Heat haze or thick fog - 13-19 June 2004

[Mrs Redboots]

Heat Haze: Our programme is really coming together now; mind you, since the competition is on Thursday week, it will have need to! We did a good Riverside Rhumba, too. Oh, and one decent spin.....

Thick Fog: Our Canasta Tango is dreadful - I think we are out of practice skating in reverse Kilian hold, and I keep getting at the wrong angle, so Robert's hold slips (he never, ever, holds you firmly enough - or else he holds you in a death grip.....). Of course, I blame him, but it's me as much as him if I'm honest (but don't tell him I said so!).

[TashaKat]

I keep getting at the wrong angle, so Robert's hold slips (he never, ever, holds you firmly enough - or else he holds you in a death grip.....). Of course, I blame him, but it's me as much as him if I'm honest (but don't tell him I said so!).

I used to have the same problem when I skated with Will! It was all or nothing, no support at all or a straight jacket :D It's good that we can blame the boys though, isn't it? ;) Madame once said to us (when I was struggling to get out of aforementioned death grip) "for gawds sake, you look like two scorpions having a punch up" ...... descriptive but probably true :D

2nd lesson on my umpteenth 'coming back' tomorrow .... wonder what I'll be (re)learning tomorrow ...... oh BUMS! I forgot to get my skates sharpened AGAIN!

[mikawendy]

Heat haze
Had a good show practice on Saturday, then stayed for a freestyle session afterward.

I did all my moves in the field in the exact order of the test, without stopping. Then after catching my breath, I went back and worked on the ones that needed work.

After I had worked on moves and freestyle for a while, I was experimenting and think I may have taught myself an RFI bracket. My free leg position is disastrous, and I think something is weird about my shoulder position after and that's throwing me off the RBO edge, but still, it was neat to see the tracing on the ice. LFI is not quite as good...

Thick fog--
Loop. My attempts this week weren't as good as they have been.

[TashaKat]

Don't know which is supposed to be good the heat or the fog ;) A nice cool breeze would be PERFECT around now .... even a little light rain :)

2nd lesson of 6 tonight ..... and moved up a group (but only after I pulled a face at having to do the same things that I did last week). So it was on to BI edges, BO edges, back crossovers with a 'held' BI edge and (yak yak yak) bunny hops!

I'm getting a bit more confident and was looking longingly at the group doing waltz jumps and spins (they're being gentle with me until I find my feet but I love jumping ......). Anyway .... the muggy foggy bit:

Remember I told you about the 'two' from last week ..... WELL the guy was on form tonight! Throughout our lesson he kept coming over onto our patch and for the full hour was telling people what they were doing wrong (I'm telling you, Bambi on ice is more adept). I don't mind people helping or giving me tips but I do get p'd at people who think that they're all that and a little bit more being pushy. When he wasn't *coaching* people ..... make that women, he didn't do it with the men ....... he was attempting his waltz jumps in the middle of what we were doing.

The :twisted: in me then popped it's head up and I became a right http://au.geocities.com/agowz/images/cow.gif and asked my coach if he minded me joining in with the spins for the last 10 minutes. He said that was fine so I went over and started practising uprights and scratch spins. I came out of my first spin to find him giving out to his entourage "what is SHE doing in our group, she's not our level" ...... to which I sweetly replied that it was ok, that the coach has said that I could join in with the spins. I DIDN'T however tell him that he was right, I am not his level! I know it was norty but people like that REALLY wind me up ...... snarf, snarf, snarf

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fragglerock/images/mutley.jpg

[TashaKat]

Forgot to say that I successfully tried a back spin (success is relative for the backspin!), upright and scratch spins, waltz, toe, sal, loop and flip jumps (first flip was fine, second was crappy because I went into it too slowly) also did half decent LFO spiral, RBO spiral and RBO pick up spiral :D

If only I could pack up work and go in during the day .......

