July 14-20: peaceful and calm or noisy and bothersome

[FlyAndCrash]

There's construction at my house right now... and it's interfering with my sleeping habits and sanity. I HATE JACKHAMMERS!

Peaceful: I landed my 2sal today. It's getting there, but I have "committment" issues still. We made up a 5 min warm-up for the moves test (still have no date...) and I did a few really good sets of double 3's. My x-strokes are getting better too, especially the back ones.

Noisy: I have committment issues. And overthinking it issues. And self-doubt issues. All on my 2sal. I can do my warm-up perfectly, but as soon as I have to "go for it," I freeze up or loose control or rush or do something else really stupid.

Noisy: I can't sleep in tomorrow because construction workers are morning people... I don't think I could ever start work at 7 am!

[Skating Jessica]

Noisy and Bothersome: No skating for me today, which also meant that we have yet to begin choreographing my Novice freestyle. Next Monday for sure though...I hope. :roll:

Peaceful and Calm: Spent the warm, sunny weekend in Put-in-Bay, OH. Definitely worth missing a day of practice for! 8-)

On our way to Put-in-Bay, we stopped in Cleveland and had my skates sharpened, so I'll have nice sharp, deep edges for my dance lesson tomorrow!

[sk8tegirl06]

I think the peaceful or noisy thread further down was supposed to say July not June. Anyway, I skated today....in my new boots. :giveup:

Pamchenko: I survived my lesson. :P I only had to stop once to take my boots off. Only preliminary moves, lots of crossovers, deep knee bend stuff. When I have feeling in my feet, they are actually pretty good. There was definite improvement in my crossovers, hopefully the stiffness is helping in certain areas. My coach tried to get me to do power pulls, really for the first time, I have fooled around with them before. When I found the rhythm, they weren't half bad, granted she was physically pushing me along. Back extensions seem to be the only move to survive intact to the new boots. Power 3s were okay on one side, by the time I got to the other side my feet were numb plus the session was over.

Toepick: My poor, poor feet :giveup: :giveup:

Toepick into Pamchenko: I definitely like the increased stiffness/support, though getting to the point of my boots being comfortable...well enough said. I think/hope some of my psychological issues from before might have been because I was afraid of my boots giving out or something like that.

[Morgail]

Pamchenko:
-FI-BO 3s have improved! Yay!
-jumps were good
-back camels by themselves felt decent
-hit every forward camel I tried, and worked on having straight legs
-axels have 3/4 rotation most of the time

Toepick:
-BO3s on the slide chasse pattern were off - I felt like I was jumping the edge, if that makes any sense
-BI-FO 3s were shaky
-I kept rocking and getting off-center on the sit spin in the camel-sit
-forward CCW power circles were completely off (and those are usually the easiest for me)
-I kept grinding to a halt on the back camel when I did camel-back camel combos.
-BO brackets are scary.

[Kim to the Max]

-BO brackets are scary.

Yes...they are very scary, and unfortunately, these things continue to haunt you :x as I am finding out with the Novice counters and the Bracket-3-Bracket pattern...ugh....

[FlyAndCrash]

I think the peaceful or noisy thread further down was supposed to say July not June.



Lol. It was a mistake... I wasn't completely "with it" this morning.

Anyways,

Toepick: My back power 3's suck... Alot. And I don't have another lesson for about a week. And I hate doing the 8step. Too bad I can only have one bad pattern if I want to test.

Pamchenko: My 2sal is getting more consistent and I found out why I have a habit of putting my left foot down.

Pamchenko: I made myslef work on back sits, back camels, and flying camels. And they worked fairly well. :D

[ibreakhearts66]

I hate BO brackets too...

Anyways.
Pamchenko
2toes felt really nice and easy. I sat down on a few of them, but landed some good ones too.

I think I finally get RFO loops. I had the wrong arm in front :oops:

Toepick
Leg was a little sore today. Swelled up after practice, but I think it'll keep doing that for a while.

Can't do back crossrolls right now because of my leg. They press the edge of my boot into my incision

[jazzpants]

Peaceful and Calm:

Well, loop, flip and lutz is a little bit easier today. I am still working on toe loops to make sure that it's a REAL toe loop and not a toe waltz.

Waltz jump and sal were nice & high! WHEEEEE!!! :mrgreen:

Making some progress on the camel spin too.

Noisy and Bothersome:
Loop-loop was still a bit difficult to do, as was the back power 3's entrance to a loop that I'm trying to put into my interp program and maybe even my technical program (just b/c I want to see if I could do something more difficult...) The back power 3's are just curving in too much!!! (Any suggestion on how NOT to have it curve in too much but still stay on the edge???)

Sit spin was getting difficult towards the end of the night. Just had no leg strength left.

Don't think I'm gonna debut the camel this year either though. :(

A bunch of foreign exchange kids from Italy were at our rink tonight. Needless to say, the rink was QUITE crowded!!! :x :evil:

[Thin-Ice]

Toepick:
Loop-loop was still a bit difficult to do, as was the back power 3's entrance to a loop that I'm trying to put into my interp program and maybe even my technical program (just b/c I want to see if I could do something more difficult...) The back power 3's are just curving in too much!!! (Any suggestion on how NOT to have it curve in too much but still stay on the edge???)

Sit spin was getting difficult towards the end of the night. Just had no leg strength left.

Don't think I'm gonna debut the camel this year either though. :(

I am soooo looking forward to seeing your programs this year.. and do NOT write off the camel for the year.. geesh.. it's only July.... and you KNOW your coach is not going to let you just ignore the camel... you have it in you. You'll be a lot closer to having a camel you're comfortable with before AN.. I just know it!:mrgreen:

[Skating Jessica]

Peaceful and Calm: Argentine Tango was much improved this week, especially the twizzle, since I finally had straight legs on it! :o

I also spent a little time working on the Viennese, and thanks to my freshly sharpened blades, I had amazing edges. Still, my coach gave me four things to focus on: 1.) change of edge (steps 4-5 CR-LBO to XF-RBIO) after the back runs; 2.) extensions of arms and legs on steps 8-9 (LFO and RFO); 3.) tight mohawk on steps 10-11; and 4.) forward extensions on steps 20-21 (XB-LFIO to XB-RFI). Ahhh...so much to think about! :twisted:

Noisy and Bothersome: Walked back to my car after this morning's lesson only to find that I had a flat tire. Majorly flat. :evil: Luckily, it was able to be patched and didn't require me buying a new tire.

[Mrs Redboots]

I think you mean July rather than June, though!

Peaceful and calm: Our Bracknell DVD arrived (thanks, BatikatII!), and I was surprisingly pleased with it. Yes, I can see what needs to be changed, but it really wasn't too bad at all.

Noisy and Bothersome: But who is that bent-over old woman dancing with my husband? Not me, I'm sure! :evil:

In our lesson we worked on steps for a variation Rhythm Blues, which may work all right when we have completely sorted it, but doesn't yet. And we worked on waltz hold exercises.

And yes, jskater49, I did work on my back crossovers and cross strokes - and have asked for a lesson on them tomorrow. They are not awful, but they aren't very good, expecially the cross strokes!

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh dear, we seem to have two threads this week. Could a moderator merge them, do we think? I've already posted today's comments here (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=371026#post371026).

[*JennaD*]

for yesterday...

