Trusting or Fearful - Practice thread 10/12 - 10/19

[doubletoe]

OK, I figured I'd jump in and start this week's thread, since I had an inspired moment on the ice today. . .

TRUSTING
My axel is finally consistent now and has been for months, but the 4 years of on-and-off with this jump really conditioned me to feel tense as I go into it. Today I decided I was going to try just relaxing and trusting as I set up and took off on my axel. The result: In the air, it felt like I was floating, then the landing felt like a knife through butter. No scraping, no tension, and perfect gliding outflow. Wow. 8O I need to remember that feeling and do more of those!

FEARFUL
I still haven't gotten the double salchow back, although I'm figuring out some things and getting closer. Trusting is hard on this one. Doubting, tensing up and trying too hard are way too easy. . .

[katz in boots]

Wow Doubletoe, that axel sounds like my idea of heaven. I wish....

Trusting
A week off after the competition & dance test ordeal. I like the first practice back, when the pressure is off. No comp or test to worry about, next stop, Christmas Ice show. It's nice to have a couple of weeks of skating for fun before starting serious work again.

Doubting
after about 4 months with an injured knee, not being able to jump or backspin much, my jump timing is gone. I did manage some decent flips on second practise, and loops, so there is hope.

Following on from what Doubletoe was saying about axels, I realise I can do waltz jumps easily - unless I try to do a waltz/loop. For some reason I try too hard on the waltz jump and can't get the loop afterwards. Doesn't make sense, but whenever I try a waltz/loop, my brain thinks I'm trying for an axel and tenses up.:roll:

[RachelSk8er]

From Saturday!!!

Trusting: Continued combing through my program adding flair. It's turning out nice :) Hopefully now I'll have other things to focus on that I won't get so nervous for the jumps/spins and I'll show off more of the inbetween stuff that *should* be my strength.

Blues is still coming along nicely, I love this dance. Also did some strong solo patterns of the starlight...maybe after Buckeye I'll ask my coach to look at my solo and start hammering through the partnering on this dance with me since the Blues is starting to come together. So much for putting dance aside until I finished my MIF. Ha ha.

Worked for about 45 min on my moves test. Power circles are good, rockers getting better (insides have really come along). Power pull-quick rockers are actually getting better--the turns are quicker and the rhythm is more consistent, I just get caught up on one of the turns on my R foot and it's a little slower. Just need to attack these with a little more speed and not be such a chicken. Choctaws are really the only thing that are bad on this test, but I worked on them for a bit--I'm fine on the first choctaw on each side, my problem is really down to just the step forward to the second one. I don't crank my shoulders enough and I tend to lean forward rather than stay down over the skating leg. Getting better though.

Back camels getting more consistent! I think I will start working on flying camels now that the spin is more comfortable.

Iffy: Struggled with sit-change-sit so I tried a back sit-forward sit and it's MUCH better. I seem to have a much easier time on change of foot spins when I put the back spin first. Back sit still isn't as low as I'd like it to be, but it's getting better. Which I guess is technically "harder" anyway so maybe that's not so bad.

Fearful: Still not getting over my R side on my axel, and therefore still two-footing. I didn't really try more than a few though, because I was spending most of my time focusing on my program.

[*JennaD*]

Trusting:my double toe has come out of nowhere!!! It was amazzzinngg at the end of practice...not quite clean but I was getting way more rotation than usual and it felt really powerful:P

Fearful:I took my official worst fall on a double flip....I smashed my knee, hip and elbow into the ice all at once...it was not pretty....8O

[icedancer2]

I haven't posted in this thread for some time - ever since I started my blog... but now that I haven't been writing that I guess it's time to come over here occassionally.

Two great things!! My coach, who has been teaching at the crappy hockey rink for at least 30 or 40 years - has changed rinks! It's been a hard going for her because she's so used to the other place, but they have been basically eroding her entire experience there for the last few years and she has made the leap to the newest facility in our area and they have welcomed her with open arms! Literally!

I had my first lesson with her there last week - the ice is beautiful and has great flow, the changing area is pleasant and warm, the people are friendly, the lights are on and I had a great lesson! It's amazing how comfortable skating can be on un-rutted, smooth ice with no hockey lessons taking up valuable space. I love it!!

Unfortunately the rink is pretty far from my house - it's a 40 minute drive) and I won't have time to go every week for a lesson but we wil probably be able to do this at least every other week and so I am happy!!

the other cool thing that happened was that my dance coach, who had been pretty iffy about me ever testing again has been indicating that he would be willing to take me through the rest of my pre-Gold dances!!! I figure this is going to take some time, since I haven't really worked on them up to speed, etc., for YEARS but at least it gives me a goal... something concrete to work towards and that works better for me than the "a little of this, a little of that" program that I've been on for the last, oh, ten years or so.

Yesterday we worked on the Paso and the Killian - the Killian I figure I will never get, but all of a sudden he thinks it will be fun... go figure! The Paso will definitely happen I think... and then there's the Starlight - another fun (and too fast) pre-Gold dance.

[liz_on_ice]

Trusting - seeing friends at Parkwood at the adult session Sunday night. It was a good jumpy and spinny evening, I made progress on all my spins, and on the loop.

Fearful - a car belonging to one of he skaters was tagged in the rink parking lot sometime between the hockey and adult public sessions. No one could figure out why his was the only one, he's a nice middle aged guy, weird he should have been singled out. Other skaters who have been going there for years say they've never heard of any trouble at this rink.

[dbny]

Trusting:
Our skating director :bow: got a concession for us in return for no real FS on the public sessions - we can teach and practice in the center, and the size of the center has been more than doubled!

Fearful:
Had to get up early today to give a lesson on the FS before the public session, so I thought I would stay and practice afterwards. Instead, could not get to sleep last night. Got up and showered at 4 AM in sheer frustration, and finally fell asleep at 6 AM, giving me all of 3 hours sleep. I knew I was not going to be at my best today, but did not expect to jam my left knee full on into the bathroom door frame while getting ready to go :frus::oops::(. Clearly practice was not in the cards. Hope to have much better luck tonight and tomorrow morning as it's Jazzpant's NY meet-up!

[liz_on_ice]

Trusting:
Our skating director :bow: got a concession for us in return for no real FS on the public sessions - we can teach and practice in the center, and the size of the center has been more than doubled!

Fearful:
Had to get up early today to give a lesson on the FS before the public session, so I thought I would stay and practice afterwards. Instead, could not get to sleep last night. Got up and showered at 4 AM in sheer frustration, and finally fell asleep at 6 AM, giving me all of 3 hours sleep. I knew I was not going to be at my best today, but did not expect to jam my left knee full on into the bathroom door frame while getting ready to go :frus::oops::(. Clearly practice was not in the cards. Hope to have much better luck tonight and tomorrow morning as it's Jazzpant's NY meet-up!

ouchies. I wiped out on my knees this morning, but only bruised. Hope you're better.

No freestyling during publics? That was always the posted rules, but I presume this means it's being enforced? Since I can't make the freestyle without the 6am, I'm pretty much toast there. C'est la vie.

[Terri C]

I haven't posted much in the way of lessons/practices either, but here goes.

Trusting:
Spins were all there, nice and centered too!! Also have added working on edges and stroking on the ice when I can.

