Spinning Centered or Spinning Out of Control - 9/14/09 thru -9/20/09

[dbny]

Just got back from a (finally) great practice!

Spinning Centered:
ME, at last!!! Right from the first spin, they were the best ever. I felt the spin spot right away, and held onto it without too much effort. They were so good, that I even did several from (world's smallest, slowest) windup, and they were good too. On several of my spins today, I actually finished the spin because I ran out of rotational steam, instead of falling off balance and bailing. Hope I can repeat this on Fri when I finally start my lessons again. I also managed to practice FO and FI threes, and the adult Pre-Bronze three turn pattern, and Prelim power threes, all of which I've been shy of and haven't had the confidence to begin work on again. Well, I did work on them today, and they are not so bad as I had feared. I'm fooling around with alt FO threes with free leg extended, and it may work better for me. Will show coach on Fri. Finally, while talking with a parent, I did a few RBO threes. Not very good ones, but at least I managed to make myself do a few.

Spinning Out of Control:
I did finally lose my center and had to do something else. It came back later, but not as good as at first. Maybe I was just tired. Did not practice the LFI side of the pre-Bronze three pattern. Still way too lacking in confidence.

[singerskates]

Spinning Out of Control:
I was all by myself and not even my coach came.
I had absolutely no music at all playing during the session even though I asked to have the rink attendants to play the music. Nope no radio for me, never mind that I couldn't play my program CDs.
Forgot to even do a sit spin.

Spinning Centered:
Well, the spins. Camel, Camel + upright, Corkscrew.
Jumps, were strong even when I didn't give it my all. I've been pulling in my arms on all my jumps except for the Toe Loop and Watz jump because well, I can't or I get an extra half rev in the air. I still have to work on finding out how much I can bring in my arms for the Toe Loop and Waltz jump before over rotating. Or I should work on checking out harder because eventually, when I start doing double jumps, I'll need to learn to check out hard.

Spirals were ever so quiet on the ice even though there wasn't a sound.

My stroking was really quiet too. So cool to stroke fast around the ice and not hear a thing.

[PinkLaces]

Spinning Centered Went to the Pro's ice this morning. Only me and 2 other skaters. I had plenty of room to work on making my moves patterns big. Worked on arm position and extension. Waltz jump, salchow, and toe loop were good. Loop was okay.

Spinning out of Control Spins were out of control today. Scratch spin was not centered at all. Sit spin was crap. Backspin were not good. Spent about 10 minutes trying to get the entry right on the flip. Foot just does not want to cross in front.

Spinning with a little traveling Had my first ice dance class in 20+ years tonight. Not that I got that far in dance (Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango) when I was a kid. We just worked on the basics. It was fun and time went by fast. There are 6 adults and my DD who is 15.

[liz_on_ice]

spinning out of control - working over bronze moves, coach admitted to improvement in the step to inside edge but complained loud and long about my failure to shift my weight back to the outside edge prior to the crossover - same issue on back cross stroking and power three pattern. I think I've got it now and a couple hours of practice should lock it down

spinning centered - after much telling me what I'm doing wrong, he did pay me a compliment. He said I don't have strength issues, and I don't have balls issues. :mrgreen:

[Bill_S]

Out of Control: My first time back on ice today since early April was both rewarding and disappointing. I didn't oil my blades after getting off the ice in April, and even though they were stored in soakers in an air-conditioned house, they had serious rust on the bottom - so much rust that they didn't glide AT ALL.

I stepped onto the ice, and nearly fell. In the first seconds of confusion, I thought that I'd left my guards on again, but quickly realized that I'd be sliding more instead of less. It was like the brakes were on, or I somehow had stepped onto a toe pick going forward. I scrubbed the blades on the ice to remove the big chunks of rust from the bottom, but I've got some serious sharpening to do to remove it completely.

Spins were awful. I'm a little concerned about how spinning this summer on PIC skates may have changed my approach to them on ice - for the worse.

Centered: Footwork was still in muscle memory. I was doing some multiple brackets with no practice. Most threes were fine, although a tiny bit rusty (heh - like my blades!). I felt that footwork skills hadn't diminished much at all.

[jazzpants]

Spinning Centered:

First time I had a lesson with my secondary coach in quite a while. Also, first time I've had a JUMP lesson in a while too! 8O

That said, my jumps were thankfully there... and I actually managed one VERY GOOD (in her opinion) flip.

