SkateHistory.Ca

The Competitive Years

The newly opened Sutro's Baths Ice Rink became their new home in 1937. It sported a larger ice surface, and the boys were able to secure a similar "ice scraping in exchange for ice time" arrangement. It was here that their training went into high gear, and they were able to become more serious about skating. They were invited to join the Skate and Ski Club of San Francisco as honourary members. Knowledgeable and interested by-standers at the club suggested to the boys that they consider competing, as they were now members of a USFSA affiliated club and would be eligible.

In 1938, the California State Championships were held outdoors on ice-covered tennis courts and a parking lot in Yosemite National Park, where the boys were entered in the Novice Class. At outdoor events, there was always the problem of the easily shattered top layer of ice, known as "shale" ice, which made "clean" tracings of school figures very difficult if not impossible to do. Sheldon was fortunate at being able to find some good ice for his school figures, which made him the leader going into the freestyle portion of the event, edging his brother by a mere 3/10ths of a point. Sheldon went on to win the Championship.

In recalling that competitive experience Sheldon says: "Not feeling fully confident in my musicality, I skated my freestyle performance to "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakaki", which was a very strong piece of music and offered a profound meter or beat that anyone could keep time to."

Not everything went according to plan however, and he goes on to say: "during my performance, they used one spotlight that looked like a searchlight. I came out of a spin in the middle of my program, and was completely lost. I had lost not only my orientation, but had forgotten my program. I skated around doing something, waiting for my memory to kick back in as to where I was supposed to be. I remember doing several split Lutz trying to find where I was supposed to be in my music."

Reassuring somehow, to know that it happens to everyone.

These State Championships were important from another point of view, because it was here that they met Meryl Baxter and Neil Rose, against whom they competed, and Meryl's brother Skippy, all of whom hailed from the Oakland Skating Club. These skaters had a similar arrangement at their club, and with so much in common, the boys became very good friends. Wanting the challenge and camaraderie of training with their friends and fellow competitors, the Galbraiths joined the Oakland Skating Club, while continuing to skate at Sutro's.

Harry Swanson, who managed the facility, and had a sporting goods store at the rink, allowed the Galbraiths to do ice scraping and sweeping to earn their skating. Sheldon contends that the constant work of scraping and sweeping developed tremendous power in the leg muscles and the central back line along the spine. Pushing a scraper full of snow, and trying to turn a corner with it, or trying to push 2 squeegees, water-filled and locked into one another which created the flooding action, required a lot of pressure, spinal strength, and an understanding of gravity of the load, getting behind it and the centre of balance. There were lots of subliminal things they were learning about balance mechanisms, and the science of movement at that time.

Equipment was causing challenges for the Galbraiths. They were having problems with their blades bending and coming loose, as a result of the increased stress placed on them by their improving skating skills. They each solved the problem by buying a pair of Arnold boots from Harry Swanson's Sport Store at the Oakland Club. These boots would be considered very high on the leg by today's standards, but for their time, were considered to be a very well fitting "off the shelf" boot, which came in 4 widths for each size, and saw the boys through their skating careers.. To overcome the blade problems, they got in touch with a man who had worked for J. E. Strauss, and was manufacturing an Olympiad blade. He had had a problem with the dye that he used to stamp the blade. It was missing part of the "d", and he sold those blades at the discounted price of $18.00. Sheldon and Murray each bought themselves a pair, and were now well outfitted to continue.