Regal/Rotten - Lessons and Practises 4-9 August 2002 [Archive]

icenut84

08-04-2002, 06:36 AM

This is for yesterday. My first skate with my new blades!!

[b:edbef3a7e0]Regal:[/b:edbef3a7e0]

Coach said waltz jump is good (good takeoff and good landing)

Salchow and toe loop ok (they happened) but hardly mesmerising

Forward spirals on both right and left foot :mrgreen: Did a left one first (I'm a leftie), coach said it was good and my leg is apparently above my waist 8) He asked me to do one on my right foot too (I never practice right ones because they weren't very good), he said that one was good too which I was surprised (and happy) about! Leg above waist there too. Just have to remember to turn out foot/hip on the right one.

1 foot spin - not exactly regal, but I'm making progress, even though it's not much faster than an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping. Did one or two slightly better ones though. Will take a while to get used to the blades - they ahve more of a rocker than I'm used to, and also a different size/shape toe pick. However, I'm getting there...

Back cross rolls a little better

When we worked on the Swing Dance, was told it was better. The mohawk was better in it too (apart from one which was [i:edbef3a7e0]terrible[/i:edbef3a7e0]), but the backwards skating in it felt a bit stronger and smoother.

Pivots (especially FI) MUCH better :)

[b:edbef3a7e0]Rotten:[/b:edbef3a7e0]

Mohawks in group lesson were a bit gross! I have come to the conclusion that an inside mohawk is one of the most graceless moves in the world.

Loop still not happening, although the turn on the toe is a bit better.

On one 1 foot spin in lesson, went onto the wrong place on the blade (ie. the back 8O ) and avoided falling but hurt my back in the process. Hmph.

Still having trouble with the "hook" on spins.

Back cross cuts not great.

Came off 20 minutes early (meaning I had a grand total of 35 minutes practice time this week) because I was really tired (not much sleep the night before), had zero motivation and my ankle bone was hurting. :(

nutty-ducky

08-04-2002, 09:35 AM

Regal:
Forward Crossovers are coming along very good. I was told to bend my knees a bit more, but other from that i think they are ok. :D
Backward Crossovers were ok but same with these, i need to bend my legs alot more cos i have to stay down on the legs.
Three-jump is very very very good! :D yippee! I now have to do the proper entrance to it, the LFO 3-turn, then pull up skating backwards, step forward and then jump. i am very happy about this jump! :D

Rotten:
2-foot spin was not very good, i managed 1 and then it sort of went. it wasn't too bad but not very good. i have to get the weight onto the ball of my left foot! I am also learning a 2-foot spin into a 1-foot spin. i managed to do it once today and it was the first time ever trying it! i nearly made it around once but then stopped! d'oh! :frus:
mohawks - i have to do it froma forward inside edge to a backwards inside edge. first time i ever did it. it is quite hard! when i do it i have to make sure that my right foot is turning out.
ok, i am going to practice tomorrow morning and see how i do.

Mrs Redboots

08-04-2002, 12:11 PM

[color=brown:5cbf2682c8][b:5cbf2682c8]Rotten[/b:5cbf2682c8]: Well talk about a bad hair day - himself was having a bad skate day, I think. All his swing rolls were kicking footballs, no hip or shoulder movements [i:5cbf2682c8]at all[/i:5cbf2682c8] and in his private lesson he looked as though he was letting his coach haul him round in the Golden Skaters' Waltz, not partnering her round like he should! The only swing rolls he did that were decent (that I saw) were the rondés in the Riverside Rhumba - and they are meant to be rondés, not swing rolls.....

So in our couples lesson we were made to work on the Dutch Waltz, this time focussing on nothing but the pattern (which meant Sir forgot every single thing he had been told about extension, knee-bend, timing, bringing his feet together, and I don't know what else....). We managed, but even our last run-through to the music was pretty dire. The coach said it was okay, but it was horrendously slow, I thought.

But bad skate days happen to us all; hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Oh, and before we got off, I made him try to do two-footed slaloms in hold, which we will need for the Cha-cha when we get round to working on it. [i:5cbf2682c8]Not[/i:5cbf2682c8] a success![/color:5cbf2682c8]

[color=indigo:5cbf2682c8][b:5cbf2682c8]Regal:[/b:5cbf2682c8] (Imperial Purple, you see!) Not a great deal, really. I did a lap of swing rolls while waiting for himself to finish his lesson which weren't bad. The Dance Champions had judges in assessing them, which meant that we had to give way to them all the time, but also meant we got to see their dances in full for the first time, and they really are great! It's lovely watching them improving year by year.

I just hope tomorrow will be better.[/color:5cbf2682c8]

melanieuk

08-04-2002, 02:06 PM

[b:5860187cc4]Regal[/b:5860187cc4]
I didn't skate today but went to watch my club's competitions, straight after a nightshift at 7.15am! 8O

It was friendly, and quite informal.
My skating friends seemed more nervous than usual for some reason - maybe because they've not had a comp at their home rink for years!

I was sitting on the pop-up seats, and managed [i:5860187cc4]not[/i:5860187cc4] to fall on my butt as I did at the Gala! :roll:

It's given me a taste of what it would be like competing against my "friends" and I think I could handle that.
I'll have to wait till next year though........ :wink:

Hannahclear

08-04-2002, 04:11 PM

Regal: Well, the sit spin is alot better, the squats I have been doing (shoot the duck without the shoot) have really helped and I've been holding it a bit lower, though I still can't pull up into a scratch spin.
Scratch: slow but OK
Loop: Not bad, not bad at all. Pretty good flow overall, I know I'm in the right position.
Forward Crossovers: a little slow, but I'm using good posture.

Rotten: flip: didn't feel quite right today, I wasn't sure I was in the rotational position, so I laid of for today.
Camel: any advice? I'm quite bad at this spin. Where's Miss Indigo?

The lazy lazy college students who work at the MSU arena haven't even made up the schedule for the week of the 5th, (TOMORROW :evil: ), so I don't know how much ice I'll have. I like to go twice per week, so we'll have to see what happens. I'll have to look into club ice for the fall.

MissIndigo

08-04-2002, 07:20 PM

[quote:88cfaed11d="Hannahclear"]
Camel: any advice? I'm quite bad at this spin. Where's Miss Indigo?
[/quote:88cfaed11d]

Hey!

Let's see...first off, you must be sure you are stepping inside your circle on the entry. Then check for a deep knee bend on what will be the spinning leg. Once you can't hold that entry edge any longer, it's time to snap into the spin by straightening the knee and whipping back with the arm on the side of your spinning leg (left arm if you're CCW, right if you're CW). This is the real key to the spin, as it is during the whip where what was for simplicity's sake straight-line motion is translated into tight rotational motion. Tuck your abs in too--you become longer and narrower thus decreasing your moment of inertia about your rotating axis. Now I like to imagine that I'm an airplane that can rotate around each of my three axes. Be sure to keep your chin tipped up, as your head acts as the rudder that will control the pitch of your spin and counteract the natural tendency you'll have to tip forward once you lift your leg high (y-axis motion). At first, keep your arms out to the side and slightly back (birdlike, as you would when first learning a spiral) in order to control the roll of the spin (so you won't be falling to the outside or inside of your spin...x-axis motion). The spinning motion actually occurs around your z-axis, with control of your body around your other two axes determining the success of your spin.