Toepick: My axels were really weird yesterday...I'm not sure why...but I fell on a bunch of them...hopefully I will be able to fix them today :)

Pamchenko: I'm really getting the rhythm down for my double sal! I still haven't gotten it back to being clean yet but it's getting really close. Also, I'm pretty sure I landed a few clean double loops yesterday!!! I couldn't see the tracings of my landings on the ice beacuse it was at the end of the session and the ice was terrible, but they felt really different than when I do a cheated double loop and so that lead me to believe that they were clean :) lol now if only my coach saw them...she will never believe me when I tell her that I think they were clean :roll:

Another toepick: Ahhhhhhhh dance test on Friday...I'm not ready:roll:

[Skating Jessica]

Oh dear, we seem to have two threads this week. Could a moderator merge them, do we think? I've already posted today's comments here (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=371026#post371026).

Yes, I agree. I didn't see the other thread when I created this one. Merge away! ;)

[sk8lady]

Pamchenko: Still seem to have camel, backspin, camel-sit, and camel-sit-backspin (although without many revolutions!) despite having no practice ice within 100 miles.

Toepick: Can't say the same about jumps...fell twice on my toeloop, which I haven't fallen on since about 2000. Entire body freezes up when attempting loop. Also, local rink is now open but does not have any public skating or figure skating...only hockey. Drove the 1 1/2 hours to the rink that DOES have figure skating ice and paid the walk-on fee, as the club is running a camp this week and won't accept the prepaid tickets we usually have to have, only to find that the 50 minute hour of open ice that we usually get was actually 45 minutes for the one session that I could do today--but the fee was the same as the 50 minute sessions. Three hours of driving for 20 minutes of practice and a 25 minute lesson...don't think I'll do THAT again!!!

[Isk8NYC]

Oh dear, we seem to have two threads this week. Could a moderator merge them, do we think? I've already posted today's comments here (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=371026#post371026).

Threads merged. Edit your posts if they no longer make sense in the new thread order.

[celticprincess]

Pamchenko:
-For a good hour, there was only two of us occuping the whole ice surface.
-My spins were actually pretty good...especally my flying broken leg
-Ran through my artistic programme at least 10 times
-I landed my lutz 90% of the time
-My loop is offically consistant
-Ran through my other 'lyrical' artistic programme once
-Brackets are getting alittle easier


Toe Pick:
-My knees are all sore and purple because I have a move in my artistif where Im supposed to roll over my toes and onto my knees. Well on skates its not all that graceful and I land on my knees with a loud "KLUNK" sound.
-My flip was just awful. It may have been due to my dull blades, but it was just an awful day for my flip
-Parts of the ice were really melty and slushy which caused me to fall quite a bit in the begining of the session in which I was the only one one the ice. These were more stop and drop falls in which are as graceful as could be and mightly embarressing.
-I need to learn to keep my free leg straight on my sit spin, it tends to curve inward alittle.

[ibreakhearts66]

Peaceful and calm
I skated really well today!

In the morning I did good BO loops on both sides (left better than right, but I still did some good R ones). I also did a loop-2loop combo on my first attempt. I hadn't even TRIED one of those in years, but our coach wanted us all to try them.

The afternoon was AMAZING.

First, I think my axel is improving. I'm working on just making it bigger and more explosive, and I think I'm making progress.

I landed a GREAT 2toe. I tend to be kind of unsure on the landings and always want to put my hand down, but not this one. It was just down and OUT.

Landed the first 2flip I tried.

I LANDED 2LUTZES!!!!! I hadn't really worked on them since I came back from my 2.5 year absence. Then I tried them in a lesson about 5 weeks ago and did them fairly well. I worked on them today and landed a bunch! Most of the ones I didn't land were silly sit-down falls. So, I landed a full set of doubles today!

I also did a run-through of my preliminary moves, and I think I did them all quite well, at least to passing standard.

Finally, I got complimented on my layback AND Biellmann. I'm always self-conscious of my layback and am afraid I look like a peeing dog, but my two friends said they wanted my layback :oops:

Oh and finally (sorry this is really long), I'm gonna start being an assistant for skating school! I got my jacket and nametag and should start tomorrow :D
Noisy and bothersome
Besides the group in the afternoon, not much :D

[*JennaD*]

Noisy and bothersome: My axels were still weird today!!! I have no clue why...oh well...I have a lesson with my coach tomorrow, I think, so hopefully she can figure out what's going on with my axel...towards the end of the session today I was able to land it pretty solidly, but it was still cheated:(

Somewhere in between: my dance lesson. It had it's ups and it's downs, that's for sure...it started off terribly, then got much better, then got bad again, then got better again..it was pretty interesting..lol I think me, my coach, and my partner are just nervous for test day...

Peaceful and calm: My sit spin was amazing today! I was spinning sooooooooooooooo fast :) My double loop was also pretty good today, but not as good as yesterday...BUT, I WAS staying in the jump longer today...unfortunately that kinda threw me off so I fell on quite a few of my attempts lol...but it's progress anyway :)

[doubletoe]

In honor of the merged threads. . .

Noisy Toepick
Had my bi-weekly (meaning once every two weeks, not twice a week) MIF lesson and could not remember the timing and technique on the counters. I guess that's what happens when I don't practice them for two weeks and then show up for a 6:30am lesson without having had enough sleep. Once I reached a certain point of frustration, I asked if we could just work on the BI-FI 3's instead.

Peaceful Pamchenko
In this morning's MIF lesson, I made progress on the quick rocker pattern (a significant breakthrough on my bad direction--CCW) and also the alternating BI-FI 3's.
I also felt the love from two of my coaches. MIF coach refused payment for the lesson because I had helped her with something last week, then secondary coach offered to cut my lesson fees in exchange for some lesson exchanges (needless to say, the lessons from me will have nothing to do with skating, LOL!). Secondary coach also said my skating at my competition over the weekend was the best she's seen, in spite of the mistakes on the spins.

[Skittl1321]

Urgh. That's all I have to say.

Hopefully I'll have a better report tomorrow, but tonight I'm just annoyed.

[dbny]

In honor of the merged threads. . .

Noisy Toepick
<snip>

Peaceful Pamchenko
<snip>


Great idea - love it!

Noisy Toepick
Was up most of last night fighting with the desktop app for my new stupidphone, and woke up only an hour before my lesson time. Got to the rink to see 6 school busses out in front - yes 6! Luckily, all the kids were not on the ice, unluckily, about 100 of them were 8O. Coach and two friends arrived right after me and all got that "deer in the headlights" look when they saw the crowd. These sessions have been fairly empty till now.

Peaceful Pamchenko
I asked one of the chaperones when they were leaving, and he said between 2:30 and 3 (my lesson time is 2:30, and neither the coach nor I had much time to spare), and that he was waiting for them to clean the ice as that would make it easier to get the kids off! BINGO! I said, no problem, and let the appropriate people know about that. Had my lesson only 10 minutes late on nice clean ice :mrgreen:.

Not having had much practice time the past two weeks, we worked only on figures and FO and FI threes. FO threes are still improving, as are the FO eights. Did some useful work on push off, gathering in and getting weight in right place quickly. Hadn't been working on the BO eights because of busy sessions, but did them in lesson not too bad, and improved on the spot. Coach flew off into a serpentine for fun, and I followed her with a little help. Haven't done serpentines on ice before. I can do the CE, but getting the distance is going to be a problem until my push off improves more. It may seem strange to some, but it was a fun lesson.

[Kim to the Max]

Peaceful Pamchenko
In this morning's MIF lesson, I made progress on the quick rocker pattern (a significant breakthrough on my bad direction--CCW) and also the alternating BI-FI 3's.


Similar to the Intermediate Moves....this quick rocker pattern is the equivalent of the power-3s....E.V.I.L. ....just pure EVIL....

[doubletoe]

Similar to the Intermediate Moves....this quick rocker pattern is the equivalent of the power-3s....E.V.I.L. ....just pure EVIL....