Spinning Out of Control:

Of course, I couldn't repeat afterwards (a bunch of wimpy ones and then gradually gotten worse and worse afterwards...:roll: )

Spinning Centered:
Have a new exercise to do to fix my flutz!!! And it's part of my training for something else too!!! WOO HOO!!! ( We'll see though. ;) )

And speaking of spinning centered, I managed to do a couple of very good centered scratch spins on freshly cleaned ice! And my secondary coach witnessed both of those spins too!!! :bow:

Spinning Out of Control:

Darn it! I should have whipped out my phone again!!! :frus:

ETA....

Spinning Centered:

Renatale and I are gonna skate together tomorrow afternoon!!! WHOO HOO!!! :bow: :mrgreen:

[Isk8NYC]

4 days until new blades and (hopefully) a return to the ice!

[PinkLaces]

Spinning Centered Had lesson with coach yesterday. I was making my Bronze Moves patterns too big. We fixed that by concentrating on power and extention. That took up most of the lesson time except for a short amount of time on toe loops. Coach approved my music choice. Next week, we are going to start on my program for the free skate test.

Spinning out of Control I picked up my new skates from getting one of the blades remounted. I switched skates after my lesson for the second of my 2 contracted sessions. They felt pretty good. The only issue I have is my left heel is coming up quite a bit in the boot. This didn't happen at all when I tried them out a few weeks ago. These are the skates my sister gave me that were a half size too big for her and she had only worn a few times. They are basically new skates. One of the blades was off so I had to get them remounted. I hope I can put an insert in to keep my heel down. The boots are much nicer than what I have now, but it is the same blade as my current pair.

No free style ice until Monday due to a hockey tournament. Hopefully, it will be quiet on the public session at the rink near my house. $2 Friday skate. :)

[Kim to the Max]

[Spinning Centered]
Power pulls (junior moves) are coming along....

[Out of Control]
They are not coming along fast enough because I test next Saturday which means that I have about 10 days to get these testable...

[Spinning Centered]
Sunday I was doing clean programs with minimally cheated axels...

[Out of Control]
Starting yesterday and continuing into today, I couldn't even take off for an axel...kept popping out of it...has something to do with the take off, but I don't know what it is...I was able to correct whatever it was today, but I'm really nervous because I was making progress on fully rotating and not severely cheating my axle, but damn it all :(

It's been a rough week at work (unfortunately, I cannot share the story in a public forum, but needless to say, I had a staff member resign (not entirely her decision) and have needed to hire a new staff member, deal with the fall out of the departure and I will need to promote someone into a special position she held....and now I need to work on training that person (she moves in on Saturday and starts on Monday).... Give all of that, skating poorly is not helping a gosh darn thing...and it makes me even more frustrated. I am hoping that tomorrow I am able to leave those frustrations at the door and concentrate on doing some clean programs and some strong moves run thrus....

[Centered]
Luckily, I was able to do a corrected runthru of my rocker pattern :)

[Out of Control]
I need to figure out what I am doing that is funky on my choctaws because pre-sprained ankle, they were beautiful, now there is something going on :(

[katz in boots]

Spinning Out of Control
I still cannot spin on my new blades. Am trying everything I can think of. Lots of 2 foot spins, pivots into spins, all sorts today. And not one decent spin either forward or backward. It is getting ridiculous.
I no longer feel my blades are too sharp - I deliberately blunted them. And I am certainly used to the extra length. Maybe you were right Query, the spinning spot is just further back. But no matter where I go, I cannot spin.

Jumps today, well only tried waltz, toe-loop & salchow. Not good.

I am flummoxed. I love the feeling of the longer blade, especially for edge work & spirals, yet cannot spin or jump properly. Some of it must be due to having had flu (most likely it was the dreaded H1N1 swine flu - they've stopped testing for it here but I've been sick for 3 weeks), and still being unwell. But I'd hoped to have made some adaptation to the new blades by now.

My coach is in the US for another couple of weeks. Cannot wait for her to get back and sort me out.

[Skate@Delaware]

No skating today-have music lesson but looking forward to lessons on Friday (private & group)...both have promised JUMPS! Last week made me think of Hackensack camp with the edges and I can't think of edges and NOT think about EDWARD! LOL!