Fearful:
Was a complete airhead last night and forgot to pack a pair of tights to wear under my leggings. Simply had to tough it out and keep moving today.
Jumps refused to show up to practice today.

[Morgail]

Perfect choice of words for my skating so far this week!

Trusting:

-Axel - I've been telling myself that I'll never get this jump if I keep being afraid of it. But I think it's finally sunk in. I really jumped up on most of my tries, and actually succeeded in getting one whole revolution!! It's still not an axel, but it's a heck of a lot better than the 1/2 to 3/4 revolution I was getting before.

-Flying Camels - I started working on these again (inner thigh muscle is feeling much better), and they were decent.

-I had a spin entry breakthrough. I have some ancient, ingrained bad habits on my spin entries (scrunching up my knee, torquing my body too far around, swinging my arms, riding up on my toepick, you name it - I probably do it). Somehow I still manage to have halfway decent spins even though the entries are ugly. But, when I remember to step out/back, rather than in/forward, all my spins are faster and more centered.

Fearful:

-Forward Double 3s (Gold Moves pattern)...bleggghhh...I'm still slow. I keep losing speed as I move through the pattern. This doesn't happen on the Back Double 3s (I think because of the nice crossover I get to do before each back 3).

-I tried some sit spin variations - pancake and tuck sit. :lol: The pancake was more like a "got my foot onto my thigh, now what?", and the tuck sit looked like a squashed-up corkscrew spin.

[dbny]

ouchies. I wiped out on my knees this morning, but only bruised. Hope you're better.

No freestyling during publics? That was always the posted rules, but I presume this means it's being enforced? Since I can't make the freestyle without the 6am, I'm pretty much toast there. C'est la vie.

Well, it's not being seriously enforced, and, as I said, the "center" is now huge! They've been putting the cones at the blue lines and about 2.5 feet from the circle on the sides. Of course, they're also not enforcing the rules for the center - meaning the kamakazies race thru and the clueless wander in and linger till I gently shoo them out. Yesterday I caught some of the little kamakazies and spoke quite sternly. Then I was worried that I had scared my little tot student - but no, she didn't mind at all so long as my wrath wasn't directed at her.

[jazzpants]

WHA!?!?!? NO FS during public session!?!?! That's CRAZY!!! :frus:

I'm so sorry, dbny!!! I hope you recover quickly and be careful if you can't skate... We could just meet up for KPD afterwards if you can't skate (or just outside the rink)

Hubby and I realized it's gonna be a LOT of hassles on both our parts to go thru the subway to get to Aviator tomorrow, so I said "Screw it!" and extended the car rental for another day. Just not worth it to go thru the subway... :giveup:

Trusting:

Skated at "The Hack" this afternoon on the 3:45-4:20pm and part of the 4:30 to 5:20pm FS session.
Met flutzilla and her ADORABLE cute son!!! Awwwww!!! :D
Watched the elite session going on before the FS session I was supposed to be on. (I got to the rink WAAAAY too early b/c my new BIL told me that it would take 2.5 hrs to get to the rink. It only took a little over an hour!!! :D )
Watched the "elite" session in the early afternoon. Two people caught my eye... one dirty blond curly hair guy who pumped out a BUNCH of triple axels!!! (Flutzilla sorta introduced me to him. He says his name is Adam... I later found out that he's Adam Rippon!!! 8O)
Other person that caught my eye is this platinum blonde tall woman in a blue sweater with gorgeous nice edge and I thought she was an ice dancer until she pumped out a couple of jumps. Flutzilla later on told me that Oskana Baiul was on the elite session today and described what she was wearing!!! I was like "I WATCHED HER for about an hour this afternoon and had NO IDEA that was Oskand Baiul!?!?!? 8O "
Finally got in practice for my technical FS number!!!
AND of course, those WHITE MANNA BURGERS!!! :twisted: :yum: :bow:
Fearful:

Sadly, I won't be going into Manhattan on this trip! DH wants someplace easy to get to. :cry: (He hates going into Manhattan b/c it's a hassle to get to, by train or otherwise.)
My footwork is gonna take a LOT of work and a LOT of practice!!! It's QUITE sucky!!! :frus:
My sciatic nerve on my left side is acting up!!! :cry:
FS session is CROWDED AS HELL with little ones!!! 8O
I felt SUCKY as a skater with the rest of the session! I was "more aware" (i.e. more self conscious) of my basic skating this time around.
Sadly, didn't get to see Moves Guru. He's at Regionals in Jamestown, NY. He's sad too... b/c he was hoping to meet up with me and maybe give me a torture session...ummm, lesson too!!!Trusting:

Ummm... never mind... that would be a BLESSING!!! :P My basic skating needs a LOT of work and I'm scared to show him what I got now. 8O

[dbny]

Well, it's not being seriously enforced, and, as I said, the "center" is now huge! They've been putting the cones at the blue lines and about 2.5 feet from the circle on the sides. Of course, they're also not enforcing the rules for the center - meaning the kamakazies race thru and the clueless wander in and linger till I gently shoo them out.

WHA!?!?!? NO FS during public session!?!?! That's CRAZY!!! :frus:

I'm so sorry, dbny!!! I hope you recover quickly and be careful if you can't skate... We could just meet up for KPD afterwards if you can't skate (or just outside the rink)


Hey Jazz - reread the above! It's actually OK. My knee is fine so far, just a big jolt and a warning not to procede with anything serious today. Should be fine tomorrow except for the occasional tweak.

[Thin-Ice]

Two great things!! My coach, who has been teaching at the crappy hockey rink for at least 30 or 40 years - has changed rinks! It's been a hard going for her because she's so used to the other place, but they have been basically eroding her entire experience there for the last few years and she has made the leap to the newest facility in our area and they have welcomed her with open arms! Literally!

I had my first lesson with her there last week - the ice is beautiful and has great flow, the changing area is pleasant and warm, the people are friendly, the lights are on and I had a great lesson! It's amazing how comfortable skating can be on un-rutted, smooth ice with no hockey lessons taking up valuable space. I love it!!

Unfortunately the rink is pretty far from my house - it's a 40 minute drive)


I wish there were ANY rink within 40 minutes of my house... the nearest one for me is an hour away.. if there's no traffic.. which is unlikely. And the rink where my coach teaches is 2 hours away... so I only go there twice a week. Yes, I know.. I'm crazy... but it's all that's keeping me sane somedays!:lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

Trusting: Great lesson today; Coach1 actually complimented our Fiesta Tango - well, the side pattern, anyway! Will get our test papers for the Variation tomorrow (I have downloaded them and am to fill them in and bring them for signature).

Fearful: We will not go into what he said about our end pattern, though..... And our Willow was Not Good - Husband puts his free leg in the wrong place during the Mohawk which explains many, but not all, of my difficulties with the STF!

[coskater64]

Trusting:
Went to Bay Area Ice Dance weekend, decided to test as I knew there was a very tall (6'4") coach who took Joylyn through her tests. Even though I am a fair to poor dancer I really would like to get one pre gold dance so I can skate a variety of levels. Silver, Pre Gold and Gold would be my choices. So, I did take my dances and I did pass, let me tell you...I was very surprised. I took them on the adult track but hope to finish the adult pre gold level then go back and do the pre silver and silver on the standard. It was very nice to skate with Peter S, and he was a scant 7" taller than me, it was cool. I'm very happy and I get to learn the rest of my pre golds and then all the golds, I can do them all badly. YES!!