LOL! Fortunately, my *good* direction on this one is CW and I can already get through the entire end pattern (6 turns) without losing momentum. The result is that it's making the Intermediate CW back power 3's easier! Now if I can only be dyslexic and convince myself that the CCW quick rockers are CW, maybe I could get more than 2 turns on the CCW ones, too.:roll:

[Debbie S]

Peaceful: Started brackets last night, and managed to turn a few on my own w/o having one of those takedown-type falls. We only did the FO-BI, and for some odd reason, the BI were easier than the FO - I guess b/c I'm turning into the circle on the BI as opposed to outside the circle on the FO. I also did some back double 3's w/o putting my foot down in the middle.

Noisy: The rink! Insanely crowded. Liberty is this week, plus there's a test session nearby on Friday, and everyone seemed to be freaking out over something. Also, could not seem to land a loop jump - I guess a year or so of not practicing much FS can catch up to you. :oops:

[Mrs Redboots]

Noisy: Very tired today so didn't skate much, conserving what energy I had for my lesson.

Peaceful: Back crossovers (you see, jskater49, I'm trying!) were followed by back chassés and back runs. None of which were too tragic, but all of which were a great deal better when Coach1 was holding my hands - I can't balance in quite the right place over my skate without a helping hand, and tend to be rather flat and make ghastly toe-rake noises. But not as badly as I'd expected.

Showed him the various edge exercises I'd been doing and, needless to say, the one that didn't work in practice worked when I showed it to him, isn't it always the way. He did have some helpful tips, though.

[Rusty Blades]

Nuisance: Having given my coach free rein to "improve my basic skating" this summer she has, of course, gone straight for my weakness and I have been doing back edges for 3 weeks. They are improving but it's hardly "exciting" work (which is why I haven't been posting regular updates).

Three more weeks of back edges and it will be back to Freeskate program work I am sure.

[Isk8NYC]

Peaceful/Calm:
I actually did a few rounds of the Canasta Tango without screwing up the chasses and slide chasses. I keep mixing them up. :oops: Maybe I'll find the time to skate the dance with oen fo the guys at the rink.

Spins were good - layback actually resembled a layback, lol. Sit spin was low and long. Played with face-down laybacks; got really dizzy. Camels were decent and back camels were decent, but never the twain shall meet in a change-foot. Maybe next time. Backspins were really good - fast and centered - so I started working on the "spin and stop; spin 'til you drop" exercise. Got three pull ins before I almost fell over, ha ha.

MITF - decent; didn't fool with the threes-on-the-line because they're frustrating and I hate them. Practiced a back edge exercise; see if that helps the "stand up!" problem on the TOTL's. Spiral sequences were fun; started to try doing back spirals on a pattern, but got nervous about whacking another skater, so I stopped.

Noisy/Bothersome:
Jumps are still weak - my right knee and hip still hurt. Have to do the gym workouts and stop skipping them for other committments. (House, car, DH, kiddies)

I feel like my right blade runs under the outside of the ball to the inside of the heel; diagonal across the boot. Not sure if it's from not really 'skating' or if there's an alignment problem. Blade screws keep loosening, so I suspect there's an alignment problem AGAIN. There should be a better way to attach blades without ruining the leather sole with lots of holes.

[singerskates]

This is for Tuesday

Peaceful and Calm:
Started Summer Skating School at a rink which is close enough to which I could ride my bike. Had all my skating gear loaded in my panniers on my bike carrier for the ride there and back.

Pamchenko:
There were only 3 of us skaters registered for the 11:40 AM to 1:10 PM session ice which meant I didn't have to worry about traffic on the ice at all. A bonus to that was that the two kids had already passed their prelim fs already, moved fast enough to stay out of the way, watched for everyone else and they were good at working on their own.

Peaceful and Calm:

Ran through my jumps up to flip before lesson.
Waltz was bigger than ever.
Salchow once I left the ice (had a few stuck to the ice with no take off) were good and solid.
Toe Loop is actually getting some air for a change. Just have to keep reminding myself to wait until the free leg swings all the way back before picking in to keep the height going.
Loop was higher than before and fully rotated with a bit extra rotation. (Just need to trust that I can land it on one foot to stop two footing but then it was the first day back.)
Flip had the same story as the loop.

Spins
Corkscrew is still not being entered properly and so I get lots of revs but I'm travelling all over the place. (need to start thing that I'm going into my sitspin but then rise up instead.)
Sitspin was lower and faster but a little off from what I'm use to doing. (Usually sit is very centred.)
Camel never came to feed. In other words, I never got to attempting one because I ran out of time.
Backspin had the same story as the Camel.

Freeskate program music: Coach wants me to ad some dead air in between the second last section and the last section of music so that the timing feels better.

Freeskate Choreograhing: Got 2 thirds of my program choreographed (that is the last section need to have the steps done in detail; we really just mapped it out.) In amongst the serpentine step section we've got 2 jump windows with a possiblity of 3 jump windows planned. The last jump window is a lutz just before what will be a spin (don't know which kind yet). Then after than I have the rest area until I do my final jump window and last spin (if Adult Bronze it will be an upright spin including corkscrew and if Adult Silver it will be my combination spin). Had to move the starting point of my freeskate so that I could make it to the beginning of my spiral sequence in time.

Elements in Freeskate run throughs:

Forward hydro blading into loop jump was on everytime.
Loop jump was fully rotated every time just landed on two feet or delayed second foot swipping by.
Change edge spiral in spiral sequence was giving me trouble as somehow I've lost the nack for changing the edge at speed. I can do it at slower speeds but when I go fast I'm just too slow to move my foot and hip to get the change edge and feel locked in the first position. Had to add a two foot lunge in between the two edges of my change edge spiral for temporary measure to get more of the program choreographed and to get to the next parts of the program on time. (planned spiral sequence includes RFI spiral ce RFO catchfoot to LBI catchfoot spiral). The LBI catchfoot spiral goes into a 3 quarters of a circle so that I can start my sit spin closer to the corner.
Sitspins were nice and fast (my glasses were flying off of my face so I had to hold them during my spin, LOL)
Footwork mixed with jumps section was not getting skated as planned serpentine.

After my lesson I had 5 minutes to fool around so I started working on my Fiesta Tango. I kept on working on getting the end pattern clean as that's the part that I need to fix to pass the test. I was making progress on remembering to cross my left foot over the right before stepping forward onto my RI edge. I was also trying to get the end pattern to be more rounded as well.

[RoaringSkates]

Pamchenko: Started lessons with my new coach last week, who like one of my favorite old coaches, has been taught in the Russian system, so we work basics, basics, basics, which is wonderful. My goal is to get good basics, so I don't find this boring at all. Actually, I was thrilled. And he said I had good basics "for my level", and that most others doing the dances I do have far worse basics. However...

Toepick: Was so nervous during my first lesson with him (because I'm always nervous with new coaches, but this was worse because he's kind of a big name skater, so I had an "as seen on tv" moment) that I forgot how to do an edge. Or push. Or stroke. Or *breathe*. Tried to show him the Willow Waltz and he couldn't tell what steps I was doing on the long boards. Now, in my lesson with my primary coach just days before, I'd done it just fine, but with him, I was paralyzed.

Pamchenko: Thankfully, this most recent lesson, I had somewhat recovered and could at least kind of do an edge. Sometimes. Sort of. :roll:

[*JennaD*]

peaceful and calm: I think I figured out the double toe today! my coach explained it to me in such a way that it SOMEHOW made sense in my head and I think I actually get it now !!! My layback was also pretty good today! I tried a couple camel-laybacks, which weren't great lol but at least my layback was good enough for me to try that combination spin :)

My dance lesson also went well! My coach is getting more confident in me! lol as long as I don't get a solo during my test on Friday...