[jazzpants]

I have a lesson tonight with my primary coach, b/c my rink is closing Thursday. I can't say why, but it's interesting enough that I'm tempting to stop by just to see what's going on... :twisted:

Thick Fog:

Unfortunately, since I have a lot of public session skaters who don't know what they're doing, it makes doing moves a LOT harder for me! :evil:
There's this one skater in particular that keeps following me around trying to "learn" through "osmosis." He keeps getting in my way. Finally, I told him that I have a lesson in a few minutes and I really have to concentrate on that. He got the hint and finally SCRAM!!!! I hope he would consider taking lessons from my primary coach though. I mean, if I wanted to skate like someone, I would take lessons from that person's coach, wouldn't you??? ;) (That's how come I picked my current primary coach, in fact!)
Heat Haze:

My LFO3's are coming along better and I managed to do a couple of decent forward power 3's on my bad side. He's still fixing it though... and adds "Now DON'T forget THAT!!!" (Sounding like my secondary coach now...) :roll: :P
The rest of my moves are okay... well, with minor glitches...
Spins are good. Even the backspins is pretty decent for the most part. I had the most trouble with camels, but I did end my lesson with a good one (for me anyway) at the end. :mrgreen:

[sk8pics]

I can't imagine trying to skate moves on a public session! I think around here you would surely be creamed or cream someone!

Anyway, Heat Haze: Last night I had a very good practice and managed for the first time ever to do the push onto the LBO edge (for the consecutive edges move) completely alone (since no coach was there, LOL) and actually hold the correct position back to the line. I never had to test BO edges and so I never have mastered them, but now I'm just about there! 8-) Also made some progress on the backward perimeter crossover stroking. My coach on Sunday was after me to stay down in my knees throughout the whole move and not take any extra little pushes, and I think I was doing that last night but I guess I'll find out tomorrow! :roll:

Also worked on doing one back crossover and then stepping forward to an outside edge, per my coach's instructions, as part of our work on those dreaded power 3's.

Happy skating everyone,
Pat

[NCSkater02]

Heat Haze: Today was my first session since finishing competing, thus the first session in a long time that I didn't concentrate on my programs. We laughed most of the way through, and I think we both needed it. We only worked on two things--scratch spin and starting the salchow. I still don't think I'm ever gonna have a scratch, but bit by bit, I slowly learn something new every week. Usually something I'm doing wrong. We also worked on 3T entry into salchow. Mine apparently isn't "flat" enough, so I'll work on that tomorrow.

Thick Fog: Nothing....well, except all the time I have to spend learning a scratch spin. Can y'all tell I really don't like spinning?

[jenlyon60]

Thick Fog
I continued my proud last place tradition on Sunday in the Paso and Blues.

Heat Haze I did get 3 non last place ordinals across both dances.

[Mrs Redboots]

I used to have the same problem when I skated with Will! It was all or nothing, no support at all or a straight jacket :D It's good that we can blame the boys though, isn't it? ;) Madame once said to us (when I was struggling to get out of aforementioned death grip) "for gawds sake, you look like two scorpions having a punch up" ...... descriptive but probably true :DOh, but Will's lovely to dance with! I danced with him in a Drawn Partners once, some years ago, and the warm-up was fine. Unfortunately, my blade worked loose, and I let him down in the real thing - but he's a terrific partner!

[TashaKat]

Oh, but Will's lovely to dance with! I danced with him in a Drawn Partners once, some years ago, and the warm-up was fine. Unfortunately, my blade worked loose, and I let him down in the real thing - but he's a terrific partner!

I must have trained him well then! He's a real sweetheart but he does suffer from the alternating hold thing .... honest!

[jazzpants]

I can't imagine trying to skate moves on a public session! I think around here you would surely be creamed or cream someone!That's partly on weekends I go to my weekend rink! My home rink on weekends is PACKED!!! (Lots of KIDS!!!) The weekend rink is surprising quiet during the weekends (well, except if they have a LOT of birthday parties and the parties are huge. Then I go to a third rink and I get there at a certain time. I usually call in before I go to my weekend rink though.) ;)

Our Monday nights Adults Only session at least is relatively sane and people do follow the rules for the most part. Or our resident Monday night ice guard will tactfully tell you to stay out of the middle of the rink. (Right, DBNY?) ;)

But I know... doesn't do me much good since I'm doing moves... Thankfully, the rest of the group that were still there also go in on the morning FS sessions and they have the tact to at least "stay away from me" when I'm practicing moves or doing a lesson.