Fearful:
I am allowed to work on doubles and my axels (harness: excellent), shockingly I am not rushing this..my flying camel is getting better but scares me. I am worried I may become a big scaredy cat. Oh well, better learn to suck it up and just make it happen.

8O8O

[celticprincess]

WHA!?!?!? NO FS during public session!?!?! That's CRAZY!!! :frus:

I'm so sorry, dbny!!! I hope you recover quickly and be careful if you can't skate... We could just meet up for KPD afterwards if you can't skate (or just outside the rink)

Hubby and I realized it's gonna be a LOT of hassles on both our parts to go thru the subway to get to Aviator tomorrow, so I said "Screw it!" and extended the car rental for another day. Just not worth it to go thru the subway... :giveup:

Trusting:

Skated at "The Hack" this afternoon on the 3:45-4:20pm and part of the 4:30 to 5:20pm FS session.
Met flutzilla and her ADORABLE cute son!!! Awwwww!!! :D
Watched the elite session going on before the FS session I was supposed to be on. (I got to the rink WAAAAY too early b/c my new BIL told me that it would take 2.5 hrs to get to the rink. It only took a little over an hour!!! :D )
Watched the "elite" session in the early afternoon. Two people caught my eye... one dirty blond curly hair guy who pumped out a BUNCH of triple axels!!! (Flutzilla sorta introduced me to him. He says his name is Adam... I later found out that he's Adam Rippon!!! 8O)
Other person that caught my eye is this platinum blonde tall woman in a blue sweater with gorgeous nice edge and I thought she was an ice dancer until she pumped out a couple of jumps. Flutzilla later on told me that Oskana Baiul was on the elite session today and described what she was wearing!!! I was like "I WATCHED HER for about an hour this afternoon and had NO IDEA that was Oskand Baiul!?!?!? 8O "
Finally got in practice for my technical FS number!!!
AND of course, those WHITE MANNA BURGERS!!! :twisted: :yum: :bow



I know Adam!!!!! He skates in our club show ever year!! He was in SKATING magazine a while ago and my little sister was looking at it and got really excited. She was like 'Looks it's Adam, we saw him!! Thats soo awesome". But yeah he's amazing, I've shared the ice with him a couple times. Very nice kid. Though us teenage and 20 something yr old girls were all over him after the session ;). Thats so cool that you actually saw Oksana in person!

[doubletoe]

Trusting:
Went to Bay Area Ice Dance weekend, decided to test as I knew there was a very tall (6'4") coach who took Joylyn through her tests. Even though I am a fair to poor dancer I really would like to get one pre gold dance so I can skate a variety of levels. Silver, Pre Gold and Gold would be my choices. So, I did take my dances and I did pass, let me tell you...I was very surprised. I took them on the adult track but hope to finish the adult pre gold level then go back and do the pre silver and silver on the standard. It was very nice to skate with Peter S, and he was a scant 7" taller than me, it was cool. I'm very happy and I get to learn the rest of my pre golds and then all the golds, I can do them all badly. YES!!

That is SOOOOOO COOOOL!!!! :D:bow:

[momsk8er]

Trusting - spin is back, spin is back - yeah! finally centered and fast and at least 9 revs, maybe more if I wanted, and a really developing backspin too! most of the time 3-4 revs! Also, coach is a peach. He told me to stop thinking so much and trust my body to do what's right, and you know, I think that was the perfect advice. On to the camel...
Jumps - loop jump is landed (tiny) most of the time on one foot!!! Coach has really been working my sal. Wants me to make sure my upper body isn't leaning, and really wait on the back inside edge, make it really curvy, don't go up on toe until the last minute. I am used to cheating with a bit of a turn on the toe before I jump.

Fearful - me. Coach is pushing me to do bell jumps and I am not all that comfortable with that. It is stretching me, that's for sure. He thinks I can get a flip, but I am really nervous about trying to land that on one foot! Can land it on two, but its a bit cheated.

[Skittl1321]

Trusting After a pity pass sometime around December (and 3 months off the ice for an injury) I have FINALLY passed Freestyle 3. And while my backspin isn't perfect- I did 6 of them in a row with 3+ revolutions and the foot crossed.

Fearful NOT HAPPY about my ankle pads. Last week I lost one of my silipos pads and had to cut the other in half so I had one for each ankle. The half pads obviously don't work too well as they are quite small, but they worked okay. Today I got my new Bunga pads in (bought Bunga because they were cheaper at Jen Skates and some people say they are better) and they are thicker so it totally changes the feel of the skate. The worst part- my left Achilles tendon is in incredible pain, and my ankle is bruised from the pad. How does that happen? So I need to figure out a way to stretch the Achilles so I can walk tomorrow. So at least in my left leg, I'm going to be going to the half pad again until I can get a pair of Silipos- but I need to find the money first. Anyone want to buy a used once pair of Bungas? :(

[jazzpants]

Trusting:
Made it to Aviator in about 30 minutes... of course, I probably was speeding... :oops: :twisted: :P :lol:
Got most of the ice to myself...Fearful:
Got most of the ice to myself and I had no music to play! It was DEAD quiet until another skater and her coach (who turns out to be the new skating school director at Aviator) showed up for a lesson...THEN there was at least SOME classical music! Music popped up AFTER 11am for public session but I heard that I can't do FS stuff there, so no music. (But I did do some jumps and spins though... :twisted: HEY!!! The rink was still pretty empty except for a handful of people -- half of them part of the meetup!!! :P

All my bad basics skating stuff came back to life again!!! :frus:

My lower back was still giving me trouble for the majority of the meetup! Part of the problem was that I sat too long in the car coming back from the trip, at the church where my SIL got married, at the restaurant, etc. You get the point... (sitting for long periods of time does NOT make my lower back happy at ALL!!!) Needless to say, I had to forgo the runthrus of my programs, though I did do them in smaller shots.

Trusting
By the beginning of the public sesson, my lower back did come life was I was playing around trying to get stuff. Anyway, I managed to sneak in a loop-loop! But so sorry... dbny caught it this time and said "I saw that!!! That was a good loop-loop there!!! :P )

About 2.5 hrs later, we all took off for KPD for those yummy sweet potatoes fries.

Fearful:
The price for the sweet potato fries for the regular fries? $3 PER PLATE with food, but regular fries is free. WTH!?!?! 8O

On a final note:
I had a really funny story outside the parking lot at KPD. We were talking about how to adjust the shoulder, knees, torso, etc. for the back cross rolls. So both renatele and dbny were trying to help me do it when a guy in a car drove by, stopped and yell at us saying "Hey! Is that new type of drunk driver's test???"

Needless to say, THAT made my day!!! :lol: (Serves us right for having to work thru a skating move in the middle of a diner. :P

[liz_on_ice]

Trusting - lovely blue skies and puffy clouds over Rockefeller Center for my first lesson with Winter coach. She liked my improvement, worked over everything that needs work, it was a busy lesson.

Fearful - backspins on holiday, and while jumps weren't bad, the springs were sort of missing.

[Rusty Blades]

Trusting: Finished the choreography for my new Interpretive program, even tried out parts of the costume.

Fearful: Had 'the weekend from Hell' - didn't skate Monday, cut Tuesday practice as well, didn't even feel like skating today. Sometimes I would just like to chuck it in and have more leisure .... don't even remember what "free time" is!