[Bill_S]

I spent about an hour removing most of the rust from my blades that accumulated over the summer. They aren't perfect, but very skateable and fast - so slick that it took a little time this evening to adjust to them.

I see that we have a couple new student coaches, one doing nicely on her doubles. I did become a little irritated when all the student coaches were running through their programs and limiting what "paying customers" were able to do. The other adult skater here summed it up nicely at the end by saying that the session wasn't "adult friendly".

Still, these students pay a HEFTY tuition to come here, so I can't feel too sorry for myself.

My spins are very slow to return. I had one nicely centered and fast spin, but others didn't fare so well. I also attempted some toe loops from a right inside tuning-threes entrance, and had some success.

I skated only one 45 min. session, but came away very sweaty and tired. The shower at home afterward felt most excellent.

[Kim to the Max]

*sigh* I need some thing/one to give me a swift kick in the pants and to stop being pessimistic about testing next week....it feels as if the juv free is not coming together and the power pulls from junior moves are a mess....I would be half tempted to pull the tests if I hadn't already written a $102 check....

[Skate@Delaware]

Spinning out of control: I just found out from a skating dad that the rink manager is gone. She was dismissed the other day (I don't know what happened-just that she "changed" a lot of things since she's been here). She has been there about a year. I'm not sure what is going on and what will happen now. I don't think it will close-yet; it is a training facility for a local college hockey team as well as home rink to a large well-formed youth hockey team.

My worst fear is that it will close immediately leaving me no choice but to travel upstate (1.5 hours each way) to practice and no ice for lessons until October. My other fear is that all the freestyles (not that there are many of them) will go and it will only have the few publics and the remainder will be hockey.

Guess I'll find out some things tonight!

[Bill_S]

My fingers are crossed for you and the other figure skaters! It's no fun driving that far for ice if you have no local option.

[Skate@Delaware]

My fingers are crossed for you and the other figure skaters! It's no fun driving that far for ice if you have no local option.
Thanks, Bill! I am hoping that nothing will change other than the management (just checked the schedule and so far no changes). Hoping to not find the doors locked when we show up to skate!

I have driven (during summers) the 1.5 hours to skate and it was a bear but I did it. But gas was not so $$$$ 8O and I was working back then and not planning on testing.

We will see what happens. Stay tuned!

[celticprincess]

Ah yes, my home rink has finally opened for lunch skate! Whoohoo! Sorry I had to cheer, onto practice notes:

Spinning Centered:

-Firstly being able to skate after being off ice for three months:)
-Back power pulls were really nice and smooth
-twizzles were well controlled
-Brackets are getting sooo much smoother than last season
-All single jumps were landed at least 3xs
-Had some really amazingly close double sals:D
-Scratch spins were fanominal...at one point I got so dizzy on one that I stepped out of it and fell..hehe
-Back spin is definately getting there..it's alot more controlled
-Choreographed half of an artistic programme to the song 'The Dream'
-Recieved the ole 'your good' compliment from a mom and her begining skater...(she was doing very well though)


Travelling a Bit
-Sit spins...honestly they weren't bad..but not fanominal *shrugs*
-Laybacks were traveled quite a bit, but I'm getting the position and revolutions
-Got hit on by one of the college students...awful skater and possibly five yrs younger than me


Spinning out of Control:
-Camels were pretty bad
-I chickened out on my axel...I'm not sure why I feel so confident with 2Sal, but petrified of axel.
-Endurance-yeah from being off ice 3 months-got alittle winded

[phoenix]

Centered: Had a *great* lesson today on choctaws (like the ones in Killian & Rhumba). He had me starting on a back outside edge, choctaw to forward inside, then choctaw again to back outside. We worked almost the whole time on them and I understand them much better now & they got smoother as we went along. For example, did you know that there's actually a bit of a power pull just before the step down? I didn't! And once you get the feel of doing it, it makes the step easier. Cool. 8-)

Then he had me try it on pattern for the Rhumba & I actually got through the choctaw section with no struggle! I've never been able to do that before solo.

[Skate@Delaware]

Sorry I posted a THREAD instead of a REPLY! Not sure how that happened.

Spinning Centered: Only did one centered spin today for my coach but it was exciting. Worked on the patterns for pre-bronze. Not too bad, coach did say that my moves would pass but she wants them much better. I agree.