Noisy: My jumps were't that great today...I wasn't feeling too springy...and my skills were pretty bad...I kept two footing everything :roll: I also am really mad about this new rule with skills...about taking away the music!!! I'm very concerned now..lol because the rink will be so quiet during skills tests that you will be able to hear a pin drop...meaning that I've really got to work on everything to get rid of the scratchy-ness :roll:

[jskater49]

Drove to Omaha for a dance lesson and skated for an hour beside my lesson.

Dance coach was very excited to hear there was going to be solo dance at Adult Nationals. She has a dance team competing there so she will be there!

Worked on my backward crossovers..this time trying to hold each edge for a while, trying to stretch and push, trying to stay down - back straight...I don't know...it's just hard.

I think I was getting good pushes in my peremiter back crossovers, but I began to see the problem with my crossovers in the power 3s...not sure how to fix it but I think I will understand better what my coach was talking about when I have a lesson again....often I was a little fuzzy as to what she was talking about.

Worked on the Swing - that is the dance I am closest to passing and what I will probably try to pass to qualify for Nationals. Dance coach said I was not a lost cause when it comes to timing. I actually was on time with the side pattern but I get off when it comes to...guess what? Mohawks! But I did a couple of them with the right timing.

Then we worked on those blasted step behinds. She had me cross my leg in front, put my weight on that leg and just hold it, then slide my free foot closer, then pick up my right leg...and the first few times I did it it was terrifying but after a few times I realized it was not so bad and actually did it a couple of times not holding on to her.

j

[RachelSk8er]

Peaceful and calm: Rachel's "I WILL get the axel I had when I was 11 yrs old but haven't done since" mission was somewhat successful today. After almost panicking when my coach tried to get me to go up and all the way round during my lesson on Friday (after a zillion bell jumps)....today I did it! I wasn't counting, but it was at least 10 times!!! Now all I need to do is land on 1 foot. Also did my best sit-change-sit ever.

8-)

[doubletoe]

Peaceful and calm: Rachel's "I WILL get the axel I had when I was 11 yrs old but haven't done since" mission was somewhat successful today. After almost panicking when my coach tried to get me to go up and all the way round during my lesson on Friday (after a zillion bell jumps)....today I did it! I wasn't counting, but it was at least 10 times!!! Now all I need to do is land on 1 foot. Also did my best sit-change-sit ever.

8-)

YAY!!!!! :mrgreen: Keep us posted on the progress!

[liz_on_ice]

bothersome - heel is still too painful for skating. Getting close though

seriously unfair - I'm going to KC on business in a few weeks, staying in a hotel that actually has an ice rink as part of the complex. But it is closed for the summer. :frus:

[jazzpants]

Peaceful and Calm:

Loop is intact!
Managed to get ONE loop-loop.
Salchow was very good, according to my secondary coach
Scratch spin was okay.
Sit spin was better after the third try. I think I got down low enough. :)Noisy:

Waltz wasn't as good...
Camel sucked.
Waltz-half loop-salchow: Meh.. lost the flow after the waltz jump landing. :giveup:
Need to do some changes to my choreography from almost the beginning in order to get more rink coverage. Necessary evil though...

[Kim to the Max]

For the last few weeks because I've been lazy :) and I have not had the mental capacity to write up anything...

[Peaceful]
Axels are much closer than they have been...

Coach and I are starting to work on the specifics of the juv test program...I now need to finalize music...we want something dramatic and that isn't overdone...if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!!

My layback has been feeling very good lately...in some ways I wish I had a video camera so that I could make sure...

[Noisy]
I still need to stay in on my axels a split second longer...I am getting majorly frustrated with these...

Double sals, while not horrible because I haven't been working on them long, I need to work on not kicking through with my heel...

Spins have decided to travel to China...I can't even center a scratch spin :evil:

[Some Peace/Some Noise]
Some of my moves are coming along better than others...
Forward 3s/Back 3s: getting much better and quieter if I remember to do the back 3s more towards my heel...
Quick Rocker/Choctaw: yuck...I can't seem to get a push off the Choctaw...
Outside Counters: pretty good, although on the back ones, I pull the edge right before I turn
Inside Counters: really good, I can get the edges right and they just feel secure
Rocker/Choctaw: some good, some bad, depending on the day. But over all a lot better.
Spirals: my best move
Bracket-3-Bracket: getting better, I just need some more speed

[RachelSk8er]

[Some Peace/Some Noise]
Some of my moves are coming along better than others...
Forward 3s/Back 3s: getting much better and quieter if I remember to do the back 3s more towards my heel...
Quick Rocker/Choctaw: yuck...I can't seem to get a push off the Choctaw...
Outside Counters: pretty good, although on the back ones, I pull the edge right before I turn
Inside Counters: really good, I can get the edges right and they just feel secure
Rocker/Choctaw: some good, some bad, depending on the day. But over all a lot better.
Spirals: my best move
Bracket-3-Bracket: getting better, I just need some more speed


Novice moves...ick...I feel for you.

[Mrs Redboots]

Worked on my backward crossovers..this time trying to hold each edge for a while, trying to stretch and push, trying to stay down - back straight...I don't know...it's just hard.I find that if I am picking up my outside foot, I often can't control when it goes back down again and the crossovers get very rushed. Which means, of course, I need to practice more.

I don't do power 3s - they're not part of our system - but I can see the kind of trouble you would have - it's presumably getting the BO edge accurate so you can actually cross on to the other BI edge? My coach says one really ought to push hard with the other foot to get that edge, which may or may not be why I struggle when doing similar moves!

Well done on the step behinds - I hate them!

[Skating Jessica]

Noisy and Bothersome: No skating for me today depsite this morning's earlier plans to practice during the time I normally coach since my 12:30 p.m. student canceled; however, my 10:45 a.m. lesson also canceled, so I ended up just heading home...to swim. 8-)

Peaceful and Calm: Missed my freestyle lesson this past Monday due to vacation, but my coach had a cancellation tomorrow afternoon and will give me a lesson then. And, hopefully we start putting my Novice freeskate together! :)

[ibreakhearts66]

Peaceful and calm
-Landed more 2lutzes. Well 2lutz+1toe combo (we were working on combos at camp, so my coach just said to tack a toe loop on the end).
-2flip2loop was kinda working. I barely two-footed a few of them, but I had the full rotation and everything.
-We were working on spins in camp and as I went to go do a camel I heard my coach go "Everyone watch--She has one of the best camels in the rink"
-I think I finally fully get the change of edge back camel.
-Made progress on my moves, especially the power 3s in preliminary. I could always do the left 3 side well, but not so much the right. My coach explained it in a way that totally clicked.
-I think I actually like laybacks now! I asked my coach if we could work on them. I did one, and she made a "hey that was pretty good!" face. Then she made a couple of points which I immediately understood and I did even better ones!

Noisy and bothersome
Oy, this is going to be a long list.
-My lesson was rough. I'm retesting preliminary moves in two weeks, so my coach was really nitpicking them. It was really frustrating. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and it was just hard to take so much criticism at once I guess.
-Hate those alternating 3s. I'm fine with the pre-juv, juv and even intermediate 3s, but not the preliminary. I honestly almost cried I was so frustrated. The backwards to forwards choctaw on the outside 3s is just really, really difficult for me.
-2axel. Need I say more? I can't get myself to freakin commit!