[MissIndigo]

Trusting: Backspin happening better...I'm getting the hang of going in from an inside 3-turn once again. I am going to get this devil down by the end of the season if it kills me. Upright scratch spin coming back too, but not as fast as it used to be. Patience, patience, patience, and practice, practice, practice...

Camel made a brief appearance today as well, 2-3 slow revolutions in a fully extended position. I want this one consistent by the end of the season too!

Fearful: I need a blade sharpening, bad! I was skidding on spin entries! Ack!!

[BatikatII]

Fearful:

My rink's melted!:cry:
Skated on it this morning with a thin film of water - very amusing when one of the coaches went down in it leaving a visible wake as she slid along!

Now it seems compressor is broke and it could be out of action for a week or more.

Trusting:

Had to be trusting this morning doing some couples dance exercises. Quite fun but it starts to get scary when doing runs round the circle which get soooo fast when there are two people pushing. 3 turns are interesting in hold too.

Concentrated on trying to make my basic skating better in lesson as mistakes show up more when dancing with someone rather than solo.

May have a lesson at another rink tomorrow which will be interesting.

[samba]

Fearful:

My rink's melted!:cry:
Skated on it this morning with a thin film of water - very amusing when one of the coaches went down in it leaving a visible wake as she slid along!

Now it seems compressor is broke and it could be out of action for a week or more.


Wow I have never known that rink to have bad ice, you dont know how lucky you are, hope it's ok soon.

[Mrs Redboots]

Trusting:
Went to Bay Area Ice Dance weekend, decided to test as I knew there was a very tall (6'4") coach who took Joylyn through her tests. Even though I am a fair to poor dancer I really would like to get one pre gold dance so I can skate a variety of levels. Silver, Pre Gold and Gold would be my choices. So, I did take my dances and I did pass, let me tell you...I was very surprised. I took them on the adult track but hope to finish the adult pre gold level then go back and do the pre silver and silver on the standard. It was very nice to skate with Peter S, and he was a scant 7" taller than me, it was cool. I'm very happy and I get to learn the rest of my pre golds and then all the golds, I can do them all badly. YES!!

Definitely YES! In fact, more like:

http://text.glitter-graphics.net/mushrooms/y.gifhttp://text.glitter-graphics.net/mushrooms/e.gifhttp://text.glitter-graphics.net/mushrooms/s.gifhttp://dl3.glitter-graphics.net/empty.gif (http://glitter-graphics.com/myspace/text_generator.php)

Congratulations!





I had a really funny story outside the parking lot at KPD. We were talking about how to adjust the shoulder, knees, torso, etc. for the back cross rolls. So both renatele and dbny were trying to help me do it when a guy in a car drove by, stopped and yell at us saying "Hey! Is that new type of drunk driver's test???"

:lol: :lol: :lol: Good thing I didn't have a mouthful of coffee when I read that!


My rink's melted!:cry:
Skated on it this morning with a thin film of water - very amusing when one of the coaches went down in it leaving a visible wake as she slid along!

Now it seems compressor is broke and it could be out of action for a week or more.

That's very unlike your rink! Hope it gets fixed soon.

As for me:

Trusting: We sent in our test papers for our Variation dance; hopefully will test on 29 October. Good runthroughs of everything we're working on - Husband's correction in the Willow has made a huge difference.

Fearful: Coach's Evil Exercises in my private lesson. Gliding straight on one foot while counter-rotating one's upper body? Sheessh......

[PhysicistOnIce]

Wow I have never known that rink to have bad ice, you dont know how lucky you are, hope it's ok soon.

I guess that goes to show how it is all relative, as I've never known that rink to have good ice.

Although to be fair, the other UK rinks I've been to are worse on average.

[LilJen]

Trusting: Coach likes the FO power 3s, said she's seen worse pass. They just need some more time and smoothing out.

Fearful: BXOs to BO edges need work. Just wobbly and uncertain. I guess I'm trying to push them too much or something--never quite on the same part of the blade, etc--and the free leg is too far out to the side.

Trusting: Managed 6 revs, CCW, according to coach.
Fearful: CW spin and salchow so sucky (and CCW not suckier--in fact prep positions and spin position looked better CCW) that coach wants me to go CCW for a few weeks to see what happens. . . Oy!

Trusting: Prelim dances in good shape, ready for December testing. Coach handed me test sheet already signed; I just need to fill it out and send it in with the money.

[jazzpants]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Good thing I didn't have a mouthful of coffee when I read that!
Let's put it this way... we all waited 'til the guy drove away before BURSTING out in laughter!!! :lol:

BatikatII: BUMMER!!! :( Hope you get your ice back soon.

Fearful:
My technical program!!! Oh, dear! I think I'm gonna have to go back to my primary coach and say "I want my old footwork back b/c there's no way I can make that footwork he gave me look even remotely decent in 2.5 weeks' time for Skate SF."

I did another run thru and I chickened out of doing the lutz again on both runthrus!!! :frus:

Still need more speed in my transition... on BOTH the technical and the artistic programs!!! :frus:

Trusting:
The artistic program seems to be improving on the footwork... but I'll believe it when I see the results though.

[BatikatII]

Trusting;
Skated and had lesson at a different rink today. Their ice was wonderful and the rink was nice and warm - can't think why I've never skated there before especially since they seem to have adults only sessions every lunchtime and huge amounts of patch ice.

Only drawback was not having full ice but as that was due to Dancing on Ice being there and I got watch T & D teaching a couple of celeb beginners I could live with the small ice surface.:)

Also did probably my best ever sit spin with a tracing to be proud of (why didn't I have my camera with me when I needed it!):lol:

And landed my best ever Flip!

[RachelSk8er]

Just blah: Just a general blah day at the rink. Quite honestly after having a law school assignment due last night, I was a little tired from not getting as much sleep as normal the past few nights (and eating more bad food than usual the past few days doesn't help) and really tempted to sleep in, but I dragged my butt out of bed early and to the rink anyway. Thursdays I get a pretty hard gym workout in with my trainer/phys therapist, we're really working on strengthening/balancing out my leg muscle groups, so Fridays my legs are always still a little tired/sore. Back and abs are a little sore too. Nothing was really "bad," just a little sluggish but otherwise ok.

Still haven't landed the axel cleanly, BUT today by the end of my session, I was driving the knee up better and getting better height and that was helping to get over my right side more, so the landings were closer. Feels much more confident. I felt like if I were able to stay a little longer (versus having to mad dash to work), I would have gotten it.

Actually had really good height on the rest of my jumps today, even though my legs were a little on the sore side.

Spins were ick, wasn't really in the mood for doing many of them anyway.

This was my first blah/bad practice in weeks, but it still feels like I made some progress, so that's good.

[Skittl1321]

Fearful I didn't skate synchro on Wednesday because of the achilles tendon issue, but decided I could do my 30 minute lesson yesterday. I don't think I could have done much more then that. I got there 20 minutes early, hoping to do some stroking, but it turns out instead I just relaced 6 times. So the Bungas are going away- they are just too thick, and cause some major pain, and now I need to order some Silipos. (I ended up skating with the right Bunga pad- since it only slightly pushes the tendon, and taping the left foot so I didn't get my skate cutting me. For some reason the left one caused some serious pain.)

