"You're Hired" or "You're Fired": 21-27 2004

[jazzpants]

Just starting a new practice/lesson thread... The "Fired" thing is for "The Donald." ;)

I'll post my practice notes later...

[AshBugg44]

Well, here's how my morning started off:

This morning I was supposed to have a lesson at 6 so I had the alarm set for 5:15 and I woke up at 5:51....Leah was like "Ashley get up you have a lesson at 6" and I said "why is the alarm turned off???" and she said "I woke you up when it went off...I said Ashley get up and you said okay I'm up and you sat up..." and the said thing is, I don't remember waking up!

So anyways I was on the ice at about 6:15...we did two of my pre-juv move patterns - the 5 step mohawk and the power pulls. My coach told me that I'm doing some good edges in the power pulls but that my timing is off. Then we did spins. My sit/back sit was actually a sit/back sit for the first time! Woohoo! I also did the best back scratch. I won't talk about how the axels went. They're becoming non-existent and they were getting so consistent! :(

[sk8er1964]

So anyways I was on the ice at about 6:15...we did two of my pre-juv move patterns - the 5 step mohawk and the power pulls. My coach told me that I'm doing some good edges in the power pulls but that my timing is off. Then we did spins. My sit/back sit was actually a sit/back sit for the first time! Woohoo! I also did the best back scratch. I won't talk about how the axels went. They're becoming non-existent and they were getting so consistent! :(

I don't think I was alive at 6:15 this morning :lol:

Don't worry too much about your axel - it will come and go until you truly own it (and then it will still go and visit other people every once in a while).

[Mrs Redboots]

Don't often skate twice in one day, but did today. Largely because I needed to go into work early this morning, well, early for me, anyway, and so only had an hour this morning, and then this evening it was the hop, step and jump competition on club ice, so I wanted to go to watch that, and decided to skate a bit first.

Had my lesson this morning, 24 hours earlier than usual because there are tests during tomorrow morning's patch (it's all happening!). All went well, and we surprised ourselves with my holding a simply brilliant outside edge all the way round the hockey circle! The inside edge wasn't so good, though - it spiralled in, and I was fighting my shoulders all the way. Coach explained that I needed to really brace my skating leg, and when I tried it again, it worked - and this evening I did it really well! My changes-of-edge worked well. I am still not totally pleased with my cross-rolls, they can "catch" a little at the very ends if I'm not careful, but they are coming. And my programme is coming along, too; still a bit scrappy, but it is gradually filling up. Do I dare do two inside twizzles, do you think?

[dbny]

You're Hired
I finally got to a freestyle session yesterday, and was pleased to see a skating buddy there that I hadn't seen for a while. He watched my F power crossovers, and reminded me to extend my free leg on the FI edges, but also commented that they were overall very smooth looking 8-)

Still working on overcoming fear of FI threes, and at the end of the session, decided to try hubby's trick of turning on a predetermined spot. The idea is to start at the wall about 4 feet from a blue or red line, hold a nice FI edge and turn on the line. It worked! A real breakthrough for me. Can't wait to try again next time.

While teaching a Basic 3/4 student tonight, I decided to start her on FI Mohawks, and found that once again, doing demos really cleaned up my own skating. Wish I could do such nice FI Mohawks for myself :frus:

You're Fired
One foot spin, where are you???? Why can I do very nice FI and FO threes with just a touch to someone else's arm or hand, at a nice speed, but totally choke up on my own? I think it may have something to do with being able to get my weight forward better when I'm reaching back with my free arm.

[icenut84]

I was supposed to skate yesterday, but the test session before it overran so I had to get a refund, and cancel my lesson. :( And that coach is booked up for several weeks now. :(

I got to watch the tests though - I haven't watched a test session before, so it was interesting to see how it was done. All but one person that I saw passed.

[dbny]

Why can I do very nice FI and FO threes with just a touch to someone else's arm or hand, at a nice speed, but totally choke up on my own? I think it may have something to do with being able to get my weight forward better when I'm reaching back with my free arm.

A skating buddy who is also a coach helped me out today and spotted me leaving my left arm almost in front, for heavens sakes, on the LFO threes! This is why I must get a lesson ASAP.

[SK8sMom]

Don't worry too much about your axel - it will come and go until you truly own it (and then it will still go and visit other people every once in a while).[/QUOTE]

LOL....I just had to copy this for my daughter. The original post (Ashley) could have been HERS, except for the 6:15 part. It was almost eerie. She is taking her Juvenile MITF test this Saturday, and as usual looks brilliant in practice. Now, if she can just stay relaxed and look CONFIDENT at the session. Not an easy task for a shy, 17 year old who just discovered her passion for this sport 3 years ago! (BTW...she got her axel back just today after an absence of about two weeks...lol)

[Terri C]

Got to skate FOUR days in a row this week- was going to skate today, but am a little tired. As a result, will not be back on the ice until Monday. With a competition next week, I'm hoping this isn't too much a layoff!

As for this week..
The hired part includes the fact that I'm skating fairly clean run throughs of my program, including the sitspin at the end! :D

The fired part- why oh why did I sign up for compulsories?? The time limit is 1 minute and I've been running anywhere to 2-7 seconds over. Trying to practice the compulsory program is HARD on freestyle, since you really cannot stop between elements and there is no real way of getting the right of way on the ice! :evil:

We're also adjusting to a new contract ice schedule at our rink. I signed up for my sessions and was given a hour credit because 30 minutes of what I signed up for was cancelled due to insufficient interest. The schedule was changed AGAIN on Tuesday and I may be losing some of the time that I had just added because of the extra change! :evil:

[Isk8NYC]

Hired:
Started to practice for the MITF Preliminary test with a friend. Did okay, still having right knee problems.

