Nice & Straight or Bent & Twisted - Practice Jun 11 to Jun 17

[chowskates]

Had lesson this morning, and at least I wasn't half asleep...

Nice & Straight:
Today was one of the rare occassions where my coach wanted to see my spins. He confirmed that he could see the change-edge in the combination spin (back camel - back upright change edge - bla bla bla). Did one decent layback + haircutter - the one and only attempt at the layback today!

Bent & Twisted:
I am doing something really strange on the Salchow... On the single, coach tells me my R shoulder is too high. So I adjust... then on the double, he tells me I'm dropping my R shoulder! I did land a few eventually, but they still don't feel right.

Well, this is my last lesson before my coach goes away for 3 months...

[Skittl1321]

Well this was yesterday, but Isince I was out of practice all last week, I considered this to be a new week of practice and posted here.

Nice and Straight
Finally got some videos of me skating- last time I did this was 4 months ago. I'm pleased to report I leave the ice when I jump, but only barely. I'd love some feedback if you'd like to watch the videos. (The spin from T position is old, the rest are new)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Skittl1321

Bent & Twisted My waltz 8 yesterday was horrible! And I wasn't able to do good crossovers- I'm blaming that on jeans, but it's a bad excuse. (I was in jeans because I was going shopping immediatly after DH videoed).

[Rusty Blades]

Nice & Straight: I forgot to reset my alarm last night for a skating day (4 a.m.) and woke up at 4:08 (gotta love that built-in clock!).

Seriously Twisted: OMFG I was TIRED this morning, dead, beat, wiped, sleepy.

Nice & Straight: The ice was empty when I arrived so I did an abbreviated warm-up, mostly stretching. Surprisingly, I was getting 3/4 of a revolution on the off-ice 2-foot jumps - that's better than previous!

Seriously Twisted: I hit the ice early (6:45) and found I was really weak and wobbly on EVERYTHING .... pretty much everything that's less than a year old was down the tubes :-(

Nice & Straight: Since everything was in the toilet, I decided to move over to the boards and just try "rotations" - getting the one-foot balance for 3-turns and spins. My goodness! I found the "sweet spot" and actually started hitting a good axis. I was getting one and a half rotations (1-footed) with good rotational speed and almost descent form before each spin fell apart. Considering how absolutely drained I felt this morning, I am mightily impressed with what happened with the spins. :mrgreen:

[Petlover]

Seriously Twisted: The zamboni broke, so the ice had not been zammed since last night. Lots of lumps, and sticky ice.

Nice & Straight: At least we had ice and they let us skate - after waking up at 5 am in the morning, it was worth it! Change foot spins were good, and so were salchows.

[doubletoe]

Well this was yesterday, but Isince I was out of practice all last week, I considered this to be a new week of practice and posted here.

Nice and Straight
Finally got some videos of me skating- last time I did this was 4 months ago. I'm pleased to report I leave the ice when I jump, but only barely. I'd love some feedback if you'd like to watch the videos. (The spin from T position is old, the rest are new)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Skittl1321

Bent & Twisted My waltz 8 yesterday was horrible! And I wasn't able to do good crossovers- I'm blaming that on jeans, but it's a bad excuse. (I was in jeans because I was going shopping immediatly after DH videoed).

Good job!! :) As you feel more confident and secure on your waltz jump, you can focus on using your arms to help you on takeoff. Look at any video of an axel takeoff and you'll see that the arms come down and back as the skater pushes out onto the takeoff edge, then they come up and forward as the skater starts to take off. For a waltz jump, once you have left the ice, you can just hold them out in front of you, slightly rounded.
For both the waltz jump and salchow, you'll find that you get more spring if you bend your takeoff knee deeply just before takeoff and then really point your takeoff toes hard as you leave the ice.
For the salchow, you can also give yourself a bigger and more controlled jump by checking the 3-turn exit (i.e.,holding the 3-turn exit edge with your free leg back and your takeoff side arm and shoulder forward) before actually jumping. A longer, less curly 3-turn with a checked exit will allow you to go into the jump with more speed and still have control over your 3-turn exit/takeoff edge.

[icedancer2]

Nice and straight: Finally decided to have a brief lesson for the first time since I broke/toruqed my right foot. My foot still hurts, mind you, but it was TIME - I got 15 minutes with my primary coach. I find that i actually get more out of 15-minutes with her than I do if we go longer because we just have to get into it... started off correcting forward cross-strokes, counterclockwise forward cross-overs and 5-step mohawks. All fixed now:P .
Moved on to some dance turns - foxtrot mohawk, killian choctaw, blues choctaw. All fixed now. Then she finished up with my posture on figures - MUST THINK ABOUT CORE! Oooh, that makes the turns easier doesn't it?

Love her.

Twisted: Won't skate until Thursday - have a yoga class tomorrow morning and the group from hell is scheduled to come to the rink on Wednesday, so Thursday morning will be it.

Hopefully will have a lesson with the dance coach this wekend (if I'm not too tired from juding tests and the competition on Saturday...)

[peanutskates]

nice n straight:
landed toeloop clean!!!
landed salchow (heck, I jumped on the salchow! wow.)
landed really good waltz jumps. 2 in a row too!
forward upright spin improving
backward spin getting there to the spinning part...
loop entry starting to work

I have to start picking music for my first program! woo!

twisted:
my feet. from new skates. well - not twisted, but hurting a little. ah well
loop jump. how do you get so much power that you leap up, around, and land on the same foot? hmm.
my camera. it doesn't work in such cold conditions as an ice rink. ARGH!!! i hate it. :x

[Team Arthritis]

BENT and TWISTED: ->Me! you just described ME! LOL going to gym after work to rehab my inoperable hip injury, my totally worn out knees not to mention my back postop, sigh.

Nice and straight: this is my goal for skating for the next several months - my main focus is go back to basics and just line up the body. As I told my coach:

standing up straight just isn't natural!

Lyle

[Terri C]

Nice and Straight:
Jumps and forward crosstrokes and power pulls!

Bent and Twisty:
Today was a awful spin day for me. Will I ever get my spins to where I can pass the Bronze free?

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle? Lately I've been feeling like I'm just in the way no matter what I'm doing on the ice or where I'm going. I make every effort to look out for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but hey I've got to practice too!

[Skittl1321]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle? Lately I've been feeling like I'm just in the way no matter what I'm doing on the ice or where I'm going. I make every effort to look out for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but hey I've got to practice too!

YES! That's why I don't skate freestyle. I've skated freestyle twice and both times it was awful (one I even had a lesson on that I pretty much took cold because trying to warm up was so awful. On lesson it wasn't so bad because my coach watched space for me.)

But I just feel like I'm not fast enough to be on freestyle, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get fast enough to do freestyle because I can't practice speed and power on public sessions.

(And we have relatively uncrowded freestyle with mostly preliminary skaters and a couple juvenile. Occasionally a pair team- and they move FAST!)

[chowskates]

Finally got some videos of me skating- last time I did this was 4 months ago. I'm pleased to report I leave the ice when I jump, but only barely. I'd love some feedback if you'd like to watch the videos. (The spin from T position is old, the rest are new)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Skittl1321


I thought your 'spin from T position' had a very nice position. When you did the wind up, the spin started off very nice, but you let loose instead of getting into the same position as the other spin.

I'm sure you'll get it soon enough! :D

[Rusty Blades]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle?

I used to, when I was skating with "the general population" of youngsters. Early last winter I moved to the "competitive training centre" and started skating with other serious competitors (mostly under 20) and was very pleased how well I was received despite my "beginner" status and rudimentary skills. There is a "mutual recognition" and respect among competitors that I never saw at other rinks/sessions. It is quite pleasing to see Gold level competitors clear the ice for an old beginner working on a Nationals program (and to applaud the effort!). I have to say that everybody watches out for everybody else - everybody knows a fall or collision could put an end to one or more competitive "careers". Now I am so SPOILED by this "professional atmosphere" that I am really loathe to return to "normal" sessions.