[jskater49]

I find that if I am picking up my outside foot, I often can't control when it goes back down again and the crossovers get very rushed. Which means, of course, I need to practice more.

I don't do power 3s - they're not part of our system - but I can see the kind of trouble you would have - it's presumably getting the BO edge accurate so you can actually cross on to the other BI edge? My coach says one really ought to push hard with the other foot to get that edge, which may or may not be why I struggle when doing similar moves!

Well done on the step behinds - I hate them!

It's hard for me to explain...I have very nice 3 turns, the judge critique said so, but then I have to step onto an back inside edge and really push out ...and what I tend to do is coast and then I don't get a very big circle and I end up off pattern. The other day I got so I could do really good pushes on the back perimeter crossovers and it's the same crossover with the power 3, I just wasn't able to make the connection. Hopefully now that I understand the problem I can get a fix in my next lesson.

j

[jazzpants]

Peaceful and Calm:

No "peaceful and calm" lessons with primary coach!!! 8O (Since when is "peaceful and calm" ever my primary coach's motto???) :roll:

Noisy and Bothersome:


We started with this little exercise where I'm supposed to do this on a line:
RFI3
Wide step over line then push to a LBI edge for a left double-3 back to the line
Wide tep over line then push to a BO edge for a LBO3, mohawk back to the line
Repeat Step 2 and 3 down the line.
Repeat 1-4 on other foot going back.Wasn't as easy as it sounds for me. I barely have the BI3's, but I don't have enough push yet. I know what I need to do, but I'm kinda nervous about it.

WAIT!!! It gets BETTER!!! (Well for primary coach!!! :twisted: )

Next exercise:
Stroke a 1/2 lap around the rink, going around the ends of the rink, skate a 1/2 length of the rink and do a RFI mohawk! And yes, AS FAST AS I CAN too!!! For those who set up their jumps doing RFI mohawks all the time, this is easier for you... but for lefties like me... it's SCARY for me!!! 8O (The LFI mohawk is less scary for me.) I managed the mohawk... barely. (I feel like I was doing a fake mohawk really.)

The only "peace and calm" I got was after the lesson, when primary coach came up to me to tell me that I did a good job this morning. Weird...

Note: I think the first exercise was prompted by primary coach spotting me trying to practice my BO3's at speed and doing back power 3's in the CW direction before my lesson. (Which I think is way too curvy, BTW...)

[*JennaD*]

Jazzpants, I totally agree with you about right foot mohawks!!! lol I skate lefty too and I get so thrown off when I have to do a right foot mohawk instead of left!

Peaceful: I got a little tighter on my axel today! I fell the first time I actually pulled in because i was like WOW I'M ROTATING QUICKLY lol but then I got more used to it and stopped falling...so my axel is getting better I think :P My loops (for skills) were also pretty good in my lesson today...I can't do the LFO or the RBO ones for my life, but the rest of them were pretty good! My coach is going to teach me the pattern for that skill on Monday, hopefully!

Noisyyyyyyyyyyyy: I didn't jump much today because I didn't want to kill myself for my dance test...but then I was wokring on skills and took a realllllly bad fall on a back three turn and smashed my knee into the ice...:roll:

I also discovered that I am terrible with expression in dance!!!!! Pathetically terrible..lol my coach had to choreograph some um...expressiveness into my dance, since I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing when it comes to smiling/ looking confident/ looking "poised" and tango-y! So hopefully I will at least pass the expression aspect in my test since my poor coach took the time to make specific head movements up for me :giveup:

[BatikatII]

Peaceful Pamchenko

Well I didn't get my dance lesson yesterday due to the hordes of kids who turned up on what is a usually very quiet public session and with part of the rink cordoned off for broomball it was pointless. Asked coach if she had any space the next day and she said - "but your test is tomorrow"! :o

Well I knew I had put in a for a test but had not had the usual card or any phone call or anything so had not expected to be testing. "Well you are on the list", she said so I decided to go for it despite not having had a lesson on it since before the Bracknell Adult Opens two weeks ago.

Luckily I had run through it a couple of times on the earlier patch although not with music.

Probably did not have the best test preparation that day either though as hubby and I were out late at a company leaving do for a friend and it was such a great do I was not going to miss it - an 8 course meal at one of the best restaurants in the country!!!!

Got home after midnight and was woken up by hubby leaving at 5am to fly to Manchester. Luckily friend had persuaded hubby that it was not a great idea to ask me to drive him to the airport at that time in the morning and had rung a taxi firm on his behalf!!

Got to rink in good time but still nearly missed my warm up as coach had kept saying there was loads of skaters to go and I had gone to the loo. When I came out coach was waving frantically that I should be on for my warm up and I didn't have my skates on yet! Did boots up really fast and went on in time to have at least a go with the music. Came off realising one boot was really loose and had to make judge wait while I redid it. The test was double panelled which I hadnt' been expecting either but it went OK ( it was a Canasta Tango variation - a particularly daft and UK specific form of dance torture) and my second sequence was really pretty good.

Anyway I passed :P:Dand was thrilled when one of the parents afterwards said I looked like one of the kids on the ice (I have worked so hard to not have the 'adult skater' look!). Unfortunately the other girl ( a friend of my daughters) had had one of those blank moments and forgotten the steps on the second sequence and so she didn't pass which was a shame.

The best thing is I never have to do that daft variation ever again! Now I can do an OD to test. Also means I now have level 2 (UK) or over, in all the disciplines of ice dance (CD, Variation, Free dance), skating moves and free skating, (elements and free)

Noisy Toepick

Well I can't really complain about anything since I passed!:D

[singerskates]

Noisy Toepick:
Back Crosscuts were scratchy and noisy to do not on my bad side but what is suppose to be my good side. I'm thinking it has to do with the fact that I just bought a pair of Hammer Toe bracing which changings the way my feet fit in my boots and I probably had my skates tied too tight. I need to break in my boots more too because the more I was bending my knees the more scraping was happening with my left skate's toe pick.

In my lesson I was having trouble getting to my spiral sequence on time the first few run throughs. I was also having trouble breathing (took my inhaler before skating started and then again midway because the air was so thick in the rink and outside it was so humid) so I was getting tired easily when running through my freeskate program.

I am still not hitting the change edge in my spiril sequence consistantly. I only got the change edge about 40% of the time but at least it has improved a bit.

Back spin didn't even get one rotation except for one time.

Pamchenko:

The one time I did get at least one rotation on my backspin, it came when I started with a forward upright doing about 3 to 4 revs and then stepped onto my right toepick but then I automatically went back to my left foot for another 4 revs. At least I know that I'm not going to have a problem changing feet in the upright position. LOL

Waltz is still decent.
Salchow was on from word go today.
Toe Loops were popping up nicely with good run outs.
Loop still has good rotation and actually was landing on one foot but then I kept stupidly letting my free hip down causing my freeleg to hit the ice. Dah!!!!!!! Soon I will stick this jump.
Flip was only 80% of the time rotating fully. I think this was do to the fact that I was slopping on picking it and waiting to pop off of the toe pick until I started to turn on it. When the rotation was on, I did the same as the loop on the landing.
Lutz didn't get to take-off because the Zamboni made it's warning sound and it was time to leave the ice.

Sitspin was centered and almost low enough (skates were too tight).
Corkscrew is getting cleaned up.
Camel almost made 2 rotations today. Yeay!!! It's almost here.

Did first Camel/sit combo almost have enough rotation to count on the camel and the sit is getting at least 3 revs.

Camel/upright is not a problem at all except I want more rotation on the camel. Have done this one many times when I've been not able to hold onto even one rotation on the camel position. Today I was hitting near 2 revs.

