right. And the people start ice skating. Our problem is. After the corona time. Our ice rink. Home ice rink. Is now a refugee camp. We don't have no problem with refugees. But actually in our ice rink. There are 39 refugees. And they have a capacity for 400. And the costs of one month. Are over 500.000 euros. I saw this morning in my Instagram story. By the way. Let me just screenshot it. That I put it into the video. So we have no possibility to skate. To train. To do something. We have many offers from magazines. And the newspaper. To do some pictures. Interviews. But we can't do this in Offenburg anymore. So we have to go to other ice rinks. Like Bad Liebenze. Or Hellschritt. To perform for these groups. So now I have two points written here. Talking about the worst thing ever happened to them. In combination with freestyle ice skating. And the best thing ever happened to them. With freestyle ice skating. So tell me. What was the best experience you ever had? It can be a single experience. It can be a combination of experiences. Or just a feeling you had. Or a season. A special season. And the worst thing. Which is basically the same. You can talk about one thing in particular. You can talk about something in freestyle. Or something we talked about. Outside this door. So it's not about a special thing. It's about a feeling. Just let me know what you want to say to this question. I start with the worst thing. We think our worst thing was the contest time. But not all of this time. But if you go bigger and bigger in this contest. And you go from contest to contest. You have many teams. Many people there. And this is freestyle community. All are friends. The most of this are friends. You can talk to each other. And have a good time. But in this contest time. At this day. And three days before. And after that. You are not friends. You are like enemies. So this friendship was here. And go higher and higher. And then come the contest in. And friendship was here. And the enemies level were here. So you have to look at your own. You have to perform. You have to be focused on that. And go on. Perform your show. And do the best thing. And after that. There is a winner. And there is a loser. Or there is a first place. And a second place. And after that. You were enemies for three, five days. Or weeks maybe. And after that. It was okay. We were friends. So you want to say that those contests. And everything where you compete. Freestyle reached it's peak around 17, 18. And it also started to be more and more competitive. Shows. Trainings. People who want to be the best. So people who are not doing Freestyle Ice Skating just for fun. But to show who they are. Something I always hated in Freestyle. That's the reason why I do this event. Where those contests kind of happen. But there will be no prizes. No first place. No second place. It's just for fun. That's the reason why I'm doing it. But at those times. I also noticed it. That's the reason why I didn't go to those places. Was because everybody was fighting against everybody. And this is not the reason why I do Freestyle. And I guess this is the feeling you want to describe. As something you experienced as very bad. In 2015, 2016. There were only one contest in the year. And then they decided to do three or five contests. In one year. And make a winner after the five contests. So you have to be faster in training. And better to perform. And this was very stressful for every team. So like a league system with five match days. There are points. You get three or five points every contest. And after that you have your... You have your overall winner. Yes, your overall winner. With prize money. Maybe. No prize money. Just about prestige. I just heard of some contests where they even have prize money. And the winner gets 500 euros. But that was in France, I guess. This was also by our home ice rink in 2014. I think there were prize money. But over this time... So killing friendships just for prestige. Just for status. My ice is the ugliest side of freestyle ice skating. Just saying. So we decided to go to no more contests. We do our own thing. Take videos. Tutorials. Make shows for nice people. And have fun. And do no more contests. I totally understand that. So you like events like this where everything is relaxed. So do you think the future of freestyle ice skating is more the competitive scene? Because there are people who want to bring freestyle ice skating to Olympic Games. I have this dream. I think we are far away from any professionalization. But that's the dream of some people. At least make it more competitive as we had it before. With a league system. With contests. With everything where everything is pretty strict. Do you think this is the future of freestyle ice skating? Or more events like what I'm doing here? I think we have to get the community together. And think about this topic. First of all we have to have fun on these events. Get a big family. And then we can think about where is the sports in 10 years or in 20 years. But actually in this time there is no future for Olympic Games or something else. Because there you need to be a professional ice skater. And to work professional. To be professional to other guys. To other people. So at the moment. If I understand you right. It's more about finding a direction where the sport has to go. Before you can decide where the sport will go. Yes. Good. Then let's cut the bad things and go over to the best things. What was the best thing you ever experienced in combination with freestyle ice skating? I got one thing in mind. I'm pretty sure you've talked about that as well. Hopefully. We have many good moments. And really many many of this. Of our whole freestyle time. We met great people. Do great shows. Have a good community to people in the whole Europe. And first I would say the best moment was in 2019. Our final show before Corona. We did a show over seven and a half minutes. And we started first with a great combination of our skills. And very powerful. And special jumps. Special choreographies. And synchro parts. And this over seven and a half minutes. So there were many stress power. And yes. This was our great time. The people around us gave us a great feeling. It