[Rusty Blades]

Goodness! I must be the only one skating this morning! (I was the only one on the ice to 8-) )

Bent: Thanks to hot humid weather the ice was littered with speed bumps (from the dripping roof) so I did my on-ice warm-up by doing serpentines among the stalagmites while waiting for the resurfacer operator show up to do a flood.

Straight: After the flood the ice was PERFECT FIGURE SKATING ICE!!!!!! I have not seen such nice ice in 36 years! Not concrete hard, almost NO hockey ruts - absolutely WONDERFUL! I stretched my session as long as I dared and really did NOT want to leave that beautiful ice!

Twisted: 3-turns were weak :cry:

Straight:Back edges and glides had returned and the super spins were still there (well "super" for a beginner like me)! - I even did a few for my coach and I think she was as surprised at them as I was yesterday 8O Ok, it's official - I HAVE A WITNESS! I even managed a 2 revolution spin. Now, if I can find the nerve to do a complete tuck and let them rip at full speed :roll:

Good session, absolutely wonderful! :mrgreen:

Bent: Only one more session left before the June beak :cry:

[Rob Dean]

Nice and Straight: I splurged and bought the photos from the pro-am on Sunday, so I had what amounted to a stop motion look at the two dances. I therefore had something to discuss when I went in for last night's lesson, even if it was a review of some rather basic items. So, better this week, so far: toe pointing, stroking...

Bent and Twisted: Still struggling to have all the moves patterns for the APBM test (now delayed due to irreconcilable schedule problems, again) looking nice on the *same* day. Looks like Friday's lesson has a theme.:frus:

Rob

[jazzpants]

Nice and straight:

All spins except camel were there. Actually camels were there part of the time too.
Except for one case, the backsit is actually progressing well! 8O :D
Flips were pretty good. Loops was better AFTER I warmed up a bit.Bend and twisted:

Twisted definitely on my catch foot spiral. Aborted a bunch of times b/c I wasn't feeling right on the lower back.
Took a splat on my backsit and my butt/hip has a nice nasty bruise for me to sit on...NOT!!! :x (Hey! My coach can't say that I don't try to take falls on stuff now!!! :P )
Landing on the loop wasn't as secure as the ones for the flips. Weird! Skating School Director spotted me missing a couple of times. He said "Loops aren't supposed to be landed on two feet, you know??? You know what you have to do!!!" *stern look* Thankfully, I did land the next one he wanted me to do clean!!! Then he says "Hmmm... not bad...", satisfied that he pushed me for it. :P (Story behind that -- he was at my lesson when secondary coach was pushing for me to do a BUNCH of loops and land them clean.)

[looplover]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle?

Yup, felt that way yesterday - very crowded session w/high level kids, hard to mentally get past it :cry:

[Mrs Redboots]

Bent: The car wouldn't start (it has now been fixed, but nobody, including the garage, knows what went wrong nor what they did to fix it!), so we were late.

Straight: Worked on Golden Skaters' waltz for upcoming competitions - not at all bad, although Coach had endless nit-picky corrections. Which is good, as it means we're progressing on the dance!

Also worked on the silly couples' artistic we're preparing for competition in two weeks. Made some progress, I think.

[Rob Dean]

Worked on Golden Skaters' waltz for upcoming competitions...

Do they compete that over there? We've been doing it on Monday night social dance sessions this year, and I hadn't had the impression it was part of the formal structure there either.

Rob

[peanutskates]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle? Lately I've been feeling like I'm just in the way no matter what I'm doing on the ice or where I'm going. I make every effort to look out for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but hey I've got to practice too!

yes! they're just so good....

[Clare]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle? Lately I've been feeling like I'm just in the way no matter what I'm doing on the ice or where I'm going. I make every effort to look out for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but hey I've got to practice too!

Oh my goodness, so often! Pretty much the only time I don't feel that way is my first half hour on the ice- 6.30-7am when I'm quite often the only one out there, with maybe another 2 or 3 skaters at most. My coach gets cross with that fact that I can't seem to get past that...I'm just hoping it gets easier with time. I'm already quicker at throwing myself out of the way of speeding dancers than I used to be :)

Nice and Straight;
-Forward crossovers were quite lovely this morning- barely a hint of a toepick and something approaching a decent free leg extension.
-Change of Edge finally feels more comfortable, except for the strange lack of control I have over my own shoulders :roll:

Bent and Twisted;
-Backward stroking was a bit wobbly for a good while this morning.
-FI3s, which seemed so close just last week, feel a million miles away again.
-Fell doing nothing more than plain forward stroking. Somehow caught my toepick and went down onto my knees like a sack of old spuds!

Clare

[Skittl1321]

Nice and Straight My feet didn't hurt at all while I was skating today (including teaching- 3.5 hours)
Bent and twisted They hurt so badly I could barely walk when I took them off.

Nice and Straight Waltz jump- it's finally feeling like a real jump
Bent and Twisted MITF- nothing was going well tonight. My backward edges were particularly week and my waltz 8 was so unbalanced around the circle.




Question- on the PB 3-turn pattern, the inside edge push after the second 3 turn- does your other foot leave the ice? The USFSA video shows that, but the two coaches at our rink with adults seem to teach it with it on the ice.

[tidesong]

Nice and Straight: Landed 5 double salchows in a row!! Managed to stay on my feet in the side split spiral after letting go of leg but I get so slow... so still work in progress... Beilmann position is a bit more comfortable but I may change it to a one hand (the easier side not the opposite hand) type beilmann because I simply get that up faster (saving precious seconds while balancing in the spiral)

Bent and Twisted: I am still TOO TIRED because I haven't been getting enough sleep so everything is still blah... landed some underotated double loops again, double toe is gone with the wind at the moment (but mostly because I was forgetting a step in the set up completely and by the time I remembered I had fallen so much it hurt so yeah...) Didnt quite get the change edge sit spins

[Scarlett]

Nice and straight - Managed to eke out a couple of respectable forward and back spins.

Bent and twisted - Got to the rink and realized I really didn't feel like skating. Worked on bronze moves a bit, did a couple of spins and left.

[chowskates]

Nice and Straight: Landed 5 double salchows in a row!! Managed to stay on my feet in the side split spiral after letting go of leg but I get so slow... so still work in progress... Beilmann position is a bit more comfortable but I may change it to a one hand (the easier side not the opposite hand) type beilmann because I simply get that up faster (saving precious seconds while balancing in the spiral)

Bent and Twisted: I am still TOO TIRED because I haven't been getting enough sleep so everything is still blah... landed some underotated double loops again, double toe is gone with the wind at the moment (but mostly because I was forgetting a step in the set up completely and by the time I remembered I had fallen so much it hurt so yeah...) Didnt quite get the change edge sit spins

You forgot to mention you nice and low backsit...

[chowskates]

Seriously Twisted: The zamboni broke, so the ice had not been zammed since last night. Lots of lumps, and sticky ice.


umm... when the zamboni breaks here, the ice is still lovely in the morning - they water it and let it sit overnight

[tidesong]

You forgot to mention you nice and low backsit...

Well there wasn't much improvement on it, I've always had that inconsistently and its still inconsistent :( I realized that I find it really easy to rock all the way back and fall off the back, or get totally on the toe pick... so hard to stay in the middle and ON the edge... I keep getting my front back left right confused somehow hehehe. (like I think ok stay front, then I go to my left instead !!!)

[Mrs Redboots]

Golden Skaters' Waltz: Do they compete that over there? We've been doing it on Monday night social dance sessions this year, and I hadn't had the impression it was part of the formal structure there either.

RobOh yes, it's one of the test dances at Level 3 Bronze here.

Bent: Not a lot, today. Too many rather good ice-dancers, but we managed to do everything we wanted to do.

Still faffing with choreography for our artistic; we need to get the props up and running before we can do much else.

Coach has the most evil exercises for me now - I have to skate with my hands clasped behind my back, like Prince Philip, only stretched out down as low as I can get them. It hurts!