Synchro coach has brought up the idea of doing twizzles (though I assume we wouldn't be doing real twizzles, but either consecutive 3s or else a 2 footed twizzle motion), so I asked my main coach to teach me them. She taught me the twizzle from the Argentine Tango- though she couldn't remember which one it was (outside?) HAHAHA Not a chance! I could sometimes do it on 2 feet, but even then I'd pause the motion and end up in a consecutive 3 turn. Then she had me really work on the counter rotation and round a corner at quite a bit of speed to work up the entry edge- and then I halted to a stop and she told me she knew I wasn't going to try the turn. Going that fast- no way! Anyhow, no successful attempts, but I think I have the upper body/leg preperation down, so it's something to work on.

Trusting
Did some backspins with my foot crossed. But I'm lacking the guts to just GO into it. We tried to speed up the spin, but then my foot doesn't cross. Either way, I'm consistently spinning now, and starting to get the idea of the exit. Worked a bit on my fwd-bck-fwd combo spin, which always spins, but the positions are never nice.

Did some crossrolls and I got great compliments on the forward ones (though I lack an underpush of the right side :() and got told my backward ones aren't as bad as I seem to think they are. That's promising- right?

Coach told me she thinks I'm really improving on everything we are working on- so that's a big compliment. She also told me she's just going to tape herself yelling, and have me put headphones on it and listen while I practice, because I apparently respond well to yelling. Then she told me she feels bad she's always yelling at me. I don't think it's yelling- more like spirited talking loudly. Yelling seems so negative, and she's not.

[jskater49]

Fearful

I haven't been on the ice since last Friday - Coach was at Regionals on Wed so I slept in and she was not happy to hear that.

Moves class- having trouble with back power pulls. Managed to do one inside and one outside edge on one foot. Hey it's a start.

Trusting - My waltz 3s were really good.

Went through my program in little bits at a time until I did it to music the last 5 minutes of my session. Think I'm going to ask coach next time to go over arm movements. I feel like I'm doing the same thing with my arms all the time.

j

[Bill_S]

Quite honestly after having a law school assignment due last night, ...



You sound like my niece who attends Case Western Reserve Law School. Must be a tough curriculum!

[Mrs Redboots]

Trusting;
Skated and had lesson at a different rink today. Their ice was wonderful and the rink was nice and warm - can't think why I've never skated there before especially since they seem to have adults only sessions every lunchtime and huge amounts of patch ice.

Was that Slough? It is nice; we had a phase of skating their regularly, particularly when Husband was dancing with his Other Partner, who trains there.

Trusting: Good practice today. Another coach gave a quick eye to our Willow Waltz and gave us some tips.

Fearful: Sadly, we can't afford him regularly just now. Maybe if/when I get a job.... And our Willow is definitely fearful, alas....

[sk8lady]

Trusting: Backspin seems to finally be primarily consistent. Finally started getting camels to spin on a part of the blade that feels right and spin at least 3 times. Also found out from my primary coach that the attitude spin my secondary coach has me working on is really a layback !! (Just not a very good one since I don't have a lot of flexibility in my back, but still, now I can tell people, "I'm working on a layback!) Still getting one clean loop for every three except when I'm having a lesson. Also, did forward power pulls all the way down the rink, halfway on each foot, FINALLY. Home rink opens on Monday. :D

Fearful: Current use rink is SO COLD that yesterday and today I couldn't feel my foot above the heel by the time I took my skates off. Possibly this is why my loops are better at the rink my coach teaches at, where it's warmer?
Still HATE silver moves.

[RachelSk8er]

You sound like my niece who attends Case Western Reserve Law School. Must be a tough curriculum!

I go to Cleveland-Marshall. Actually...I find law school pretty easy...it's a lot of work but not hard [translation: I AM A HUGE NERD]. It's mostly my schedule that is hectic because I work full time and go to school part time. So M-Th I work 7:30am-4:30pm and then go to school from about 5-9:30pm. I have to squeeze in gym time during my lunch hour. Fridays I skate about 6:30-8am, then work 9am-6pm. It'll take me 4 yrs instead of 3, and I don't get to skate as much as I like--only about 4-5 hrs/week--but on the bright side, my company pays what's left of my tuition after scholarships. (I have plenty of student loans from undergrad and grad school already, don't need more).

My legs are now really sore from a combo of the gym yesterday and all the jumps I did today....

[dbny]

Trusting:
I finally really felt like skating today, in spite of the fact that I'm coming down with a cold. FO threes are getting much better. My shoulders are really checking now. Did the BO eight in my lesson, and coach was quite happy with my push off into it. I've been doing a lot of work on those initial pushes, and Wed morning actually got all the way across the rink with just one push. Did Prelim power threes in lesson, but got interrupted so much by other skaters (public session & Jewish holiday), that I ended up just doing it at the ends, across instead of down the long axis. Also worked a little on Pre-Bronze three turn pattern, which my coach thinks is crazy to put on adults! I need to bend knees more and loosen up. It's passing, but not the way I want to pass! Did just a little on CW spinning, which I am sticking with this time. Backspin is already almost better than I was doing CCW after weeks, and weeks. I somehow have much better core body control and less trouble finding the spin spot when going CW. Even did some RBO threes. The confidence is returning at last, and I am really enjoying skating again.

Fearful:
This dratted cold that is looming!!! I do not need this on the weekend, when I have to be at work so long, and this weekend in particular, when I've arranged Sat night off so I could go to dinner at a new, very nice, expensive restaurant. Nothing like dinner out when you can't taste the food!

[LilJen]

Fearful I didn't skate synchro on Wednesday because of the achilles tendon issue, but decided I could do my 30 minute lesson yesterday. I don't think I could have done much more then that. I got there 20 minutes early, hoping to do some stroking, but it turns out instead I just relaced 6 times. So the Bungas are going away- they are just too thick, and cause some major pain, and now I need to order some Silipos. (I ended up skating with the right Bunga pad- since it only slightly pushes the tendon, and taping the left foot so I didn't get my skate cutting me. For some reason the left one caused some serious pain.)

Synchro coach has brought up the idea of doing twizzles (though I assume we wouldn't be doing real twizzles, but either consecutive 3s or else a 2 footed twizzle motion), so I asked my main coach to teach me them. She taught me the twizzle from the Argentine Tango- though she couldn't remember which one it was (outside?) HAHAHA Not a chance! I could sometimes do it on 2 feet, but even then I'd pause the motion and end up in a consecutive 3 turn. Then she had me really work on the counter rotation and round a corner at quite a bit of speed to work up the entry edge- and then I halted to a stop and she told me she knew I wasn't going to try the turn. Going that fast- no way! Anyhow, no successful attempts, but I think I have the upper body/leg preperation down, so it's something to work on.
Ha, our "real" synchro team is prepping twizzles as well, and coach was having us do them in the same way--for example, RFO swing roll-change edge into RFI twizzle (I think that's the Argentine Tango twizzle--could be left foot too). Yeah, that change edge? NOT my strong point. I could just do the plain old RFI twizzle, once around at least, but not with the swing roll before it. Of course our newest member, who skated senior, demonstrated lots of these with great grace and ease. . .

I hope your Achilles starts feeling better!

[ibreakhearts66]

Trusting
-Had a decent last practice before testing tomorrow. Moves were pretty good. I just need to remember to at least look like I'm confident.
-My coach was very reassuring after my program runthrough. She said it was easily, easily passable, and that the quality of my jumps and spins was superb. As long as I breathe, I can get through it.

Fearful
-Me! I'm terrified for tomorrow. I hate testing, I hate it I hate it I hate it.
-My right ankle is really sore. I mean, I know it will always be a problem after such a significant injury, but it's being particularly difficult right now. It gave out on me just doing a slide chasse in my footwork, then again doing something simple.

Well, testing is 7:15 am tomorrow morning! I'm doing pre-juv moves and (hopefully) freeskate. I'll let you guys know how it goes 8O

[singerskates]

Today

Fearful: Well I've done it. I've managed to make my landing foot's big toe all sore again. Yesterday after skating I took a shower and got lazy about taping up my big toes with my toe spacers (it's to relieve my hammer toe/bunion). My feet are now use to the toe spacers and so my toe didn't want to go back in the old position it use to be in before using the toe spacers. I skate, walk and sleep with the toe spacers. I have to buy myself some more epson salts and soak my feet a few times before next week when I skate again.

Right big toe caused me to limit my jumps.

Trusting:
Even though I was in pain, I knew that I couldn't make my toe worse so I went for as many jumps as I could before the pain took over to the point I couldn't stand it.

Waltz jump - good air for an Adult Bronze skater but trying to remember to land on the toe first.

Toe Loop - getting more air but sometimes I end up rotating too far.

Salchow - finally getting some deceit height on this jump. It's been forever since I could do better than almost walking it. It's funny because this was the jump that I was doing doubles with when I was getting my work place injury back in 2005. I guess I was nervous of popping up this jump subconsciencely before now since then.

Flip - getting even more air but still having trouble keeping my left leg wrapped around my landing leg after picking in and taking off but I have complete rotation.

Lutz - I sort of attempt them in my freeskate program but we haven't worked on them. I tend to delay and mess up the timing with this jump.

Loop - I've just about got this baby clean but not quite there. I'm still having an issue with keeping my leg crossed through to the landing and timing my arms coming in with the take off but I'm all the way around and landing on one foot most of the time. It's when I'm doing the loop in my program that I digress and do my old habits that I got after the 2005 injury. I also wasn't jumping as high as I was before getting my right big toe sore yesterday.

Sitspin - reg. position to broken duing lesson not sure how many revs they were but they were tighter and centered better than my coach's was. But after my lesson, I couldn't repeat the feat. Drat!

Forward Corkscrew Spin - getting faster yet

Skating Skills - 3's are getting a bit better especially my RFI3 that I do into my forward spins. It finally dawned on me that I need to keep my free foot behind my skating foot while doing the 3 turn. Dah!!! Once this clicked in after my coach had left, I tried doing my spins again and behold, I had more control of my spins again. Now if I can just get the gusts to do this with my clockwise 3's?!!

[doubletoe]

Trusting
-Had a decent last practice before testing tomorrow. Moves were pretty good. I just need to remember to at least look like I'm confident.
-My coach was very reassuring after my program runthrough. She said it was easily, easily passable, and that the quality of my jumps and spins was superb. As long as I breathe, I can get through it.

Fearful
-Me! I'm terrified for tomorrow. I hate testing, I hate it I hate it I hate it.
-My right ankle is really sore. I mean, I know it will always be a problem after such a significant injury, but it's being particularly difficult right now. It gave out on me just doing a slide chasse in my footwork, then again doing something simple.

Well, testing is 7:15 am tomorrow morning! I'm doing pre-juv moves and (hopefully) freeskate. I'll let you guys know how it goes 8O

Sending you calm nerves, quiet confidence and strong, clean edges!!! 8-)

[katz in boots]

Trusting
Had a really enjoyable session this morning. Saturday mornings are usually relaxed and social at our public session. Skated quite well too.

Haven't been able to do decent sit spins since switching to proflex boots in May, today Coach reminded me how to get my sit spin low, and suddenly I am getting them lower again, yay. Also helped me sort out my camel entry, hopefully that's going to improve again now.

Jumps were okay, nothing spectacular but okay.

fearful
Flip still isn't how I want it to be, hoping that will be on it's way back now I'm remembering (trying to, anyway) to keep my shoulders and hips squarer.

trusting
also enjoyed judging skate school tests today. Busy, but enjoyable.
Feaful
hate it when coach uses 1/2 my 15 minute lesson getting me to work on stroking stuff. So, I'm lazy, we know this. Even more frustrating is that I know she is right, I do need to focus on basics more. Me, I just want to fly!

[liz_on_ice]

Trusting - got down enough in my sitspin that I ended up, er, sitting. It wasn't exactly a great example of the element, but it's the closest I've gotten yet.

Fearful - still too chicken to loop or flip

[Skate@Delaware]

This is for Thursday, I've been really busy lately (story of my life)

Once again, I was the only one on the freestyle session. I got a bit of a scare when I arrived (late) because they said they were going to zam, I said it wasn't necessary and I wanted to just go on out and not wait. But they didn't (whew).

Did crossovers on the center circle and once I warmed up they were ok. Much better in one direction than the other. I have HUGE muscular/balance issues that I'm trying to compensate/overcome since my surgery. It's downright depressing. You would think that the leg on my affected side would be the one giving me fits, but it's the OTHER FRICKIN' SIDE!!! Could someone possibly explain THAT to me? I give up!!!

Anyway, I was off-balanced for landing my jumps and could not figure out what was going on. i did some really nice toe-loops tho. I did stick some backspins and loops in (coach ordered me to work on loops EVERY practice). Blech. If I could just NOT put that darn free foot down when I landed my loop I'd be ok. Whatever.

Scratch spins absolutely did not happen! I could not spin at all! Not even a 2-foot spin! Kept toppling out of them...then I remembered that the day before my left ear had been hurting and I'm thinking that I might have some head congestion (altho I felt pretty clear).

So I worked on the ISI 3 steps and the waltz-8.

So, today is Saturday and I was going to jump on my trampoline, or actually work on the loop jump landing but its kind of crappy outside so I'll do it tomorrow.

I need to start skating another day per week. There is absolutely NO WAY I can progress just skating 2 hours per week. With my rink cutting sessions like they've done and the restrictions they've added for publics (no jumping or spinning) with the new management, it sucks. I could skate at Easton on sundays, they have a 2-hour freestyle session for $12. It's a hike tho but some of the other ladies at my rink might want to carpool. It's a thought. Maybe as it gets closer to competition time. I need to do something, tho cause right now my skating sucks.

[celticprincess]

First of all, Im proud to announce that I'll be skating quite a bit next week due to the fact I get the whole week off from work!! WHOOHOO!! Basicly it's because parents will be in Cancun for their 25th anniversary, so Im stick with my 12 yr old sibs and pretty much from 8-4 I have the whole house and freedom to myself. So I'll be taking part in lunch skate, so hooray for extra practice!! Also, it's offical Im going to Massage Therapy school for 6 months AND I found an apartment! In relation to skating, that would mean Im not going to be able to skate all that much. So I told coach that I choreographed 4 programmes and she was like 8O. But I explained that when I come back to the ice in late summer/early fall, then I'll be all set to compete. So basicly Im getting a head start for next year. Okay onto practice notes.