Spinning out of control: The rest of my spins, including backspins were "off" not sure why unless it's my slight congestion. I also need to concentrate on the underpush on my crossovers, extension, more knee bend, etc.

For group lesson, we worked on jumps. For the toe-loop we focused on the skate actually skating past the toed-in skate and the transfer of weight...a concept I've been having difficulty with. Group coach said I also need a stronger check as I'm over-rotating (he joked: wanna work on doubles? hahaha). Salchows-working on the check (recurring theme with me). That was all we had time for.

My skates hurt! I need to get these punched ASAP!! The guy that was going to do it no longer works at the rink so I guess I'll call Skate Club of Wilmington and make arrangements with them.

On another note: after group lessons the other ladies and I were sitting around chatting and one of the general managers came over and talked to us about the plans for the rink (damage control we think). He did mention that they want to improve/increase the programs for the rink, including the ice shows (more shows/matinees instead of less), lesson times, public skating, etc. One of the other ladies knows this man and believes what he says is true. This is very good news!!!! We are extremely excited! They just need to hire the right rink manager (one that runs the rink properly).

[dbny]

On another note: after group lessons the other ladies and I were sitting around chatting and one of the general managers came over and talked to us about the plans for the rink (damage control we think). He did mention that they want to improve/increase the programs for the rink, including the ice shows (more shows/matinees instead of less), lesson times, public skating, etc. One of the other ladies knows this man and believes what he says is true. This is very good news!!!! We are extremely excited! They just need to hire the right rink manager (one that runs the rink properly).

That's Great news!

Centered:
In my ice dance lesson yesterday, I suggested that we pretend it was my test, and go out for a warm up and then right into the dances. I hadn't already warmed up at that point. Coach agreed, and I did get through everything "passing". Finally began my MIF and spin lessons again today! Spins were not as good as on Mon, but I did finally find the spin spot after about 3 tries (none of which failed completely), and coach agreed that my spins have improved in spite of no practice, except for on my kitchen floor. L back power pulls are magical.

Out of Control:
I really felt tense and wobbly on the pretend warm up and test. I also kicked my coach about 6 times, which I rarely do. My feet felt like they a had a will of their own. This is not going to be so easy as I had thought! Ran through the same routine of warm up followed by dances as if I were testing today on an empty public session, with a friend watching, and once again, did not feel it was a strong skate. The unease I was feeling was visible to my friend in the Dutch Waltz, though she said it still looked good in terms of edges and flow. R back power pulls are pathetic.

[Kim to the Max]

[Centered]
Did a run thru of my program after a 5 minute warm up and it was clean-ish!! Only had to reskate my flip/loop (fell) and my sit spin (something was funky, so better safe than sorry). Was able to land the axel, although I have not clue if it was anywhere near clean...

[Out of Control]
F@#$%^& power pulls :( I spent a good 45 minutes working on them and spent the bulk of my lesson tonight working on them. I am attempting to reschedule some things at work on Wednesday so that I can get in another lesson when temporary coach is on campus. They are definitely getting better, I'm just getting nervous that they are not going to be ready for Saturday since I haven't done a clean run thru of that pattern yet :(

[tazsk8s]

I don't usually post on these threads, but had to tonight:

Centered: Back on the ice!!!! :):):)for the first time in 9 1/2 weeks after breaking my wrist on a nasty fall on the 8 step mohawk. It's my first major injury and the longest I've ever been off. Figured I'd start easy and just go to a public skate and do what I could do. Managed not to fall, so my uber-wristguards were not put to a test. Did one decent enough scratch spin, an okay-ish backspin, and one sitspin that I actually managed to stand up from. It was nice and empty so I was able to try a few jumps - through the flip. The flip is my absolute favorite jump and I landed the very first one I tried. I figured that was good enough for the first time out and left it there.

Out of Control: I'm not used to spinning anymore, the scratch spin in partcular made me dizzy! I didn't see that coming. My loop still sucks. I think I am leery of the BO edge at the moment, and it isn't one of my better jumps anyway.

Not going to complain too much about what I couldn't do this time around. It was about what I expected for the first time out after that much time off. My timing was "off" on some things, but I expected that and was just happy to do what I did manage to do. ETA, probably a good idea to start out with a few publics and get my feet back under me before trying freestyles. Especially with Regionals coming up, the kids are extra-tense and cranky about people getting in their way and I'm not sure I'd do so well at dodging programs right now.