Why is it that as soon as Husband leaves for work, someone has a lesson on the Westminster Waltz (music used for Golden Skaters'); we could so have practised it to the music!

Straight: Decent run-throughs of Golden Skaters' Waltz, Fiesta Tango and free dance.

Getting the choreography straight in parts of our artistic. I think. I hope.

Coach was complimentary in lesson - hope he isn't coming down with something.....

[SynchroSk8r114]

Nice and straight: I had a fabulous dance lesson with the coach. She's finally back from her vacation and I'm much more used to my new boots after a week in them. I did a million run-throughs of the Paso, which she said looked good (work on the crossrolls and slide extensions!) and finished learnign the second half of the Starlight Waltz, which isn't so bad. Overall, a great day! 8-)

[Petlover]

Nice & Straight: My change foot spins were awesome - 3 times and all were good! Also, my coach brought her video camera and totally fixed the check on my salchow, hooray!

Bent & Twisted: Although I can finally pick up my feet on the Rhythm Blues end pattern, what I thought was a pointed toe still shows up on the video camera as a flexed foot, sigh.......

[Jeanne D]

Coach was complimentary in lesson - hope he isn't coming down with something.....


LOL! Hee hee hee....I hope he reads this.

[jazzpants]

Nice and Straight:


Well, my posture anyway...it's much better now and secondary coach does not see any more "turtles." (i.e. my shoulder are down now so she can actually see a neck. Turtles don't show any neck b/c it's hidden in its shell...
Landed clean loops AND loop-loops today!!! WOO HOO!!!! :bow:Bend and twisted:

Free leg needs to be straighted on stroking!!! :giveup: Actually the free leg isn't so bad on the stroking but the hip is still not quite squared on one side. (Which tells me it's probably time for a chiro visit... :P )
SPIRALS SUCKS!!! I HATE 'EM!!! :evil: Need to lock knees and free foot not turned out. (And at the same time I'm not supposed to open my hip either! 8O It's gonna be painful to turn out the foot, I will tell 'ya!!!)
Couldn't land flips clean w/o stumbling out. At least it's landed on the correct foot... it just won't glide out! :x :frus:
Additional Nice and Straight:

Told secondary coach what my artistic piece is and she thinks it's KEWL!!! So much for the fun of shocking the secondary coach with scary music. :roll: :twisted: :lol:

[Jeanne D]

Nice & Straight:
- only skater on the ice for the 1st 45 min.
- rink wasn't as cold
- newly sharpened blades
- fell trying the new fan spiral and learned something, watch the hip!
- remembered to stay down in the knees on perim stroking and forward x-overs/progressives

Bent & Twisted
- blades felt too sharp, stops were scary until end of session
- feel like a car going down the road sideways with right forward power pulls, alignment problems I think
- dropping off edge after turn on forward power 3s, me or uneven blade sharpening?
- RBO3, still getting on a too deep inside edge after the turn

[Jeanne D]

Nice and Straight:


Well, my posture anyway...it's much better now and secondary coach does not see any more "turtles." (i.e. my shoulder are down now so she can actually see a neck. Turtles don't show any neck b/c it's hidden in its shell...
Landed clean loops AND loop-loops today!!! WOO HOO!!!! :bow:Bend and twisted:

Free leg needs to be straighted on stroking!!! :giveup: Actually the free leg isn't so bad on the stroking but the hip is still not quite squared on one side. (Which tells me it's probably time for a chiro visit... :P )
SPIRALS SUCKS!!! I HATE 'EM!!! :evil: Need to lock knees and free foot not turned out. (And at the same time I'm not supposed to open my hip either! 8O It's gonna be painful to turn out the foot, I will tell 'ya!!!)
Couldn't land flips clean w/o stumbling out. At least it's landed on the correct foot... it just won't glide out! :x :frus:
Additional Nice and Straight:

Told secondary coach what my artistic piece is and she thinks it's KEWL!!! So much for the fun of shocking the secondary coach with scary music. :roll: :twisted: :lol:


There's an Italian no-neck joke that your instructor may someday spring on you....be forewarned!

Looop-loop combo, good for you! That combo is pure evilness to me....:twisted:

[Rusty Blades]

Not Quite Straight! In lesson today we played with spins again, which weren't working as consistently as Monday but at least I hit a few. We talked about 2-foot spins but I actually find them harder than 1-foot spins - unless I cheat and have 95% of my weight on one foot ;) I managed a few CW back XO's but just couldn't get the CCW going. Back edges and glides continue to improve - starting to get some good speed on the backwards now.

T'was the last session of "spring ice" for me - off now until July 3 :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

At this time and on this auspicious occasion :roll: I couldn't help but reflect on the past 8 months (since I hooked up with my present coach) and some of the milestones. Eight months ago I could skate forward (scratchy stroking), do forward cross-overs, barely skate backwards, 2-foot turns at any kind of speed were scary, and I had all the grace of a baby moose! Five months later I had a 2:30 Interpretive program in front of the judges at the Adult Championships. Ok, it was nothing to write home about, but it was THERE and I had my first competition under my belt, a national competition to boot! In the three months since Nationals my backward skating has improved immeasurably, I have done back cross-overs, 3 turns, one-foot and two-foot spins (though none of them consistently). We have also worked on jump landings and takeoffs. Although my progress usually appears abysmally slow to me day to day, when I take a step back and look over a longer time frame, my rate of progress appears to be accelerating (which is a damned good thing 'cause I ain't getting any younger - LOL!) Considering that 16 months ago I couldn't stand upright in skates, I am, today, one happy camper!

See ya'll in July! :bow:

[Morgail]

Question- on the PB 3-turn pattern, the inside edge push after the second 3 turn- does your other foot leave the ice? The USFSA video shows that, but the two coaches at our rink with adults seem to teach it with it on the ice.

I passed it last year doing the push to BI edge on one foot and slightly lifting the free leg in front. The only other person I've seen test PB moves did it on two feet, and she passed also.

However, once you get to Bronze Moves, there are two patterns that require that same push onto a BI edge, and you have to do it with both feet on the ice. So it might be good to learn that edge with your other foot on the ice now - one less thing you have to learn later:)

This is from last night:

Nice & Straight:
-8-step mohawks were much improved from last week
-back cross rolls and back power pulls were good
-spirals were strong and (for me) high
-flip was on!!
-I skated my program decently 3 times.

Bent & Twisted:
-camel, aka the hardest spin EVER
-Silver 3-turn pattern was flat

[peanutskates]

nice n straight:
landed 4 toeloops in a row
still landing toes and sals
forward spin is improving even more
I am beginning to get a hint of a backspin
loop entry is very good. now for the rotation...
ooh, and my new skates are broken in! much better...

bent n twisted:
my foot... has 2 blisters on the heel (from new school shoes+skates)
toepicked myself on a spiral. whatt??

[singerskates]

Nice & Straight:
Was back at the rink again after missing two days of skating do to very bad infection.
Did one corkscrew spin that was just about centered (I'm picky and like all the circles to either be on top of each other or start outward and then go inside the beginning one.) I barely travelled on the spin with only two of the rotations not as centered. This means my sinuses and middle ear are clearing up.
One of my students is almost finished her level 4 CanSkate and then will be getting an official private coach. She has just 3 things to get; two foot spin picking up alternating feet, two foot sit spin and one foot three turns.

Bent & Twisted:
The weird feeling I got when I went back on the ice for the first time after being so sick that I thought I'd either die or have to be admitted to the hospital with the infection I had. It all felt so surreal.
The lack of energery I had to do basic stroking around the rink to warm up was a bummer.
I was too weak to do any of my own skating so I had to opt to coach instead.

Here's hoping I feel much better than Tuesday on Thursday so I can get back to my skating again as well as coach.

[Terri C]

Nice and Straight:
Forward scratch spin and backscratch after a few tries!