:D Did about 4 of my very first ever Camel/sit/corkscrew combination spins. Now the camel was a quarter turn short of 2 revs but I was able to snap into the sit for 3 revs and the corkscrew for another 3 revs. I'm planning on skating up once I pass my Prelim Freeskate at the end of summer skating school at the Wyandotte competition in Adult Silver. Plus this spin so fits the last part of my music.

[Thin-Ice]

Peaceful Pamchenko

Well I didn't get my dance lesson yesterday due to the hordes of kids who turned up on what is a usually very quiet public session and with part of the rink cordoned off for broomball it was pointless. Asked coach if she had any space the next day and she said - "but your test is tomorrow"! :o

Well I knew I had put in a for a test but had not had the usual card or any phone call or anything so had not expected to be testing. "Well you are on the list", she said so I decided to go for it despite not having had a lesson on it since before the Bracknell Adult Opens two weeks ago.

Luckily I had run through it a couple of times on the earlier patch although not with music.

Probably did not have the best test preparation that day either though as hubby and I were out late at a company leaving do for a friend and it was such a great do I was not going to miss it - an 8 course meal at one of the best restaurants in the country!!!!

Got home after midnight and was woken up by hubby leaving at 5am to fly to Manchester. Luckily friend had persuaded hubby that it was not a great idea to ask me to drive him to the airport at that time in the morning and had rung a taxi firm on his behalf!!

Got to rink in good time but still nearly missed my warm up as coach had kept saying there was loads of skaters to go and I had gone to the loo. When I came out coach was waving frantically that I should be on for my warm up and I didn't have my skates on yet! Did boots up really fast and went on in time to have at least a go with the music. Came off realising one boot was really loose and had to make judge wait while I redid it. The test was double panelled which I hadnt' been expecting either but it went OK ( it was a Canasta Tango variation - a particularly daft and UK specific form of dance torture) and my second sequence was really pretty good.

Anyway I passed :P:Dand was thrilled when one of the parents afterwards said I looked like one of the kids on the ice (I have worked so hard to not have the 'adult skater' look!). Unfortunately the other girl ( a friend of my daughters) had had one of those blank moments and forgotten the steps on the second sequence and so she didn't pass which was a shame.

The best thing is I never have to do that daft variation ever again! Now I can do an OD to test. Also means I now have level 2 (UK) or over, in all the disciplines of ice dance (CD, Variation, Free dance), skating moves and free skating, (elements and free)

CONGRATULATIONS!!! And that is certainly one way to not get nervous and overwrought before a test... (by not even remembering you HAVE a test!)

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations, BatikatII
Was that the same variation that you did at the Adult Opens? If so, I'm totally not surprised you passed! Well done.

Calm and peaceful: The ice, this morning! Maximum of four skaters on at any one time, it was lovely. Husband and I worked on our Variation (ours is level 1, so one below BatikatII's), and I think we may have finished choreographing it. We also worked on our free dance, changing what we can.

Noisy and troubled: My solo exercises! I was playing with the American 5-step Mohawk sequence and it was very noisy indeed! Discovered I can actually do it more-or-less silently, but I do have to concentrate!

Husband nearly pulled me over on our backspin! Ah well... And I yelled at him and the one child skater on the rink thought I was yelling at her! Which I totally wasn't. Sigh....

[BatikatII]

Was that the same variation that you did at the Adult Opens? If so, I'm totally not surprised you passed! Well done.



Thanks and yes it was the same one, so it was nice to be able to do it for the competition and test close together and now never have to do it again!:D

[Morgail]

Congrats Batikat!!

Peaceful:
-Jumps were good. I'm working on doing a lutz out of a back spiral, which is difficult, but I'm getting the hang of it. Loops have been 10x better lately.
-Sit-backsit was good today. Backspins have been better in general lately.
-LBO 3s have been giving me fits. I keep kicking my left hip out so that I'm off balance after I turn. I think I finally got them working better this morning. I guess I'll see for sure when I skate tomorrow.
-Moves were fine.
-Spirals felt extended and solid today.

Noisy:
-Couldn't seem to get a good pattern of the Swing dance in this morning.
-Camels were being finicky. Finally did a couple decent ones, so I left them alone after that.
-Felt hesitant on flying camels and axels this morning. I think I need to warm those up off-ice before trying them on-ice. Will try to do that tomorrow and see how it works.

[FlyAndCrash]

Congrats Batikat!!

Peaceful: The ice was very empty today! Only three girls and one caoch on the first contract and two coaches and four girls (one was a group of 3 in a very low level small group lesson). The group girls were very wall corralled by their coach off to one area of the ice so I pretty much had empty ice.

Noisy: My coach was gone today. There's a comp (thus why many girls weren't here today...) and she decided to take the morning off to prepare (she didn't have any morning skaters).

Peaceful: I worked on my double 3's and there are getting very good. I also did my x-strokes and got some speed on them. My backwards still needs a little work. I did the power 3's and they were really nice, especially since I just started them during my last lesson. In my rotation direction, they are really good; the other way, I'm still working out the kinks or the steps, much less the push...

Noisy: I did the FS6 dance seq./footwork again. It's coming along nicely, but I have several major flats. Mostly on the last 3turn-bracket-pivot and RFO rocker. I did fix my LBI counter though; it now is mostly on edges...

Peaceful: I think I'm getting my 2sal back and more consistant. I did a few today and they worked out nicely. My flying camel and back camel also were very nice today.

[slusher]

Congratulations Batikat!!!

I'd be curious to know what the Canasta variation is, I'm a sucker for unusual difficult things.

Lutz didn't get to take-off because the Zamboni made it's warning sound and it was time to leave the ice

At our rink the usual procedure at the beginning of freestyle sessions is to treat is as if it is your competition warm up. A lap of stroking, do all spins, do all jumps that are in your current program. Do one of everything ugly or not and move on. It takes about five minutes and is great practice for actual competition. We're assumed to have warmed up off ice so as to be able to step on and go, no fussing with gloves or water bottles. Then, it's whatever you want. That way, at least you've done everything you had to, crappy or not and don't regret that you've forgotten to spin ;)

Peaceful:

I demonstrated moves for another coach who is doing a seminar and she asked me to run through them. She'd thought I'd already passed them. This was an amazing ego boost as I've struggled with skills for a while and hit a plateau, so I might test next month after all.

Bothersome:

The above mentioned spins. I've been working on edge changes, and they're not spins, they are big ugly traveling loop things. Which don't translate into loops when I work on loops. Sometimes the 1% finicky part of the sport make me 100% crazy.

[Skating Jessica]

Noisy and Bothersome: When I first got on the ice, I was having a bit of a rough practice...or so I thought (see below).

Peaceful and Calm: I think what actually happened was that my body just needed a little bit of warming up after not freestyling all week because when I finally got on lesson, I skated awesome! :D

We were planning on choreographing my program today, but my coach's back was really hurting to the point where she could barely move. So, we listened to the music and tried to plan out some areas where we could put the elements. Oddly, for a Novice freestyle (that is roughly 3:00) there seems like there's so much music and not enough required elements. Yes, we can always include extra (up to 7 jumps max.), but my coach really doesn't want to overload the program. (She knows I'll just die of exhaustion that way.) We decided to add an axel (warm-up for those doubles) and a spot where I can fill in any jump if I miss one of the required, in addition to the required double sal, double loop, double toe, and double-double. I only need three spins, one of which--the combo spin--is going to be my opening element. So, yeah...I have like, 10 random seconds done. LOL! Thankfully, my coach took the CD home to listen to the music better.