Anyway, Heat Haze: Last night I had a very good practice and managed for the first time ever to do the push onto the LBO edge (for the consecutive edges move) completely alone (since no coach was there, LOL) and actually hold the correct position back to the line. I never had to test BO edges and so I never have mastered them, but now I'm just about there! 8-) Also made some progress on the backward perimeter crossover stroking. My coach on Sunday was after me to stay down in my knees throughout the whole move and not take any extra little pushes, and I think I was doing that last night but I guess I'll find out tomorrow! :roll:

Also worked on doing one back crossover and then stepping forward to an outside edge, per my coach's instructions, as part of our work on those dreaded power 3's.
That's a good one to learn. That and alt FO3's on a line. If you're able to do both extremely well and put together the two, life becomes a LOT simpler on the forward power 3's... :)

[mtj4500]

Heat Haze: New boots and blades! Ones that really fit this time ;) . I only intended to skate in them for a short while to try them out and then change back to my old ones for my lessons, but ended up keeping them on all evening (about three hours skating) without any real problems. Group lesson (European Waltz) went as well as can be expected after only fifteen minutes on new blades - three turns really nice and smooth if I kept my weight over the right part of the blade (but very scratchy when I got it wrong...).
Really quiet public session and the ice stayed good for both dance intervals.

Thick Fog: New blades have highlighted a problem I have always had with my outside edges - spent private lesson trying to put that right (balance, posture, knee bend etc.). Also blades are very sharp, as I found to my cost when drying them off after skating :cry: .

Mike

[Mrs Redboots]

Heat Haze: Got to the rink early enough to have a run-through of things with Robert. Our Canasta Tango was much better (we thought; don't know what it looked like, though), and our Riverside Rhumba has never been that much of a problem, except when you get that awful tune with no discernible rhythm to it! Our artistic couples was better than we've ever done!

When he went, it was time for my lesson. Most things went well, especially the run-through of my programme and my changes-of-edge, which I wasn't asked to repeat!

We have 2 new coaches at our rink; one a former synchro skater (I hope she will introduce synchro to our rink, as we don't do it here just now, and I'm sure we could. Well, not me, but some of us!), and the other is one of our elite dancers. She's not yet qualified, but has been taken on on the understanding that she does her Level 2 (the first qualification that allows you to coach unsupervised - Level 1 merely qualifies you to train) a.s.a.p. and meanwhile will teach under supervision. She is very thrilled, as you can imagine. I've known her since she was a very small child (she is all of 20, bless her!) and am delighted for her.

Thick Fog: Waltz 3s could have been better, though, and continuous Mohawks showed up my weaknesses in terms of shoulder stiffness! And back outside and inside edges not as good as I think my coach thinks I can do them! Not sure that I can, mind.....

In one of my run-throughs, I went too fast in the back spiral, and had trouble going into the toe-loop; I hope I don't bottle it on the day - I do need a certain amount of speed, but....

I am so stiff these days; I come off the ice and a couple of hours later can hardly move.

[NCSkater02]

Heat Haze: Having the ice to myself for about 20 minutes. I was able to do all the warm ups my coach wants me to do without having to watch where I was going. :) Then, when the other skaters (all 5 of them) got on, I was fully warmed up and working on spins. I did all my jumps as single elements today, instead of where they fit in my programs. I really enjoyed that, especially toward the end of my skate, when I did laps with 2 half-flips on one side of the ice and 2 toe loops on the other. It was also very tiring. I also ran through both programs--I want to still be able to do them when my primary coach gets back from Greece July 1.

Thick Fog: The scratch spins I started with. Am I the only person who is taking forever to learn to do a scratch spin? It seems like one session I make progress, then the next, I go backwards. What is the secret to getting over the skating leg?

[dbny]

Thick Fog:
Arrived at the rink this morning to teach the Mommy & Me (which I had missed for the past 3 weeks because I was away) and realized I had absolutely no animals with me! All the kids said "Where are the animals?" I told them the animals got to sleep late today :)

Heat Haze:
I skated on the dead ice after class a bit, and actually was able to do the full power pull pattern for the first time. My power pulls were not any better than before, but this time, I entered the pattern with a little speed, which makes them much easier!

[mikawendy]

Thick Fog: The scratch spins I started with. Am I the only person who is taking forever to learn to do a scratch spin? It seems like one session I make progress, then the next, I go backwards. What is the secret to getting over the skating leg?

I think it's just a matter of practicing it. I practiced it over and over for months and MONTHS before I could get a scratch spin from BXO entry. Another way to practice is to stand in a T position with your spinning foot in front. Push onto an outside edge on the foot you will spin from, feel the 3 turn or "hook" and make the spin happen from there. It's very hard to do, but I found it helped me with centering and keeping my weight over the skating foot.

Some people find it helpful to keep the skating side's arm in front of the body during the FO edge and just pulling it in from there during the spin. My instructor had me start out that way so that I wouldn't pull myself off center by having the arm in front, then to the side, then pulling in.