Bent and Twisted:
Auntie took what pitiful sitpin I have and convinced Primary Coach to send me back to sitspin kindergarden. In other words, for the time being, instead of doing a plain sit, I now have to do the sitspin entry and then spin on two feet as low as possible. Now I'm really worried whether I'll ever get to Bronze. :cry: :giveup:

[momsk8er]

Do any of you feel like you are taking up ice space at your rink during freestyle? Lately I've been feeling like I'm just in the way no matter what I'm doing on the ice or where I'm going. I make every effort to look out for skaters in lessons or doing programs, but hey I've got to practice too!

Yes, definitely. Especially since I'm a CW skater, and kids don't seem to understand that a person doing CCW xovers in the middle of the rink is about to enter a spin! They all think I'm heading down the rink for a jump! yikes! At least 4 almost ran into me yesterday.

Nice & Straight - I've done salchows adequately, but I never could see how anyone could have enough control to do a double. My coach had me wait, wait wait, before I jumped, and now I get it!! Not that you'll see a double jump out of me anytime soon.

Bent & Twisted - back spin - why can't I just get that thing? I can not do more than 3-4 revs. Mostly because I don't trust myself and I keep checking out.

[Skittl1321]

Nice and Straight After a year of trying to find someone who could stretch my boots- I finally have! She is going to stretch the toe box, and then lightly punch the spots I taped to show her the pressure points (she doesn't want to completely punch them out until she has my feet in the boots, and she thinks stretching will solve the problem anyway.) I am so thrilled at the possibility that my skates might not hurt me anymore.

Bent and Twisted She's in another city and I sent my skates to her by "courier coach" who is from that city as well. I don't know this coach (just by name) so I am so scared he forgot them or something and my skates just got left at the mall and will disappear.

[jskater49]

Nice and Straight

First time on the ice since last Sunday and I knew I had a power class after an hour of skating, so I just took it easy, few patterns of the forward and backward crossovers from bronze moves, power 3s, then I just worked on chasses and swing rolls forward and backward. My backward chasses especially needed work since I don't pick my foot up enough and I have these in my freestyle as well as dance so I concentrated on picking up my foot. Worked on keeping my leg straight behind and turning out my foot on back swing rolls. Did a few patterns of the Swing, even though the mohawk was mostly two footed, at least to help me remember the dance

Then a 15 minute lesson, we worked on the entry edge from a t position for a spin. We got as far as me holding a good edge, keeping my knee bend, keeping my arms straight and then putting my foot down for a two foot spin. She drew the pattern for me to do a RFO edge, RFO 3 turn, 2 crossovers and then the LFO edge into the spin. She said to work on that and try to wean myself off of putting my foot down so it's a 1 foot spin. Once I get it I think that shouldn't be hard since I have no problem with a 1 foot spin with a two foot entry.

Since I'm working on FS 1 in LTS, we reveiwed FO and FI consectutive edges which were fine.

Then onto POWER class. Do any of you take power classes? It was me, my daughter and another teenage girl who pretty much goofed off until she decided to race my daughter in backward russian stroking and they both scared the beegeebers out of me. Other than that 5 second race, I worked harder in this class than the two of them!

The coach had us skate as fast as we could to the other side and jump. Both the girls start whining "I don't want to jump" and just stand there. "O fer crying out loud" I said and I went off and did my half lutz, then half flip and then waltz jump. I am very nervous about jumping with any speed. Coach said to just push myself a little, which I did and I think I did the best waltz jumps I've ever done, they were high and had good flow and I didn't die!

Bent & Twisted

Then we had to skate and do 20 jumping jacks. Okay I don't jump on my toe picks. I don't even really know how. "Just jump up and down" I couldn't even really get on my toe picks to do that. "Do bunny hops" "How do I do those again" Finally I figure out to do side toe taps but we were done with that by then.

During the cool down, they were doing back cross rolls and maybe I was distracted by trying to decide what I would do instead since I can't do back cross strokes and I caught an edge and fell backwards, hard on my head, but fortunately my elbow caught most of it before my head slamed on the ice.

Of course that sent everyone in a panic. And even on easy falls, I just can't get up that easily, this time, I needed to lay there and get my breath but I was afraid they were going to call the paramedics! I did mangage to get up and prove that I was not going to black out. This was an hour ago and my head does not hurt and I only have general soreness and a big black and blue mark on my elbow to show for it.

j

[Skittl1321]

Bent & Twisted
During the cool down, they were doing back cross rolls and maybe I was distracted by trying to decide what I would do instead since I can't do back cross strokes and I caught an edge and fell backwards, hard on my head, but fortunately my elbow caught most of it before my head slamed on the ice.

j

Oh gosh! I'm so sorry about your bad fall. Glad to hear your okay and hope the soreness goes away soon.



I am so amazed at those of you who take power skating classes. I am still pretty much jumping from a standstill (well I've progressed from slow glide). The idea of jumping jacks on ice makes me FREAK out. I had to excuse myself from LTS for about 5 minutes the day we learned ballet jumps because just doing them at the wall scared me so much my legs were shaking and I knew I was going to start crying. (Oddly, I had no problems doing them the next week and ballet jumps aren't so bad.)

[tidesong]

Nice and straight:

Whohoo!!! Today I landed a few of the nicest double toe loops ever in front of coach :D so ok theres some progress again... I'll need a while before I'm convinced that it won't go the way of last year and last last year but its starting to feel a little better.

Double loop was landed underrotated still, I tense up too much on double loop need to relax, calm down and remmeber its not the end of the world.....

Worked on double flip which was very cool, got the entry straighterened up (was looking forward to this!) and its very fun! But of course I didnt get close to landing yet. Much nicer than my crazy attempts a long while back :P

Tried one back sit change edge, change edge back then upright side split spin /I spin /sasha spin whatever you wanna call it lol

Double salchow and axel per usual

Bent and twisted:

uh... well this was a pretty good session :)

[Jeanne D]

Bent & Twisted

During the cool down, they were doing back cross rolls and maybe I was distracted by trying to decide what I would do instead since I can't do back cross strokes and I caught an edge and fell backwards, hard on my head, but fortunately my elbow caught most of it before my head slamed on the ice.

Of course that sent everyone in a panic. And even on easy falls, I just can't get up that easily, this time, I needed to lay there and get my breath but I was afraid they were going to call the paramedics! I did mangage to get up and prove that I was not going to black out. This was an hour ago and my head does not hurt and I only have general soreness and a big black and blue mark on my elbow to show for it.

j

Back in 2001 in a rhythm and edge class I took a fall on those back cross rolls. I had plenty of rhythm, just no edge! I know what it feels like to take a fall on them, I landed hard on my middle/upper back and my feet were above my body when I was falling.

My head felt like it was millimeters from the ice, but didn't make contact. Scary, to say the least.

[Clarice]

Nice and straight: Started my new freeskate program. I always enjoy working on choreography. We have a husband/wife team that works with us - he choreographs, and then she works with on-ice presentation. The only problem so far is that he's put in so much choreography that we can't fit in all the elements - she's already ripped out most of it, and we're only halfway through the program so far! At the moment, I'm not really sure what's still in, and what's been removed. The goals for this one are to increase the technical content so I can hopefully finish higher at ANs than I did this year, and to capitalize on my natural classic style. At least, I hope it will look classic by the time we're done - things are pretty rough at the moment!

Bent and twisted: What is WITH that cross behind step in the Rhythm Blues?! Just started that dance, and could do it pretty well already if it weren't for that! I've been doing laps around the boards, and by the end yesterday could sort of do it without holding on, so I guess there's hope. No way to do it at tempo yet, though. I'll be all right with my coach supporting me, but I want to be able to compete it solo someday.

[jskater49]

Bent and twisted:[/B] What is WITH that cross behind step in the Rhythm Blues?! Just started that dance, and could do it pretty well already if it weren't for that! I've been doing laps around the boards, and by the end yesterday could sort of do it without holding on, so I guess there's hope. No way to do it at tempo yet, though. I'll be all right with my coach supporting me, but I want to be able to compete it solo someday.