[katz in boots]

Spinning Centred
Well I had a complete backflip with my new blades. Last night I took them off, put the old ones back on. Sick of just not being able to do anything. Crazy as it sounds, my horoscope in the newspaper said something that changed my mind. So before I went skating this morning, I switched back to the new ones.

I was rewarded with some spins this morning! Still not great, but at least they were there. A stork (no scratch yet), a backspin and a 3 rev camel. No sits though.

I have decided to stick with the new blades. Skating so badly now anyway, and so weak & unbalanced because of residual flu symptoms, I may as well do this now.

[londonicechamp]

Hi

Well, this is generally for my lesson and practice this week.

Lesson (on Tuesday)

Spinning centred

Forward crossovers are getting better, coach is trying to get me to hold my skating leg longer on the understroke.

Scratch spins (without holding the free leg wide open) are better. :D
Change foot spins are not too bad.

Finally, understood what my coach meant by glide before doing the jump. :lol:

All the jumps (up to toe loop) are not too bad.

Right foot spiral is not too bad.

Spinning out of control

Could not do scratch spins from open free leg position. Seemed to have an extra step, in that I would lower my foot, before crossing them. That was according to my coach.

Tried backspins (crossed leg position), a bit strange, as first time to learn it. Could get at least one revolution, but my balance was not always correct. Definitely needed hundreds and thousands more practice on this one. :roll:

Coach told me that there will be an ISI competition in Hong Kong in November some time this year. I told her that I will not be going for the competition, as I have to go back to the UK (London) for my Call to the Bar (graduation ceremony) in end of November.

Practice on Thursday

Spinning centred

Scratch spins were pretty decent, with up to 10 revolutions. :lol: Tried another position, with leg holding in front, then crossed it, at most up to 6 revolutions. :D Another girl practising spins near my area, towards the end of the session, was copying the way I spin. :bow:

Change foot spins not too bad either.

Tried some sit spins. Tried to get my butt even lower, and fell on one sit spin. :P

Jumps were not too bad.

Did some variation spins, the ones with my right leg tucked behind my left thigh. My number of rotations seemed to have increased. 8-)

Spinning out of control

Think I may have over-rotated on my salchow. Coach away on holiday now, until 28 September. Argggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8O I need coach to check on this one.

Due to ice hockey session, at 5:30 p.m. there was no resurfacing of the ice at 4:00 p.m. So the ice sucked. :x The staff should have informed people on this change.

As no resurfacing of the ice at 4:00 p.m., pretty hard to practise on spins after 4 p.m. However, no. of good spins still exceeded the no. of bad spins.

Still working on backspins. Get constant 1 revolution, but not more than that. :frus:

[Skate@Delaware]

Spinning Centered: got asked if I could fill in on Sunday to teach "birthday party lessons" during public. It's a 20-minute lesson going over the basics for newbies. I did mention to the skating director that I'm not PSA rated or anything (altho I have taught LTS for 2 years prior) but he is one of my coaches so he said it was ok. So, I'm ok with that-I miss teaching LTS.

I'm still going over the toe-loop vs. toe-waltz debate in my head....trying to mentally do the jump correctly (physically will be the hard part, I've toe-waltzed it all these years LOL). I need to see it on video...and actually see how far the skating foot comes to the pivoting (i.e. picking) foot before the jump takes place. Typical adult behavior-over analyzing! :lol:

[jazzpants]

Spinning Centered: Got to skate with renatele on Thursday! In true meetup style we went for Thai and some yummy French chocolate desserts. I wouldn't want to take her to the closest diner to the rink. It's gone way downhill for years & nothing has fixed it since.

Almost took her to this Japanese curry place until we see tall wooden stools and we want to face each other as we dine.

Nice to see that Renatele hasn't lost much of her skating as she's led me to believe. :twisted: Still FAST back crossovers!

Spinning Out of Control: Had no gas left in me on Thursday! Couldn't jump or spin. I gave everything I got skating-wise on Tuesday with my secondary coach. Just ended up putzing around with BO and BI edges. Some spins too.

[dbny]

I Back on the ice!!!! :):):)for the first time in 9 1/2 weeks after breaking my wrist on a nasty fall on the 8 step mohawk. It's my first major injury and the longest I've ever been off.

Welcome back!!!

got asked if I could fill in on Sunday to teach "birthday party lessons" during public. It's a 20-minute lesson going over the basics for newbies. I did mention to the skating director that I'm not PSA rated or anything (altho I have taught LTS for 2 years prior) but he is one of my coaches so he said it was ok. So, I'm ok with that-I miss teaching LTS.

The important thing is that you are insured, either privately or as a coach with a LTS program.

[RachelSk8er]

Spinning Centered: Making a coaching change. It's official.

Part of me is sad because I am really happy with my current coach, he's a great coach and he's become a good friend, but he cut back coaching time and with my work/law school schedules, I just can't get lessons from him on any sort of regular basis. I told him last month that I'd have to start looking for someone else to work with regularly. There is another coach in the area who I've always really liked (he's a freestyle coach but coached and worked with my synchro team in various capacities when I was a teenager). I talked to him today and he just happens to have time on a session I'm able to do, we'll start in a week and a half. He currently coaches an adult who competes masters jr/sr, and has had a few other adult skaters in the past, so he gets the whole adult skating thing. The other good news is that he doesn't do dance, so when the current coach can squeeze me in or our schedules line up to where I can get a lesson, I can just focus on dance with him.

This also means I'm skating at a different rink before work (farther from my house but it's somewhat on my way to work), but I think the change of scenery will also be good for me.

Other than that news, I had a decent session today. Getting the LFI-LBO bracket entry into a lutz down, that's actually easier than the LFO rocker entry. First half of my jr moves test was SO GOOD!! If I only didn't have to do those darn diagonal patterns. I really want to test at Buckeye, so hopefully they will get better in time to at least put out a respectable attempt.

[Kat12]

Out of control:
--Practice at "school rink" last week was sort of discouraging. I suck, wah. Didn't get to go this week because of some stuff I had to take care of, but next week I will.
--Still discouraged today (first fall session class). Instructor A. (a different A. than last class) had us (two of us in the class right now; other lady, V., is about same level as me) on a circle doing two forward crossovers, then an O 3-turn, then two backward crossovers, then step back to going forwards. Awkward at best! i also can't do the "step to going forwards" thing worth crap. GRRR.
--Also, fell down twice, both times backwards--first time I landed on my well-padded bum, no problem. Second time I hit my butt and kept going backwards, so hit in that area just above my butt where there's no padding, out. Head jerked a bit too but at least I didn't go so far back what I hit it (i was half on my back when I regained balanced). Unfortunately, both were those kind of fall that take you by surprise so you don't have time to try to fall gently. Will be interested to see what the bruise looks like. A. showed me all her arm bruises and said she has like a permanent bruise on one hip from falling through the years, so I am not discouraged. :)
--A. also showed me how to start a two-foot spin from a pivot but I suck at that. :)
--On a different rink today and it was COLD! Might have to do that neoprene-boot-cover hack and get some neoprene boot liners to cut a slit in. Need to find the thread about that again. Warmed up by the end, but still.

Centered:
--I had one two-foot spin that didn't have a ton of revs but it was pretty fast and I didn't panic at the speed and rock forward onto my toe picks. Go me! Also got a few revs in on a one-foot spin...I found that it's not that I prefer spinning one way or the other, it's that I prefer spinning on my left foot, lol (damn my right foot!). She had us doing backspins, for some reason, if I'm correct (backspin is where if I'm spinning counter-clockwise, I'm on my L foot, right? Oh, I dunno. The more I think about it, the more I am confused about spins, so I guess I don't really know the difference between a backspin and a forward spin. I can think of three ways to do a spin on each foot [let's use L as an example]: I can go CCW with toe pick leading on outside edge as if starting an FO 3-turn [what I was doing today], CW with heel leading on outside edge as if started a BO 3-turn, and CW with toe pick leading on inside edge as if starting an FI 3-turn [also what I was doing today]. I haven't a clue what all that means). But I tried forward (see above??) spins too, and again the left foot was better (IOW, backspin went CCW and forward spin went CW, lol. On right foot spins went nowhere!). If she's going to have me trying one-foot spins, though, I need to have her show me a proper way to go into it rather than me just bumbling into a spin!!
--We also worked on 3-turns (not bad today though I still have trouble getting my balance right and holding that edge after the 3-turn), back crossovers (improving an itsy bit).
--Then after A. left, a bit of work on bunny hops and they are maybe improving a bit. Which isn't saying much. Also some on edges (front okay, BO out, BI still suck largely) and a couple of turns around a circle with F crossovers both ways (nice, I felt smooth and almost like I was flying).
--No "zamboni nazi" to chase us off the rink today when class was over like there was in our evening class (hockey was right after), but apparently the session just after ours is a tot or Snowplow session or something because the rink was swarming with small children...which was just as effective at keeping me from overstaying my session, lol. Reminded me of being in a popcorn popper, only the popcorn had skates on.
--A. also gave me some tips on hockey stops because I've only been wanting to learn them forever. :)