Spent the rest of my lesson working on double sal-double loop, double loops, and double toe loops. My double sal-double loops were decent; I [nearly] landed 3 in a row, which is way more than I usually do, or as my coach put it, "one out of the whole practice." ;)

And, best of all...I almost, so very, very closely landed three double toes. My coach thinks I figured out the actual technique to help me land clean, which involves me rotating my right foot/toes in toward my left skate. I didn't even realize I was doing that, but it helped, so we went with it. Now if I'd only quit reaching for the ice, they'd be clean since reaching for the ice = falling/sitting down. I bet next week I get 'em clean on one foot. That's my goal! (OK, I'd take a clean one by the end of summer.)

Noisy and Bothersome: Double loops, on the other hand, have issues...still! :evil: My arms suck and they throw me off of my axis so bad. I'm supposed to work on single loops since they're so good they're nearly a different jump and try to mimick the feeling of how my arms work in them. (Damn muscle memory...)

[doubletoe]

Peaceful Pamchenko

Anyway I passed :P:Dand was thrilled when one of the parents afterwards said I looked like one of the kids on the ice (I have worked so hard to not have the 'adult skater' look!). Unfortunately the other girl ( a friend of my daughters) had had one of those blank moments and forgotten the steps on the second sequence and so she didn't pass which was a shame.

The best thing is I never have to do that daft variation ever again! Now I can do an OD to test. Also means I now have level 2 (UK) or over, in all the disciplines of ice dance (CD, Variation, Free dance), skating moves and free skating, (elements and free)

Noisy Toepick

Well I can't really complain about anything since I passed!:D

YAY!!!!!!!! :mrgreen: Now you can have a wonderful weekend resting on your laurels!

Peaceful
In spite of not getting enough sleep last night, I somehow managed to skate a clean run-through this morning on the 6:30am session! I'm hopeful that this means I've fixed the mistakes I made in my competition last Friday. :)

Noisy
Why is it that the element you most need to try out in your program is always the one you have to abort due to interference? An ice dance couple stood there like deer in headlights as I came toward them on a spiral and I had to pull out of it. Is it that hard to figure out where a spiral is headed? :giveup:

[Rusty Blades]

Bothersome: I spent the whole day at a skating seminar with Elizabeth Manley. With only 4 45 minute sessions, I thought it would be an easy day but the off-ice was no easier than the on-ice and I spent the whole day trying to keep up with a bunch of 6 to 12 year olds (I'm 59) - OMG AM I STIFF! Had planned to finish packing (leaving for vacation tomorrow) but that ain't gonna happen tonight!

Ya'll be good while I am gone :mrgreen:

[*JennaD*]

very very peaceful and calm: I passed my dance test! No more Harris Tango for me :) I have no clue how I passed, seeing as I almost fell flat on my face at the end of my second pattern right before doing a swing mohawk, but luckily my partner held me up lol and things went pretty well after that :)

noisy and bothersome: I failed the "expression" aspect, even with it choreographed into my dance:giveup: :roll:

[BatikatII]

Congrats jenna D!

Congratulations Batikat!!!

I'd be curious to know what the Canasta variation is, I'm a sucker for unusual difficult things.



.


Basically you take the standard Canasta Tango and insert somewhere in the middle 12 - 16 bars worth of your own steps (or coaches steps usually) then return to the original compulsory steps to finish. You have to repeat this twice round so by the end you have done the entire Canasta pattern twice but with your steps in the middle which you have also done twice. Absolutely ridiculous idea in my opinion.!;):D:roll:

Judge told me I had too many bars worth of my own steps (but wouldn't penalise me for doing too much!) but coach and I were pretty definite that we were right as we had had trouble trying to make the steps we wanted fit with 12 -14 bars but then found the rules allowed up to 16 bars worth. Judges sheets however stated 12 -14 bars.Typical NISA confusion.:roll:

My variation started after the first slip chasse - did a step behind, left mohawk, back swing roll, quick right mohawk, change foot, step to forward, chasse, run, left inside edge posey step, right step, left mohawk, cross front, step, chasse, cross roll, step, swing roll with knee lift down to 4 beat drag and quick knee lift up at end to inside edges to LFI3 turn and then rejoining the original steps on what would normally be the second swing roll. The extra steps meant that the pattern took up the whole rink and you do it twice.

[Skating Jessica]

very very peaceful and calm: I passed my dance test! No more Harris Tango for me :) I have no clue how I passed, seeing as I almost fell flat on my face at the end of my second pattern right before doing a swing mohawk, but luckily my partner held me up lol and things went pretty well after that :)

noisy and bothersome: I failed the "expression" aspect, even with it choreographed into my dance:giveup: :roll:

Congratulations! And, don't feel funny about nearly falling over. I've known several people who have actually hit the walls on this dance...and they failed.

As for expression, keep working on it. I'd like to say it gets easier, but as you get higher up, the judges expect even more. I'm not much of an expression person, which is pretty bad considering I'm on my Gold dances, so my coach also choreographs expression into my dances. We also really work on making the techincal aspect as perfect as can be to make up for the lack of expression.

Enjoy the rest of your dances! :D

[singerskates]

For Friday July 18, 2008

Peaceful Pamchenko:
After almost three years of not even being able to fully rotate the loop consistantly, I'm not just rotating it. I'm landing my loop on "1 foot" again. Now part of the time it's being landed on the wrong edge on one foot but that's only when I mess up with my arms. I'm so happy that it's all starting to come back.

I'm also starting to get my backspin back. I'm no longer falling out as soon as I get it started. I'm now upto 1 full rotation and a bit. I think I'll get more rotation when I chase away the fear factor of spinning on the back outside edge.

My split jumps are getting higher. Before they were pathetic and barely recognizable. This is also another issue of killing the fear.

Toe Pick:
I had such a good skate on Thursday but that made me be so stiff today that I couldn't do my Camel as well as I did on Thursday. So this meant that I couldn't do the Camel/Sit/Corkscrew properly either on Friday.

I also had trouble getting down as low as I did on Thursday in my Sit spins because my quad muscles were extremely tight. My coaches muscles were tight too.

:idea: What I found interesting was that when I was done my session, I took the time after stretching to watch the higher level session and found that I wasn't the only one having trouble holding up the forward camel for as long as I would have liked. The session that comes after mine has skaters who are working on Junior Silver (Intermediate in US ) or higher freeskate on it. It was funny to see them do their flying Camels (spinning on the back edge) with the greatest of ease but when it came to their forward Camels they were falling out of them as soon as they would hook them. To say the least, it wasn't a good day for forward Camels for anyone during the day sessions. I can't say anything though about the evening sessions. I think it has to do with the fact that everyone's muscles were stiff.

[Mrs Redboots]

very very peaceful and calm: I passed my dance test! No more Harris Tango for me :) I have no clue how I passed, seeing as I almost fell flat on my face at the end of my second pattern right before doing a swing mohawk, but luckily my partner held me up lol and things went pretty well after that :)

noisy and bothersome: I failed the "expression" aspect, even with it choreographed into my dance:giveup: :roll:
Yes, usually "terrified" isn't exactly the expression the judges are looking for - but too often it's what they get! Many congratulations, anyway!

BatikatII, I missed the part where you said you now have a full level 2. That is totally awesome, well done! So what will be your first level 3 test?

[BatikatII]

BatikatII, I missed the part where you said you now have a full level 2. That is totally awesome, well done! So what will be your first level 3 test?

Well I actually have level 3 free dance already and level 4 field moves so guess I should do the level 3 compulsories next (but I hate compulsories). I can't see me taking level 3 free skating any time soon but I might work on the level 3 OD next.:D

[ibreakhearts66]

I only skated for like 20 minutes today between assisting, but it was still nice.

Peaceful and calm
-I got to start assisting today! I assisted an ISI Freestyle 3+4 class, a beginners class and a tots class. The beginners and tots were too cute.
-I did a really nice flying camel that just kept spinning and spinning and spinning.
-I only did a couple of each of my jumps, but they were all there through 2lutz.

Noisy and bothersome
-laybacks were NOT working
-took another one of those 2loop falls of my heel or the edge or whatever it is you trip on. I hate those. They always come across as such a surprise. You expect to be in the air and you're on your butt!

[slusher]

Basically you take the standard Canasta Tango and insert somewhere in the middle 12 - 16 bars worth of your own steps
snip
Absolutely ridiculous idea in my opinion.!;):D:roll:

snip

My variation started after the first slip chasse - did a step behind, left mohawk, back swing roll, quick right mohawk, change foot, step to forward, chasse, run, left inside edge posey step, right step, left mohawk, cross front, step, chasse, cross roll, step, swing roll with knee lift down to 4 beat drag and quick knee lift up at end to inside edges to LFI3 turn and then rejoining the original steps on what would normally be the second swing roll. The extra steps meant that the pattern took up the whole rink and you do it twice.

I'm mentally skating this in my head, it's more tango'y than the Canasta. The variation you did was much more difficult than the set pattern, did you have to make it more difficult, eg having 3 turns, or you just wanted to?

Canada has something similar, Bronze Variation dance based on the ten-fox, I don't know if it is still something that can be tested, my dance coach had done it, because his coach made him :P ridiculous idea indeed!

[BatikatII]

I'm mentally skating this in my head, it's more tango'y than the Canasta. The variation you did was much more difficult than the set pattern, did you have to make it more difficult, eg having 3 turns, or you just wanted to?

Canada has something similar, Bronze Variation dance based on the ten-fox, I don't know if it is still something that can be tested, my dance coach had done it, because his coach made him :P ridiculous idea indeed!


I think the actual NISA rule book probably says something like ' simple steps, skated well' but the coaches never want to do that - they like a challenge and to give their skaters one!:D

As far as I know there are no requirements for it at all but it makes it much more interesting to have various turns and drags etc. It always seemed a bit odd to me that for Dance you dont even have to skate backwards til level 4 compulsory dances (UK - Swing dance) while for level 4 Free skating you need several different spins, turns and jumps up to and including the Axel:!:

Hence why I've always thought of my dance tests as being worth about half my free tests.

Until recently you had to do a level 3 variation based on the foxtrot ( a level 5 dance in UK) before you could do an OD to test but now they have taken that requirement out I can do an OD for the next test at level 3.

[Helen88]

Noisy:
Awful skate today :( Jumps felt cheated, spin wasn't happening, and no lesson at coach is on holiday. Rink was eerily quite, no one put any music on for the first half hour, and I left after fourty five minutes.

Peaceful:
I did one kinda good spin...:giveup:

[RachelSk8er]

Saturday 7/19!

Peaceful and calm: I've been working on getting a lower sit spin (or more like thinking about how nice it would be to get a lower sit spin but I keep injuring my L knee so it hasn't helped the mission much). Yesterday on my session though, it was one of those days where something just sort of clicks, and with me, it was lowering my sit spin quite a bit! Sit-change-sits also getting much better (the back sit resembles a back sit and I'm holding it about 4 revs in position consistently, getting lower each time I work on it), and I can also now do a somewhat ok back sit on its own! Hitting nice clamshell and broken leg positions too (amazing how much easier those are from a strong, low, centered sit spin). Also did a sweet camel spin, some pretty decent back camels (getting 3-4 revs more consistently on those), and in general all my spins were centering nicely. As for my MIF test: the power circles are good, rockers getting there, and the last time through the power pull/quick rocker pattern was ok. Did some really nice solo patterns of a few dances (silver tango and blues), it was the first time I'd done any dance since about April and it felt good. I'm also working through my program replacing some crossovers with other steps and adding arms, etc...beefed up the first 30 sec a bit. Also tried a few back scratch-forward scratch using a half loop between spins to change feet...it feels horribly stupid and probably looks just as bad at this point but it's something I can certainly work with (maybe I could do it out of a back camel since I'm not spinning as fast when I come down from that position, and hop to a sit spin on the L foot? That would be cool).

Noisy and bothersome: The axel attempts. Didn't have as good a day as my previous session on Wednesday. And the choctaw pattern on my MIF test was pretty much ick on one side. Lutzes not so great either, but I think by the time I got to them, I was getting pretty tired. I wasn't pointing my toe and reaching back enough, and coaches working with young beginning skaters in both corners a R handed jumper would use to set up a lutz didn't help much. That really annoyed me, I think it was almost a bit rude because they had to have seen that I was working on lutzes, so were other skaters on the session, and it's not like the session was particularly crowded that they could not have moved to the other corners or along the boards somewhere else. Coaches should know better. If this were my normal rink or at least coaches who are out of my normal rink, I would have felt comfortable saying something (although stuff like this doesn't happen at my rink), but I didn't know either of them.

[jazzpants]

Peaceful:
I am landing my loops clean more consistently... and can land them going in with a lot more speed too!!! The flip is also going thru a similar transformation too!
Sit spin is coming along. It's definitely getting longer and I've had one try that actually sat pretty well and long. (Well, at least 3 revs in the lower sit position...) :mrgreen:Noisy
Can't do the BI3's on the line yet. I could do the BI3's but coming back to the line was a problem. (Yes, I know i need more speed going into the BI3's... :frus: )
After about three successful tries at the flip, I couldn't land any again. Why? Kid getting in my path for the setup to the flip!!! (Or rather I was more afraid I was gonna end up kicking back onto the crowds...)
Didn't try the lutz!!! WAAAAAY too crowded!!! :evil:
Didn't try the camel... WAAAAAY too crowded!!! :evil:
...and did I mention that the public session I was in was WAAAAY too crowded? :halo:

[Mrs Redboots]

I think the actual NISA rule book probably says something like ' simple steps, skated well' but the coaches never want to do that - they like a challenge and to give their skaters one!:D

As far as I know there are no requirements for it at all but it makes it much more interesting to have various turns and drags etc. My coach is helping us with our Level 1 Variation, and he said that once the judge asked him why he'd put no backwards skating into it, and he just looked at her, and went, "At level 1?"

Our variation will probably finish with a Mohawk and step to forwards, but the rest of it is very simple.

[dbny]

CONGRATULATIONS
to
BatikatII and JennaD

even better ones!

-Hate those alternating 3s. I'm fine with the pre-juv, juv and even intermediate 3s, but not the preliminary. I honestly almost cried I was so frustrated. The backwards to forwards choctaw on the outside 3s is just really, really difficult for me.

Have you ever tried it figures style? It isn't really a choctaw then, because you are letting your skating foot "flip" onto the line, and then doing what is pretty much a T push. That works great for me on the FI threes on the line, but gives me fits most of the time with the FO's.

[Kim to the Max]

Have you ever tried it figures style? It isn't really a choctaw then, because you are letting your skating foot "flip" onto the line, and then doing what is pretty much a T push. That works great for me on the FI threes on the line, but gives me fits most of the time with the FO's.

That's the way I was taught to do them...and even the way I did my intermediate brackets in the field...it's the only way I got a good enough push..plus that way I KNEW I wasn't toe pushing...it also helps you make sure that you are coming back to the line perpendicularly (think about geometry and 90 degree angles :) ....I'm a math nerd...that's how I think about things!)...