Lion or Lamb: Lessons/ Practices 28 Feb- 6 March 2005 [Archive]

Terri C

02-28-2005, 06:42 PM

The lamb of my day:
My jumps came back from the dissapearing act they pulled on Thursday. Also, since the testing madness is over, there was hardly anyone there today. I also had a nice lap of forward power perimeter crossover stroking before leaving the ice today.

The GRRR lion:
Sitspin, sitspin, sitspin. What can I say?? :frus:

I chose this theme for this week's thread since March is coming in like a lion (at least in DC and points north) and goes out like a lamb.

jazzpants

02-28-2005, 06:58 PM

Lamb: The nice empty ice... LOTS of room to practice... well initially... I left just as the kids from school start showing up at the rink. :twisted:

Lion: WHY is it that when I have all the smooth ice in the word that's when I go and lose my courage like a coward lion in the Wizard of Oz? I mean, I've been doing FI mohawks at faster speeds and today I couldn't get up the courage to even do ONE at a faster speeds without building up courage to lead up to it. GRRRRR!!!!

(Alright! The real reason is that I'm trying to redo my FI mohawks so I could bring my foot closer and not do one of those FI mo-HOPS.) :twisted:

Casey

02-28-2005, 10:43 PM

Lamb: I can do the toe loop pretty effortlessly now. Thank goodness for learning the half flip first and my coach pointing out that you actually rotate a bit while lifting when the toepick is on the ice, else I would still not have accomplished this jump. Only occasional problem is that I'll sometimes kick wrong and end up on the blade instead of the toepick. I managed to pull off a salchow twice today, but it definitely needs work and practice. Last but not least, for all my missteps and fumbles today after so much time off-ice, I always managed to catch myself and find a balance, so I never fell, which was nice.

Lion: Well I've been sick for the last couple weeks, so today was my first time on ice since Thursday when I had a lesson, and I didn't skate before that since the prior weekend. In addition I've been really busy with a couple short-term gigs that came up, so I've had no free time to rest up and get better. My skating has as a result been kinda crap, but it felt very good to get out on the ice today. Sick or not, I plan to skate every day this week so I am in a better state for my lesson on Thursday - last week I was disappointed in myself. My coach says I'm actually doing very well, but I don't feel the confidence I want yet.

falling_rain

03-01-2005, 06:30 AM

Lamb: i have no school this week and it's the last few days before my competition on Saturday. so yay. loads of practice time available...

the Lion: my camel spin is on holiday. :cry: i'm just about ready to cry. and full of nerves too.

LoopLoop

03-01-2005, 08:38 AM

Lamb: Because of the snow my FS session was nearly empty last night! The first half hour there were four of us on the ice, and the second half only two. Plus I had a lesson with my FS coach which has been quite rare lately.

Lion: I'm in the midst of reworking my flying sitspin. Grrr. I now have a takeoff which is excellent technically, but the spin part is hit-or-miss.

sue123

03-01-2005, 09:47 AM

i had to cancel my skating lesson today. too much snow. actually, last night, i called my coach and we both agreed it was snowing too much, and the rink might not even be open, so i can't skate until friday. stupid snow. even if hte rink was open, i wouldbn't have made it back in time for my exam since people drive muuch slower in the snow. oh well, c'est la vie.

jazzpants

03-01-2005, 02:47 PM

Went back to skate on Monday night....

Lamb: My FI mohawk started coming back towards the end of the session. Seems I forgot to just concentrate on holding the FI edge before the mohawk. I also forgot to press on the ball of the foot on the FI edge before the switch so that I would get more FI curve on the edge. The adults were cheering for this one Monday night regular (a 50 something year old gal) who is trying for a sit spin. She recently started taking private lessons every other week with my primary coach and seems happy with him so far... so YAAAAY! :D

Lion: FI mohawk still not as much speed as before. I hope this will be temporary. Also, my young friend who refers to me as "Auntie Jazzpants" was injured doing something and had to limp off the ice. I hope she's okay. :cry:

Looks like a Lamb but sounds like a Lion to me: Primary coach used me as a model for a backspin for another fellow skater. Don't know how to take this but he commented that I "am rocking back and forth between the inside and outside edge", instead of spinning all on the inside edge (which seems to be what she's doing.) Primary coach seems happier these days with my backspin. Me? No way! I want it ALL on the BO edge!

Of course, after the demo, I snickered to the student that I HATE doing the backspin too (reassuring her that it's a very difficult spin to get.) Of course, I made sure our primary coach hears it too... so he knows to make me work on it on our next lesson. :twisted:

dbny

03-01-2005, 02:52 PM

Lamb:
Once again, after teaching a few lessons today, the public session was so empty and the ice so good that I stayed and practiced myself. I did the best power threes ever: in control, real crossovers, decent threes. I forgive myself for lack of speed because it's been about six weeks since I've been able to do these at all. FO alt threes were also back. I even got a few one foot spins, one of them quite nice.

Lion:
I now have a theory about what's been going wrong with many of my moves. After I've been on the ice for more than an hour or two, my L foot begins to collapse inward, making anything with a FO edge very difficult. Even though I have the pronation all the time, I seem to be OK at first. One of the adult skaters present this AM gave me the names of two podiatrists. Hopefully, one of them will take my insurance. After three hours, I had to leave the ice in pain, even though I was just skating around talking.

Mrs Redboots

03-01-2005, 04:44 PM

Lion: Having spent ages cutting some music for an Interp piece, I found I'd done the original recording far too loud, and it distorted. Have just spent a couple of hours re-cutting it, and now there are some jags in it that weren't there before. Sigh.... But I think it will play all right now.

Lamb: Even with a poor recording, I had fun choreographing it this evening. I'm using the same music as Michigansk8er (with her knowledge and consent), and will be interested to see how she interprets it.....

Petlover

03-01-2005, 05:43 PM

Lamb: Change foot spin is back, and form is beginning to be better than ever! After one crazy salchow, it was pretty good too.

Lion: Outside edge mohawk just does not want to cooperate. That may be the toughest move in ISI FS3! I think back 3-turns are far easier.....

Terri C

03-01-2005, 06:45 PM

Lamb:
My sitspin made a couple of brief, but effective appearances on the ice today, one of them being during my program runthrough on lesson! :D
Sans a lousy scratchspin, the program runthrough was good!