Heh. Does your coach let you do the one foot option? You can pass the test with that, but I suppose if you want to compete, doing both feet will get you more credie. Wait till you do the cross behind for the cha cha. I tried that again today as well but it was not happening.

j

[quarkiki2]

I haven't done the Rhythm and Blues, but do the cha-cha in our synchro program. I'm a dork, because I normally hate cross-behinds and panic about them whenver they come up infootwork, but I love the cross behind in the cha-cha, LOL!

I think about sliding the back foot down my skating leg, then sitting on it. Of course, I love to point my toes, so i concentrate more on pointing my front toe than actually stepping on my back foot. I love to practice things that make me feel pretty and the cha-cha is one of those things, LOL! Like I said, I'm a dork!

[jskater49]

I love to practice things that make me feel pretty and the cha-cha is one of those things, LOL! Like I said, I'm a dork!

I love the cha cha...makes me feel sexy! Except for that $$*%@ cross behind!

j

[Clarice]

Heh. Does your coach let you do the one foot option? You can pass the test with that, but I suppose if you want to compete, doing both feet will get you more credie. Wait till you do the cross behind for the cha cha. I tried that again today as well but it was not happening.

j

Yes, she showed me the one-foot option, but I'm being stubborn and refusing to use it unless it becomes absolutely necessary. She says I do the foot that would get left out better anyway, so I might as well try to do all of them. I wanted to pass this dance yet this summer. We'll see...

[doubletoe]

During the cool down, they were doing back cross rolls and maybe I was distracted by trying to decide what I would do instead since I can't do back cross strokes and I caught an edge and fell backwards, hard on my head, but fortunately my elbow caught most of it before my head slamed on the ice.

Of course that sent everyone in a panic. And even on easy falls, I just can't get up that easily, this time, I needed to lay there and get my breath but I was afraid they were going to call the paramedics! I did mangage to get up and prove that I was not going to black out. This was an hour ago and my head does not hurt and I only have general soreness and a big black and blue mark on my elbow to show for it.

j

Aaahh, I remember that fall well. . . Back when I was taking group classes we were doing back cross rolls and I let my weight get too far back on the foot I was pushing onto. My foot slipped out from underneath me and I went straight back onto my head. The little pool of red blood on the ice was very dramatic, like one of those suicide scenes in Japanese movies (which always seem to take place on a blanket of white snow), LOL! It only required two stitches, but I guess the visual was pretty dramatic because my instructor still remembers it years later!

[jazzpants]

Yes, definitely. Especially since I'm a CW skater, and kids don't seem to understand that a person doing CCW xovers in the middle of the rink is about to enter a spin! They all think I'm heading down the rink for a jump! yikes! At least 4 almost ran into me yesterday.
Hi, momsk8er! Another CW skaters here!!! And yup! I know EXACTLY what you are going thru and at times I still feel kinda awkward skating in a FS session that is mainly CCW skaters!!! I'm better about claiming space now but I still am learning.

jskater49 - now you get me worried!!! I'm learning the back cross strokes from Silver/Juv Moves and live in fear of losing an edge on those!!!

Nice and Straight:
I'm playing partial hooky today at work... well, not really! I was waiting on work to come and said that since I'm just sitting at my desk doing nothing that I'd rather just go skating at the not so crowded coffee club and have a nice cup of very warm java (and some really heavenly chocolate donuts with NUTS sprinkle on top! :twisted: :yum: )

I did a lot of footwork and edges today, since the majority of skaters out there on the ice are ice dancers. I'm starting to get a little bit of the Schaffer push exercise but I still need to do them about 100,000 more times to get them to the point where I can actually do BO mohawks comfortably and good back cross strokes, which BTW, I did practice on those.
Primary coach came by and handed me my CD for my artistic number!!! He also complimented me on my footwork sequence for my FS program is MUCH better b/c I'm finally getting a LOT of "curves" (meaning that I'm skating on strong edges and NOT on flats!!!) He better!!! I've been working A LOT on those!!! :twisted: :P :lol:

Bend and Twisted:
Didn't do much jumps or spins today but...

More Nice and straight:
I landed TWO loops... one at a pretty decent speed. (Okay, it was slightly shaky and SCARY on the landing but I did it!!!) :bow:

Minor Bend and Twisted out of the last "Nice and Straight":
Too bad primary coach didn't noticed that I was doing that... even though I landed it RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM at the penalty box!!! :x

[jskater49]

jskater49 - now you get me worried!!! I'm learning the back cross strokes from Silver/Juv Moves and live in fear of losing an edge on those!!!




Well if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't doing a cross stroke, since I can't, I was going backward, thinking "Hmmm...what shall I do that's like a back stroke, maybe swing rolls?" and boom I was down. I have no idea what happened. Guess I should be grateful I didn't end up in a pool of blood like doubletoe!

j

[doubletoe]

jskater49 - now you get me worried!!! I'm learning the back cross strokes from Silver/Juv Moves and live in fear of losing an edge on those!!!

Well if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't doing a cross stroke, since I can't, I was going backward, thinking "Hmmm...what shall I do that's like a back stroke, maybe swing rolls?" and boom I was down. I have no idea what happened. Guess I should be grateful I didn't end up in a pool of blood like doubletoe!

j

Don't worry, Jazzpants, it was really just a little puddle; "pool" would be an exxaggeration! :lol: But seriously, you've already passed Bronze MIF, which means you understand edges, both forward and backward. When I had that fall, I hadn't even done Pre-bronze yet, and did not yet understand how to keep my weight on the balls of my feet and push diagonally onto my edges. You should not have that problem.

[BatikatII]

Didn't skate well on Tuesday as I was in the grip of a vicious cold and felt pretty lousy. Just did footwork with the coach and he started trying to get me to do some more complicated moves (eg LFI3, RBcross in front, transfer weight to LBI and perform LBI3 to forwards and repeat, then on other foot and then alternating!8O ) Was beginning to get the idea but BI3's need a lot of work.

No dance lesson Wednesday as coach is still away.

Free lesson today:
nice & straight - made a better effort at the complicated footwork from Tuesday.

Did a well nigh perfect flip for coach - well it felt good to me and he seemed pleased.

Ran through programme landing both loop and flip again:lol:

Bent & twisted:
Ran through free dance after lesson. Haven't had a chance to do this since the adult club competition last week and it was awful. If I can't make some drastic improvement real quick I think I maybe tempted to pull out of the upcoming adult opens. Still love my music though - just couldn't manage to remember what I was supposed to be doing to it or keep to correct timing.

[Jeanne D]

Don't worry, Jazzpants, it was really just a little puddle; "pool" would be an exxaggeration! :lol: But seriously, you've already passed Bronze MIF, which means you understand edges, both forward and backward. When I had that fall, I hadn't even done Pre-bronze yet, and did not yet understand how to keep my weight on the balls of my feet and push diagonally onto my edges. You should not have that problem.

That's right. My back edges were poor when I had that fall. If you do start to fall just sit down. I fell on a back outside edge on Monday and it was the wimpiest non-painful fall I've ever had! Just sit on it...;)

And when you do get those back cross rolls you'll love them. They are my favorite moves now.

[jskater49]

Don't worry, Jazzpants, it was really just a little puddle; "pool" would be an exxaggeration! :lol: But seriously, you've already passed Bronze MIF, which means you understand edges, both forward and backward. When I had that fall, I hadn't even done Pre-bronze yet, and did not yet understand how to keep my weight on the balls of my feet and push diagonally onto my edges. You should not have that problem.

Hey! I understand edges! Really I do!:halo:

I think was an ice zit that got me...

j

[doubletoe]

That's right. My back edges were poor when I had that fall. If you do start to fall just sit down. I fell on a back outside edge on Monday and it was the wimpiest non-painful fall I've ever had! Just sit on it...;)

And when you do get those back cross rolls you'll love them. They are my favorite moves now.