[NCSkater02]

I think it's just a matter of practicing it. I practiced it over and over for months and MONTHS before I could get a scratch spin from BXO entry. Another way to practice is to stand in a T position with your spinning foot in front. Push onto an outside edge on the foot you will spin from, feel the 3 turn or "hook" and make the spin happen from there. It's very hard to do, but I found it helped me with centering and keeping my weight over the skating foot.

Some people find it helpful to keep the skating side's arm in front of the body during the FO edge and just pulling it in from there during the spin. My instructor had me start out that way so that I wouldn't pull myself off center by having the arm in front, then to the side, then pulling in.

I think I spend more time on this one skill (or not-yet skill) than anything else I do, to the point I almost want to quit. I worked on it so long that my spinning foot started aching, so I had to move on to something else.

I start from the T position, not back crossovers yet. I can do the left knee bend, move the left arm around and do the 3turn. I cannot yet pull my free leg around and get over my left hip/spinning leg. I can sometimes get the free foot near my skating knee, but not often. I also tend to drop my arms (I know this doesn't help my balance) I'm also not sure exactly when to straighten my skating leg, no matter how many times either one of my coaches tell me. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

[jazzpants]

Thick Fog: My head when I was trying to do LFO3's this morning!!! Oy vei!!! I'm so NOT awake!!! I just couldn't get more than about 25% now that I'm trying to go into a LFO3 from a mini-stroking run. :frus: Even more frustrating is the fact that once I DO get into the first LFO3, she noticed that I was actually gaining speed on the other consecutive LFO3's (albeit still not fast enough to pass the Bronze Moves test but noticably faster!!!) :frus:

Heat Haze: Secondary coach expected me not to have much of a RFO3 either on the power 3's. Well... it's not perfect, but she's happier with the results after she was done with me. :P

Interesting note: So my secondary coach took a bathroom break before my lessons, so I went and continue practicing. Next thing I know a young lady came up and told me that "it's time for my lesson and that she came to get me because I'm not paying attention to her!" I then went to my coach, who I then said "What's this about my not paying attention to the fact that it's time for my lesson?" :o The secondary coach cracks up and says "You know... you guys tell each other EVERYTHING!!! I can't get you guys to keep secrets from each other!" HA!!! The young lady also takes lessons from my secondary coach too! I high-fived the young lady, both of us knowing that we can get on our coach's case!!! :lol:

Interesting note 2: Primary coach is teaching his other students during the summer since the quiet public sessions becomes "NOT!" during the summer. So just before his first lesson, he pops by to "check out my lesson with the secondary coach." Those two were discussing how to fix my forward power 3's and they both are very frustrated and worried. (Like I just got a drug intervention or something like that.) But they are right! I need to fix my LFO3's. MUST.... MAKE.... LFO3.... FASTER!!!!

[sk8pics]

That's a good one to learn. That and alt FO3's on a line. If you're able to do both extremely well and put together the two, life becomes a LOT simpler on the forward power 3's... :)

Yes, that's why I have been repeatedly reminding my primary coach that I want to work on the alt FO3's every time I have a lesson with him. Even just 5 minutes, and with our new way of working on them, I'll have them really solid in a month and that will make the power 3's easy. And now that my back edges are just about completely under control, my secondary coach can start beating me up about them too! Tonight my goal with my secondary coach is to get the push correct onto the RBO edge and be able to hold it all the way around, and I am hopeful I'll be successful!

My lesson yesterday was pretty good. Besides all the 3-turn work and some crossover stroking, my coach was particularly happy with my waltz jump. Getting more flow into and out of it and my landing position is so much more solid. It's a great feeling. He also insists that I can do my salchow without putting my free foot down first (just a slight touch down) but somehow my body isn't aware of having that ability!

Happy skating,
Pat

[mikawendy]

I think I spend more time on this one skill (or not-yet skill) than anything else I do, to the point I almost want to quit. I worked on it so long that my spinning foot started aching, so I had to move on to something else.

I start from the T position, not back crossovers yet. I can do the left knee bend, move the left arm around and do the 3turn. I cannot yet pull my free leg around and get over my left hip/spinning leg. I can sometimes get the free foot near my skating knee, but not often. I also tend to drop my arms (I know this doesn't help my balance) I'm also not sure exactly when to straighten my skating leg, no matter how many times either one of my coaches tell me. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

I had to practice the spin entry with the free foot coming around and staying extended to the front before I could pull it in for a real scratch spin. My instructor at the time really concentrated on making sure my free hip was not lifted when my free leg came around to the front--whenever it was lifted, it threw me off the spin, made me uncentered, or made me catch an edge.