[dbny]

If you are on your L foot spinning CCW, then that is a plain vanilla one foot spin, sometimes called a forward spin, but really done on the BI edge. A backspin is done on the BO edge, which means that your weight is towards the front of the blade, pretty much over the little toe. Cheated backspins are when the weight shifts to the back part of the blade so the edge is a FI. (If you can do a real backspin, then change edge to the FI, it's not a cheat.) A FO spin means the weight is on the back of the blade and you are spinning on the FO edge. That one is the most difficult.

[Kat12]

Oh dear. I thought all spins were on the spot just behind the toe pick. I am more confused than I thought. I wondered, though, why I have seemed to be able to spin easily on an area of the blade that seems like it's closer to the arch of my foot than my toes. I just thought I was really screwed up!

Going to have to put this question to my instructor and have her demonstrate, because I just don't "get" it from your description (I'm more a visual learner and am having a hard time picturing it in my head...doesn't help that I think I had the totally wrong idea about spinning on edges, though I swear I finally "felt" it today).

[Isk8NYC]

All spins are done on a single edge, using the rocker's "sweet spot."
The Sweet Spot is right behind the toe pick. It should be under the ball of your foot.

One of my current blade woes is that the rocker is set too far forward because the blades are too long. It's really hard to spin with your weight on the weakest part of your foot (balance-wise) - the toes!

Here's an exercise to help you find the sweet spot for spinning:

Stand facing the wall with your feet straight, toes pointing to the wall.
| |
Rest your hands on the wall lightly for support/balance.
"Swish" your feet back and forth at the same direction/time, like this:
\ \ . || . / / . \ \ . || . / / . \ \ . || . / / . \ \ . || . / /

Your blades will scrape up snow if you're too far back on the blade.

Come up to your toepicks and repeat the "swishing" -- your toepicks will dig holes in the ice.

Now, "roll back" a bit on the blade at a time to the spot where the toepicks don't touch and the blade encounters little/no resistance. That's the rocker, aka: sweet spot.

Spins are done on one edge, in that sweet spot front-to-back.
(I'm not talking about two-foot spins that might use flats/both edges)

[dbny]

Forward edge spins are not done on the sweet spot. They are done farther back, just back of the middle of the blade. You can see that in the tracings made by the FO and FI spins. When skating forward, the weight is always behind the middle of the blade, and this goes for the spins also. This is the same for BO and BI three turns - not done on the front of the blade, but behind the mid point.

[Skate@Delaware]

The important thing is that you are insured, either privately or as a coach with a LTS program.
I will be working as an employee of the rink so I will be covered by the rink's insurance (I asked just to make sure, its the difference between being a regular employee who is teaching some skating moves vs a coach).

[dbny]

I will be working as an employee of the rink so I will be covered by the rink's insurance (I asked just to make sure, its the difference between being a regular employee who is teaching some skating moves vs a coach).

Great! Congratulations! I hope you get some free skating out of it.

[Kim to the Max]

[Centered]
Got to coach this morning...had Snowplow 1 (I always end up with Snowplow 1s :frus: I don't mind it, because I love the kids, but my back always hurts!!) and Basic 5...

Then I skated 2 sessions...did a lot of work on the junior power pulls and then decided to do freestyle and one of the kids I skate with (12 years old) decided to come out and play "coach"...and damn, did she work me...I had planned to clean and do some stuff today, but instead have been sitting on my couch dead...and now my tummy isn't feeling too hot....

[Out of Control]
I still have work to do on the power pulls, but I was able to get through 1 full pattern today...