Lion:
I hate skating on Tuesday afternoons- it's too crowded! :frus:

NCSkater02

03-01-2005, 07:06 PM

Lamb: I can walk again!! I can ditch the big bulky splint for a small, more streamlined one, and only have to use the crutches for distances. The xrays look great!

Lion: I have no ankle or calf strength. And though I've been walking unassisted for nearly *cough-cough* years, I'm going to have to re-learn it. My left leg doesn't seem like it knows what to do.

And I'm still off the ice. :cry:

Debbie S

03-01-2005, 07:47 PM

Congrats on your freedom, NCSkater! I had a bad knee injury a little over a year ago and I was in one of those velcro braces for 3 weeks. When I could stop using it, I went to PT and the therapist did these assessment-type exercises and demonstrated to me how little strength I had in that leg vs. the other one. It was scary, but once I started doing the exercises, it got back to normal. Hang in there!

Lion - no skating yesterday b/c of the snow here.

Lamb - nothing yet, except that it's almost spring...I think. :??

Mrs Redboots

03-02-2005, 06:51 AM

Lion: Actually, for me, this is the wrong way round, as I don't want to roar in anger like a lion, I want to wail in despair like a little lamb who's lost his mummy, because my coach doesn't like my music for my Interpretive..... so I can't enter the Streatham Opens (phew!) as there won't be time (do I mind? No!). He said he would have a listen and see, but he reckons it isn't "acting" enough for me (I happen to disagree, but still!). So I have no idea what I'm going to do for this year, but if I don't get some music soon I'm not going to have one in time for the Mountain Cup.... wa-a-a-a-a-il......

Plus they are replacing the boards inside the barriers at the rink, and it got so noisy we all had to leave.... which I was going to do anyway, as I'm skating again later today. But all the same....

Lamb: Well, skipping and dancing like a spring lamb, my back was okay this morning. Well, relatively. Okay enough for me to have my lesson and to do all the things I'm supposed to. Coach tells me how much better I'm skating now - which I agree with! So he gets pickier.... like, I'm working my waltz 3s, and all he says is "Point your toes!". I said I supposed it was a compliment, but I was so focussing on staying off the toes of my other foot that I didn't have time to remember to point the ones I wasn't on!

NickiT

03-02-2005, 07:33 AM

Lamb
I had a good lesson today. My lutz-loop combination and my camel-sit combination are both feeling a lot more consistent in my programme now. I only skated once to music today but I impressed my coach as I remembered to use my arms and look up with my head!

Lion
This could be under Lion. Then again it could be under Lamb. I've decided to skate at the Streatham Opens next month....aaarrrggghh. It's not that I don't want to compete, I just get so nervous, which is why I'm making myself go through this whole ordeal again. With a bit of luck the more I compete the easier it will get on the nerves front. So, Annabel, I may well be seeing you soon!

Nicki

Mrs Redboots

03-02-2005, 10:19 AM

Lion
This could be under Lion. Then again it could be under Lamb. I've decided to skate at the Streatham Opens next month....aaarrrggghh. It's not that I don't want to compete, I just get so nervous, which is why I'm making myself go through this whole ordeal again. With a bit of luck the more I compete the easier it will get on the nerves front. So, Annabel, I may well be seeing you soon!Yes, we'll be there. I'm not competing - see above - but will be there helping out, don't know what at yet. We had to put off our trip to the USA by two days in order to be there, so I'll have to do *something*! Any of the rest of your crowd coming?

flo

03-02-2005, 11:46 AM

Lion: Still in my old boots and doing what I can. I called and my new ones will be shipped in a week or two! Then I can try to get in some fierce practicing for nationals!

Lamb: Got to resolve some choreography problems. I was having a hard time doing the figure loop out of a spin, so I moved it to a pre-dizzy spot!

crayonskater

03-02-2005, 12:34 PM

Ooh, ooh. I can post here now!

Lion

Due to the snow and a scheduling mixup, I didn't get my lesson this week. :( Between that and the little boy on hockey skates shooting pucks into a net (with his dad's help) during the um, morning freestyle session, it was less of a productive week than it could have been... but....

Lamb

So all I do is edges on a line, usually, my forward ones being better than my backward ones. But I discovered today I can do my FOs and FIs in a low shoot-the-duck position. Which is, on my scale of 0-to-not falling over, pretty cool. :)

Mrs Redboots

03-02-2005, 05:39 PM

Just back from Alexandra Palace, and I'd left my computer on to defragment my hard drive while I was out, so thought I'd catch up. Class was fun, my back could do almost everything except FO twizzles, not that I can do FO twizzles anyway (at least, I can on one foot, but not on the other, I discovered) (why?). Then the social dancing is always great, hard work, though, with no fewer than six dances to prepare for this year's competitions, plus Husband and his Other Partner are preparing two more - she and her husband were there, so.... By the interval, my back was giving notice to quit, so I didn't get back on the ice after that, and although I'm stiff, it's no worse than tired now. So am I.... bedtime, I think!

jazzpants

03-03-2005, 01:00 AM

I agree that the Lion and the Lamb should be reversed... especially since...

For this morning...

Lion: Not happy to get to the rink to find out that my secondary coach decided to cancel her lesson with me at the last minute. However... well, she looked like crap this morning b/c she's sick...

Lamb: Got in some good practice this morning. Too bad though that I was too sleepy to pay much attention to things... My rink spy at the gym was at this morning's FS session too. :mrgreen:

For this evening...

Lion: Some stupid small fry in hockey skates who just love to dart in front of skaters "like me before I start on something..." GRRRRR!!! Secondary coach also came back to teach tonight, against her better judgement too. She looked really crappy... She wanted to teach me tomorrow, but I already have a lesson tomorrow and I expect her to still feel like crap tomorrow morning too. :(

Lamb: I think I'm starting to get back my intro 3's again. And same with my mohawks too!!! :D Also, my backspin has been close to coming as of late. It's been rockin' between inside and outside edge, but now it's more on the outside edge. But we'll see during the lesson.

FrankR

03-03-2005, 07:36 AM

Yay! I finally get to reply to one of these. :)

Here's mine for the week so far:

Lion: I got snowed out on Tuesday so no moves lesson this week. :cry: As for today, again I got the general impression that everything got a bit clumsier in my run-through. When I warmed up my jumps during the early part of the session I landed a nice big axel and that sailed in the air and on the ice on the landing. When I ran-through my program I did this teeny, whippy thing that barely resembled the one I did warming up. Grr. :evil: I hate when I do that. Oh and during my stretching and warm-up off ice prior to the session I floor-splatted on an off-ice double loop. This prompted a little girl to ask me if I was ok. To which I responded "Um...yeah." :oops: :lol:

Lamb: Despite having missed a day and the general stiff-knee syndrome that I generally suffer, my diagonal step that I do in my program actually came off okay during the program. In addition, the spins were a bit tamer today than they have been recently. I also had two people tell me that they loved my music! Yay! One of these people was none other than Julia Lautowa!! :D I told her I loved her programs at 97 Worlds. (Side note: It's a shame I didn't get a chance to see more of her in the years following those worlds. Darn NBC and ABC! ;) ) Anyway, it always feels great to know that people enjoy the music that I pick. Now, I just have to skate up to it. (Oy...I've got my work cut out for me.)

So that's it for me so far. We'll see how tomorrow and Saturday turn out.

Take care and skate well,

Frank

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 08:55 AM

Lion:
I am in a deep funk about my skating and have been wondering lately why I bother at all. I know that a lot of us go through this phase, but it's difficult to deal with when nationals is right around the corner.
Pairs spins are out of whack again and my body and mind *refuse* to learn the pair sit spin.

Lamb:
The public session last night was deserted--well, the second half. Loops and I were able to do full-ice pair stroking and unison exercises as the only people on the ice. Well, there were 2 college students there, but they were too busy sucking face by the boards. They were quite distracting, though!
Also, Loops and I have been able to fix a few stretches of our program.
My camel spin, once again, is my lone savior. I'm getting lots of revs and speed on this. I'm playing with a new entry for the flying camel as well--and it seems to work very well in my program. I've also changed my combo spin to make it more CoP friendly. :P
Lutz is also getting better. I have *very* bad habits on this jump, but now that I'm consciously aware of it, it's been easy to fix.

Frank, I love Julia as well! I have her '97 Worlds LP, '98 olympic SP & LP, '00 Europeans SP, '02 Europeans SP ("Harlem Nocturne"; the inspiration for my program this year!) & LP, and '03 FS. PM me if you want to see any of these clips. I can get them to you using the <yousendit> website.

flo

03-03-2005, 10:12 AM

Nova - been there. If you think about it, if you stay in this sport long enough, you're going to have some slump times. Most sports had an off season. Now most things, including skating, are year round and that's on top of our already packed "real" lives. As my coach said, "you can't be brilliant all the time".

Terri C

03-03-2005, 10:19 AM

LoopLoop

03-03-2005, 10:30 AM

We had almost two weeks off from pairs, but now we've been back at it for the past week. The problem is the pair sitspin is HARD! When our coach started us on it (a while ago :cry: ) another coach, who skated pairs internationally for the US, skated over and said "You're teaching them THAT? That's really hard!"

flo

03-03-2005, 10:36 AM

Hi Loops,
Have you two tried going into it from a camel? Nova, are you on one or two feet? It is a hard spin, and I remember we spent much time ON the ice before we got it together!

LoopLoop

03-03-2005, 10:40 AM

Flo, for now we're working on it by itself, not as part of a combination. We can do it fine with Nova on two feet, but we're trying to get him to stay on one foot. A judge told us that it won't count in competition if he's on two feet, so... :frus:

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 10:40 AM

Hi Loops,
Have you two tried going into it from a camel? Nova, are you on one or two feet? It is a hard spin, and I remember we spent much time ON the ice before we got it together!Ah, that's good to hear that it is hard since it doesn't look difficult. I am aiming for one-foot status (2-feet does not count in competition, as a judge told us), but am for the most part doing it on 2 feet. I can get about one rev on one foot, but my body freaks out and bails. It's very frustrating. I take much umbrage at not being able to control spins, since I consider that a strength of mine. I know this is pairs and I am only responsible for 50%, but still.

We've not tried the camel approach.

LoopLoop

03-03-2005, 10:43 AM

Unison strikes again! :bow:

Maybe we should try tango camel into sit.

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 10:46 AM

Unison strikes again! :bow:That is so amazingly freaky, nay scary, that we posted at the same time with the same info!!!

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 10:48 AM

Maybe we should try tango camel into sit.Yeah, that would be good to try since my camel/sit is so outstanding. :roll:

Nah, let's put this on the agenda--for tomorrow morning?--in place of the Pamchenko. :P

PattyP

03-03-2005, 10:48 AM

Lion:
I am in a deep funk about my skating and have been wondering lately why I bother at all. I know that a lot of us go through this phase, but it's difficult to deal with when nationals is right around the corner.

NoVa, I'm right there with ya! I go to Sectionals next week and I'm signed up to skate the qualifying event for Ch. Gold...right now I wouldn't be competitive at Bronze. My coach asked me why I wasted my money on entering that event :roll: I'm only hitting 1 out of 10 axels and my lutz is now in trouble. I was ready to just drop out of the whole competition, but then I remember why I do this, to see everyone and have fun. No one died from coming in last place and my coach needs to learn to take the bad with the good...I things have been pretty good the last few years, so what if I have one bad year. :P

Look at it this way, we are skating poorly now so that we can peak at Nationals! :D

flo

03-03-2005, 10:54 AM

Loops and Nova (at the same time!!!),
I think since your (Nova-boy) camel is very strong, it would feel more natural for you to go from a pair camel into a sit. You would go into it from a tango camel as Loops (the girl) will go from a back camel to a back sit. I think the snap of the camel into the sit really helps set it up. Just be careful, as the boy (Nova) can generate quite a force with the snap. The girl's (Loops) skating foot/knee needs to be close to the boy's (Nova) so he can pull into the sit. I woud press my knee to his, and that was our center. Then I could also let go of him and "lay back".

Figureskates

03-03-2005, 10:56 AM

Patty, something tells me you will knock them dead!!

Todays' lesson was all Lion:

Since I had the blade on the left skate shifted, a world of improvement on the outside edge. We ran through all the edges, alternating back crossovers, power 3's and alternating 3 turns. Who would of thought just moving the blade a tad would make all the differences in the world.

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 10:59 AM

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 11:01 AM

NoVa, I'm right there with ya! I go to Sectionals next week and I'm signed up to skate the qualifying event for Ch. Gold...right now I wouldn't be competitive at Bronze. My coach asked me why I wasted my money on entering that event :roll: I'm only hitting 1 out of 10 axels and my lutz is now in trouble. I was ready to just drop out of the whole competition, but then I remember why I do this, to see everyone and have fun. No one died from coming in last place and my coach needs to learn to take the bad with the good...I things have been pretty good the last few years, so what if I have one bad year. :P

Look at it this way, we are skating poorly now so that we can peak at Nationals! :DOops, I guess I should clarify. I meant "why I should bother with competing." I still, and always will, love skating.

You're hitting 1 out of 10 axels? That's better than my 0 out of 300 attempts. :D

LoopLoop

03-03-2005, 11:07 AM

I can't wait to try this. And I couldn't help but chuckle at your use of "boy" and "girl"; that's true Nick-speak if ever I heard it! 8-)

Hee hee, I thought it but didn't type it.

flo

03-03-2005, 11:18 AM

Thin-Ice

03-03-2005, 06:15 PM

Hey Patty--

As a Bronze skater, I would be THRILLED to have any one your WORST days. :bow: At Coasts, you will be wonderful (as usual) and the reason you're competing is so you have one more competitive adventure in front of an adoring crowd. Besides, you always seem to turn it on and step up a level as soon as you're out there on the ice by yourself, in your lovely costume, with your big smile showing us how adult skating is SUPPOSED to look: fast, beautiful, complete, elegant and FUN! I'll be there cheering loudly for you in your Championship event.

jazzpants

03-03-2005, 09:31 PM

I've seen PattyP compete. I think she's MUCH better than she's admitting on here! BTW, Patty, I won't be there physically *sob* :cry:, but I'll be there for you in spirit! And who knows, you might be able to land that "1 in 10 axel" in competition. (If you do, pump your fist at your coach and go "YEAH!!!")

Anyone in Tacoma WA wanna help me bless the ice for Patty??? :P :mrgreen:

Of course, I still have to cheer also to everyone at my skating club who's gonna be at Sectionals! Sadly, my primary coach won't be there to compete (at least not that I know of.), I don't know if he's gonna go there as a coach. I know he has at least one student that is competing there.

Lamb: Still not perfect, but primary coach is very happy with the forward power 3's. He says it's getting better still... Also, all my spins made an appearance, including the very :frus: backspin and camel spin!!! The magic seems to be in the spin entry. As long as I concentrated on the spin entry, the spin magically happens! :mrgreen: Good flip day too!

Lion: Alt. Back crossover pattern is still sucky on the second half of the pattern. Primary coach is at a loss as to what happened since the first half of the pattern looks pretty good. Good flip day, but BAD loop day! :cry:

Both Lamb and Lion: Kinda tentative on this one exercise that my primary coach threw at me. It's like 2 forward crossovers, FO3 (changed from FI mohawks), 2 back crossovers, then outside mohawk back to FO edge. Repeat pattern around the hockey circle. However, after getting used to it, I did manage that pattern okay.

NoVa Sk8r

03-03-2005, 09:35 PM

I file Nick's "boy and girl" under coaching quirks.

If you two ever want to venture up here, I'd be happy to ask my coach if he could spend some time with you. He's an exceptional pairs coach. (Loops - I sent you his photo)Oh, whee, what fun, sounds like a plan: road trip (albeit ~1 hour)!

Which rink in Baltimore are you skating in?

sk8pics

03-04-2005, 06:14 AM

Both Lamb and [/b]Lion: Kinda tentative on this one exercise that my primary coach threw at me. It's like 2 forward crossovers, FO3 (changed from FI mohawks), 2 back crossovers, then outside mohawk back to FO edge. Repeat pattern around the hockey circle. However, after getting used to it, I did manage that pattern okay.

I've been practice a similar exercise, with the FI mohawk (although sometimes I do a FO3), and with just one crossover in between each turn. I have a sequence like that in my free skating program and the challenge for me is to do the forward (CW) crossover on the first try :frus: (sometimes I'm anticipating the turn and get my weight too much in between my feet) and then do the turn without trying to slow down first. It's getting better and actually I find it kind of fun to do!

Pat

jenlyon60

03-04-2005, 08:59 AM

The forward crossover into the LFO3 is my personal nightmare in my dances since probably close to half (of not more) of the higher level dances start with the lady being backwards.

And I do something wonky with my body alignment during the forward crossover/progressive that makes the LFO3 very challenging.

Hence my signature.

Mrs Redboots

03-04-2005, 09:10 AM

It's funny, I can't do the introductory sequence solo to save my life, but just one hand being held, and a manly pair of arms to catch me (or more usually not!) makes all the difference, and I so don't have trouble with it when I have a partner! It's weird.... I keep expecting to. I probably should go into it with a little more effort, mind....

flo

03-04-2005, 10:31 AM

Patty - Good luck!
Nova and Loops, I spoke with my coach and he's happy to work with you - I e-mailed you the contact info.
I skate at Northwest Ice Rink in Baltimore and at Ice World in Abingdon. There are also several other rinks in the area. Hope we can get together soon.

Lion - skated again and focused on jumps. It feels like there's no support so I've been hesitant to do much jumping. Hoping my new boots arrive soon!

NoVa Sk8r

03-04-2005, 11:09 AM

Nova and Loops, I spoke with my coach and he's happy to work with you - I e-mailed you the contact info.
I skate at Northwest Ice Rink in Baltimore and at Ice World in Abingdon. There are also several other rinks in the area. Hope we can get together soon.Thanx for the info, flo.
We took your suggestion and worked on tango camel/pair sit this morning. Um, yikes! I think we could have done it if I hadn't been so recalcitrant and sulky. But Loops had her own crossover problem earlier, so that made me feel a little better. :P

And Nick's comment to me on the axel lift: "Why are you grimacing during the lift?" Oh boy, I didn't realize I was doing that. Sorry, but lifts are my least favorite part of pair skating. But I guess I shouldn't outwardly express that--think reticence, Steve! :)

flo

03-04-2005, 12:04 PM

Nova - keep trying - you'll get it!

LoopLoop

03-04-2005, 12:43 PM

But Loops had her own crossover problem earlier, so that made me feel a little better. :P

The crossover problem was pretty funny, really. Everyone's done the click-of-death at some point on a back crossover, right? Who's done it during the entrance to a SPIN? A pair spin at that? 8O

skaternum

03-04-2005, 12:46 PM

The crossover problem was pretty funny, really. Everyone's done the click-of-death at some point on a back crossover, right? Who's done it during the entrance to a SPIN? A pair spin at that? 8O
Bwahaha! That's a good one. Never done that before -- hope I never do. :lol:

BTW, I love your sig file, LoopLoop.

Isk8NYC

03-04-2005, 12:57 PM

Lamb:
I can walk again!! ... And I'm still off the ice. :cry:

I'm both happy and sad for you. Get well soon.

Lamb: I am very sheepish to admit that I blew off my Tuesday freestyle in favor of taking the kids suicide-snow tubing. It was so icy on the hill, the kids were FLYING over every little bump. When they got to the bottom, we had to stop the snow tubes before they hit the street. Thank you to the Parks Department for putting hay bales at the foot of the hill! At least I got some exercise.

Lion: I brought my old skates to work with me. Going to try and skate on the little winter rink nearby a few afternoons each week.

sue123

03-04-2005, 03:45 PM

I went skating today. IT was nice, near empty. waltz jumps were nice and big, spins fast and centered, the flip made an appearance, spirals were high and striaght, and what happened? i fell on doing crossovers. Twice. and the second time, i got stuck to the ice. it felt like glue trying to get up. go figure. everything else is ok, but crossovers, something most people consider a basic element, i screw up on. at leat my coach wasn't on the ice to see my crossover wipeouts.

mikawendy

03-04-2005, 04:05 PM

NCSkater02, I hope your recovery is going well. (((Hugs))) to you during the time you're not on the ice.

Lion--had great lessons this week that pushed me outside of my "box"

Lamb--general brain fog from trying to fight off the low-grade virus that's going around work. I also lost my favorite hat and gloves (for real this time). I thought I wouldn't be able to find winter gear (Wal-Mart and Target already have their spring stuff out) but luckily I stumbled on a bin of magic gloves and hats in Safeway.

Melzorina

03-04-2005, 04:09 PM

mikawendy

03-04-2005, 04:24 PM

How on EARTH do you center a spin?

My coach says to hold your free leg out for a few revolutions, but yy leg just will NOT stay out. It kinda bends and doesn't stay at the side. It's so annoying. I'm a CW spinner. I used to love spins but they're so ugly! HELP HELP HELP!!!

Hi, Melzorina--
I'm CW, too, and I just worked on this very same thing in my lesson last night. Here are a few pointers that might work--

Start on a line, in a T position with the right leg in front. Bend your knees and push onto an RFO edge as if you were starting the RFO edge for the spin. BUT don't hook the spin until you have gone half circle (that is, until you've come back to the line). Then spin.

On the RFO entrance edge, think of knee bend and pressure on the right outside ankle. This will deepen your edge (thus hooking the spin). As your RFO edge deepens and the circle gets smaller, the path your free foot is on will take a larger circle, almost as if "centrifugal" force is at work.

I hope this makes sense. I was able to center my spins better when doing this last night. My main problem is that I usually rush the entrance edge and whip my free leg around too soon (before I've made the half circle), and then I'm not centered and have a not-so-nice position. This has also been throwing me off in the sit spin and the camel, so I have my work cut out for me!

I think there was another thread recently about pulling in/not pulling in during spins--there are some useful tips there, too.

mikawendy

03-04-2005, 04:46 PM

The crossover problem was pretty funny, really. Everyone's done the click-of-death at some point on a back crossover, right? Who's done it during the entrance to a SPIN? A pair spin at that? 8O

I once clicked-of-death on the mohawk entry to a flip. I fell directly to the ice and landed on one butt cheek. I hit so hard and loudly that a coach standing nearby turned around because she thought I had hit my head!

Melzorina

03-04-2005, 05:39 PM

Thanks Mikawendy, much appreciated. I'll try it out in the morning.
Speaking of which I've gotta be up in...5 hours!

Petlover

03-04-2005, 06:43 PM

How on EARTH do you center a spin?

My coach says to hold your free leg out for a few revolutions, but yy leg just will NOT stay out. It kinda bends and doesn't stay at the side. It's so annoying. I'm a CW spinner. I used to love spins but they're so ugly! HELP HELP HELP!!!

Mel, another thought. For the first 5 years of my one foot spin, I always went into it from a pivot. I could never go into a spin off one foot or hold my leg out until my coach, out of desperation, started working me on sit spins. In trying to do a sit spin, I instead did a beautiful 2-revolution with leg out into a gorgeous several revolution centered scratch spin. What my coach figured out was that on the entry edge, I have not been bending my knee enough and coming up too soon along with trying to get my leg up by dropping my skating shoulder. When attempting a sit spin, I bend my skating edge knee a lot more, which keeps my upper body more solid without allowing the skating shoulder to drop, and give one final deeper bend into the spin, which allows my leg to stay off the ice and out in front for a couple of revolutions. Sounds wierd, but it worked for me and may be worth your while for you and your coach to try.

Good luck!

Marcia

Michigansk8er

03-04-2005, 07:22 PM

[Lamb: Even with a poor recording, I had fun choreographing it this evening. I'm using the same music as Michigansk8er (with her knowledge and consent), and will be interested to see how she interprets it.....

I hope you aren't too disappointed. It's still a work in progress. I just hope I get my act together by AN.

Lion - Blasted interp..........I'm so not cut out for this sort of thing. It's a major stretch, let me tell you.

Lamb - Spins were right on. :D

Skate@Delaware

03-04-2005, 08:19 PM

Lion: legs (quads) so sore from off-ice class, could hardly get out of bed today, or walk around, sitting down and standing up was painful!

Lamb: Scratch Spin!! 5-6 centered revs!!! Finally!! And the coach saw!! Ok, yeah it was only one, but where there's one, more will follow!!

iskatealot

03-04-2005, 08:22 PM

Skating today. It was also picture day because our ice show is in a month. I was in a lesson with my coach because I have a test on monday and I was attempting to do a patern of the European. Because of everyone standing around on hte ice I managed to go sliding into the boards several times and withing 2 inches of where some one was putting their foot all because of people who wouldnt move when asked therefore leaving me unable to manover around them and I go sliding.... also causing my coach to be worried that I wouldnt even still be alive by monday to skate the test.....

In case you havent noticed. not a heck of a lot is going great for me 2day

mikawendy

03-04-2005, 08:49 PM

also causing my coach to be worried that I wouldnt even still be alive by monday to skate the test.....

In case you havent noticed. not a heck of a lot is going great for me 2day

I always go by the mantra "bad warmup, great performance"... think of today that way, and I hope you do great on the test.

Shinn-Reika

03-05-2005, 12:43 AM

aussieskater

03-05-2005, 03:00 AM

Lion - rotten LFO edge. I am so aching. (Says the coach: "Lean. Lean! LEAN!!". When he shows me by manually hauling me over, I reply, "You want me to lean THAT far? But how do I stay standing up?" Answer: "You don't if you're not going fast enough." Great. So now I hit the ice faster).

Lamb - at last I'm getting the RBI to RBO change of edge happening without hitting the toepicks. Sometimes. (But to paraphrase a poster above, where there is one, others will follow. All I can say is, they'd better.)

fadedstardust

03-05-2005, 04:31 AM

Lion: Everything about this week really isn't right. I went to the pond (the same rink that Johhny Weir trains at and they won't let you forget it) but I wasn't feeling it. I'm such an unlikely figure skater (they thought I was there to see hockey haha) that I didn't feel like trying to get in to a freestlye session, so I went public (it's also much cheaper). It wasn't to good though, everyone wasn't skating in their normal pattern, and I seemed like a real nuisance.

I think I'm going to use the Fred Rust (University of Delaware's) arena next. The people there are much cooler. Plus I went to a very crowded public session last weekend and saw some really good skaters. Pulling off triples with no effort. Though it makes me want to get really good. I guess that's the only good thing that happened to me this week.

The Pond is awesome! I think you should go back and try to have a better experience with it. Go in the morning- there's nobody there. Johnny skates in the morning and pretty much, you have to ask him or his coach if it's alright to be on "his" ice. Depending on what you're working on it may or may not be okay, but he usually does one session and then skips the next and goes back for another, so even if he doesn't let you on, you could do the one he isn't on. EMPTY ice, I swear. And if Johnny does let you on, he's very courteous and if you don't get in his way, he won't get in yours.

Fred Rust is terrible. It's a zoo. If you were intimidated by a few people doing triples in public at The Pond, you will run from Fred Rust. I guess they do put freestyles according the level, but I remember going to a Novice-Senior freestyle (which you'd think would be LESS crowded than a lower level one, cause people kind of start to drop out after Intermediate) and there must have been 30 girls trying for that same corner for the triple lutz. I got maybe ONE in. I wouldn't reccommend it. Even the "low level" freestyles have people doing triples on it, which is kind of sad. But The Pond really is awesome, give it another shot. Not on public though, that's a waste of time anywhere.

Mrs Redboots

03-05-2005, 06:23 AM

Lamb: At our coach's request, we signed up for Latin/Ballroom dance classes (more Latin, it turns out, than Ballroom) and the first one was last night. Great fun. Not much different from ice-dancing, in many ways, although of course we didn't progress beyond the equivalent of Prelim Foxtrot - the "improvers'" class were doing all sorts of interesting things.

I think that this was the first time in all the almost-26 years we've been married that I've got the Husband on to a wooden dance floor stone cold sober!

Lion: Back and hips still very sore. Especially first thing.... I am rather dreading skating tomorrow. But it does seem to "work off" during the day, and of course ibuprofen helps, both internally and topically applied.

sk8pics

03-05-2005, 08:23 AM

Regarding the Pond vs. the Rust Arena, I skate in both places depending on the session and the time of year. I agree the best sessions are the morning ones at the Pond. Even the open freestyles, which anyone can get on, are not crowded at all and the ice is nice. The later freestyles often have poor ice conditions. You also have to worry that the sessions will be cancelled with no notice due to hockey or something else. This just happened yesterday. And in fact, there is no ice there at all the next 3 sundays. No notice posted, you just find this out by luck.

The later afternoon sessions at the Rust arena, the medium freestyle ones, are hit and miss with the crowds. But at least the ice is usually cut. I do find I skate faster there just to keep up with the crowd. Most of the kids are very nice to skate with but there are a few that you have to watch out for.

I would never skate a public session at either of those rinks unless on a holiday weekend in the summer!

Shinn-Reika, If you are going to go to UD for one of the medium sessions, PM me if you'd like to meet up.

Pat

FrankR

03-05-2005, 10:18 AM

Hello all,

Well, here's the wrap-up of my skating week.

Lion: I had something strange happen to me while practicing a sit spin. I went into the spin, my free arm and leg came around and I clasped my hands in front of me as I got into my sit position. I came up and finished the spin. Don't ask me how I did this but somehow I managed to jam my middle and ring fingers on my right hand. :cry: OUCH! It still stings. I didn't feel anything until after I finished the spin and I don't remember my hands coming together any differently than before. In addition, my landing leg has been bothering me and my coach was saying she thinks it might be a stress fracture. :roll: Great! I'll just add that to my ever-growing list of ailments. Doh! I'll be resting until Tuesday and we'll see how the leg responds. If it continues to be a problem I may have to see my doctor about it. It wasn't that long ago I had to go to him because of my back. Grr. During my program first run-through the camel-sit became a flailing mongoose-flop. However, it was better in the second run-through.

Lamb: I had a sharpening between Friday and Saturday and that seemed to help things quite a bit, in general. Who'd have thought? ;) I changed my entrance into the flying camel. It feels better now. In general, the jumps were okay although my axel got a bit wonky so we worked on that for a while. Then my coach asks me "Do you want to try a double axel just for the heck of it?" My first response was 8O . This was followed by, "Well, why not?" It was fun! Didn't come close to landing it. I got around precisely twice before my brain screamed "What the !@#$! do you think you're doing?" inside my head. I tried it three times and the last time I got around maybe 2 and 1/4 but kind of slid down to the ice on the landing. Still, it was invigorating to try something new and potentially life-threating. :P

Well that's it for me this week.

Take care,

Frank

Skate@Delaware

03-05-2005, 09:54 PM

Lion: Everything about this week really isn't right. I went to the pond (the same rink that Johhny Weir trains at and they won't let you forget it) but I wasn't feeling it. I'm such an unlikely figure skater (they thought I was there to see hockey haha) that I didn't feel like trying to get in to a freestlye session, so I went public (it's also much cheaper). It wasn't to good though, everyone wasn't skating in their normal pattern, and I seemed like a real nuisance.

I think I'm going to use the Fred Rust (University of Delaware's) arena next. The people there are much cooler. Plus I went to a very crowded public session last weekend and saw some really good skaters. Pulling off triples with no effort. Though it makes me want to get really good. I guess that's the only good thing that happened to me this week.

I did not realize you and Sk8pics were so close! We will be going up to the Pond for the summer-when our Harrington rink closes (until September). We went to U of D about 2 weeks ago and did not have a good experience there during a public session, we (my daughter and I) were told we could not practice any spins or do our waltz jumps :evil: (the only ones we know) meanwhile kids where playing 'crack the whip'. Our problem has been coordinating practice times where all of us could go, my husband and son cannot get into a freestyle session--they are not skilled enough.

If you want some quiet ice, come down to The Centre at Harrington Fairgrounds on Mondays 1-3 or Thursdays 11:30-1:15 (but only when there is no school, otherwise it is a zoo). There is practically no one there and it only costs $2.50. Most of the time we get to play our own music. It is usually pretty quiet unless there is a homeschool group scheduled (call first). We also have an adults only public skate session on Sundays 4:30-6:15 pm that is really nice.

Mrs Redboots

03-06-2005, 05:07 AM

Lamb: Talk about serendipity! My hips and back were sore this morning, which is a great improvement on how they were on Friday and Saturday, and I found that I needed to be very careful of my posture on the ice, or it was painful. And, of course, the position I needed to be in was the exact position I needed to be skating properly.... so I had my weight in the right place all morning, and skated better than ever!

We worked on the Willow Waltz & the Swing Dance, especially the Willow. Trying to get my RFO 3 in the right place (husband doesn't exactly help....). But we improved during the session, and the coach is quite pleased with it. Now, if only we can manage to stretch it out to fill the entire rink... pigs might fly.

Lion: Coach said I looked as though I was being dragged along in the Swing Dance, not pushing properly. I said he should try skating with my husband when he was going backwards - husband's edges can be most peculiar at times! However, did try, and it was better. Only apparently still stuck my bum out in the Mohawk. I don't know why I can't get into the right place to do it. Sigh.

And although, in the Willow, it looks great when the man extends his free leg behind on the inside edge before the woman's Mohawk, it doesn't work for us, so we've had to have him extend in front. Which then points up where I'm in the wrong place. Deep sigh.

And my new trackies left fluff all over my tights! Luckily that didn't matter - not like the time a new sweatshirt left fluff all over my competition dress!

aussieskater

03-06-2005, 06:03 AM

falling_rain

03-06-2005, 06:38 AM

I always go by the mantra "bad warmup, great performance0".

i have a superstition sort of thingie where i NEED to fall during warmups or else i'll fall during the program in competitions. it's worked so far! for all my programs that went fall-free, i fell during warmups. but for all the programs that i fell in, my warmups were relatively strong.

sadly, on saturday my 20minute practice in the morning went well and warmups went better, but my actual program was a bad, bad disaster. i was the ONLY skater to fall in that group and i fell on my lutz-loop combination which felt strong but apparently...wasn't. and i fell on my spin combination too. sigh. 6th place out of ten. :(

BUT! (well i guess this would be the lamb..)
i managed a flying sit today! i was so shocked when i started spinning after i jumped and didn't fall flat on my butt. i managed a few more and also a jump into a backsitspin (strangely this feels stronger than the normal sit..). so yay. :) still debating whether to tell my coach about it or not since technically he has yet to teach me the sitspin seriously. lol.

sk8pics

03-06-2005, 07:13 AM

I did not realize you and Sk8pics were so close! We will be going up to the Pond for the summer-when our Harrington rink closes (until September). We went to U of D about 2 weeks ago and did not have a good experience there during a public session, we (my daughter and I) were told we could not practice any spins or do our waltz jumps :evil: (the only ones we know)

Yes, this is still a bad time of year for public sessions, and they tend to be so crowded you definitely can't practice typical freestyle elements. It gets better in the summer, at least it used to. I haven't skated a public session in several years. But if you get there early and jump right out on the ice when the session starts, you can probably do what you want for around 30 minutes or so.

Maybe I'll see you this summer at the Pond!

Pat

iskatealot

03-06-2005, 08:19 AM

Mrs Redboots, lol reading your posts! I have a dumb question about your signature re "back cross-cuts" - what is the difference between a cross cut and a cross over? "Cross cut" is not a term we use here and I don't know what one is.

A cross cut and a cross over are the same things where I am. In Canada we just use two different words for the same thing...we just like confusing our new skaters :P

Melzorina

03-06-2005, 10:35 AM

A back cross cut is where you lift your foot off the ice, and cross it over alternativley infront of the other foot.

I think. I find them to be great fun, and I recently found out that LOTS and LOTS of speed is a great help when covering distance, especially when going into them from backwards crossovers.

Annabel is much better at explaining than me. I'll let her take center stage n this one.

MusicSkateFan

03-06-2005, 01:32 PM

Lion: My spins still stink! Scary that soneone asked me for advice on how to spin! I told her she was asking the wrong person!!

Lamb: Landed a HUGE lutz/toe combo. Worked on solo toe loop aproach...getting better... still not as natural feeling for me with toe loop as I do the Lutz, flip and sal!

NoVa Sk8r

03-06-2005, 07:58 PM

Lamb: Landed a HUGE lutz/toe combo. Worked on solo toe loop aproach...getting better... still not as natural feeling for me with toe loop as I do the Lutz, flip and sal!Dude, your lutz jump is amazing! And the height you get ... wow! :bow:

NoVa Sk8r

03-06-2005, 08:25 PM

Lion: My singles coach called me a few days ago and asked when she would next be seeing me. Beats me! I think I've only had 3 lessons with her this year. :cry:

The usual rink where Loops and I skate weekend freestyles has canceled sessions for a couple of weeks (because of hockey?), so again, another week goes by without a program runthrough. How many weeks till Nationals?

But that's OK, 'cuz Loops and I have a comp next weekend where we're only doing singles FS, so it's good to focus on singles a bit. Loops and I decided not to hunt for freestyle ice (I think there was one today a whiles away in Maryland) in the further reaches of the Beltway.

Lamb: So I snuck to my training rink, and whom did I see upon entering the lobby? Loops! What was she doing at *my* rink? Grrr. Nah, it was funny. I was planning on concentrating on some of my program elements. Also, I hadn't changed my program in a few weeks, so it was about time! :D

The session was a bit crowded but not nearly as bad as one would expect on a weekend public. Anyway, I spent at least an hour doing singles skating and felt like a live wire--amazing what 10 hours of sleep and proper eating will do for you! :D Loops helped me come up with some new entries to my flip in my program, and she aided me in designing a new spiral move. 8-)

We did end up doing some pairs elements--as if we could stifle ourselves! Did a few throws, pair sits, sbs jumps, one-handed death spirals, and some lifts. It wasn't nearly as dangerous as one might think. When people see us barreling down the ice, they tend to move. ;) And I think some of our elements were the best we've ever done them or at least this year. (I mean, where did that tango camel come from ... in a public session on chewed up ice? And I got 1 or 1.5 revs on ONE foot in the pair sit? The mind boggles. :?? )

When I got off the ice, a few public skaters said they enjoyed watching my singles and pairs skating. Aw, how nice!
After the public skate, my club has a dance session, and I was recruited once again to do dance. (Note: Steve does not do synchro or dance. :P )

Anywho, It was good to have a good skating day. It was long time waiting for this ...

mikawendy

03-06-2005, 09:25 PM

Nova--I'm glad that you had such a good practice.

I did too--worked on power threes in my lesson. Compared to the alternating threes, I really like the power threes! Somehow they're not as evil! But I will have to stop freaking out after the BXO!

I also enjoyed watching the other skaters on the session today--there's an adult who's working on her intermediate moves, and a young skater with a GORGEOUS double lutz and a split jump that's a million miles off the ground. I wish someday I could jump that high!!

aussieskater

03-06-2005, 09:44 PM

Thanks for your reply Melzorina - it sounds a bit like what you're calling "cross cuts" is what we call back cross rolls in front (as opposed to back cross rolls behind)?

I'm very bad at explaining these (and anyone reading this, please feel free to correct me if I didn't get it right). A back cross roll in front is a bit like a confused back crossover, in that you use the free foot to push in front of the skating foot, rather than behind the skating foot as you would with a regular back crossover. The skating foot is on a BO edge rather than a BI edge as it would be with a normal back crossover.

Once you have completed a single complete move in one direction (say, CW), you do the next complete move in the other direction and so on. When you're doing them right, you move down the rink in a series of quite marked and graceful arcs (as opposed to when I do them and move down the rink in a series of toe-picked straight lines - where's the BO edge when you need it??)

By contrast, a back cross roll behind is a little more like a series of (supposedly graceful) regular back crossovers, except that the skating foot is on a BO edge, rather than on a BI edge as it is in a back crossover. Once again, having completed one complete move in one direction, you do the next move in the other direction, and move down the rink in a series of arcs. Does all this make sense?

Mrs Redboots

03-07-2005, 05:07 AM

Mrs Redboots, lol reading your posts! I have a dumb question about your signature re "back cross-cuts" - what is the difference between a cross cut and a cross over? "Cross cut" is not a term we use here and I don't know what one is.They are also called "cross strokes", I think - where you cross in front to an outside edge while going backwards. We have to do a lap of these as part of both our Prelim Field Moves or Level 3 Dance Moves, and I would really, really like to be able to do one or other of those tests before the end of this year when they are going to change the system again. Somehow, I don't think this is going to happen....

Mrs Redboots

03-07-2005, 05:10 AM

And I think some of our elements were the best we've ever done them or at least this year. (I mean, where did that tango camel come from ... in a public session on chewed up ice? And I got 1 or 1.5 revs on ONE foot in the pair sit? The mind boggles. :?? )I think you can often do things on slow ice that you can't do on fast ice, because the body is "Help, NO-O-O-O-O" when it's fast.... I have things I'll only do on slow ice!

NoVa Sk8r

03-07-2005, 07:17 AM

I think you can often do things on slow ice that you can't do on fast ice, because the body is "Help, NO-O-O-O-O" when it's fast.... I have things I'll only do on slow ice!Perhaps ... but what I was getting at was that I was in a bubbly mood, was well rested, was injury free, and--maybe the biggest reason of all--there was a public watching! :halo: Hmmm, that inner performer couldn't wait to give the public a show. ;) Also, it was nice not having to skate early in the morning; my body is loathe to put itself in imminent danger before noon! :D

Terri C

03-07-2005, 10:12 AM

Also, it was nice not having to skate early in the morning; my body is loathe to put itself in imminent danger before noon! :D

Just remember, next Sunday is early!!! ;)

NoVa Sk8r

03-07-2005, 10:35 AM

Just remember, next Sunday is early!!! ;)Yeah, but there's no danger in that competition--I'm only doing singles there.

AnnM

03-07-2005, 11:24 AM

LAMB: I went to an afternoon public session yesterday, which I normally never do because of all the birthday party groups. Well wouldn't you know that yesterday afternoon I finally landed a proper loop? It came to a dead stop after I landed but it was a bonafide one foot takeoff and one foot landing. The last time I actually landed this blasted jump on one foot was well over two years ago! Icing on the cake during practice was a perfectly centered scratch spin. I wished I had a camera to take a picture of the tracing. It was a breakthrough practice session because after landing the loop, I got the extra bit of confidence I needed to be really secure in my toe and salchow combos.

LION: My other fourteen attempts at the loop were two-footed. :frus: And my arms don't want to come in on the flip; they just don't.

Debbie S

03-07-2005, 11:40 AM

Congrats on the loop, Ann! I've been working on that jump for 2 years, and I'm finally getting to the point where I land it on 1 foot more times than I land it on 2. Unfortunately, it's usually a bit cheated, but my coaches tell me I'm getting close and just need a bit more speed and height (yeah, easier said than done). In my new program, my coach has me doing 3 crossovers into the loop, to get more speed. Yikes! 8O

And yes, I have flip problems too. I think I'm getting all the way around, I just can't seem to land on 1 foot.