I also practiced a lot of one foot spins from a T with my free foot next to my skating foot, rather than in a crossed position, to get the feel of spinning on one foot and to work on the entry.

Also, have you ever done ballet? The feeling of the path of the free leg reminds me of ronds de jambe en l'air en dedans (only the free leg is lower in the spin entry and not as turned out), or the path of the leg at the beginning of an en dedans pirouette done with a sweeping leg, or a "backwards" fouette turn.

Good luck! I am currently having a mental block on backspins. I have had some good days and some not so good days, but I am not able to get a lot of revolutions that are centered and do it consistently. Grrrr. I'm highly envious of this one adult skater at my rink--not only does she have lovely double jumps, but she has a really fast backspin.....

[NCSkater02]

Also, have you ever done ballet? The feeling of the path of the free leg reminds me of ronds de jambe en l'air en dedans (only the free leg is lower in the spin entry and not as turned out), or the path of the leg at the beginning of an en dedans pirouette done with a sweeping leg, or a "backwards" fouette turn.



Huh?? :lol: No, I have never done ballet. I'm thinking about trying it, because I understand it will help. I've also tried yoga and want to start it and/or Pilates.

Heat Haze I had 2/3 of the rink to myself for about 45 minutes. The camp kids were playing hockey beyond the blue line, so I had the rest. I worked on the :evil: scratch spin first to get it out of the way. I changed what I was doing a little--I focused on staying over my skating hip and just bringing my free leg around to about 2:00 rather than trying to cross over. I managed to do a couple of rotations a couple of times, but fell forward onto my toe pick. BUT, I was over my hip and on the sweet spot (oh so briefly). I also worked on all four edges for pre-bronze moves. I haven't worked on them in months, so I was amazed that I remembered how to do any of them. The FI and FO were ok, but will need work. BI and BO--let's just say I tried them. I had to do jumps with an older youth group on the ice, but I just did them as laps--1 or 2 on each length.

Thick Fog The face plant I almost did on one of my half flips. I leaned way too far forward and almost went over. That, and all the time I spent on spinning when I could have been jumping!

[AshBugg44]

(6/16/04)
Heat Haze: I got a light entertainment program to "Punk Rock Prom Queen" from Josie and the Pussycats yesterday, while a choreographer was here from Colorado to teach my coach's kids, because my coach had her baby, Steven Nicholas, on Saturday! :D

[Ania]

Hello everybody!
I'm a long time lurker - first time poster!

Am I the only person who is taking forever to learn to do a scratch spin? It seems like one session I make progress, then the next, I go backwards. What is the secret to getting over the skating leg?

No, definitely not! It took me more than a year, and for the first 9 months I made NO progress at all. I was getting frustrated with it, and ready to quit (thinking I'll never ever learn to do a one-foot spin). I don't know if the way I finally learned will help you, so let me just share my experience.
A couple of months before I learned the spin, I started doing it on the floor (wooden floors are the best :) ), ~ 1.5 - 2 revolutions. And one day it just magically transferred onto the ice: I went from not being able to do anything resembling a one-foot spin to 5 perfectly centered revolutions (and I had 2 coaches as witnesses of this miracle - they were stunned but happy for me). My free foot however was not crossed, and it took me another 3 months to learn to cross it.
So, if nothing else works you might give it a try on the floor (socks on, shoes off :) )
Good luck!!!

Anna

[NickiT]

Heat Haze

I had a fabulous lesson today. So much so that after skating my free programme clean three times, my coach was at a loss as to what to say :P . I only hope I haven't peaked too soon as we have our skating club's annual open competition next week. Still it's a great feeling to get through it not once but three times out of three totally clean.

After my lesson we had our weekly jumps class and then the six of us entering the small group artistic class had a dress rehearsal of our number. Batikat brought her video camera so we had it filmed and were able to see what we all looked like. We had a great time and felt very swish in our beautiful dresses!!!


Thick Fog

Still finding that after doing a few decent camel spins I then go and lose them. Still as long as I can pull off a reasonable one in my programme I'm not unduly worried!