Yes, the best trick anyone ever showed me was to extend your free leg behind you but out to the side, then bend the skating leg (the front leg) deeply, point the free foot and bring it down at 7:00-8:00 for the left foot and 5:00-6:00 for the right foot. Slide the new foot into place at a diagonal towards 6:00, then push onto it. That's how the new foot ends up behind where the old one was; you don't actually lift up the foot and cross it behind. Hmm, this is starting to sound like the "progressives" topic!

[Carleenp]

I have been gone from skating for most of the winter and started back up today. The bad, but not at all unexpected side, was that I completely forgot how to do the backward edges that I had worked so hard at getting down last fall. :frus: My three turns were really weak as well, but will come back quickly. On the good side, I did some OK waltz jumps and the teacher figured out what I need to do to avoid wobbling all over the place on my two foot spin. So I actually did that better today than I ever did before.

[dbny]

That's right. My back edges were poor when I had that fall. If you do start to fall just sit down. I fell on a back outside edge on Monday and it was the wimpiest non-painful fall I've ever had! Just sit on it...;)

And when you do get those back cross rolls you'll love them. They are my favorite moves now.

I had one of the sit-down falls on B cross strokes last year when DD said my edges weren't deep enough and I got a little too enthusiastic. I really surprised myself by sitting down on it and not getting hurt at all.

Bent and Twisted:
For various reasons. I just haven't gotten in much practice in the past two weeks. I gave up my lesson last Fri because I worked 7 hrs on Thurs, and woke up with jelly legs. The thing that has suffered the most is my one foot spin. I had just gotten to the point that my middle automatically tightened up and now I have to think about it again.

Nice and Straight:
I woke up this morning from a dream of effortless double threes. In the dream, I was telling myself "just stand up". Later, at the rink, my LFI threes were feeling so good that I told myself "just stand up" and followed a LFI three with a LBO three. I was doing these very close to the wall, so that on finishing the LBO three, I was within reach of the wall. I'll have to do a lot more of these and work on the check two footed before I have the confidence to move away from that wall, but this is a major step for me. I think the real message of "just stand up" is to feel no fear.

One foot spin is starting to improve again, but I still have to think about sucking in my belly button. CCW FXO's are starting to feel more natural at last. F & B power pulls are starting to feel like fun, especially when the music has a varied beat so I can vary the speed of the pulls with it.

[Sessy]

Twisted: the weather outside, check it out (it's not my video, but it's the same all over the country the past few days)
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/77efc959-cd41-4be2-9925-994d01092d37.htm

I mean I've rollerbladed in a thunderstorm once, but I'm not rollerblading in this weather!
I went to get my bike out of the basement a few days ago and there was 3 inches of mud and water on the floor. Yikes! I'm getting The Day After Tomorrow ideas here.
Now we're used to this sort of storms in the Netherlands, but usually in october-november. Not in june!

[tidesong]

I've been reading about all kinds of freak weather recently... sorry that its happening to you too Sessy. But yeah, I think best not to rollerblade outdoors in that kind of weather. But do you have any nice indoor places you can rollerblade?

[singerskates]

Nice & Straight: Thursday June 14th, 2007

Waltz jump (landing with free foot infront getting ready to try Waltz/loop)
Toe Loop also landed with free foot infront.
Same with Salchow.
Combinations waltz/toe, toe/toe and sal/toe all were landed with proper arms, longer landing edge and with free foot first being infront and then brought back. ( I use to have a bad habit of swing my left arm around; CCW skater and I use to go to the next step as soon as I landed the jumps. That hurt me big time with CPC at Adult Canadians this year.)

Upright spin is starting to be more centered.

Tried and did twice 4 rotations after grabbing my free leg from the layback set up with my other arm behind my back. These were actually centered. No way.

Bent & Twisted

Still sick with infection though it's starting to get under control but went back to doc and got more meds to clear it out.
Everytime I jumped Thursday, my chest killed me.
When blowing my nose my ear felt like it would pop off.

Got to run to the gym now.

singerskates out......

[doubletoe]

Twisted: the weather outside, check it out (it's not my video, but it's the same all over the country the past few days)
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/77efc959-cd41-4be2-9925-994d01092d37.htm

I mean I've rollerbladed in a thunderstorm once, but I'm not rollerblading in this weather!
I went to get my bike out of the basement a few days ago and there was 3 inches of mud and water on the floor. Yikes! I'm getting The Day After Tomorrow ideas here.
Now we're used to this sort of storms in the Netherlands, but usually in october-november. Not in june!

Ugh! Welcome to global warming. Good thing we don't have to ice skate outside! The worst that can happen in our protected little indoor world is a Zamboni breakdown. . . which is exactly what kept me of the ice yesterday morning after already being off the ice for 3 days! I got a call from my coach yesterday morning at 6am telling me not to bother coming for my lesson because our Zamboni spilled oil all over the ice. Thank goodness we had a spare machine, so I got to skate this morning. . .

Nice & Straight: Progress on the new double salchow takeoff (RBO3-mohawk, jump). My coach was excited, even though I wasn't able to hold my edge on the ones I landed fully rotated (even fell on one of them). Heck, as long as he's happy! ;) I also seem to have gotten my axel back on the floor, which may help me get it back on the ice. Also succeeded in doing my new flying camel combo for my coach. I think I finally *started* to figure out how to get both torque and control on the flying camel takeoff, instead of just one or the other. Let's see if it was just luck or if I can repeat it tomorrow!

Bent & Twisted: Double loops on the floor were really off this morning, which is unusual. Also, my back was so stiff from 4 days of inactivity that there was just no way I could get enough back bend to get my foot higher than my head on my catch foot spirals. When I pulled my leg up higher, it pitched me forward and I had to pull out of both of them in my program. :(

[Terri C]

Well this isn't exactly nice and straight, but
I FELL TWICE ON SITSPINS TODAY!!
My coaches are on a rampage to get my sitspin to that "thigh parallel to ice" position that the judges want. In order to do that I will have to take some falls.
Jumps were fine as well as forward and backscratch spins.
Another thing that secondary coach worked with me is on BI3's. I had never done them before and the first time I went to try one after she broke it down, I did a bracket!

Bent and Twisted:
Due to next week's whacked freestyle schedule and work commitments, I'll be lucky to skate once next week!

[Scarlett]

Spent today's session working on those accursed bronze moves. They seem so simple in theory yet are so difficult to execute correctly.

Nice and Straight-
I understand said moves. I just can't do them.

Bent and Twisted-
Just got word that the synchro team that I am joining this year is moving to adult so I have to pass them soon. Looks like this will be the summer of bronze moves. :twisted:

[looplover]

Well this isn't exactly nice and straight, but
I FELL TWICE ON SITSPINS TODAY!!
My coaches are on a rampage to get my sitspin to that "thigh parallel to ice" position that the judges want. In order to do that I will have to take some falls.

Hey are you going into the spin low enough, or are you trying to lower yourself in the spin? I'd been falling on them as well and one of my problems was trying to lower myself already in the spin, slightly leaning forward, then rolling back a little and just falling over.

I just got my sit spin back by going in really low and focusing on keeping my shoulder blades together (doesn't always work).

Now if only I can get my flip back!!!!:twisted: :twisted: :frus: :x :twisted:

[Emberchyld]

Bent and Twisted: Most everything this week. After a correction on my spin entry from crossovers two weeks ago, I can't get into ANY spins :cry: from crossovers. It's back to spin basics for me.

My toe loop has been on vacation. I think I've been pushing my picking leg so much in ballet that when I try to pick, the heel drops and I hit the flat (old injury...). Frustrating and scary.

Nice and Straight: After a few frustrating attempts at getting me to jump a salchow, my coach called in her husband as backup. He has me doing these drills on ice, no jumping, that have totally improved my centering, rotational inertia, and entry. This coming week we tackle the jumping part. Yay!

My coach was running through some of the PB freestyle requirements with me and asked me to just show her the one footed and two footed upright spins. I spun CW on two footed and CCW on the one footed and had her cracking up on the ice-- she's really curious to see what would happen if I do that when I take my test!