One thing that makes this spin difficult to control is that you are no longer a narrow cylinder rod spinning about the z-axis...you turn more into a short, long rod spinning around the z-axis. The radii of two such shapes are very different. The cylinder's radius is short compared to the length of the rod. If I were to calculate my moment of inertia as a cylinder and the long rod, I would find my M of I as rod is 375 times that of me as a cylinder! This is indicative of more kinetic energy needed throughout the spin in order to keep its speed. Imagine the energy it would take to keep a camel as fast as a scratch! Oi!

Keep at it! You'll get it! Perhaps we could swap spins...my camel for your sit? :wink:

Debbie S

08-05-2002, 07:55 AM

Regal:

Well, after I fell on my first toe loop attempt in practice yesterday (backward and hard!), I thought the day was going to be bad. But I landed it all the rest of the times I tried, and I can feel myself getting more height on it, and my arms feel more coordinated w/ the rest of my body. So good news to report there.

I think my scratch spin may be returning (I'm trying to careful not to jinx myself!) I even worked a little on the layback spin we're learning - now that's something to make you dizzy!

Waltz jump/toe loop combo is coming along.

I landed a half lutz, which we haven't learned yet, and I'm proud to report that I do not flutz! (After years of giving Tara L. and Sarah H. a hard time b/c of their flutzes, I better have the right technique!) I found it easier to make sure I was maintaing the BO edge when I did it on a circle.

Rotten:

I reverted to old habits/mental blocks with the salchow. But I rationalized by saying that the jump is a couple of levels above me, so no need to rush.

Sit spin is so frustrating. My problem is just getting my free leg to stay up - and I can do a shoot-the-duck, and the squats. Maybe it's just my general spin problems that are holding me back.

I still have problems w/leaning to far forward and scraping my toe pick when I know my turns, etc. should be smooth. Any tips?

The ice was terrible. I think it was too soft. In certain spots, my toe pick kept slipping out as I went in to my toe loop - that happened when I fell. In the lutz corner, you could see the huge chunks taken out by the people practicing lutzes. A couple of times, I felt my edges catching ruts/grooves and had to steady my balance - maybe it was the heat outside - about 95 degrees. We're finally supposed to cool down by the middle of this week, so maybe the ice at Wed. lessons will be better. Usually I like the ice a little soft, but this was scary.

SusanaO

08-05-2002, 10:12 AM

[color=indigo:f16eafd0ef]Regal
Learned FO 3 turns for the first time on Saturday. They weren't very good and I just worked on them towards the end of my lesson. I had tried a FI 3 turn once, fell flat on my behind and scared my 6 yr old daughter to death. :oops: So, I was a bit scared to try 3 turns again. However, I spent about an hour on them on Sunday and I am proud to say that I can now do pretty decent left AND right FO 3 turns!!! 8O [/color:f16eafd0ef]

[color=red:f16eafd0ef]Rotten
I can now do a decent RFI mohawk, but the left side of my body just refuses to cooperate, thus LFI mohawk is nowhere to be found. :roll: [/color:f16eafd0ef]

garyc254

08-05-2002, 10:38 AM

REGAL - I stayed vertical. That's all that was regal.

ROTTEN - EVERYTHING!!! 8O
Had an hour to warm up before my lesson. Couldn't hold an edge, do mohawks, 3-turns, nothing. By lesson time I was distraught and very upset. My coach did everything she could think of to help (knees, shoulders, arms), but it just wasn't going to happen. We even went back to basic edge practice. Nothing worked. All of my moves were in some parallel dimension where I don't exist.

Maybe it'll be better at my lesson tonight.

quarkiki2

08-05-2002, 10:39 AM

I was just practicing yesterday. For a Sunday, the rink wasn't too crowded, but the ice was pretty bad. Fortunately, though, I stepped off the ice after about ten minuted to relace and then they called a break to resurface, yippee!

Regal: My stroking seems to feel more regualar and far less tippy than a few weeks ago. Taught myself right and left t-stops, discovered I'm far better at right. Worked a bit on spirals -- I can do an upright and now I'm trying to convince myself I can tip at the hips to help with amplitude and to hit a true spiral position. I can almost get my leg to my waist with minimal bending, so I feel like I'm cheating a bit. Guess this is one area where all of the ballet lessons helped out -- the arabesque was always my favorite move, so I am highly anticipating the day when I can zoom down the rink in a beautiful spiral!

Also worked a lot on backwards skating and stroking. I have picked up quite a bit of speed here in the last few weeks, yay! That's the first thing I did after the resurface and I felt terrific seeing the tracings from my backwards slaloms -- they were well spaced and very even all the way down the side of the rink, YAY! Tried a few backward glides, which I can hold for about 1 second, but that's 1 second longer than before, LOL! Did some backwards pumping in preparation for learning back crossovers, that felt pretty good, especially on the right-over-left (eventually) side.

Forward crossovers haven't left, though I did feel a bit of fear on the left-over-right again. Maybe that's a rotten. I pick up so much speed right over left now that I can barely stop, LOL! I must work on stopping from greater speeds, LOL!

Rotten: Fear on the left over right forward crossovers again. I still did them, and I was don a better job with the right outside edge than before, so that's good!

I'm getting ready for our learn-to-skate camp the week of the 12-16. It is adults only and right now there's not a whole bunch of people signed up, so I should be in a fairly small class, yay! I don't think that I'll have enough mastered to pass Beta, but it should be a good start for fall lessons, plus I might learn a few fun things, too!

MissIndigo

08-05-2002, 11:31 AM

[quote:b02e1fe4f3="Debbie S"]

Rotten:

I still have problems w/leaning to far forward and scraping my toe pick when I know my turns, etc. should be smooth. Any tips?

[/quote:b02e1fe4f3]

Are you referring to three turns, or just turning in general? I'll try to explain as best I can using the three turn as an example.

On the approach to the turn, your upper body should be square, with hips and shoulders perpendicular to the ice. You should feel a small arch in your lower back and feel your seat tucked under you, in the same plane with hips and shoulders, if you're straight. Take care to stay relaxed--you want enough tension to control your move but not so much your legs and upper body freeze. If you're scraping your toe picks, sounds like you may be breaking at the waist a little, which will throw you forward too far onto the ball of your foot. So first off check your balance.