Fired:
Struggling with the outside threes on the line, as always.
The test session is scheduled for the same day as another committment, so I'll have to take the test somewhere else. I hate to wait!

[icenut84]

Bad skating day today.

I only skated for less than an hour, but i just felt off. No music for the first half of the session, and there was only me and one other person on the ice (who kept close to the sides), so every sound my blades made could be heard. And they made a lot - I don't know what's wrong with me. My stroking and everything felt so scratchy and pants, usually it's much better than that. My weight was all over the place, my knees didn't want to bend very much, and I just didn't feel into it at all. Got a titchy bit better when i retied my skates, but still not as good as normal. Even my back 3 turns were skiddy on the turn, and I nearly lost my balance on a LBO spiral when I went too far forward on the blade. Even my back crossovers didn't feel right. And both knees hurt (mainly right), and both heels hurt, so I didn't even bother working on any jumps at all.

Do you ever find yourself wondering, on a practice like this, if you've actually hit your peak already? I honestly don't think I'm that much better than I was a year ago (maybe a bit better in stroking and some things), and in some aspects (like elements), I've actually regressed. I know this is probably largely to do with the whole lack of lessons thing, but it's so frustrating when I think about it. :cry: Please tell me I'm not alone here.

Good things:

Once the music was put on, I felt a lot better. I don't know why it makes such a difference for me, but it does. I don't like skating in silence, I much prefer music on.

Did a couple of 1 foot spins that didn't travel like normal, but the circles were uneven and too big and the entry still isn't right. FI pivots were nice though.

[sk8er1964]

Hired & fired at the same time:

Ok, as you might have noticed by now, I surprised myself by qualifying for AN last weekend :lol: 8O . So, here I go into my first lesson after the big, exciting competition. I go through my warm-up stroking, and stretching, and am ready to start attacking those doubles or whatever else my coach thinks we need to work on before AN. So, guess what we start with?

Crossovers.

Yep, crossovers. Slow crossovers. With super deep knee bends and extension. Forward, both directions. Backwards, both directions. Then I get informed that well, apparently I can do them with deep knee bends and extension, so I should be doing them that way all of the time.

Sigh. Got to love coaches. :) 8-)

[jazzpants]

Funny sk8er1964 had lessons on CROSSOVERS. So did I!!! (Coaches NEVER get enough of torturing us poor skating students to death with crossovers exercise, 'ya know...) ;) :lol:

Hired:

My first two moves on the Bronze Moves test! My crossovers aren't great, but they are not that bad (and getting better in fact, despite my injury...)
Fired:

Back crossovers to BO edges. TOTALLY screwed it up this morning!!! :frus: I've been so out of practice on this particular move. WAAAAH!!!! :cry:
3turns are BAD this morning. Nothing to do with my injury! It's just plain BAD this morning! (My hip doesn't want to go to the right place...and free foot doesn't want to stay free. It wants to go ON the ice after the 3... :x )
We skipped the power 3's today b/c of my injury. (It's a fired b/c I want to get back to it.)
At the water cooler...
First thing primary coach says to me at the beginning of my lesson...(with emphasis) "TRIPLE LUTZ!!!" (referring, of course, to fellow competitor at Midwestern Sectionals, Eric Schroyer...)
http://mysmilies.ipbfree.com/s/kao/otn/bloblaugh.gif

Then he threw in "Oh, and he's 25 years old too!!!" :lol: (Well, I DID tell him before the competition that he's "competition" alright...for LARRY HOLLIDAY!!!) :P :lol: He also said that he's a very, VERY NICE guy too!!! NOW I wish I could win the Lotto so I could go to AN and meet him too!!! ;)

[Mrs Redboots]

Do you ever find yourself wondering, on a practice like this, if you've actually hit your peak already? I honestly don't think I'm that much better than I was a year ago (maybe a bit better in stroking and some things), and in some aspects (like elements), I've actually regressed. I know this is probably largely to do with the whole lack of lessons thing, but it's so frustrating when I think about it. :cry: Please tell me I'm not alone here..
You are not alone. I am pretty sure I'll never be very much better than I am now. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean I'm going to give up, because, within those limits, there is a heck of a lot of room for improvement.

Don't despair - skating is Like That. You don't make steady progress - you peak, then seem to lose ground a bit, then suddenly seem to make huge progress again, so you are better than you've ever been, then you slip back again - but not so low as before.... and so it goes. Usually "the darkest hours is just before dawn", and you get days when you want to give up about a week before suddenly everything comes together again.

Don't forget, you made incredibly fast progress last year - it isn't too surprising if you are now spending time consolidating those skills. Boring, I know, but well worth it! As you will see from posts in this thread, even really, really, really good skaters have to work on their crossovers!

[dbny]

Hired
Went with hubby to a sparsley attended public session today and saw a skating buddy there that I don't get to see often. Almost the first thing she said to me, watching my B power pulls, was "You didn't have those before!"

Towards the end of the session we were talking about spins and I told her I had completely lost my one foot, but had been doing it from wind up in the summer. She has never tried from a wind up because "I can't do it" 8O Sooo, I decided to show her how to start working on it (she wanted me to, not unsolicited). In preparatin for the wind up, I was taught to start with a T position at the line, make a very deep FO edge with deeply bent knee and 3-turn when back at the line, rising into the spin at that point. Lo and behold, I got two spins in a row with my demo :P :P

I was also able to work on FI threes with the same technique as before, that is doing the turn on the line. They were all badly scraped, but it's a triumph for me just to do them off the wall and without a spot.

Finally, I discovered that this rink has a harness system and spoke with one of their coaches about working with me on threes using the harness. May try in a few weeks when we both have time. I think the harness may be a valuable tool for scared adults to gain confidence on back threes. Will find out!