Trusting: -(trumpet fanfare[I] JUMP OF THE DAY GOES TO...drum roll please.....LOOP! YAY! :bow::bow: Basicly that jump rocked today. It was very consistant, got lots of height, I didn't use my arms at all going into it and it was just really nice to do. So hooray loop jump.
-Flip would have gotten jump of the day, but I had a slight double footed landing the first time I tried it. However the rest of them were very very nice. Im glad to have gotten that jump back.
-My 10 waltz jumps in a row warmup:)
-Axel attempts really weren't all that bad. But it's sooooooo close. I lifted my left knee and two footed it. There was one where I was very very close. Perhaps during my additional practice I can land it. Its like my sis and her standing back tuck...so close, but no cigar I guess.
-SPIN OF THE DAY GOES TO.....another drum roll....SIT SPIN!!! HOORAY! :bow::bow: That spin was really behaving today. My leg was actually straightening and I was able to hold it straight for several revs. Other times I was able to successfully change into a back sit. So hooray sit spin:)
-Camel spins weren't all that bad today, got a few revs and tried not to go on my toe. So I nod in approval to that.
-I had a spectacular layback when running my artistic for the first time. I must have held the pos for at least 5 revs. Hey thats a big thing for me..;)
-Programmes: "Evolution"- During our off ice lesson, my coach helped me with the begining of it and the footwork part. Its alot of fun. I showed the whole thing to my coach off ice and she liked it:)
"Le Jazz Hot"- Coach also helped me start choreographing that one. Its very showy and sassy..hehe...love it:-)
"Slow Me Down"-Didn't work on..sorry
"Music Box"- That was spectacular! This is just about my first run through! I love it! Yes I choreographed it myself and this is the first I feel really great about. Yes I had to improvise alittle at points because of pacing...but thats okay. Its just so balletlike and floating and I absolutely adore the music. ([I]sighs happily) I really think this will be good when I get it all together and perfect it. The music is slow and will require alot of doing and move and holding it...almost like posing. Which is great for the doll on a music box concept.


Those were the good things and now for...

Fearful: Heh well I actually fell quite alot today on some really stupid things. First of all I was doing a layback, accidently looked up at the lights, fell and kicked the boards making it sound worse than it was.

When doing my ten waltz jumps...I more or less crashed into the boards.
Tripped over my toe picks...twice. The first time, I can't really remember, but the second I was more or less stroking around to 'We Will Rock You' and you know stomping and clapping to the beat and well stomp, stomp, crash...:frus:8O I felt like such a dork. Now my knees hurt really really bad.
When doing into a spin, fell off of my edge....right in front of my coach too. :oops:
When running through footwork, this elite boy was sort of coming in my direction...I sort of got distracted and down I went.
Scratch spins weren't really on today. I mean they weren't bad, but not as good as they normally are. They just weren't centering as good and holding onto the spin was alittle troubling.


That was it for fearful..pretty much just really dumb falls that shouldn't have happened. So overall very good practice, Im so glad about my 'Music Box' programme. Right after doing the run through I was like 'I love it' with a big smile. Normally Im like 'ughh I should have done this' 'Take that move out' or 'oh why am I not going with the music'. But this one it's just like 'Very nice, hold the moves alittle longer, fill in with a couple more grace elements, and it'll be awesome'. Okay Im done! Stay tuned next week:halo:

[jskater49]

Well this practice story starts with me waking up at 10:30 pm. Yes I went to bed at 9 because I had gotten up at 4 and was planning to get up at 4 the next morning to get to Omaha at 8:30 and it's a 3 hour drive. Dance lesson and to meet my daughter - it's 3 hours for her too. So I wake up and realize I'd left my skates in my locker at the rink. I jump out of bed and look at the rink schedule in hopes that it's still open because often there's a hockey game until midnight and Lord knows I've driven down to the rink several times when my daughter has made the same mistake. Nope. No hockey game. Rink is closed. Rink doesn't open till 7 this morning.

Skating session in Omaha is over at 10 am. Normally I wouldn't even bother but I was brining stuff for my daughter and looking forward to seeing her. She took the 8:30-9:30 lesson. I just get to the rink about 9:30 and they are nice enough to only charge me $5 for a half an hour. There's like a a thousand kids on the ice and the ice is horrible.

Very frustrating lesson. This coach is very good but very exacting and very into details and I just find that frustrating and discouraging. But usually I get a very quick fix with her so I guess it's worth it.

We just worked on dance stroking and here's the picky part, bend before you change feet, that's so hard for me to remember and even do....extend, straighten and bring leg back at the same time, rebend BEFORE you put the other foot down then push...She said if it makes me feel any better she makes all her pre-gold and gold dancers work on this too. Then we worked on chasses and trying to get better edges. Then we did it to music and the edges went out the window.

Very discouraging.

j

[katz in boots]

Fearful
You think I'd know this by now:
too much red wine the night before and spins do not mix !8O
Don't look down at your spin tracings before you stop spinning:roll:

Camel spin position is rather lame, apparently body is not anywhere near low enough and free leg is way too low. Sigh, I'll get it back one day.

Trusting
Another enjoyable practise, though rather chaotic (public session).
Overall I am really happy with my skating this weekend. Gives me hope for further improvement and progress.

[Mrs Redboots]

Trusting: Ice and lesson both better than last week!

Fearful: How are you supposed to know where your partner is going when they don't go where you expect?

[AgnesNitt]

Trusting: It took me twenty months, but I finally passed Gamma. :D I had to focus focus focus on every piece of my body during the mohawks, then a week later all of a sudden I had a 'pop' in my skills and I can churn out mohawks like clockwork. And after a week of fussing w/ inside 3's at the boards, when my coach asked me for one in the middle, my body (not my brain) just cranked it out.

Fearful: When my brain got engaged on inside 3's of course I fell down.:lol:

Since inside threes and bunny hops are the only thing keeping me from Delta, my coach has already started me on some Freestyle footwork. The only problem is that at 57 I refuse to learn to jump, so advancing to Freestyle is right out for me. It's really hard (if not impossible) to do Figures at my rink, so I'm trying to figure out where I'll go in skating after Delta.

[Helen88]

Haven't been on here in a while :) This is for yesterday's skate.

Trusting:
I think I'm getting used to getting up at quarter to six on a Saturday morning. In fact, I prefer it, so I told my coach I'd stick with it, rather than go back to Sunday lunchtimes once the Christmas panto rehersals are over. I must be mad.

Jumps are going well. And spins...dare I say it...I THINK...I may be getting somewhere *stuffs hand in mouth and looks around* who said that!?

Fearful:
Getting there yes; no where near yet though. But it's better than nothing :giveup:

[dbny]

Trusting: It took me twenty months, but I finally passed Gamma. :D I had to focus focus focus on every piece of my body during the mohawks, then a week later all of a sudden I had a 'pop' in my skills and I can churn out mohawks like clockwork. And after a week of fussing w/ inside 3's at the boards, when my coach asked me for one in the middle, my body (not my brain) just cranked it out.

Fearful: When my brain got engaged on inside 3's of course I fell down.:lol:

Since inside threes and bunny hops are the only thing keeping me from Delta, my coach has already started me on some Freestyle footwork. The only problem is that at 57 I refuse to learn to jump, so advancing to Freestyle is right out for me. It's really hard (if not impossible) to do Figures at my rink, so I'm trying to figure out where I'll go in skating after Delta.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Well, I can't believe I've beaten Mrs Redboots to this one - but what about DANCE?

BTW, if the bunny hop is the only jump you need for Delta, then I would encourage you to go for it. It's not too hard to practice along the wall, which is how I have my fearful students do it, and once you have some confidence you can do it away from the wall with a spot from your coach until you are on your own. There is a great video of it on Dan Korte's website (http://sk8stuff.com/f_recog/recog_sj_bunnyhop.htm). If you download it, you can watch in slow motion with Windows Media Player.

[AgnesNitt]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Well, I can't believe I've beaten Mrs Redboots to this one - but what about DANCE?

Thanks for the congrats. I love Dance, but I'll never find a partner. I just wish ISI had something like "Footwork Freestyle" where you never leave the ice.

[dbny]

Thanks for the congrats. I love Dance, but I'll never find a partner. I just wish ISI had something like "Footwork Freestyle" where you never leave the ice.

I believe you can test and compete solo in dance. I put DH on the ice to be my dance partner. We had one disasterous lesson with a dance coach who didn't know how to teach adults. DH fell on a B swing roll in waltz position - (neither of us had ever done swing rolls on ice before) and brought me down with him :x. Now that we know a few really great dance coaches, DH doesn't have the time.

[Skate@Delaware]

Congrats, Agnes!!!!

Whew, I'm finally posting on the same day that I skated!! Thats a record!

Trusting: I FINALLY DID A TRUE CHANGE-FOOT-SPIN! Without falling over, tossing my cookies, or falling out of it AND it had ALL of the required revoultions!!!!

Now I have been asked (commanded, but she asked in a strict way) to add them to my practice sessions.

Fearful: that I hurt her feelings and authority as a coach. Because of the muscular imbalance issues I've had, I've also been asking some of my health professionals (physical and sports therapists) for their opinions/suggestions. I mentioned it to her and she (very calmly) stated that she was trying to take care of my imbalances by strengthening my weaknesses. I know she is I'm just trying to understand (in my own geeky scientific way) the whole neuro-musculo-skeletal mess I'm in now. I didn't want to offend or hurt...I didn't realize until later how it sounded when I mentioned it.....I'll have to talk to her next week....sheesh!

Trusting: Did a great scratch spin! The problems I had on Thursday left and my first spin was great! Then my set up was nit-picked and the crossovers had to be re-done...then I could not spin that great again. Oh well.

We worked on edges and they were ok. I haven't worked on them in a loooong while. Then we did waltz-8's. I had a hard time seeing my starting mark, I guess scratching up the ice is a no-no so she suggested seeing where I "land" myself when I begin. duh! Must have been too early for me! LOL!

Fearful: I need to add another session per week. Skating 2 hours per is just not enough. I'm going to try adding Tuesday but not this week, as my belly dance troupe has final practices before our big dance (it's a halloween/gothic themed hafla or dance "haflaween" and altho my part is very small-i get to hold up a veil while walking in front of the other girls, I'm so looking forward to it); it will be my first performance with the troupe in front of a paying audience.

Trusting: We discussed testing. again. She wants me to work on the moves every session. I need to find out if my rink is going to have a session this year. I do hope so, otherwise i will have to go elsewhere.

[Thin-Ice]

Thanks for the congrats. I love Dance, but I'll never find a partner. I just wish ISI had something like "Footwork Freestyle" where you never leave the ice.

ISI DOES have footwork events, where you are limited to half revolution jumps (but they are not required) and less than 3 revolution spins.

Or how about doing Figures? ISI still strongly encourages figures, not with just the standard figures, but even has an event called "creative figures" at most competitions.. where you come up with your own figure and have to submit a drawing or sketch of what you're going to do before the event so the judges know what your planned tracing should look like when you're done. I've seen flowers, stars and one girl who had passed her 3rd or 4th figure test even did a ship under full sails! It can be as elaborate or simple as you want... but it can be great fun.

[jskater49]

Thanks for the congrats. I love Dance, but I'll never find a partner. I just wish ISI had something like "Footwork Freestyle" where you never leave the ice.

My daughter went to the rink by her college to see about teaching LTS - they are ISI. They asked her to teach a dance class. She was shocked to find out the dance class was basically a moves class. That's where they learn their moves. She had girls doing double jumps that didn't know how to do brackets. So if they offer a dance class you might want to check it out.

j

[Debbie S]

Fearful: that I hurt her feelings and authority as a coach. Because of the muscular imbalance issues I've had, I've also been asking some of my health professionals (physical and sports therapists) for their opinions/suggestions. I mentioned it to her and she (very calmly) stated that she was trying to take care of my imbalances by strengthening my weaknesses. I know she is I'm just trying to understand (in my own geeky scientific way) the whole neuro-musculo-skeletal mess I'm in now. I didn't want to offend or hurt...I didn't realize until later how it sounded when I mentioned it.....I'll have to talk to her next week....sheesh!
There is nothing wrong with what you did. A coach is not a doctor or medical expert (I know of one coach who is a PT, so she is an exception, but generally coaches don't know much more about that stuff than the rest of us). Of course you should seek out medical opinions and then share them with your coach, to relate your needs and limitations to what you're doing on the ice. She should be open to listening and willing to complement your conditioning needs and off-ice program.

It's possible that she really wasn't offended and just wanted to make you aware of what she's been doing to address your needs. It doesn't sound like she threw a hissy fit, so maybe she wasn't upset by it at all.

[Mrs Redboots]

Trusting: It took me twenty months, but I finally passed Gamma. :D I had to focus focus focus on every piece of my body during the mohawks, then a week later all of a sudden I had a 'pop' in my skills and I can churn out mohawks like clockwork. And after a week of fussing w/ inside 3's at the boards, when my coach asked me for one in the middle, my body (not my brain) just cranked it out.

<snip>

It's really hard (if not impossible) to do Figures at my rink, so I'm trying to figure out where I'll go in skating after Delta.

CONGRATULATIONS!

And yes, solo dance is a perfectly valid discipline, but there are also Skating Moves - Moves in the Field, as they are called in the USA. Maybe some of each? And figures as and when you can do them. I am younger than you, but I jump as little as possible, too!




Well, I can't believe I've beaten Mrs Redboots to this one - but what about DANCE?Only because you posted before I did!


Trusting: I FINALLY DID A TRUE CHANGE-FOOT-SPIN! Without falling over, tossing my cookies, or falling out of it AND it had ALL of the required revoultions!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to you, too!

[LilJen]

Last night's synchro session.

Fearful:
-We're going back to 1.5 hrs (we'd upped it to 2 hrs in Sept) because a whole lotta people are broke and can't afford the extra. We'd have some big dropouts if we tried to keep the 2-hr slot, and then of course it would get more pricey for those who stayed. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the basic skills/dance portion of our sessions--dunno if it'll be dropped entirely or just shrunk to a minimum. I'm actually not sure this is a bad thing--2 hrs was a LONG time to be on the ice w/o a break.
-Um, I suck at show stops and I have to do one for our full synchro team. Another item to add to the "to do" list.
-Trying to do a little CCW spinning & jumping every time I'm on the ice, and off ice too, but BOY do I get dizzy fast.

Trusting:
-Hey, we finally have some choreography for our full synchro program. I think we're maybe 20 seconds into it now, and everyone is very excited. Especially since it involves really skating and not just formation.