In the three itself, you want to think, "heel, ball, heel", as this is how you will rock your foot inside your boot to shift your weight properly to execute the turn. Also approach the turn with a soft, gentle knee bend, with your weight shifted toward your heel. Your knee will straighten at the apex of the turn as your weight shifts to the ball of the foot, and will return to its gentle bend upon exit where you will shift your weight back towards the heel. Check your turn to stop rotation. For LFO3 or RFI3 for example, I make sure my left arm is in a straight line with the base of my sternum and that my right arm is securely behind me, held in place my pressing my right shoulder back. If I were to liken this to the face of a clock, I'd say my left hand is at noon while my right hand and arm point toward four.

I can approach a RFI mohawk in much the same manner, only I do not rock my feet since this involves a weight shift from one leg to another. I keep my weight back toward the center and heel region of the boot, keep a gentle knee bend, and check the turn as I just described above.

Hope this helps! (I skate in boots with really high heels so I must stay conscious of not scraping my toes!)

icenut84

08-05-2002, 12:19 PM

Hi Miss Indigo
Those descriptions for the camel spin and three turns were great! Very detalied. I don't suppose you could help me too? :) I'm trying to learn a one foot upright spin from the proper entrance (backward crossovers, step forward etc). I'm having trouble getting the "hook", and getting the spin to be smooth and centred. A few tips my coach gave me on Saturday were to tense/tighten the body, and to press down on the area between my toes and ball of my foot. Any other advice? :P

Debbie S

08-05-2002, 02:06 PM

Thanks, Miss Indigo! I do think my problem is pressing forward during moves. It may be b/c I like to watch my feet to make sure I'm doing it right, but you're right, I tend to break at the waist. I think another problem may be that I'm used to a rec blade (I've only had good skates for 6 mos.), and the toe pick now seems much lower than it did before. I sometimes scrape even during back crossovers, but I guess that's b/c of the lean. I also have a fear of falling backward - which I did yesterday - so I think that might be what compels me to lean forward. Got to work on that - and my posture.

W/ the inside 3-turns, I think I have a bad habit of using my toe pick to check the turns - I know, bad move. Got to use my arms/shoulders!

MissIndigo

08-05-2002, 04:17 PM

[quote:f8e52472a2="icenut84"]Hi Miss Indigo
Those descriptions for the camel spin and three turns were great! Very detalied. I don't suppose you could help me too? :) I'm trying to learn a one foot upright spin from the proper entrance (backward crossovers, step forward etc). I'm having trouble getting the "hook", and getting the spin to be smooth and centred. A few tips my coach gave me on Saturday were to tense/tighten the body, and to press down on the area between my toes and ball of my foot. Any other advice? :P[/quote:f8e52472a2]

Sure, I'd be happy to offer up some more advice! This is cool--kinda like having my own virtual skating school. 8)

Your coach is right about tensing the body. You especially need tension through your shoulders and abs. This helps keep your shoulders and hips square, a must for good centering. In fact, you should feel the most tension through your shoulder blades if your back is straight. It should be gentle tension, not so much that your muscles feel stressed in that area. You should also feel centered during the spin when pressing on the area between the toes and the ball of the foot, with the center running right between your big toe and second toe.

During the spin windup, make sure you have a nicely bent knee during your crossover--controls the deep running BI edge and makes it easier to step into a bent knee on your FO entry edge. Stay conscious of the circle created by the BI edge, as you will want to step into the circle on your entry edge. If you step outside this circle, your shoulders may be ahead of your hips, and your centering and snap will fizzle as your free leg would have to play catch-up with the rest of you. Concentrate on keeping your weight towards the heel upon entry, and a good knee bend which deepens that entry edge. When you can't hold that entry edge any longer, it is time to snap into the spin. You bring your free leg through close to your spinning leg, and whip the arm over your spinning leg back, and rise up into the knee quickly (no need to lock it like on a camel--a very gentle bend is ok for starters), That's your hook. Now before assuming any position, even if it's as simple as crossing my feet, I like to spin around at least once or twice, maybe even three times, in an open position with my arms positioned at ten and two on the clock face with my free leg directly under the arm at the two o'clock position (since your CW--am I right?--your leg will be lined up with ten o'clock). Once I'm sure I've found my center, I take care to pull arms and legs in at the same time to whatever position I choose. To start with, you don't need fancy positions; resting your free leg near the top of your spinning leg's boot is fine.

If you are having trouble finding your center, I'll suggest this little exercise. Stand perpendicular to the thick blue or red hockey lines (if no lines painted, make one yourself by scratching one in the ice with the heel of your blade that's at least your height). Scratch a starting point on the line. Move over about 4 or 5 shoulder widths and scratch another point. This is the target you want to aim for--you want the three turn that will begin your spin as close to this point as possible. If your three turn is way away in your case to the left of the line or your mark, your entry edge was too far removed from your imaginary setup circle and most likely the free leg was rushed around too soon also. Of course if you miss the mark or line was far to the right, your entry may have been too shallow, and you waited too long to snap into the three turn that gets your spin started. The entry edge should be about a perfect semicircle if you hit near your target. I find this exercise useful on my off-days just to check my center and edge control, then go back to spin entries from back crossovers.

Hope this helps! Once you get your spin, enjoy it!

[size=9:f8e52472a2]Edited for spelling.[/size:f8e52472a2]

melanieuk

08-06-2002, 06:24 AM

[b:bc9dce30b0]Regal[/b:bc9dce30b0]
I had a really good skate this morning. The children came with me to watch.
Everything went well: loop, flip, lutz, parallel, sit.
The field moves and steps were ok.

In my lesson, I got the steps changed a bit - just as I had mastered the other one! :roll:
I had a dunmmy run at the test and coach made me reskate (guess what) the flip-toeloop, the backspin AND the parallel, which she says she's seen much better from me. :x

The not so regal is the backspin. But on the 2nd attemot she says I got 5 revs before I pulled out, so that was great!! (For me).

I was trying change foot parallels, which are still laughable, and change sits which I may have got sussed, but I'll see tomorrow when I try them again. :wink:

melanieuk

08-06-2002, 06:28 AM

[quote:568ebcd54b="Hannahclear"] Camel: any advice? I'm quite bad at this spin.
[/quote:568ebcd54b]

I don't know if this helps, but this is the way I do it, and sometimes it works! :roll:

On the entry, take a wide step - aim for the direction that you've
just come from - on a deeply bended knee.
Hold the edge, with bended knee, until it's almost ready to 3turn
itself.

Sweep your left arm round in a big arc (CCW), at the same time,
straightening the skating knee and lifting the free leg in to a spiral
position.
Keep your chin raised at all times.
Hold the position when you get it.
Fight to keep it - you need plenty of tension to maintain the spin.
My coach said to feel like you were a dog chasing your tail!

Arms:
The arm that does the "sweep" to lead you into the spin easily settles
backwards right beside the free leg.
I find it helps to keep my other arm raised upwards towards the back,
with my shoulder pressed forwards.

Keep the free hip turned out, toe pointed.
Keep a slight arch in the back, with chin up.
Sweet spot for camel: the weight near the middle to back of blade.
Does any of this help?

garyc254

08-06-2002, 07:51 AM

REGAL - My edges are back from their visit to the parallel dimension. :o I don't know what was wrong over the weekend, but last nights skate/lesson was much improved. Still a little shaky, but better. Worked on 3-turns, BO & BI edges, and that darned hockey stop.

I learned what rockers, brackets, and counters are. Not that I attempted them, but at least I'll know them when I see them. :lol:

ROTTEN - I will probably kill myself trying to learn the proper blade pressures and angle of attack on my hockey stop.

Forward and backward snowplows, no problem.
T-stop, I can do it.
Hockey stop, I might as well gain a lot of speed and run headlong into the boards. It'll save time. :lol:

TashaKat

08-06-2002, 08:55 AM

[color=darkblue:ffe6278d7e]Just a thought ...... why don't we start a monthly 'how do you do a ?????' thread and ask Adrian to make it 'sticky'? I can then archive all the stuff to Yahoo Rinksiders so that we don't lose it! We all have different 'tips' on things (I, for example, found that the sweeping the arm back on the camel just threw me off balance but it works for other people ....... ) and that way we can see the different techniques and pick what suits us :D[/color:ffe6278d7e]

TUESDAY

Blades STILL wonky but practised bits of Free programme anyway. Camel has disappeared AGAIN but backspin is better than ever! Jumps are all ok INCLUDING the axel BUT the piggin Lutz has gone and done a runner!!!! It doesn't help that my landing knee hurts more on this jump than any of the other jumps ........ I HAD IT ...... GIVE IT BACK WHOEVER HAS PINCHED IT :evil:

Darling, wonderful coach moved my blades in the break ......

[img:ffe6278d7e]http://www.wincom.net/~lwillan/Heaven.gif[/img:ffe6278d7e]

To PROVE that I was right about them being wonky both my BO & BI3's were instantly better!!! Unfortunately I've been compensating for the bad positioning so my spins were a bit off but the backspin reared it's ugly head enough to show me that I was right ;)

Dance lesson was on the European and was fine. Once I'd stopped trying to use my butt to turn the 3turn it flowed well, we managed more sequences than ever before today :D

Free lesson varied ...... camel is a bit off but nothing to be worried about, backspin was ok and is spinning better, I just need to 'fight' for the 'bad ones' now apparently ;)

Ran through step sequence and got about 6/8 of the BI3's and 7/8 of the BO3's in my programme .......... WOOHOOOOOO .... even to music!!!!

Programme was ok the first time but a got a bit of a dressing down about my 'in between' skating (don't know about you but the minute the music goes on my basics go to pot :( ). Got the lecture about 'you shouldn't be skating like that at your level, do you think that you look good out there when you skate like that?' ...... LOL, I've learned not to say YES to that one ;) The final run through (after 3.5 hours on the ice) was fraught with obstacles! A coach came and stood next to me when I was stood in the middle waiting to start (I start with a pivot, RBO double 3 ......) and started teaching her pupil PIVOTS!! just where I wanted to skate!! Camel was a bit screwy but as I turned to forwards from it the SAME COACH AND PUPIL were stood slap, bang, behind me :twisted: because a) I wasn't expecting it (my music was on and I, therefore, supposedly had priority) and b) I was in the middle of turning, I nearly fell over the back of my blade trying to avoid them (I wasn't happy). As I then came around for my loop ( I start with a couple of back crosses, step to a RFI, LFO cross, LFO 3 and into the loop) a young girl skated merrily across my path :roll: and then it was a few steps up to my step sequence ........ guess what? a dance couple were right in my way! It threw me because I was twisting around watching where they were going and missed most of the steps out :( By the time I got to the toe-toe combination my legs had died and I just COULDN'T even begin to attempt them ....... I did, however, manage to get it together for the flip (which I landed but with my nose about 3 inches from the ice), missed the backspin but went in for another and just about pulled it off! [color=indigo:ffe6278d7e]Coach pointed out that she KNEW that I was tired but that it was much more difficult to get my body back from head down than to have landed the damn thing to start with[/color:ffe6278d7e]! LOL, she's all heart :D Anyway, she WAS pleased with my efforts even if my last run through was crappy. My legs are KILLING now :(

Dance coach has got the new Freedom blades, he just started using them today :)

[size=18:ffe6278d7e][b:ffe6278d7e][color=violet:ffe6278d7e]
QUOTE OF THE DAY

Don't skate any faster than that ......... you might cause a draught[/color:ffe6278d7e][/b:ffe6278d7e][/size:ffe6278d7e]

L x

TashaKat

08-06-2002, 08:55 AM

eh? how did I manage to post it twice????

LoopLoop

08-06-2002, 09:07 AM

I almost landed a double salchow! :) Just started on it last week, but I got one completely rotated and landed on my toe pick (feet were crossed but only the right one touched down at first). It surprised me so much that I didn't even check out; unfortunately I wasn't able to get another one nearly as close. Also made a bit of progress on flying sit.

Program was very messy...almost fell twice because of overrotated jumps. Is that good or bad?

My coach has the Freedom blades too. Actually a number of coaches at my rink are playing around with them. (I skate at Fairfax Ice Arena, where Nick Perna, who invented them, teaches.)

Mrs Redboots

08-06-2002, 09:39 AM

Went to Slough last night, for their Dance Club, which was only 15 minutes' social dancing, but 30 minutes' workshop on the Riverside Rhumba.

[color=indigo:11069ded56][b:11069ded56]Regal:[/b:11069ded56] Himself was having a [i:11069ded56]much[/i:11069ded56] better skating day - of course, unlike Gary, he refused to admit anything had been wrong, but just to watch him, he was a totally different skater! The workshop was great fun; didn't really learn anything I didn't already know, but got some valuable practice in. There were a lot of people there, which was good.[/color:11069ded56]

[color=olive:11069ded56][b:11069ded56]Rotten:[/b:11069ded56] Our slaloms in hold just don't work! Mine are lighter and faster than his, and we can't seem to get them to match. They'll have to be worked on sooner or later, as we need to compete the Cha-cha in December.

We were playing with one-footed slaloms, and I made my knee hurt (again) and had to strap it for the rest of the evening. But as someone pointed out, it's like doing a press-up on one leg, so not surprising you hurt.....

The motorway was closed coming home, and the journey took forever.... Grrrrr. I am [i:11069ded56]not[/i:11069ded56] going on Thursday, as it's roadworks, so I suspect will be closed then, too.[/color:11069ded56]

Figureskates

08-06-2002, 09:52 AM

Madam coach is on vacation this week so it was practice...

Slowly getting the strength back from my bout with that Lyme Disease nonsense...All the tests came back fine so I should be rid of this thing for once and for all..

Regal: Waltz jump..still got it though not as high and as far due to diminish strength, but that will come with time.

Rotten: Salchow and toeloop...going to have to work on those at Lake Placid...I was so woefully uncoordinated on those today...

Note to Gary: I do not do hockey stops since they really seem to aggravate the rebuilt knee. I do either a modified snowplow or T-stop.

Yazmeen

08-06-2002, 10:42 AM

Rotten: My mood. Hubby couldn't sleep well on Sunday night, and when he don't sleep, I don't sleep. Tired all day yesterday. Then I wake up at 2:00 AM last nite and take forever to get back to sleep. Arrive at lesson out of sorts and achy. Almost forget to take glasses today when I get ready to drive to rink. Then I promptly leave them on (I don't use them when skating) when I go out onto the ice. Wonderful. Little Miss Wifty Uncoordinated Crank.

Regal: Two foot spin. Nice centering, mutiple revs, much improved according to coach. :D

Resuscitating (Gradually): We had major forward three turn clinic today (at my request, no less). Really worked on lengthening edges both initial and backwards. LFI3 still is forced--but I was better today on trying to do the edge, open up the hips, keep the free hip up and turn naturally. Emphasis on trying to make the turns natural, which at least showed some progress.

Really not close to there yet: One foot spin. Today I asked her to break it down. Spent a lot of time at the boards learning to do the three turn and then bring the free foot around with the skating foot (while holding on with left hand to eliminate fear of wiping out). Jeez, this is a bear!!!! :x I will be accumulating a lot of "wall time" this week.

Overall the session was good and helpful, and it was very worthwile and I definitely made progress; However, I came out of it frustrated, pissy and feeling low. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO HARD FOR ME????? Why can't I just EVER do anything naturally? Its always struggle, struggle, struggle for every skill (save the half toe walley, which came quickly). I know, I know, its not that bad, I've made major progress this summer, but sometimes I just HATE the fact that my learning curve for most skills is so long. It just gets really annoying sometimes.

I'm crawling back in my cave now...growl, snort, mutter...

Miss Crabby :evil:

garyc254

08-06-2002, 11:25 AM

[quote:084c774a0b="Yazmeen"] I came out of it frustrated, pissy and feeling low. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO HARD FOR ME????? Why can't I just EVER do anything naturally? Its always struggle, struggle, struggle for every skill (save the half toe walley, which came quickly). I know, I know, its not that bad, I've made major progress this summer, but sometimes I just HATE the fact that my learning curve for most skills is so long. It just gets really annoying sometimes.
[/quote:084c774a0b]

It's hard for all of us and a constant struggle to maintain what we already know while trying to develop new skills. If it was easy, anybody could do it. We are special because we keep trying.

[color=red:084c774a0b]"Turning points or milestones always occur whenever a decision is made to defy the insurmountable. What matters is making a deliberate choice not to back down, not to relinquish ambition to fear, not to be discouraged - even if everyone insists that you should be."
-- Matt Ghaffari, 1996 Olympic silver medalist, Greco-Roman wrestling[/color:084c774a0b]

sk8pics

08-06-2002, 12:04 PM

[quote:c9688d2762="Yazmeen"]Really not close to there yet: One foot spin. Today I asked her to break it down. Spent a lot of time at the boards learning to do the three turn and then bring the free foot around with the skating foot (while holding on with left hand to eliminate fear of wiping out). Jeez, this is a bear!!!! :x I will be accumulating a lot of "wall time" this week.

Overall the session was good and helpful, and it was very worthwile and I definitely made progress; However, I came out of it frustrated, pissy and feeling low. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO HARD FOR ME????? Why can't I just EVER do anything naturally? Its always struggle, struggle, struggle for every skill (save the half toe walley, which came quickly). I know, I know, its not that bad, I've made major progress this summer, but sometimes I just HATE the fact that my learning curve for most skills is so long. It just gets really annoying sometimes.
[/quote:c9688d2762]

Hang in there, Beth. I think things come in spurts for a lot of people, and maybe you're just on a little bit of a plateau. You really have made a lot of progress!

About your spin, I wanted to ask how old your blades are and if you've checked to see if you still have enough of a rocker. I found out that my blades have flattened out over 3 years so, while the rocker radius in the middle of the blade is okay, the decrease in radius going towards the front of the blade is no where near enough. So this may explain my struggles to learn to spin, or so my blade sharpener/mounter and my coach tell me. You might want to consider this, too.

As for me, I did 2 unassisted toe loops on Sunday in front of my coach (who nearly killed me with the rest of my long, long lesson), and several more yesterday. True, they're more toe-waltz than toe loops, but still it's exciting. My other coach started teaching me the pre-juv/adult bronze 5 step Mohawk pattern yesterday, and wasn't that an adventure! I can see where it's going to take me awhile, but it's a lot of fun!

Pat

Yazmeen

08-06-2002, 01:40 PM

Pat: My coach already has me working on the 5 step Mohawk, alternating sides down the line. As mohawks come much more easily to me than 3 turns, it is pretty much a breeze. I just had to learn to time each "stroke" so that they would be even. All I keep doing these days is counting "1-2-3" with crossovers, mohawks, waltz jumps, etc. to even out the moves/edges. I'm perpetually waltzing!!! (Wa wa wa wa, waltzing with bears....)

Thanks for the uplifting words, Pat and Gary and everyone. I do feel better. And I have a sharpening tonight, so I will have Dori look at my rocker.

Beth

skatesnrides

08-06-2002, 02:06 PM

Yazmeen: You are not alone..not by a long shot. I wonder the same thing every time I skate..Why can't anything come naturally, why is everything such a struggle, etc. I've been "skating" for over three years and I still feel shakey just stroking..I can't seem to control the rocking on my blades no matter what I'm doing. I've already been through ISI Alpha through FS II classes and I just put myself back into an Alpha class to regain some confidence and skills. I also share my private coaching ice with 6 international dance teams...talk about intimidating! But I agree with Gary 100%..that we're special because we keep trying. So I sympathize with you and comiserate with you and I'm there right with you, so have heart..as I do, because I think we tend to overlook how much we HAVE already achieved..and that's pretty cool!

icenut84

08-06-2002, 05:04 PM

Beth - another "You're not alone" here. Everyone feels a bit pooh about their skating sometimes, either because they don't feel they're progressing as they'd like to, or because they're having other skating problems, or whatever. I felt like that on Saturday, I came off early even though I never do that, because I had no motivation at all and was feeling really low. I was getting frustrated about certain moves and it just wasn't a good day. But I hope to be able to go tomorrow, and hopefully I'll feel better and will get more done. :) And I'm DETERMINED to get the loop. :)

TashaKat

08-07-2002, 08:00 AM

[quote:1f831623e6="icenut84"]Beth - another "You're not alone" here. Everyone feels a bit pooh about their skating sometimes, either because they don't feel they're progressing as they'd like to, or because they're having other skating problems, or whatever. :)[/quote:1f831623e6]

Oh yes, Queen of the Pooh checking in!! Look at me last week ..... a hair's breadth from giving up! All the best, Beth :D

WEDNESDAY

Life is crap and getting crappier but skating is getting better ....... mmmmm! BI and BO's are MUCH improved :) Was a very, very good girl and practised my Field Moves without being told! Also did some basic edges which are much deeper and more secure than they've ever been (hey, I AM improving ;) ).

Lesson started with Field Moves, out of the lot the consecutive FO3's are the ropiest closely followed by the BO3's with mohawk! HOWEVER, madame DID say that they would pass!!! I am NOT, though, putting my papers in until they ALL feel 'unropey' LOL.

Camel was a bit improved but I've still not readjusted to the blade being in the CORRECT place :roll: Backspin is much, much better, I can hardly believe it after all the trials and tribulations I had with the damn thing.

Programme actually went VERY well, the basics were better, fluffed the BI3 a bit and got a dance couple standing slap bang in the middle of where the BO3 goes AGAIN but it wasn't bad and I even got the backspin out AND the exit from the backspin out at the end of the programme .......

Have chosen the music for my 'interpretative' (ps did any of you manage to get a copy of the rules? ta x) ... am going to attempt to do it to 'Con te Partiro' (aka Time to Say Goodbye) by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccelli ....... it's totally adorable and I've ALWAYS loved it ....... even Madame likes it so we MAY be onto a winner :D She asked me how I envisaged it, I said "lots of trauma with the footwork and 3turns" :lol: She did comment, however, that I will need to skate properly if I'm to do it justice!

L x

melanieuk

08-07-2002, 10:46 AM

:lol:
I feel the same about my flip-toeloop. :evil:
It gets worse.
My foot was a bit achy today, but I had another lesson, with all jumps plus my programme twice (boy was I knackered after that 1.5 mins!! :roll: ) which she said would pass a test. 8O
I just haven't signed any papers yet... :wink:

The backspin is the pits, but the camel is fine. :roll:
All the kids were trying to help me (with yukky backspin), and Gemma, bless her, was starting to get annoyed because I could only do it 1 time out of 6 or so. She of course is 11, and has one of those blurry fast backspins. 8O

No skating till Saturday.

Mrs Redboots

08-07-2002, 11:19 AM

Beth, you are [i:a20a9ccedd]not[/i:a20a9ccedd] alone, and I can't sleep when my husband is restless, either! Fortunately, he seldom is, but when he is, oh boy....

But when you are an overweight, nearly 50-something, who was a couch potato for thirty years before taking up this sport, it really does take forever to learn things! My coach is always reminding me that I have made progress and that I do take longer to learn than some. "Look how far you've come!" he said.

Actually, he was in a complimentary mood today, most unlike him! He asked me to do the level 3 dances solo, and said of my Golden Skaters' Waltz that "It was like the dances that you do well; not at all bad, but you [i:a20a9ccedd]must[/i:a20a9ccedd] bend your knee more and extend more!"

He's quite right, of course (listen to that rain! And that thunder is nearly overhead!), my free leg is horrendously apt to dangle in the breeze. I noticed it when I was working on my changes-of-edge; especially the inside-to-outside, which I still find challenging - my free leg, because I wasn't concentrating on what it was doing, was just dangling there.

As it was in my free dance, in the slow section, which now goes diagonally across the rink - it doesn't actually fit, but himself says he doesn't think I'll be penalised for that, "not at your level!" I hope he's right. Anyway, I realised that when I am doing all the 3-turns, my free leg is any old where, so I ran through it focussing on what my free leg was doing, and with it in the right place when I did a back 3 - [color=red:a20a9ccedd]and for the first time ever, I actually got some flow out of a back 3!!!!![/color:a20a9ccedd] I was delighted. I can get pretty good flow out of my FO3s now, and usually on the exit edge of my FI 3s (but not flow into them yet), but not on the back 3s, so this was a milestone. Of course, I couldn't reproduce it.

Also pleased to find I can do FI twizzle, FO edge, FI twizzle - rather slowly and ponderously, but I can do them.

My coach says I must work on my bending and stretching off ice to strengthen my knees - the knee I didn't strap on Monday was playing up and had to be strapped up today. I showed him how my 1-footed slaloms were coming along, but added I didn't dare do much more than that.

All in all a pretty good skate day.

singerskates

08-07-2002, 04:57 PM

Regal:

I'm back on the ice after being off of the ice for 2 months. I first touched the ice this summer on vacation down in Clearwater Florida. That was it. I was hooked again. Like a drug addiction, one taste and you're back at it skating.

Waltz jumps, forward spins and footwork for my freeskate program.

Rotten, the ice I'm skating on. Canadian Adult Ice. Canadian Adult Ice means, all levels of skaters and disciplines at the same time. There were people on the ice that could barely stand on the ice. There were a few other freeskaters on the ice but they were also limited by who was on the ice. Then there were ice dancers. Let's say, this summer will be a time to just work on elements and/or sections of my freeskate. I can't even think about choreographing my interpretive freeskates, US and Canadian (time differences).

Perspective: This summer skating once a week on ice that's not exactly great will give me a chance to work on individual elements. I'm hoping though that I'll get a crack at the loop, flip and lutz if I can find the space on the ice.

Overcomings:I'm trying to get a waltz/loop happening right out of a LBI3 which comes after a RI Open Mohawk. So far my LFO edge on the back end of the LBI3 is not riding long enough to hook the waltz jump to jump high enough to get the loop on the end of the waltz jump. I'll be trying to fix that tonight. This is only one of four jumps being done out of steps in my freeskate program. I also hope to hook that RB upright spin (ea. backspin) so that I can get more than one rotation, maybe 4. Need to sit lower in sit spin and get more than 2 rotations. I'm not much of a spinner. Jumps are way easier so far for me.

Brigitte

MissIndigo

08-07-2002, 06:22 PM

Regal:

Camel spins, scratch spins, backspins! Also began working on back camels and even the flying camel! 8O Can't wait to get my cast off so I can really attack that one. Had some really good attitude spins too...

Also had a really fast sit spin in a good position, so fast that when I rose out of it and pushed off on my exit edge, I was way dizzy and fell to the ice like a noodle! :lol:

Rotten:

Jumping. Especially waltz jumps, but what can I expect with this stupid cast?? I'll be so glad when it comes off next Monday.

Debbie S

08-08-2002, 08:12 AM

Regal:

I finally (re) discovered my scratch spin! I think I did about 5 or 6 at my lesson yesterday. Yippee!

Toe loop and waltz-toe loop combo are good. I just have to work on not veering around after the waltz part of it.

We finally learned the BO turns. Mine definitely need work, but they're not as scary as I thought they'd be.

Now I can pass Freestyle 1 next week. Yay!

Rotten:

Fell on my rear on a lunge. Another woman in my lesson told me that she was just about to complement me on it (she was a little behind me) when I lost my balance. Then, she said she was worried about running me over! :)

Well, this isn't really rotten, but my instructor had us work on alternating FO 3-turns and told us the proper way to hold our arms was away from the circle - same w/BO 3s. When I first learned turns in Basic 4 or something like that, my instructor told us to open our arms toward the circle where we were turning. So now, I guess I've got to learn to do it the other way. Is there a consensus view on the best way to do turns?

Fell on a sit spin in practice - I can't go a whole week w/o falling on a spin, can I? :) Of course, my sit spin attempts in my lesson were like non-attempts.

TashaKat

08-08-2002, 10:50 AM

THURSDAY

Did Field Moves and edges to start [i:ed09b2b729][color=darkblue:ed09b2b729](note to Lynne - this is a good habit to get into!)[/color:ed09b2b729][/i:ed09b2b729].

Then went onto back 3's and step sequence. My BI's ARE much improved even though I still stuff them up occasionally in my step sequence. I'm not prepared to test until I'm really, really confident with these!

Backspin was fine, camel was hit and miss BUT the hit's are much more solid now so at least there is SOME kind of progress!

Keep having the occasional fall on the flip in my programme, I DON'T know why! It's not something that I've had a problem with before ....... I AM going into it faster which I guess could throw me a bit OR it could be that I'm just not 'programme fit' for this one yet (it's right at the very end) ..... whatever it is I obviously need to keep running the programme AND lose some weight!!!!

Not much else to report, videotaped the kids who are doing the Solo Dance Championships at the weekend, they're SO good, I wish I was HALF the skater that they are :)

L x

LoopLoop

08-08-2002, 12:15 PM

[b:16debd50b1]Wednesday night[/b:16debd50b1]

* Axels, double sals and double loops were all cheated but on one foot.
* Camels were really fast.
* Flying camels nice and centered.
* Deathdrop? What deathdrop?

batikat

08-08-2002, 12:49 PM

Hi Debbie,
I'm no expert but just a thought on the 3 turns and arms. What you do with your arms in a 3 turn, depends on what you want to do afterwards. When you learned 3 turns your arms helped you to get the turn motion and you were probably doing them in isolation. Now if you are trying to do alternate 3 turns you need to check the turn ready to go in the opposite direction rather than keep turning and so your arms have to be held differently. Also as you progress you don't need your arms to help you with the turn so much as when you first learned them as the turn should come from holding the deep edge and the knee action.
That's the thing with skating - as soon as you think you have one thing cracked you learn there is a better way or a more advanced version or an alternative depending what you want to do next. Keeps it exciting. Sometimes it does seem to be such a struggle but then as my coach says "If you could do it straight away then you wouldn't need me to teach you" And 'if it was that easy then everyone could do it'.
I'm missing out on the ice for a couple of weeks as there's a hockey camp and my coach is on holiday so no lessons.
Happy skating

Debbie S

08-08-2002, 02:28 PM

Thanks, batikat! That makes sense. I've just got to fight my instincts to turn my arms one way when they should be the opposite. Sigh - wish I was more coordinated!

singerskates

08-08-2002, 09:27 PM

Wednesday Night:

Regal: speed, crosscuts and footwork. Spins are faster and have more rotation and better positioning.

Rotton: My body. Tired and stiff. Not getting enough sleep even with my naps. It took me half the session to rip off a decent waltz jump and then almost the whole session to do a waltz/toe combo. And I couldn't get a loop to happen. Everytime I went to try one, it ended up being a toe loop. Spiral (forward outside inside) was interupted by adult ice dancers and adult learn to skaters, so I never got to get my free leg up.

Perspective: Be happy I have some time on the ice to mess around and get back in shape for the fall, when my coach gets on my back for mistakes. I've got no pressure to perform now and can just do what I want (almost).

Taught some adult learn to skate hockey guys a hockey drill. Skate like a demon and then hockey stop and then off of your outside edge or your right foot push off to go in the other direction and then do the same after five strokes, repeat. Then had the guys pretend to hold hockey sticks and do the drill. I beat them all the time even though I was ready to fall over from exhaustion. First I had to correct their hockey stop. They kept on forgetting to check their right arm to stop the turn..

nutty-ducky

08-09-2002, 05:33 AM

i never noticed how hard it is to skate when you need to get your blades sharpened sooooo badly.
regal:
1-foot spin - oh it is coming along, i can get around 1 or 2 times on 1-foot. yippee! :D
Three jump - oh it is really good. i feel over once doing the jump and that was because i made my upper body collapse. but when i feel i whacked my right knee and it has a big bruise on it and there is some blood under the skin.
rotten:
RFO 3-turns - i can sometimes do it and sometimes can't. does anybody have any advice for me?

Mrs Redboots

08-09-2002, 06:13 AM

Nutty-ducky, just keep on plugging away at those RFO3s, and they will come. If you do "waltz 3s", i.e. 3-turns round the circle, with a BO edge between each, make sure you practice in both directions.

On Wednesday, there were very few of us on the ice. That was not true this morning, and, to make matters worse, there were an awful lot of what someone described as "Whizzers" - really good skaters, both free skaters and dancers, dashing about the place at speed! This made it quite awkward to get any sustained work done.

Robert and I practiced swing rolls in Kilian hold, then we tried to work on skating backwards in Kilian, but really, it was hopeless! We did a couple of end patterns of the Fiesta Tango, but there wasn't really room to work on them solidly anywhere. And we are hopeless at just plain backwards stroking in Kilian hold - it is more awkward than it sounds. Then we worked on our chasses in waltz hold, which do improve slowly, and to end with, we did a Golden Skaters' Waltz as that music was playing. It wasn't bad, I didn't think, but the third pattern was a bit funny - I think we were getting tired - so I stopped us before we started the fourth pattern.

After he had gone, I worked on my back 3-turns, backwards stroking, back chasses and swing rolls, and the backwards section of my free dance, not in pattern but just trying to give it a bit of flow, and focussing all the time on where my free leg was. I also did some changes of edge, and realise I am not sure where my free leg wants to be between the change of edge and the subsequent run. I suspect it ought to be held behind, but mine tends to dangle.....

The trouble with very good skaters is that they make you realise just how crappy you really are! Oh well, I never pretended to be other.

On a side note, my coach and his wife had enough lessons to make it worth their while coming in this morning. They don't normally come in on a Friday morning, but there is no teatime ice in the holidays, so some of their pupils had asked for early lessons. One of his pupils is staying with them, and both his wife and the pupil were yawning their heads off at 8.30 this morning, having obviously been asleep in the car. It transpired that they had been to Butlin's (holiday camp) the previous day, and had not got to bed until the small hours.... I thought of [i:6effb3cd3d]Little Girls in Pretty Boxes[/i:6effb3cd3d] where the skater lives with her coach to improve her training and her chances of making the Olympics - in this case, living with her coach seems to be rather bad for this particular skater! Her mother is away nursing a sick father, and she would rather stay with her coach, and be adored by his 4-year-old, than stay at home with her father and elder sister..... somehow, I can see the attraction!

Yazmeen

08-09-2002, 09:51 AM

nuttyducky: I had the exact opposite problem yesterday--I skated on a fresh sharpening and it was like slogging through oatmeal. At one point, I did a back outside edge, and my skating foot slowed down and came to a dead stop. There I was, one foot lifted, looking like a demented flamingo... :lol:

As for three turns, what is really helping me is learning to make the initial edge longer and longer before I turn, and trying to let the turn happen naturally. Of course, as I said in another thread, I'm still thinking of taking my LFI3 out to dinner, getting it drunk and trying to take advantage of it afterward... :wink:

Good luck,

Beth

nutty-ducky

08-09-2002, 09:54 AM

thanks annabel for the advice. next time i go ice skating i will work on my RFO 3-turn and try to perfect it! :D

nutty-ducky

08-09-2002, 10:52 AM

[quote="Yazmeen"]nuttyducky: I had the exact opposite problem yesterday--I skated on a fresh sharpening and it was like slogging through oatmeal. At one point, I did a back outside edge, and my skating foot slowed down and came to a dead stop. There I was, one foot lifted, looking like a demented flamingo... :lol:

:D :lol: shame! does anyone else need to join our group of people who need there blades sharpened very badly!? :D

TashaKat

08-09-2002, 11:10 AM

[quote:89217d7839="Debbie S"]Rotten:

Well, this isn't really rotten, but my instructor had us work on alternating FO 3-turns and told us the proper way to hold our arms was away from the circle - same w/BO 3s. When I first learned turns in Basic 4 or something like that, my instructor told us to open our arms toward the circle where we were turning. So now, I guess I've got to learn to do it the other way. Is there a consensus view on the best way to do turns?
[/quote:89217d7839]

I'm working on those rotten things at the moment too for my Inter-Bronze Field Moves test :( The way that I've been taught is:

Stroking into the first 3 - LFO3 with left arm in front, right to side and slightly back, don't rotate straight into the 3 but hold the edge first, rotate at the waist so that the right arm is stretched to the front and then turn towards the right hand (actually think of turning TOWARDS it, this will (ha ha) stop the swing!) BUT as you turn you must check strongly (but without jerking) so that the right arm is leading the way ........ the BI position that I have been taught is with the free leg turned out strongly and stretched with the toe pointed, the left arm is in front of your body and the body rotated from the waist towards the free leg (it's almost a feeling of trying to rotate so that you're facing backwards towards your free leg). When you step to forwards you bring your feet back together (in a controlled manner) before striking onto the FO edge for the next 3. An exercise that Madame gets us to do is to skate backwards on a hockey circle, put your feet together, then when you are stable rotate the body towards what *should* be the free leg (again thinking of rotating from the waist) and when THIS position is stable to really turn out and stretch the free leg so that you're skating on a BI edge .... once you've mastered this THEN you can start to bring the free leg in to the skating leg and then out again ....... WITHOUT LOSING THE BODY POSITION!!!!! When you're starting to learn these things this is much easier said than done (and it DOES sound really easy doesn't it?), it DOES, however help tremendously with controlling the transition from the BI edge to the FO edge before the next 3. I have to say that my coach is predominantly a dance coach and is super strict on how these things are done! I could get away with a lot more for my test but she is majorly into control and good technique. Good luck with them ..... apparently one day they just 'click' ..... although my technique is better I still haven't had the CLICK! I can do them 'consecutively' badly but am still struggling when I try to do them 'properly' :roll: .... unfortunately she isn't interested that I can get from one 3 to the other without putting my foot down, she won't be satisfied until they're nearly as good as her kids!!!!!

FRIDAY

Got in at 7am for lesson ..... didn't get lesson until 9.45!! Long story, won't go there!

Did Field Moves up to BO3's (which are better or, at least, feel better). Did some edges too, am 'reeducating' my body to do the FI's as the ones required for the Blues (need to rotate body WITH the turn) are different from the ones that I learned for my last Field Moves test (more control, less body involvement).

Did BI3's FASTER on a circle and didn't chicken out :) Did step sequence which worked better :D

Backspin is getting better but the 'better' is less consistent (does that make sense?). Whatever, I'm happier to have a better backspin as I can actually feel it spinning and am getting more rotations :D the consistency will come with practise [color=darkblue:89217d7839][i:89217d7839](won't it Lynne?)[/i:89217d7839][/color:89217d7839]. Unfortunately she's trying out a new entry to the backspin which throws me off :oops: Did a few scratch spins which were good and, oops, didn't try a camel today :?

Dance lesson was okay, did the 22 step for almost the first time in about a month (last time was an unmitigated disaster because I didn't feel stable on my blades). It was okay but I've forgotten a lot :evil: INCLUDING the cross behind before the last mohawk!!! For some unknown reason I was bringing my feet side by side before turning the mohawk ....... weird!

European was fine, managed to correct one thing only to cause something else to go wrong! Nothing major but little picky bits which will, no doubt, keep cropping up now the dance is flowing well.

I haven't done the Blues for a looooong time but it wasn't too bad APART from coach trying to go into the European on the first go :?

No offence to anyone of school age out there but I can't wait for everyone to go back to school! NOT because you guys are bad BUT because a skater who usually skates later in the morning has started coming onto the early patch and is a nightmare! This is the same one that has been an obstacle course in my (and other people's) programmes all week, this morning the little cherub collided with a girl doing her programme to music (ie had priority), the girl had a pretty nasty fall only for the cherub to stand over her, hands on hips, giving her a mouthful of abuse!!! I had it on videotape but can only tell what she was saying because I KNEW what she had said!

Oh well ......... it's the Solo Dance Championships this weekend and lots of my skating friends are taking part. I can't go to support them, wish I could. Are any of you doing the Championships this year? GOOD LUCK if you are :)

L x

icenut84

08-09-2002, 04:55 PM

Nutty-ducky: about your FO3s. When I was learning them (at the same time as backward crossovers), when I practiced and was doing laps (which included practicing other stroking things, like cross rolls and edges etc), every single time I got to a specific corner I stopped, did two FO3s on each foot and a semi circle of backward crossovers in each direction, then went off again. Because I did it every time I got to that corner, I wasn't stuck in one place practicing the same thing over and over (which can get very boring and frustrating), and I also got in a lot of practice on it. It's worth trying.
About the consistency - each time you do it, make sure you're using your upper body/arms correctly, your free leg (don't let it swing around or dangle, keep it close to your skating leg), and also make sure you lift your heel on the turn. Often when people have problems with the 3 turns, it's just a case of forgetting about one little detail and as soon as they remember it, they're fine. Also don't forget the knee bend. It's hard to remember everything every time, but with practice you just do them naturally. Practice practice practice! :) Hope that helps.