Nicki

[Cinderella]

THICK FOG - They say you never really know what you've got till it's gone. Well this week was the first week of the summer session, and it is just cram-packed with kids now that they are out of school. I know I'll get used to it eventually, but I feel like I need rear view and side view mirrors! Thank goodness it thins out a bit at the end, because trying to do things like the Power Circles MIFs are just impossible!

HEAT HAZE - On the other hand, it's really motivating to skate with such strong young skaters, and it reminds me to keep pushing and stretching. The kids at our rink are so nice and accepting of an "old" adult skater like me. I find them all delightful, especially the ones who work really hard. A couple of them stopped me during practice to tell me that they thought my axels were so BIG. Well bless them all, I've written them into my will.

OK, on to my practices. Was on the ice on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I've been working on my Intermediate MIFs because my coach wants me to test in August. I'm pretty pleased with my progress, except it's time to improve on those Clockwise forward power circles! The power 3s on the end caps are coming along, now that I've figured out how to push so there is actually some power (and that wonderful crunching noise) going on.

What's especially WONDERFUL is that I seem to have gotten my "groove" back. My knees are no longer hurting and I'm excited about all the new things I'm learning. Monday was a Creative Moves class and I picked up a couple of cool arm movements to do during sit spins.

Today's practice was especially fab. Hubby came to videotape, and I showed him all the new stuff I'm learning. Apparently my layback has progressed from just an eyebrow-back. There is at least a little lean happening now. Jumps were strong, moves were fast with good edges. I worked myself into a big sweatball! Tonight I'll watch the videos and critique.

[NCSkater02]

No, definitely not! It took me more than a year, and for the first 9 months I made NO progress at all. I was getting frustrated with it, and ready to quit (thinking I'll never ever learn to do a one-foot spin). I don't know if the way I finally learned will help you, so let me just share my experience.
A couple of months before I learned the spin, I started doing it on the floor (wooden floors are the best :) ), ~ 1.5 - 2 revolutions. And one day it just magically transferred onto the ice: I went from not being able to do anything resembling a one-foot spin to 5 perfectly centered revolutions (and I had 2 coaches as witnesses of this miracle - they were stunned but happy for me). My free foot however was not crossed, and it took me another 3 months to learn to cross it.
So, if nothing else works you might give it a try on the floor (socks on, shoes off :) )
Good luck!!!

Anna

We started working on scratch back in ?Jan?, then slowed down while I was working on programs for competing, but I still practice spinning for 15-20 minutes out of each 60-90 minute session. It seems like a big waste of my time, but I have to do it to get past prebronze, so I keep plugging away at it.

I do have a spin trainer--the plastic, arched one--but not really anywhere to practice it at home, and my daughter has banned me from spinning and jumping in the house. Hmmmm, maybe I should take it to work.

It does help to know that I'm not the only one struggling with it. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

[kisscid]

IT'S ALL HEAT BABY!!!
I passed my learn to skate school test. :) We are doing ISI and I just passed levels 5 & 6 ( which is roughly delta and freestyle 1) I'm walking on air (though my 2 foot spin still kind of sucks). On to the next challenge.
Cid

[Mrs Redboots]

Heat Haze

I had a fabulous lesson today. So much so that after skating my free programme clean three times, my coach was at a loss as to what to say :P . I only hope I haven't peaked too soon as we have our skating club's annual open competition next week. Still it's a great feeling to get through it not once but three times out of three totally clean.Well done - I'm feeling the same, as the competition Looms Large. Plus we have our local club competition tomorrow, so I've entered my Interpretive in there to be a dress rehearsal and to know vaguely what British judges will think of it - French and American judges loved it! Of course, what with one thing and another, I've barely skated this week..... typical.

See you on Thursday!

[NickiT]

See you on Thursday!

I can't believe the Opens are upon us again so soon. This year has gone so quickly. I'm looking forward to seeing you again on Thursday, Annabel!

Nicki

[NCSkater02]

Heat Haze Had a pretty good lesson--we actually worked on something new, although I think my coach is trying to kill me. I learned waltz jump-side toe hop-waltz jump. I may not seem like much, but with my fear of the STH from a nasty fall, it was a BIG step forward. It was actually pretty cool. Worked on scratch spin too. I really worked hard on unclenching my toes on my skating foot, and it seems to make a difference. Now, if I could just make my other body parts move together. :frus:

Thick Fog Not much, really. I think I made some progress on the scratch spin, so I won't whine about that today. :lol: