Skating video

[Casey]

Uggghhhh so I took a video of myself skating today with my phone. It's small size and you need quicktime to play it and I'm skating bad because I was nervous about the camera...

But anyways here you go:
http://casey.shobe.info/Video005.3gp

This one is crappier - I took it first:
http://casey.shobe.info/Video004.3gp

And just in case you like motion sickness, a first-person with a salchow at the end: :P
http://casey.shobe.info/Video002.3gp

Criticisms welcome, but I know I made stupid mistakes. Bleh...

[Mrs Redboots]

Terrific speed over the ice. All I would say is that your jumps are a bit "swingy" - straighten your free leg more, and that should help that - and you need to not stick your bum out when doing a spread-eagle! Also, from the noise on the "motion-sickness" one, are you toe-pushing a bit???

Having said that, you skate better than I do, and I've been at it ten years!

[dbny]

You obviously have a lot of talent! Make lessons a top priority and you will clean things up and start progressing even faster.

[jazzpants]

I should also mentioned this kid here only started skating about 6.5 months ago!!! 8O

Should have skipped the "motion sickness" movie clip... I just got over a stomach flu and didn't want to experienced that again... http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/otn/puke/barf.gif

General comments:
REALLY good speed. (I'm envious! I hope my secondary coach isn't watching this!!! She'll be on my case about my speed -- or lack thereof!!!) 8O And a nice inside spread eagle trick, though as Annabel says, you really need to "tuck the bum" in. No "romp eagles" here!!! (Of course, some of us wishes they have the turn out to even do inside spread eagles. :roll: *sigh*)

You have a tendency to pitch forward on the landing on the waltz jump. That's partly b/c you are a bit swingy on the waltz jump. The second waltz on the first video is actually better controlled than the first one (same video.) Be careful or you might end up with a bump on the head. Keep your back straight and bend your knee on the landing more!!!

The free leg on the sal needs to be straighten a bit, but the right idea when leading with the knee to kick thru higher. (Not an easy job for me...) :roll:

I strongly suggest you get a very good skating coach with good technical skating background who can help you to be a better controlled skater (yet still maintain the speed.) Once you get that, then start thinking a getting a choregrapher when you get in more money. (If you're still taking ballet. Keep at it!!!)

Other notes: Not much into kiddie bands (New Edition.) They're cute at first, but wears my nerves quickly afterwards. LOVE the U2 in the background. And I just remember that summer is coming soon so I better adjust my lunch hours for one more "nooner" (lunch time skate that is :P ) ...and at an emptier rink too. My home rink will be MOBBED during the summer. 8O

It's a nice video (well the first two... I'm not gonna watch the "motion sickness" one again!) I'm glad you put them up!!! :mrgreen:

[flippet]

Not bad! :D You do look really comfortable with the ice, which is great. I agree with the 'swingy' comments, but that can be controlled with practice and a bit of coaching/watching. You also seem to be 'looking' for the ice a bit early on the landing--could be nerves due to the camera (which really does make one skate worse than normal, I know!) But overall, not too shabby, especially considering how long you've been skating!

On your spins--you seem to be doing something I used to do (and it was a bear to correct)--it looks like you're 'torquing' your upper body so it's not square to your hips. That can cause quite a bit of the traveling. It's hard to clearly make out on the vid, though. The way I fixed it was to think of a rigid string tying my free leg and wrist together, so that they had to come around together, helping to keep everything squared up. Otherwise I'd leave the leg or the arm lingering somewhere behind the rest of me, and go spiraling off to China. It helped quite a bit, and although I still consider myself more of a jumper than a spinner, at least I have a spin that I can more or less center most of the time. It ain't beautiful, but it's there! :lol:

Now that video technology is so easy to use, this ought to be a great tool for help and comments for those of us who don't get much coaching. :D

[jazzpants]

Oh, one more thing.... lift your knee up higher on your one-foot spins. Your knee should be parallel to the ice. Think of it as balancing a plate of spaghetti on your thighs. That should get you over spinning on the outside edge (where you should be.) :mrgreen:

[backspin]

Those are cool! My coach uses his phone sometimes to show me things I'm doing.

Okay, on your waltz jump you need to kick the free leg straight through & not bend it or let it swing around to the side. A great way to work on this is to stand at the boards (w/ the wall to your left & hand on the boards for balance), stand on your left foot as if you've just stepped forward for the jump, & swing your right leg through. Make sure it's straight & passes close to your left foot. As it reaches the top of the swing forward, your left leg will straighter & the left foot should rise up to the toepick--that's when you would be taking off into the air. Make sense? Goal is to get the right leg parallel to the ice when you jump off the left foot.

Salchow, everyone is right, straighter free leg, maybe hold the check of the 3 turn a bit longer before takeoff.

Spins: common errors--you're pulling your arms in WAY too soon--need at least 2 or 3 revs before you pull in a spin. Watch any high level spinner & count how many times they go around before it gets pulled in at all. You need that to find your balance & center. Then only bring the hands to your sternum--the elbows need to stay up & out. Your head looks like it's turning to the right--needs to turn slightly to the left, into the spin. Right arm needs to come around a bit more; you have to fight the centrifigal force to keep it in front of you. And whole body needs to stand UP straighter, you're crunching over to the right.

I wish I had one of those phones! Posting videos is a good ideas--& would let us all see each other once in awhile..... hope the comments are helpful.

[icedancer2]

Pretty darn good I'd say!!

You know what Uncle Dick (Button) would say about thsoe wild swinging free legs!

Are you taking lessons? You should definitely start if you haven't already!


I liked the first person one the best -- is that what it's like inside of your salchow?

I wish more of us could put these little videos on the internet for each other!

[vesperholly]

Pretty nice. You've been skating 6 months? Impressive. It's hard to see since they're so small, but one thing above all needs work - your free leg position in the jumps. It goes way out to the side.

Watch the salchow. If you pause it in mid-air, both your free legs are bent and back. This means you're not transferring your weight from left to right side in the air properly. The take off is pretty good, if not entirely checked strongly but that will come.

If you ever want to do a double, fix this now instead of letting it become a bad habit. Same thing with the waltz jump but not as pronounced. You have good flow but your jumps shoot across the ice - try for more height with a peak to the jump. Can you do a click waltz? That's when you do a waltz jump, but tap your boots together in the air. That might help.

If you're interested, I'll tape myself doing a waltz jump and salchow and post it after I skate on Monday. I lurve my video camera. :) Not to brag, but I've been skating a long time and I think I have pretty good technique. Now, double toes... :giveup:

[Casey]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll have to try harder next time! I have some studying to do now! Actually, I'm aware of most of my problems (i.e. no spin ability, bringing arms in too fast, legs and back not straight on spread eagles...but it's the fixing it part that's harder.

Everyone seems to mention the legs on jumps though, and I'm not quite sure what to make of that. My coach never mentioned that as a problem ( :/ ), and I haven't yet tried anything to work on fixing it....so more detail on how to correct that behavior would be appreciated - I'll certainly have to start being mindful about it.. I really don't know what it is about spins...they just don't like me... I do hope that changes eventually though.

vesperholly, please do send videos - I've seen loads of stuff, but more skating videos are _always_ welcome. :D

I'm going to try to remember to take my digital camera along with me the next time I go to a rink and feel brave - it will take better quality videos.

[Skate@Delaware]

I think you guys have created a new coaching category-video/internet coach!

Maybe we should have a new website called "Fix my skating....." :lol:

My coach uses video to show us what we are doing wrong. We skate, she videos, we watch, she corrects, we skate again (hopefully doing it right) with her yelling across the ice what to do correctly (again) while she videos again, we watch (usually the same mistakes again, but not always). Then we get a copy to keep.... :roll: The copy has all the class in it so we see the better guys too, that helps.

Casey, you are really good, especially for the short time you've been skating! I can't wait to see Veserholly's videos. All this advice is really good because my waltz is not that good. I don't have a salchow (my body won't do it-my legs got all twisted up last few times I tried it).

[Casey]

Maybe we should have a new website called "Fix my skating....." :lol:
Haha yes. I guess there have been a lot of advice-requesting posts recently, and I suppose I'm responsible for my fair share.

Casey, you are really good
HAHAHA no. There's soooo much more to learn. But thanks...I'll try to put on a better show next time. ;-)

The video deal with your coach sounds pretty awesome. It _really_ helps sometimes just to see what you're doing, even if it can be disappointing (*fights off flashbacks of the first time he saw a video of himself trying to spin*).

[Skate@Delaware]

Haha yes. I guess there have been a lot of advice-requesting posts recently, and I suppose I'm responsible for my fair share.

HAHAHA no. There's soooo much more to learn. But thanks...I'll try to put on a better show next time. ;-)

The video deal with your coach sounds pretty awesome. It _really_ helps sometimes just to see what you're doing, even if it can be disappointing (*fights off flashbacks of the first time he saw a video of himself trying to spin*).

Yeah, the first time I saw myself spin-I thought-how can I spin I'm soooo stiff and not bending!! Yuk! And I'm guilty of hogging up plenty of skating advice myself!! :oops:
We will keep looking for more-who knows, this may start a trend in skaters getting cell phones that can take videos (at least they are easier to cart around)! I didn't know they could take such nice ones! I'm a bit behind the times.....

[Casey]

I didn't know they could take such nice ones! I'm a bit behind the times.....
The add-on stuff for phones is usually pretty crappy, but very handy. You have to be careful with cell phones though, because the majority of them (even from the same brand) are junk, and the good ones aren't available in the US until they've been available in Europe and Asia for a year or two (yes, it's retarded). Best bet is to buy an unlocked phone (will work with any provider) on eBay - I have a Nokia 6230 that I bought off eBay a full year ago - Cingular is just starting to offer this phone, and the other companies do not offer it yet.

Look at european companies (for example http://shop.o2.co.uk/choosehandsets ) to see what's really available and will be here in another year or two.

Most modern digital cameras, even the compact ones, will take videos with no length limit besides the size of the card you put in, and of much higher quality than cell phones. There's a lot of basic stuff that you can't do with a phone-camera, like zooming, or using a flash, and they're typically much easier to deal with with respect to getting the pictures/movies copied off.

I'd recommend a camera over a phone upgrade any day.

I have a small compact camera that cost $150 less than my phone. The videos are 4 times the size and much higher clarity, and there's no comparison on photographs (did I mention the phone doesn't have a flash? and photo quality is abysmal). The only con is that it's about twice the size of my phone, but still small enough to toss in my pocket if I think about it before I go to the rink.

[dbny]

I'd recommend a camera over a phone upgrade any day.

I have a small compact camera that cost $150 less than my phone. The videos are 4 times the size and much higher clarity, and there's no comparison on photographs (did I mention the phone doesn't have a flash? and photo quality is abysmal). The only con is that it's about twice the size of my phone, but still small enough to toss in my pocket if I think about it before I go to the rink.

But the beauty of having a camera phone (mine only takes stills) is that you don't have to think about bringing a camera at all. In fact, the only time I use the camera function of my phone is when I suddenly wish I had a camera, then I remember - I do!

[Casey]

In fact, the only time I use the camera function of my phone is when I suddenly wish I had a camera, then I remember - I do!
Ditto. :mrgreen:

[rf3ray]

Hey I just did the same thing today with my Digital Camera recorded some vids, and saw how hard it is to make skating look easy.....

Btw anyone know where I could upload these movies for some feedback??

Ray :lol: :lol: :lol:

[vesperholly]

Casey, you are really good, especially for the short time you've been skating! I can't wait to see Veserholly's videos. All this advice is really good because my waltz is not that good. I don't have a salchow (my body won't do it-my legs got all twisted up last few times I tried it).
:D I'm going to tape a waltz jump, salchow, scratch spin, "click" waltz jump. Anything else? Post requests before 2pm Eastern US time because I skate at 2:30! About a year ago I bought a small camcorder to use for taping my skating. I'm obsessed now! :oops:

[rf3ray]

Hey guys any feedback on me skating did this today, btw only been skating for 5 months 23 days

the link is

http://members.iinet.net.au/~satch/100_2824.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~satch/100_2827.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~satch/100_2853.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~satch/100_2866.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~satch/100_2867.mp4

[jazzpants]

:D I'm going to tape a waltz jump, salchow, scratch spin, "click" waltz jump. Anything else? Post requests before 2pm Eastern US time because I skate at 2:30! About a year ago I bought a small camcorder to use for taping my skating. I'm obsessed now! :oops:Oh, I better get in my vote. How about your backspin from a FI3 entrace? (Either direction, but slight preference for CW direction, please.) :mrgreen:

TIA! :D

[Casey]

Hey I just did the same thing today with my Digital Camera recorded some vids, and saw how hard it is to make skating look easy.....

Btw anyone know where I could upload these movies for some feedback??

Ray :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hey Ray,

I don't think I have anything that will play your .mp4 files :( - so I might have to reboot into Windows to watch them later...

Just wanted to let you know that I have LOADS of space and bandwidth available for skating-related stuff at http://sk8rland.com - I still have to find the time to make the website, but I can create a directory for you (or anybody else) where you're welcome to store anything skating-related that you'd like to share (as long as it doesn't violate copyright).

[Casey]

Hey guys any feedback on me skating did this today, btw only been skating for 5 months 23 days
Hey! I just discovered I can play these files just fine - very impressive! I wish I could spin that well - how tall are you? And centered too! Your back power pulls were great too - I can't do them very well yet (though I did finally figure out how to get the *power* part out of the blade on the forward ones.

[Melzorina]

Quicktime plays .mp4 files.

[vesperholly]

Ok, here are the videos! They are Windows Media format. Please right-click and save to your desktop, my webspace is small and doesn't have a lot of bandwidth. They're all relatively small, from 200-500KB. Thanks!

http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/axel.wmv
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/camel.wmv
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/ccwbackspin.wmv
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/clickwaltz.wmv - kind of a bad angle
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/cwbackspin.wmv - not the best, on the flat of the blade
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/salchow.wmv
http://users.adelphia.net/~jdelmar/video/waltz.wmv

[twokidsskatemom]

Holly those were great clips !!! Nice to see them !!Thought the backspin was nice, my skater is having a hard time with that one.
http://www.yousendit.com/ is a great service
I just used it to send Mrs Redboots an ice dance mpg of my skater.Seems to be very useful.We take mpg from our sony camera at least weekly and is helps her know what she needs to work on !~!

[2loop2loop]

Nice clips Jocelyn, especially the CW backspin. Have you spent a lot of time working on that because it is not something I can do at all. I can do CW front spins, but the backspin is a bit of a disaster.

My clips are online here (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie1117), they won't be anything new to posters at RSSIR, but I haven't posted them here before. I did have a clip of the eponymous 2loop2loop combo, but unfortunately I seem to have mislaid it somewhere.

John

[Melzorina]

Vesperholly, I'm sure I have seen a video clip of your axel somewhere before, as the video just there reminds me...I'll have to find it. I'm sure it's you!

[2loop2loop]

Vesperholly, I'm sure I have seen a video clip of your axel somewhere before, as the video just there reminds me...I'll have to find it. I'm sure it's you!

There is one out there - I've seen it too.

John

[icedancer2]

Vesperholly -- where do you skate?

It looks somewhat familiar to me.(?!)

[batikat]

A quick question to both Casey and rf3ray. You both say you've been skating less than 6 months but how much time have you actually spent on the ice? Do you skate daily and/or how many hours a week. Also do you have experience in roller blading/ roller skates or gymanastics or something that has given you a head start as you both look very confident on the ice even if techniques need a little refinement.

I'm trying to make myself feel better here as after 5 years of skating I have only just landed a single loop and can't yet manage a flip or lutz. However I don't spend a huge amount of time on ice compared to some (max. of 5 - 6 hours a week and much of that is spent socialising :D )

I'm no expert but agree with most of the comments from other people. For the spin it looks like you are trying to force it and twisting instead of keeping the torso square and definitely work on spinning a few revs with arms and leg held out to find centre before bringing them in. I found this so hard to do at first but once I got the hang of it, it improved my spins no end.

On the jumps it looks like you need to work on the upright position in the air and especially on landing - keep head up, back straight and free leg extended on the landing (again something I found difficult to do til my coach said 'if it's not hurting you're not doing it right! - he was only half joking!)

One thing I've noticed with young men who take up skating is that they tend to be much more fearless than the ladies and with their greater strength this often allows them to get the jumps fairly quickly but their form is not always good and their basic skating (stroking, footwork, extension etc) is what needs work. Can't really tell from those videos if this applies to either of you.

Anyway it looks like you are both doing really well and having fun.

[Casey]

Quicktime plays .mp4 files.
MPlayer seems to play about everything too. :)

[Casey]

Please right-click and save to your desktop, my webspace is small and doesn't have a lot of bandwidth.
Hey, I have a server with loads of space and ridiculous amounts of available bandwidth (1000GB/month), where I'm setting up a website for skating stuff. You can have space there if you want - lemme know. http://www.sk8rland.com/

[Casey]

Videos from today, again from the old home rink (nice and vacant daytime sessions):
http://sk8rland.com/casey_shobe-may2005-jumps.3gp - a couple minutes long, all the jumps I can do (except the half flip and half lutz), spins both directions, spread eagle...
http://sk8rland.com/casey_shobe-may2005-footwork.3gp - Took this one about 2 minutes after the last fall - barrel rolls, outside spirals (forwards and backwards), spread eagle, 3-turns. twizzles (not very good here).

I'm pretty happy with my skating in the above two videos - they show my current skill level pretty clearly, I think. So, please point out anything wrong you notice in either of them.


http://sk8rland.com/CaseyShobe001.3gp - Another first-person one for fun.

http://sk8rland.com/CaseyShobe002.3gp - Power crossovers that I just did first today, kind of long and boring. dbny - do they look right?

http://sk8rland.com/CaseyShobe003.3gp - Well this one didn't go as planned. You can see quite a nasty fall in this one, the only time I've fallen out of a spiral :( Good humor value :P

[Casey]

A quick question to both Casey and rf3ray. You both say you've been skating less than 6 months but how much time have you actually spent on the ice? Do you skate daily and/or how many hours a week. Also do you have experience in roller blading/ roller skates or gymanastics or something that has given you a head start as you both look very confident on the ice even if techniques need a little refinement.
I generally spend at least 15 hours a week on ice, usually 20+. And I've been skating since November 6th, which is 6 and a half months. I never rollerbladed much (maybe 2 weeks worth back when I was 15), but I have a lot of leg strength and good balance leftover from a few years of bicycling.

[rf3ray]

Well, when I started skating, start of Jan I was going about 1-2 times a week, till I began group lessons for Feb-Mar then I went about 2 - 3 times a week, then in April I started getting private lessons from a coach, then was pretty much trying to skate 4 - 5 times a week, till I broke my wrist, then from then I dropped it down to 2 -3 times a week, for this week I have been trying to skate at least 24 hours a week if I can (still with a cast on my wrist, get it of in 1 week). With the skating, when I went private my coach pretty much made me relearn everything, that was learning in group lessons.

With previous experience, I havent done any rollerblading, or gymnastics.
I'm 28 turning 29 next week, most people say that I am very flexible for my age, without doing any previous dicisplines in those areas.

With my skating, I just watch olympic dvds and watch it frame by frame on what they do and I just think about it when I get on the ice..

I hope that helps

Ray 8O

A quick question to both Casey and rf3ray. You both say you've been skating less than 6 months but how much time have you actually spent on the ice? Do you skate daily and/or how many hours a week. Also do you have experience in roller blading/ roller skates or gymanastics or something that has given you a head start as you both look very confident on the ice even if techniques need a little refinement.

I'm trying to make myself feel better here as after 5 years of skating I have only just landed a single loop and can't yet manage a flip or lutz. However I don't spend a huge amount of time on ice compared to some (max. of 5 - 6 hours a week and much of that is spent socialising :D )

I'm no expert but agree with most of the comments from other people. For the spin it looks like you are trying to force it and twisting instead of keeping the torso square and definitely work on spinning a few revs with arms and leg held out to find centre before bringing them in. I found this so hard to do at first but once I got the hang of it, it improved my spins no end.

On the jumps it looks like you need to work on the upright position in the air and especially on landing - keep head up, back straight and free leg extended on the landing (again something I found difficult to do til my coach said 'if it's not hurting you're not doing it right! - he was only half joking!)

One thing I've noticed with young men who take up skating is that they tend to be much more fearless than the ladies and with their greater strength this often allows them to get the jumps fairly quickly but their form is not always good and their basic skating (stroking, footwork, extension etc) is what needs work. Can't really tell from those videos if this applies to either of you.

Anyway it looks like you are both doing really well and having fun.

[Casey]

My clips are online here (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie1117), they won't be anything new to posters at RSSIR, but I haven't posted them here before. I did have a clip of the eponymous 2loop2loop combo, but unfortunately I seem to have mislaid it somewhere.
Exceptional job! What level are you skating at?

[rf3ray]

Hey John, really good skating, just wondering how long have you been skating??

Nice clips Jocelyn, especially the CW backspin. Have you spent a lot of time working on that because it is not something I can do at all. I can do CW front spins, but the backspin is a bit of a disaster.

My clips are online here (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie1117), they won't be anything new to posters at RSSIR, but I haven't posted them here before. I did have a clip of the eponymous 2loop2loop combo, but unfortunately I seem to have mislaid it somewhere.

John

[Casey]

Wow, you guys have got to see this footwork. It's on inline skates, but very very well done.
http://sk8rland.com/freestyle_inline_skating-footwork-slalom.wmv

Has anybody here skated on Pic Skates ( http://www.picskate.com/ )?

[dbny]

http://sk8rland.com/CaseyShobe002.3gp - Power crossovers that I just did first today, kind of long and boring. dbny - do they look right?


You have the sequence correct, but you are not getting that transition from BI to BI edge properly. You are stepping from BI to BO/flat instead, and are stepping instead of pushing. Here are some things to help you get the BI edge: Try to cross the long axis at a right angle when you push to the BI edge, you are retrogressing just a bit and that flattens the edge. Think of pushing into a B lunge position, so that your BI edge from the crossover is going to do a push to get you to the BI edge on the other foot, and the pushing leg is going to stretch out into the lunge. Always cross the long axis on the push to BI edge, so that the new foot takes the ice at the axis. It's good to practice this on a line just to get the idea of the lobes.

[dbny]

Wow, you guys have got to see this footwork. It's on inline skates, but very very well done.
http://sk8rland.com/freestyle_inline_skating-footwork-slalom.wmv

Has anybody here skated on Pic Skates ( http://www.picskate.com/ )?

Fun stuff! That can all be done on ice, and some of it is done regularly in the test structure, but with very different form required :lol:. The first sequences of two footed moves are called slaloms. Done on one foot, they are power (change of edge) pulls. This skater reminds me of Ilia Kulik's Rubberband Man program.

My daughter has pic frames and can jump and spin in them. The big problem is finding a decent surface for them. She wiped out in the driveway and still has the scar from it on her shoulder.

[dbny]

http://sk8rland.com/CaseyShobe003.3gp - Well this one didn't go as planned. You can see quite a nasty fall in this one, the only time I've fallen out of a spiral :( Good humor value :P

Toepick! If you haven't seen "The Cutting Edge" yet, go rent it tonight. You might want to consider some inexpensive knee pads from a sporting goods store. An ounce of prevention, etc.

[dbny]

http://sk8rland.com/casey_shobe-may2005-jumps.3gp - a couple minutes long, all the jumps I can do (except the half flip and half lutz), spins both directions, spread eagle...

On the spread eagles, arch your back as much as possible and push your shoulders back hard. These are going to shape up for you. On your toe loop, be careful not to pivot on the toepick on take off. Practice just toeing off and jumping straight up and down with no rotation.

You really have a lot of talent. If I lived anywhere near you, I would coach you for free just for the pleasure of nit picking you into good form.

[Casey]

Toepick! If you haven't seen "The Cutting Edge" yet, go rent it tonight. You might want to consider some inexpensive knee pads from a sporting goods store. An ounce of prevention, etc.

Nah, I have never, ever fallen forward like this before. I also landed on my right hip, which hurts, but nothing else. I've never hit my knees either. At least there are some things to be thankful for ;-)

[Casey]

You really have a lot of talent. If I lived anywhere near you, I would coach you for free just for the pleasure of nit picking you into good form.
Haha, depending on how often said free lessons were, the amount of money I'd save/more coaching I'd get would make it quite worthwhile to move about anywhere, lol :P

[dbny]

http://sk8rland.com/casey_shobe-may2005-freestyle.3gp - Took this one about 2 minutes after the last fall - barrel rolls, outside spirals (forwards and backwards), spread eagle, 3-turns. twizzles (not very good here).


That URL wasn't found, but this looks like the right one: footwork (http://sk8rland.com/casey_shobe-may2005-footwork.3gp)

Nice freeleg height on spirals!

[Casey]

That URL wasn't found, but this looks like the right one
You're right! Thanks for letting me know. I've fixed it.

[Casey]

how tall are you?
i'm 5 feet tall

Ahh, that's probably why you're having better luck with spins then - it's supposedly harder for taller people. I'm 5'11"

What type of skating boots/blades do you have?

[vesperholly]

Nice clips Jocelyn, especially the CW backspin. Have you spent a lot of time working on that because it is not something I can do at all. I can do CW front spins, but the backspin is a bit of a disaster.
I've always been able to spin CW. When I started in private lessons, I jumped/spun CW. That only lasted a year, and when I switched coaches my new coach decided that I spun and jumped better CCW so I switched everything. I've been skating for over 15 years (oh, god) but that, plus college, put a big crimp in my progress.

Basically I kept spinning CW because I still could. I can do back spin, scratch, flying camel, layback, back camel spins CW. I've been trying hard to switch them BACK to CCW. So far the backspin has improved and the layback is better CCW now. A lot of times I get frustrated that my CCW spins aren't as good as my CW spins, especially the flying camel which is awful CCW, but I've been able to do a flying camel CW for at least three years, and I just started working on it CW last year. I like being able to spin CW but sometimes it's just way more trouble than it's worth! :evil:

[2loop2loop]

I've always been able to spin CW. When I started in private lessons, I jumped/spun CW. That only lasted a year, and when I switched coaches my new coach decided that I spun and jumped better CCW so I switched everything. I've been skating for over 15 years (oh, god) but that, plus college, put a big crimp in my progress.

That's similar to my experience, I started out jumping CCW and spinning CW and my first coach let me get away with it. About 6 months later I switched coaches and the new coach immediately made me spin CCW, it didn't take me long before I was spinning far better CCW and I never looked back. I still have a strong upright front spin CW and I have made some attempts at a reverse camel, but it is not there yet. But as for CW back spins and flying camels 8O

John

[2loop2loop]

What level are you skating at?

Well I'm in the UK so the levels are all different, but I compete in the adult competitions at the masters level.

John

[2loop2loop]

Hey John, really good skating, just wondering how long have you been skating??

A while! :mrgreen: . I started just after my 14th birthday and I am 25 now, so getting on for 12 years!

John

[2loop2loop]

Ahh, that's probably why you're having better luck with spins then - it's supposedly harder for taller people. I'm 5'11"

6' here, and it doesn't help :frus: :frus: However there is a case to be made that it looks better when things are done right. Camel spins, split jumps, spirals etc all look better done by tall people :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

John

[Casey]

I took some pictures and video clips of a couple of my friends who come to the rink on Fridays, in case anybody cares to view them:
http://sk8rland.com/users/kc/2005-05-27/