On a semi-skating note, I noticed in ballet class how much stronger and higher my jumps are, how much more centered and controlled my pirouettes are, and how much easier developpes have become. I think I'll definitely trade the confusion with spotting and the few bad habits that I've picked up from skating for the power that it's infused into my dancing!

[Skate@Delaware]

he he he!! sitspins....HA!!! I swear that I WILL get one!

no skating on real ice, just the fake stuff and that doesn't really count as we only have enough time to do show stuff before we are shooed out.

So I was at the gym, I've been kicking it up really hard this past month...trying hard to get stronger and I had a thought break through this hard head of mine. To work on the sitspin off ice, I actually have to simulate the position ON ICE! Doh!

Off to the back room I went, got an aerobics step block and put it behind me. Positioned myself in front of the mirror and away I went! Just as though I was entering a real sit spin, sweep down low, reach forward, lock leg etc.....positioned so the block was behind my butt for when I fell back. I managed to get really low (a fear of mine). My quads cramped a bit but I could hold it a bit.

Did 2 sets of 3-4 each side (hey, I will need to do a back sit).

I could hardly walk out of the gym....I was walking funny....and my legs really hurt!

http://tkahline.sk8rland.com/TKahline/Pictures%20and%20Video/Videos/
look at the bottom, they are titled: sitexercise.avi and sitexercise.mov

as always, please save to your desktop first, then play. They are rather short. Please excuse the cruddy quality of the video...my cell phone is crappy and dying.

Enjoy!

[Rob Dean]

Nice&Straight: It's been a good week. I had another good lesson working on my moves yesterday, so I'm looking forward to taking the APBM test someday when I can get it to fit my schedule. :x I also had a try-out with a potential dance partner, which went pretty well. Today, my son is taking his friends out skating for his birthday, so it won't be a great practice session, but I ought to be able to get something done.

Bent&Twisted: The only real problem this week has been lack of time; hope to do something about that next week...

Rob

[Jeanne D]

Yes, the best trick anyone ever showed me was to extend your free leg behind you but out to the side, then bend the skating leg (the front leg) deeply, point the free foot and bring it down at 7:00-8:00 for the left foot and 5:00-6:00 for the right foot. Slide the new foot into place at a diagonal towards 6:00, then push onto it. That's how the new foot ends up behind where the old one was; you don't actually lift up the foot and cross it behind. Hmm, this is starting to sound like the "progressives" topic!

Thanks! One can never have enough tips. What has helped me is the Natalia Dubova Stroking Exercises on Ice video. She demonstrates the move on the ice, but without her skates on. I love her accent. She talks a lot about the hips and where they should be. My problem with this move is hitting the toepick when I place the skate on the ice. I need to work on the sliding part I think.

[jazzpants]

Well this isn't exactly nice and straight, but
I FELL TWICE ON SITSPINS TODAY!!
My coaches are on a rampage to get my sitspin to that "thigh parallel to ice" position that the judges want. In order to do that I will have to take some falls.Yeah, I had those too on the backsit recently too! I still have the bruise mark from last Monday. (But at least I can sit on my bruise mark now... 8O :lol: ) Jay concurs that to get down lower on a sit spin, you'll need to take a few falls... but as I've mentioned before to you, the lower you try to go, the less impact the fall on your butt and hip! (Doesn't mean it won't hurt still... but it will hurt a LOT less!!!)

Another thing that secondary coach worked with me is on BI3's. I had never done them before and the first time I went to try one after she broke it down, I did a bracket!I assume a BI-FO bracket? Those are hard!!! 8O I can't do them yet. I could do FO-BI ones though.

[Sessy]

I've been reading about all kinds of freak weather recently... sorry that its happening to you too Sessy. But yeah, I think best not to rollerblade outdoors in that kind of weather. But do you have any nice indoor places you can rollerblade?

Nah, but I'm just doing it to practice my crossovers and stuff anyway, it's not that huge a thing. It just always makes me a bit edgy when I haven't had my daily exercise. :twisted: Not to mention I start doing other stuff instead, like over-doing a few stretches (my back kind of really hurts today).

[Sessy]

Ugh! Welcome to global warming. Good thing we don't have to ice skate outside! The worst that can happen in our protected little indoor world is a Zamboni breakdown. . . which is exactly what kept me of the ice yesterday morning after already being off the ice for 3 days! I got a call from my coach yesterday morning at 6am telling me not to bother coming for my lesson because our Zamboni spilled oil all over the ice. Thank goodness we had a spare machine, so I got to skate this morning. . .:(

No kidding! There's still 2 outdoor rinks (open half a year) in the netherlands, and 1 semi-outdoor one, I don't know HOW they do it with all that rain in winter! 8O

[Clarice]

Nice and straight: I did it! I did it! The cross-behind step on the Rhythm Blues! I've been doing laps of them for 2 days, and now I can do them without holding on to anything! Even managed them in the dance with my coach this morning, and almost got them in time when I did it by myself. Then she taught me the cha-cha. Also did some really good lutzes this week!

Bent and twisted: This morning was not the greatest spin day I have ever had. I guess even my bad ones are better than my best ones used to be, but nothing felt quite right this morning.

Question: When there are only 3 people on the ice, how is it that they still all end up in the same place at the same time?

[SynchroSk8r114]

Nice and straight: My freestyle coach loves my new lightweight skates! She said that I have so much more speed and flow and that my skating's just all around better. She was quite impressed with my double salchows and flying camels as a result.

Bent and twisted: It's not so bad, but my coach wants me to go faster and faster into my doubles. Aghhh, scary! 8O Okay, so it's actually a lot easier jumping with more speed and all, but still...I feel a tad bit out of control. That's gonna take some getting used to, hahahaha! :lol:

[jskater49]

Nice and straight: I did it! I did it! The cross-behind step on the Rhythm Blues! I've been doing laps of them for 2 days, and now I can do them without holding on to anything! Even managed them in the dance with my coach this morning, and almost got them in time when I did it by myself. Then she taught me the cha-cha. Also did some really good lutzes this week!

Congratulations!!:bow: :bow: :bow: I'm gonna get that cha cha cross behind by the end of this summer or die trying!


Question: When there are only 3 people on the ice, how is it that they still all end up in the same place at the same time?

Worse collisions I have had have been when there's only two or three of us. It's like we were wearing magnets!

j

[Terri C]

Hey are you going into the spin low enough, or are you trying to lower yourself in the spin? I'd been falling on them as well and one of my problems was trying to lower myself already in the spin, slightly leaning forward, then rolling back a little and just falling over.

I'm trying to start at a low position. The way I was doing it was stepping into as deep a knee as possible, then getting into position and lowering myself as I go. Unfortunately, that is not going to be allowed anymore.
I've always had the issue that when I did start at a low position, my free leg would snap too quickly and I'd either have no spin at all or would be stuck at whatever position I was at.

[jskater49]

I'm trying to start at a low position. The way I was doing it was stepping into as deep a knee as possible, then getting into position and lowering myself as I go. Unfortunately, that is not going to be allowed anymore.
I've always had the issue that when I did start at a low position, my free leg would snap too quickly and I'd either have no spin at all or would be stuck at whatever position I was at.

The sitspin is the reason I'm pretty sure I will be a permanent member of the pre-bronze for life club. :??

j

[Skate@Delaware]

The sitspin is the reason I'm pretty sure I will be a permanent member of the pre-bronze for life club. :??

j

Yeah, me too! My coach sent me an email and told me she was hoping I was ready to "step it up a notch"...whatever that means I'm sure it means more!!! AND she asked about my sitspin (which doesn't exist)

Why can't they let us have the option of choosing a sit OR camel for the test??? (member of the club of wishful thinkers here) but my coach would MAKE me choose the sit so I'm sunk anyway :roll:

[Scarlett]

Sitspin...blecchhhh!!! I'm not going to say it is the reason I'm going to be a pre-bronzer forever but it is in the top 3. I think the number 1 reason is actually going to be the toe-loop. Why do you forsake me toe-loop why? That and the bronze moves, and the fact that I can't do a loop from the crossover entrance and I have no flip, or speed, or grace, or presence, or...I guess I should stop while I'm ahead. If they let you move up for want, I'd be there :) Good thing I have a job that pays the bills.