was... I can't describe this feeling. You have to see the video. I'll put the video if I'm allowed to download it from your YouTube channel. I put the video in the B-roll. I just let it run behind this video. And you will see what I'm talking about. I've seen this video for a few times. And I still got goosebumps. This performance. The whole energy that was in this show. And then how the crowd reacts. Special. This was a crazy combination of every skills and tricks of Ice Freestyle. Of low footwork. And really crazy jump. Like the backflip jump over the ramp. This was amazing. Amazing for us. So this was this jump where somebody is jumping over the ramp. While somebody is doing a backflip in front of the ramp. This is something we could do tonight. We've got people for both things. Oh no. One backflip was broken. Anyway. Then let's talk about another thing I'm interested in. Because I met you, for example, in Dinslag. I met you, for example, in Budapest. I met you in Vienna. I've seen you at a few places. I'm traveling a lot. And I'm living at the airs of Mother Earth. And you are also living pretty. I don't know if it's good or bad. So for Germany, those guys are living in the far southwest. On the border to France where Offenburg is. You can just Google it. I live in the far southeast. And in the far southeast there is no freestyle at all around. And for you, every freestyle in Germany is like a few hours road trip. Yes. But France is also close. So is your position where you are, where you are based, good for freestyle, good for traveling or bad? I think you'd have both sides. So we have good friendship to France, to Strasbourg. To Eiswieseler Strasbourg. Patinoa Scheissberg. It was a great time with these guys together. And the position I think it's not so bad because it's not, it's very far away. So we have to drive three or four hours minimum. Maybe four hours to come to it. To the events. But it has a special feeling. Road trip. It's a road trip. Road trip. We say EFO goes on tour. This was our main speech. I know the Instagram stories. And I saw also some videos you did in the car in the story. From the main event on Saturday we arrived on Friday in the evening. It started on Friday at 1 or 2 p.m. And then we do a road trip. And this time to travel to the destination was also amazing because we talked a lot. We made bullshit. Just see the reaction. With this camera you can see the reaction in their face when he's talking. Everybody knows something about vodka or bottles in the car. I offered those guys a beer today and they said no they are becoming old. Now we have to be professional for this moment now. And I just have to say it. They started on Friday at 1 p.m. It's Saturday and they just arrived. They missed the whole Friday. Just saying. By the way Friday video. Infobox. This trip was also funny. It's not about ice freestyle on this weekend. Probably yes. But also this road trips. This talk with other guys and go something eat, drink, make party. This is also the community. And this is the main thing we do. To have fun. To do our sport. To be professional ice skaters in such moments. But also be best friends. Perfect. Even the road trips. You are together in the car with your team. Talk with your team in the car. Because I guess you also don't meet every day. No. But you talk in the car. You have a few hours with each other. Even on the way back. And on the events you talk with other people. And just experience this passion of freestyle ice skating. That the godfather of freestyle ice skating once gave us. I can say we meet at our hometown not very often. I think 2-3 times in the summer season. But our team is so special. We are best friends. This winter time take us so much together. And on our whole lifetime we will be best friends. This is what ice freestyle is. Friends. Fun. And passionate. Absolutely beautiful. I know the feeling that you don't meet the guys you are traveling with. You are doing freestyle with that often. The guy I was driving here. Lives like 2 hours away. And the last time I met him was last year at Polarion. Everybody I am doing freestyle ice skating with. I don't see him anywhere else at freestyle ice skating. This is also how freestyle ice skating brings the people together. And forms friendships. It's not just about the sport. If freestyle ice skating would be more competitive. It would be a sports team. We see us last year I think. And it's like we met 2 days ago. Hey Patrick what's up. Talk bullshit. Make fun. And everything is ok. The beauty of freestyle ice skating is that you meet people. Once a year at an event. And it's like. Hey how are you doing. I met you yesterday. It feels like I met you yesterday. So many freestyler friends. The same. And this is also what freestyler brings you. If you do freestyle together. If you are freestylers. You are on the same kind of craziness wave. That brings you together. Tighter as many other things. That people normally do to socialize. Just saying. That could be a beautiful ending. Anything else you want to say about freestyle ice skating. About this event. About me. About you. About Lukas. Anything you want to say. Any final rich words. Yes. We are worried that Lukas could be here today. Couldn't be here today. But Lukas is in our heart. So Lukas if you see this. We think about you. And yes. Patrick thank you for this interview. Thank you to the whole community. To every ice skater in Germany. And in the whole world. We hope that you have fun on this board. Many years. And yes. Thank you. You are welcome. So thanks guys for coming over. Thanks guys for being at this event. This is just the beginning of the event. Or it's not the beginning. You missed the beginning. It's Saturday already. And yeah. What the Saturday will bring. You will see in the end card. Coming up right now. So if you like the video. Give it a thumbs up for the algorithm. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't miss anything in the future. Feel free to follow me on Instagram. Feel free to follow those guys on Instagram. Subscribe to them on YouTube. Feel free to check out my merch. Sorry if the end card is now over your heads. Or over my head. We will see. Have a good one. Greetings from Polarium. Bye.