[Skate@Delaware]

Great! Congratulations! I hope you get some free skating out of it.
I sure did! Got there at 12:15 and the party lesson was supposed to start at 12:30.....it finally did at 1:15!!!! So, I got some free skating between point A and point B. And stayed after an extra 30 minutes (helps with boot break-in but I still need that punch-out). Great group of kids, basically a Snowplow group (between 1-3, they were all mixed up).

I love teaching...I need to find out what I need in order to start down the road of coaching.

[Kim to the Max]

[Out of Control]
Looked at the test session schedule and I'm not on there...e-mailed the test chair because I haven't received any notification that I didn't get into the session.

I'm not happy right now because I have finally got myself into a good place mentally to take these tests....:x :cry:

[sk8tegirl06]

[Out of Control]
Looked at the test session schedule and I'm not on there...e-mailed the test chair because I haven't received any notification that I didn't get into the session.

I'm not happy right now because I have finally got myself into a good place mentally to take these tests....:x :cry:

Hope it works out for you! The same thing happened to me last month, I was supposed to test in August but the mail didn't get there by the deadline. So I tested today and passed preliminary moves!!!!!!:lol: :D :D :D

Today was my second attempt and it just felt different from last time, I thought I might have a shot for passing, but you still never know.

Forward/back crossovers: 2.4 (knee action a bit stiff-flow fine; transitions fine; backward-weak in extending 2nd stroke extensions)
Outside/inside spirals: 2.6 (nice sense of axis-secure edges; left edge slight wobble; spirals-nice stretch)
Power 3 turns: 2.5 (secure elements-flow a bit "sticky")
Alternating 3 turns: 2.4 (arcs retrogress-flow to axis short; turns a bit early)
Back crossovers/extensions: 2.6 (quiet/continuous flow)
Total: 12.5 PASS

Now onto a program for Autumn Skate and prejuvenile moves.

[Isk8NYC]

I did a few spins and turns in my fifteen minutes on the ice yesterday. Not too bad - I'm muscling everything and the rocker's in a different, but better, spot for me. Turns out my boot soles are two different lengths - guess that's one disadvantage of customs. That might explain the blade sizing issues.

I'll try to get in a few more short skating sessions and see if all is better.

[londonicechamp]

Hi sk8tegirl06

Congrats on passing your preliminary moves today. :bow:

And good luck onto the next level.

londonicechamp

[RachelSk8er]

[Out of Control]
I still have work to do on the power pulls, but I was able to get through 1 full pattern today...

Yuckidy yuck yuck.

I was skating yesterday on a rink that's smaller than NHL size (about 15' shorter). My jr moves were so good because I didn't have to push, otherwise I'd be hitting the walls. Maybe I should test at a smaller rink so it gives my lack of power on some of the moves (compared to teenage skaters I'd be testing in a group with) a legit excuse! Too bad the rink I was at also has an Olympic size surface and they always hold test sessions on that one, and the other rink this size only has (maybe) one or two test sessions a year.

Really hoping to test at Buckeye. First half is good/passable, I can get through the power pulls, it's just those darn choctaws that are atrocious. Hopefully new coach will be able to fix them, but I don't see him until Oct 2.

[Kim to the Max]

Yuckidy yuck yuck.

I was skating yesterday on a rink that's smaller than NHL size (about 15' shorter). My jr moves were so good because I didn't have to push, otherwise I'd be hitting the walls. Maybe I should test at a smaller rink so it gives my lack of power on some of the moves (compared to teenage skaters I'd be testing in a group with) a legit excuse! Too bad the rink I was at also has an Olympic size surface and they always hold test sessions on that one, and the other rink this size only has (maybe) one or two test sessions a year.

Really hoping to test at Buckeye. First half is good/passable, I can get through the power pulls, it's just those darn choctaws that are atrocious. Hopefully new coach will be able to fix them, but I don't see him until Oct 2.

See, I can do the choctaws...it's the power pulls that I've been killing myself on to get them ready...and now, I'm not even testing :( I e-mailed the test chair about it, but haven't heard back yet. I'm not happy about it because I have put in so much time in the last few weeks preparing for this test...

Oh well....it will give me more time to get those power pulls ready!!

[dbny]

i tested today and passed preliminary moves!!!!!!:lol: :d :d :d


congratulations!

[PinkLaces]

so i tested today and passed preliminary moves!!!!!!:lol: :d :d :d


congrats!!!!!