[techskater]

Bent and twisted: double loops and double flips. Why can't I pull in all the way without yanking and throwing myself of my axis.

Nice and straight: Program run through. The program is 1 week old and I only two footed the double toe (the take off is correct), had a couple sloppy steps in the footwork (but I got through it without looking like I was stumbling), and put my foot down too early on the step between the (figure) loops in the opening transition. I did land the 2S, both Axels, Lutz, and flip in the program. I went back to the double toe and landed a beauty right after the program while tired. :roll: For this early with a new program, it's not in bad shape!

[looplover]

Why can't they let us have the option of choosing a sit OR camel for the test??? (member of the club of wishful thinkers here) but my coach would MAKE me choose the sit so I'm sunk anyway :roll:

Oh man! I'll take the sit spin over the camel any day even with my sink spins. The camel totally freaks me out, can't do 'em. But I also hate spirals. 8O

[jazzpants]

Oh man! I'll take the sit spin over the camel any day even with my sink spins. The camel totally freaks me out, can't do 'em. But I also hate spirals. 8O
Ditto! STILL HATE Camels!!! (Though... not that much now!!!) :x

Keep at it, you guys that are sit spin challenged. I don't have a great one either, but I was a LOT worse off when I first learned this spin. I did eventually *get it* and it's now one of my better spins.

[Sessy]

I like the camel. Something about almost nose-diving at the ice and hooking yourself in place with the toepick as if it's a harpoon appeals to me.

[looplover]

Bent and Twisted: whenever I'm the lowest level skater on the ice I feel like a big klutz. Today I felt like a big klutz. Did not even try to flip. :roll:

Nice and straight: Gotta take the pre-bronze tests in July so focused on moves, toe loop and waltz jump. Figured out why my LFI 3s always seem so awkward and fixed them (focused on shoulder blades!). May be making more out of the prebronze test than I need to! Forcing myself to do the clockwise crossovers the right way and feel more confident with those. I NEVER practice those.

I can't believe I was once thinking of taking four tests in one day!

[dbny]

Nice and Straight:
Felt immediately at home on the ice when I stepped on before my lesson on Fri. DH said it was because the ice was great, which it was, but I rarely feel so comfy so fast. I went right into F power XO's for warm up.

Had my coach check my crossovers, F & B in my lesson. I teach these, and am particularly concerned that my posture be good, with good upper body stretch and strength. I got the OK on them, with just a word about pushing through more completely on the F CW underpushes. I know I demo these well when I teach them, because I do them in slo-mo for demo.

Showed off my new LBO three to coach's congratulations! Worked a lot on FO threes on the circle. Doing them on a shallower edge and holding the edge for a greater time before the turn is a challenge for me. They are definitely getting better. Did the same with FI threes, also getting better.

Bent and Twisted:
I am going to have to teach the Waltz-8 very soon :cry:. I have had consistent FO threes for this move exactly twice in my skating career. Once right before I broke my wrist and had to put off testing Pre-pre moves, and the second time for two weeks before (finally) testing Pre-pre moves. I scraped every three on the test, but otherwise did a good pattern and passed. I've avoided this move ever since, and now I am sorry. I have perfect confidence in being able to teach moves I cannot do, but will my students have confidence in me?

[Sessy]

Bent and Twisted: whenever I'm the lowest level skater on the ice I feel like a big klutz. Today I felt like a big klutz. Did not even try to flip. :roll:
!

Been on the same ice with our then silver medaillist of the nationals senior ladies... Pretty much felt that way too till I realized that for ME, all had to be about ME, not about what they could do.

[Emberchyld]

Nice and Straight: Did a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, salchow-esque jump with my coach's husband (or should I call him coach #2 in Team Emberchyld? It looks like she wants to keep him working with me on any jumps, so I work with her 1/2 the time on spins and MITF and presentation, etc, and him the other half the the class on jumps.) Now I know what a RIGHT jump feels like and what happens when I do it wrong (THUNK!)

Today was a really good day for internalizing my coach's corrections during LTS and then privates:
Actually managed 2.5 revs on my backspin in my not as easy--CCW-- spin direction (funny, because I can only get one rev in the CW). Got a good correction on how to use my right and left arms that make my spin now only reliant on me remembering to pull up in my right hip and keeping my abs tight!
Managed to consistently toeloop in my waltz-toeloop combo jumps

Bent and twisted: Still that stupid entry into a scratch spin from crossovers. Blech.

My RO3 has gone away, messing completely with my waltz 8. Methinks it's back to remedial 3 turns in my practices from now on if I want to even think of passing moves

Especially since:
My coach wants me to test PB in mid July... we're going to evaluate my moves next sunday and see if I'm solid enough, but it feels like it's soooooooo fast! I'm not scared, per se, but I like to have warning. Then again, I'm one of those people who manages to pull off great things if I don't have a lot of time to prepare, so hopefully that translates to skating as well!

[jskater49]

Nice and Straight - got through the swing very well - even the mohawk...I can actually do that sort of while gliding. I need to have my coach review the timing with me again but I think I will soon be ready to do it to music.

Bent and Twisted - Had my freestyle 1 LTS class today. There's only two of us- a boy who is working on freestyle 5 but we both had back outside 3 turns to work on. I remember what if felt like to do those but I guess my body forgot and had to start over with backward two foot turns.

The whole class was very frustrating...worked on holding my edge and doing a better 3 turn for my half flip- which I didn't do very well. Then the backward 3 turns...and I just don't seem to be getting the entry for a scratch spin. I keep rushing it and trying to force it before snap. I did get better at keeping my body alighned for the entry edge and I understand in my head at least that I need to bend my knees even more as I begin the spin before coming up but my body was not cooperating.

Learning something new is very difficult for me because I'm so slow at getting it and it's really no fun practicing something when the progess can only be measured in micro-milimeters! :cry:

j

[tidesong]

Nice and Straight:
Umm well at least axels and double salchows are still pretty ok...
Landed a gazillion underrotated and slightly better suspects double loops in a row and not in a row... (but none in front of coach I better do some in lessson.....)
Landed a couple no idea how rotated they are double flips.... might be as bad as a full rotation under lol.... I don't know why but I can't really tell how much i'm rotating in the air...

Bent and Twisted:
And the double toe loop goes down the tracks again for the roller coaster ride... a couple suspects a few unders and nothing really nice :(

So well I was reallly excited to be trying double toe again after last week but sigh... and yeah I didn't really work on spins, so I'll have to do spins on tuesday instead...

[jazzpants]

Nice and straight:

Some of my loops.
Most of my flips
Maybe ONE camel???
Almost all sit spins and some of back sit attempts.
FootworkBend and Twisted:

Most of my camels!!! :frus:
Some of my loops... don't even dare to try loop-loop today. :cry:
Lutz attempts (then again, I don't expect to get it either.... Just want to see if I could get it.

[Thin-Ice]

Question: When there are only 3 people on the ice, how is it that they still all end up in the same place at the same time?

Magnetic attraction!:D :roll:

[Sessy]

Hmmm I'll bet it is, every object attracts other objects, after all. :lol:

Oh remember I was whining about the storm? Well it did give us a nice little goodbye present in the form of a BEAUTIFUL sunset, if anybody's interested, click here, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sessy_liz/564377661/) here, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sessy_liz/564377653/) here, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sessy_liz/564377649/) here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sessy_liz/564377625/) and here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sessy_liz/564377637/).

As for me, I'm going skating tomorrow! Ok, 19 euro's for 1,5 hours of just training (no coaching) and I won't be jumping with that ankle but hey I'm happy as a bunny anyway. :lol: :lol: :lol: