Marching Proud or Wounded in Battle: Lesson/Practice March 1-15th 2010 [Archive]

LilJen

03-01-2010, 06:36 PM

Gah, haven't posted here in a while. Practice was spotty for a few months there, with daughter-related time-sucking activities, injuries, and weather!! Anyway. . . .

Marching Proud:
I did get ONE (I think) halfway decent sit spin done today, and it may even have gotten around 3 times. Just concentrated like heck on getting that free leg out, toe pointed, and back arched--as pretty as possible, in essence.
-8-step mohawk is getting better. Not so scrapey on step 4 and not falling off pattern so badly on step 5.

Wounded:
-Of course, that approach worked only once. Spins before and after were crap. :giveup:
-Been working on the backspin since summer and it STILL sucks. I just CANNOT find and stay on the right part of my blade. Not even from a 2-foot spin. Not from an inside 3-turn. Not from a back pivot. I do not like this, Sam I Am. I simply grind to a halt and that's that. My poor spin coach. I feel sorry for her!!
-Power pulls have gotten progressively worse in the last few weeks. It used to be that I'd slow to a crawl; now I can't even make it the length (well, half length on each foot) of the rink. . . .
-Loop jump still scares me, and at least one of my tracings showed I'd gotten around a whopping 180 degrees.
-Got a scribe (yay!!) and it just provides further evidence that I don't have much control over my back edges :)

PinkLaces

03-01-2010, 09:42 PM

Sunday My second ever competition...first one with the upgraded elements.

Marching Proud First half was really strong. Flip was good. Hit the the salchow loop combo. Backsit to forward sit not particularly low, but 3 revs each. Spiral good.

Wounded in battle Went into the camel and it felt totally weird. Couldn't hold it and could bare get into the sit. Looked down before my footwork and my skate lace was loose. Not totally undone but loose. Wasn't sure what to do, but decided to keep going. Too footed the landing on my loop and blew the next camel.

Ended up second. One of the 3 judges gave me a first so I was pretty happy about that. Also happy the skate didn't totally come apart. I could just see myself breaking an ankle.

Today

Coach thinks I need better spins so I spent lots of time working on spins.

Marching Proud Made lots of progress on the backsit. It is lower and I was getting 3 revs consistently. Also getting a lower front sit when I was transitioning between the back and front. Keeping my arms lower has helped a lot. I was even able to do backsit/frontsit/scratch spin with the arms up over my head. Woot! Flips were good. I even did some decent flip-toe loop combos.

Wounded in battle Camel spins have gone away. I couldn't do more than 1-1.5 revs. Argh! I used to be able to get 2-3 revs and now bleck.

tazsk8s

03-02-2010, 09:24 AM

Marching Proud: Had a mostly nice practice yesterday. I was in "the zone" on the sitspin...they were nice and fast, and at least FELT low even though they probably weren't.

Survived working on spirals without another kneeplant. For the moment, I'll take it.

Jumps mostly decent, the flip was a little iffy but I made up for it with a couple of loops that felt big, and the lutz which decided to play nice.

Wounded in Battle (mortally): Seriously, it was the "dead camel" spin yesterday. Really irritated me because the rest of my spis were going SO well.

Axel. I was kind of expecting that though. Between my right knee getting smashed a couple of weeks ago, and my left one just plain bothering me these days, I haven't felt up to trying axels lately, so the rust factor kicked in. No sense of timing whatsoever. Think I need to go back and just work the exercises a bit, but I needed to get off the ice a couple minutes early yesterday so I could switch out of my "skating skates" into my comfy old "teaching skates", so I didn't have time yesterday.

sk8tegirl06

03-02-2010, 07:22 PM

Marching Proud My spins :lol: They did not travel to Siberia. My jumps :lol: I finally know what it feels like to fly :D My bielmann spiral attempts :D Overall today was a very good day.

Hopefully next week, I can show my coach the 3 turn pattern that I have been working on and maybe even the loop jumps. I think I'm doing a show in April instead of the competition, which is probably a nice way to end the season.

Kim to the Max

03-02-2010, 10:29 PM

Marching proud:

* Testing Junior moves again on the 12th.
* Coach declared my layback beautiful today. We worked on making it faster, and me pulling my leg up a bit more, which in turn pulls me back further...
* Camel spin was good too....worked on speed with that too
* Coach tortured me with a spin combo....she suggested camel/sit/back sit, and I stupidly suggested camel/layback/back sit...and she enjoyed that suggestion...
* I did an axel/loop today and coach almost cried...she was kinda excited
* Double sals were HUGE!! Coach is quite impressed. We changed my take off from the typical LFO 3, to the RBO3-mohawk take off, it's helping me cover more ice and jump higher
* Coach wants to start 2loop

Wounded in Battle:
* Work drama/stressed ensued because of my test on the 12th - for some reason I thought I had all day meetings on Wednesday/Thursday when they are Thursday/Friday...well, my test is Friday and I submitted my test form under the impression that I would be taking that day off work...well, that's not happening and the person running the meeting was giving me crap...it's all figured out now - the test chair is letting me test at 4:30pm instead of 12:40pm...
* 2toe - I can't figure out how to not 2 foot them
* 2flip - slightly freaks me out
* Flying camels
* Doing moves on crowded sessions - couldn't even get my power pulls in tonight (it would have been silly to try - too many kids). One of the moms is tempted to start announcing when I do my moves like when they announce programs. I have had to restart my moves 5-10 times in a row because the kids don't watch and get in my way constantly. And it's show season and there is a local comp coming up, so everyone is skating :(

Isk8NYC

03-03-2010, 08:49 AM

Proud:
Actually centered some spins yesterday and managed a few decent jumps.
Figures were meh. Shape's good, size is okay, but the edges aren't clean.
MITF were good.

Wounded:
Edges are still unstable and RO's are double-tracking.
I think the skates are too wide - I can shift left and right at the ball of the foot. Going to try wearing socks tonight and see if that helps with the skate fit.
LFI 3-turns were awful unless I did them from a RBO mohawk.

liz_on_ice

03-03-2010, 02:06 PM

Wounded - rained out of lessons for the second week in a row :frus:

PinkLaces

03-03-2010, 04:24 PM

Wounded Nothing went too well yesterday. Flip was a flop. Spins were not good for my lesson. Coach threatening to remove camels and back sit from my program. Saw video of my sit spin and holy crap it was high. Totally blaming it on all the spin work I did on Monday. :twisted: Camel could only get 2.5 revs max during the lesson. Salchow is usually good was crap as was my loop. Coach thinks I need to get my skates sharpened. The sharpener is out for the next 1.5 weeks. :cry:

Proud Praticing later I was able to get 3 revs on the camel a few times. Coach has me practicing scratch spin and holding arms above my head for the last couple revs which is looking nice.

Laura H

03-04-2010, 08:48 AM

Marching Proud: Last regular lesson before the rink competition on Saturday . . . did one quick runthrough of my program, then focused on my showcase piece since . . .umm . . .hadn't actually come up with a program yet for it (I just finished cutting the music last night)!! And, I really had to laugh when I realized I was handing my coach a CD entitled "Why Should I Worry?" It's a song by Billy Joel from the Disney movie "Oliver & Company" so I am just going to use the same music for our spring show (Disney theme). I already had a general idea of how I wanted to lay it out though, so it actually turned out pretty good . . . coach suggested some additions here and there and we worked on making swing rolls more "swing rolly" . . . it's a fun piece to skate to.

Wounded in Battle: Nothing much to complain about except had a weird freakish backwards fall coming out of a Bauer - didn't actually hurt myself but it was one of those slow motion falls where I actually had time to think - "boy, this might really hurt when I finally DO hit the ice!" It was overall a seriously scary freestyle with everyone practicing for the comp - had a kid skate backwards into me while I was in a spin - yikes!! She was going pretty slow so it wasn't as disastrous as it could have been, though.

Not sure if this is good or bad: I finally saw the comp schedule and I have competition!! Some out of town skaters coming in - so I have no idea what I'm up against . . . but it's good to have some more adult skaters coming in, so I'll just try not to freak out and do my programs as well as I can. :D

RachelSk8er

03-05-2010, 09:54 AM

Marching Proud:

Worked on shaping up my solo dances for ANs and fixing little details (deeper edge here, more turnout there, my coach hammering me to keep my head up). Dances are feeling good, I'm actually excited for this event at ANs.

Worked on the back sit-forward sit from a RFI twizzle entry that we put in my program last month but I had to leave it out for Easterns because it was not consistent. It was much better by the end of my lesson today. Checking out of the twizzle and holding that exit edge strong enough to get around and snap into the back sit is tricky, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

My coach also wanted to make a change to my camel-scratch-COE. Previously I went right from the camel to the COE, but he wants me to hit an upright scratch position first. He's afraid that the old way will make the judges think that's just a solo spin and I'm coming out of it when I go right to the COE, and they'll look down to write and miss that part altogether.

Wounded In Battle:
My freakin stupid lutz, I've had so many issues with this jump these past few months after my ankle injuries and they are all in my head. Still having issues with the take off. It was better after we spent some time on its own, but then when it came to running sections of my program, I chickened out on it. My latest thing is freaking out when setting one up at the lobby end of our rink because the door in that corner is usually open. Totally irrational.

New skates. I'm going to have to wait until after ANs to get used to the blades, 5 weeks is not enough time and I don't want it to cause me to make silly/costly mistakes at ANs. I jump so much better in these blades, but can't find the sweet spot to spin and can't do turns for the life of me (except for back inside loops, those are actually really easy in these blades). I LOVE the boots (Reidell 2010s), they're comfy even though I've only worn them for about an hour and a half total, the only weird thing is that the tongues on these boots are actually padded and have support, and aren't just a piece of leather with foamy stuff. Those need a little breaking in to bend properly. Otherwise, the lower profile and slightly higher heel don't really bother me or feel strange at all. It's just the Gold Star blades that are giving me a hard time.

doubletoe

03-05-2010, 01:18 PM

Marching Proud
I skated a clean program run-through this morning!! (See caveat below).

Wounded in Battle
That's what a fellow adult skater almost got, but I held myself back from pummeling him. :evil: I had to skip my 3-jump combination (which I would have landed, so I still called my program "clean") because this guy was in my way, yet again. He is always spinning in the exact same spot when I run my program on Friday mornings, and I keep having to abort that jump pass because he's spinning right where I need to set up the jump. He's a good enough skater to know better, but he has not learned to watch out for me even though I finally said something to him about it several weeks ago. He doesn't compete, so maybe he just doesn't understand how important it is to be able to skate a program run-through without interference a week before the most important competition of the year. :frus:

Isk8NYC

03-05-2010, 01:43 PM

RachelSk8er

03-05-2010, 02:11 PM

I was using an empty corner circle for a crossover lesson yesterday and the reigning Jr/Sr Masters Champion asked me if she could Lutz Through. There was a clueless mary parked on the other circle doing back crossovers without looking. I guess I was the more understanding choice, lol. (She's doing well, ladies!) Sure, no problem. We moved and all was good in the world.

Try clueing him in.

Was she sick or injured at Easterns? She looked like she was really struggling to get through her program at Easterns and that's not like her. Glad she was able to still qualify, that was a tough group.

Isk8NYC

03-05-2010, 02:31 PM

Not AFAIK. It's a new program, that might be why.

tazsk8s

03-05-2010, 02:42 PM

First morning lesson in a few weeks, after my coach and I mutually cancelled the last couple due to staying up late the night before to watch the Olympics.

Marching Proud: All of my forward spins...scratch, sit, even Monday's dead camel resurrected itself.

Nitpicked the pre-pre spirals. Of all the weird things, my coach found that I was slightly bending the *skating* knee. I've never been known to do that before. Maybe it's an unconscious defense mechanism against another toepick/knee-plant. Anyway, it was a combination of that and fixing the free hip that helped today.

Wounded in Battle: My loop decided to go on vacation today.

Dodged a Bullet: My right wrist, the one I broke last summer. In an effort to fix the above-mentioned loop we tried a different entrance. Usually I do a right mohawk, step on to the RBO edge, and jump. This was a left mohawk, cross the left foot over the right, and jump. Or it was supposed to be. Instead I got tangled up on the mohawk and BOOM, directly on the right hand. I still always skate in a wrist guard on that side, anyway (not always the unbroken left wrist, but always on the right), and I was glad today. It hurt a little, but at least it's still in one piece.

Once I recovered from that fall I did manage a couple of small-ish loops from the new entrance, and then one from my regular entrance which was better than my previous attempts.

techskater

03-06-2010, 10:22 AM

That's what a fellow adult skater almost got, but I held myself back from pummeling him. :evil: I had to skip my 3-jump combination (which I would have landed, so I still called my program "clean") because this guy was in my way, yet again. He is always spinning in the exact same spot when I run my program on Friday mornings, and I keep having to abort that jump pass because he's spinning right where I need to set up the jump. He's a good enough skater to know better, but he has not learned to watch out for me even though I finally said something to him about it several weeks ago. He doesn't compete, so maybe he just doesn't understand how important it is to be able to skate a program run-through without interference a week before the most important competition of the year. :frus:

Go through him. That's what coach #2 has taught me. A polite, but loud excuse me and a near miss where you pull close to where they are and complete the element anyway (clase: where they FEEL you going by) typically gets them to move the second time you are coming through. :lol:

For me, clean run throughs for coach #1 this week in lesson and an interp run through. Lesson on Monday with coach #2. Wonder what he's going to say to the little program change...:giveup:

AgnesNitt

03-06-2010, 03:45 PM

Okay, remember I was off the ice for over a year and I'm restarting-- almost at the beginning....
Marching Proud As long as I'm forward stroking--I look gooood.
1. Now have enough power to do slow but nicely shaped forward edges serpentines outside and in, again! Good flow, body and blade position.
2. Can do crossovers both ways, again!
3. My FO8 is nicely down if lopsided--but the body position, flow and blade positioning is good. Just not enough power to get all the way round on one push.

Wounded in Battle
Well, relearning how to stroke backwards has proven to be my biggest problem--and the problem is mostly in my head. After 3 sessions with coach, I'm at point where my strokes are adequate , I shift my weight with good timing and smoothly, and I have decent knee bend. However, I still can feel my heels occasionally slipping out from under me=== Gotta practice!

Double change step with a slight hesitation to the rear, Harch! So at the end of lesson, I showed coach my 'scary' mohawks at the boards cause I'm afraid they'll make me fall. She said "Agnes those are Choctaws! You've forgotten how to do mohawks!"

My heroineISK8NY--you work on those figures. I want to see you pass figures tests!

Stormy

03-06-2010, 08:27 PM

jazzpants

03-06-2010, 08:38 PM

Marching Proud:
(If you call this a "Marching Proud" moment) Well, I no longer have the lack of flexibility on my free leg as an excuse for not being able to do a good high spiral. My coach stretched me off ice before I went to do a spiral on ice. When she finished stretching one of my leg, she said "Hey! Look how high your free leg is! :twisted: " My response when I saw was "OH S***!!! What did you do to my free leg up there?" Secondary coach cackled at my response and prolly had this look of "Heh heh heh! NOW we get to work on STRENGTH and I'll get this old lady's spirals as high as the kids!" :twisted: " (If you must know, the free leg was WAAAY over my head!)

She then told my trainer (who just got off the ice) that I now need to work on STRENGTH to hold that free leg! Trainer says I'm already working on that! Also, secondary coach says to work on my back flexibility too! I know where this is leading (and it's gonna be anoterh LOOOONG and PAINFUL JOURNEY... 8O

Wounded in Battle:
Spirals were still CRAPPY on ice!!!

My coach had me do some back edge on a blue line (part of doing some torso control work. Frankly, I dunno what it's for. She noticed me struggling with hold the torso still while still staying on a straight line. Off ice, she went to check my posture and torso while doing the same pose to see if my hip is even and then took a look at my blade alignment!

Well, long story short, I actually can blame my crappy skating on my skates! She sent me to this guy who has a pro shop AT ANOTHER RINK to do the blade alignment! GREAT! I'll have to adjust again to a new blade alignment. :frus:

jazzpants

03-07-2010, 12:52 AM

Marching Proud:

Today's torture was cross strokes... BOTH forwards and backwards! I have a few things to keep in mind. My forward ones are a bit better than my backwards ones though.

I practiced my spin entry, the FO mohawks and my 3turns in the field after the lesson. The spin entry is better and the FO mohawks are starting to happen, but I still need a LOT more practice to get it "naturally."

Wounded In Battle:
The 3's are a bit smoother, but they aren't as "checked" as I would like and is curving back too much after the turn. :frus:

doubletoe

03-07-2010, 12:13 PM

If he's there consistently and knows your program, he needs to move. Especially since you said something to him! I think a very loud EXCUSE ME!!! would hopefully help. That is frustrating!!

You would THINK so, but no. I actually shout, "Watch out!" and even that doesn't help. By the time he realizes I'm there, it's too late, he doesn't move, and I have to abort my jump pass. I will go so far as to pull out of a spin halfway through if I'm not sure where the program skater is and think he/she may be coming toward me, so I can't fathom this behavior at all. He's a nice guy and we are friendly off the ice, but he never apologizes for being in my way, either. It's like he just doesn't get it. :giveup:

Go through him. That's what coach #2 has taught me. A polite, but loud excuse me and a near miss where you pull close to where they are and complete the element anyway (clase: where they FEEL you going by) typically gets them to move the second time you are coming through. :lol:

For me, clean run throughs for coach #1 this week in lesson and an interp run through. Lesson on Monday with coach #2. Wonder what he's going to say to the little program change...:giveup:

I would do that if I knew I could graze him without injuring *myself*, but the setup for that jump is a LFO swing rocker, and he is spinning just to the right of where I go into it. In other words, he would be right behind me in my blind spot as I exit on the LBO edge, which just invites somebody's blade ending up in somebody's shin.

CONGRATULATIONS on your clean run-throughs!!

doubletoe

03-07-2010, 12:19 PM

Wounded in Battle:
Spirals were still CRAPPY on ice!!!

My coach had me do some back edge on a blue line (part of doing some torso control work. Frankly, I dunno what it's for. She noticed me struggling with hold the torso still while still staying on a straight line. Off ice, she went to check my posture and torso while doing the same pose to see if my hip is even and then took a look at my blade alignment!

Well, long story short, I actually can blame my crappy skating on my skates! She sent me to this guy who has a pro shop AT ANOTHER RINK to do the blade alignment! GREAT! I'll have to adjust again to a new blade alignment. :frus:

It sounds to me like ALL of this was positive stuff! Your flexibility increased with just a little stretching from your coach (meaning it will *not* be long, painful and difficult) and once your blade is aligned correctly, you should be able to do everything better on the ice! :D

Laura H

03-07-2010, 01:18 PM

Marching Proud: had the rink comp yesterday. I did my PB program, a showcase program, and a first ever "adult interpretive" program (I did the hard sell on my adult skating buddies to sign up to do interp . . . it was SOOO much fun, and we all enjoyed it, I think!). We also did an adult "exhibition" number which was sort of sad but we muddled our way through it . . . and we had fun and looked cute (60's costumes - miniskirts and go go boot covers skating to "Ain't She Sweet.") All of my skates went pretty well and it's getting SO much easier to get out and present a program . . . coach and I were very pleased with my progress. (although I did come in 2nd in all classes . . . but realistically, the skaters who beat me were awfully far ahead of me technically, so I can live with it! :D). And I got one of my other skating buds to try competing for the first time, she did GREAT, gold medals for her Adult 4 program and in the interp (I was last, so didn't get to see her skate, but apparently it was inspired!). The interp music turned out to be "I Will Survive" and I did OK and got 2nd place, but I'm just not the "Diva" type!!

Wounded in Battle: uggh . . . there were judging problems with the adult PB class - I had a GREAT skate and was 8O after coming in last out of the field of 3 skaters . . . but was trying to stay calm about it. But, when I saw my coach, she was even more 8O than me. As it turns out, I got deducted big time for not doing a combination jump (I actually do have one in my program, but got behind the music a little and ended up doing just the first jump to stay with the music, which changes tempo at that spot and it would have looked a little weird to still be jumping around at that point!). But, we looked at each other and I said "that's NOT required!!" :frus: Of course neither of us had our rule book with us, but I was certain enough about it that she went and got with the judges and they reviewed it, and sure enough, we were right. So they pulled the score sheets, redid them, which meant I moved up to silver, but that pretty much stunk for the lady who moved down. :cry:

Laura H

03-07-2010, 01:31 PM

Oops, forgot to mention my biggest "Marching Proud" achievement in the past week . . . I got recruited as a LTS instructor (although it's certainly possible that they just wanted to get me to FINALLY graduate from being a LTS student - I think I have the rink record for most years in LTS!). I absolutely love the whole LTS program and seeing all the kids come through, and I am excited beyond belief to be asked to help with the lower level students!

Debbie S

03-07-2010, 02:43 PM

Wounded in Battle: uggh . . . there were judging problems with the adult PB class....Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you or your coach should have made such a big stink about this. As you said, it sucked for the woman who was moved down after the fact. Things like this happen all the time, and in this case, it was really pretty inconsequential. Yes, it's nicer to finish 2nd than 3rd, but keep things in perspective: you weren't competing at or for the Olys or Worlds or even AN - no fame or fortune was at stake.

At one PB comp I competed in, there was a woman with a (illegal) lutz (and also a camel-sit-back sit, which you never see in PB) and was clearly sandbagging (she entered PB at this comp again the next year, b/c 1 gold medal apparently wasn't enough :roll:). She won the event (I got 2nd) and it was hard to tell whether the judges took the deduction for the illegal element - 1 judge had me 1st, so obviously she did (b/c there was no way this woman would have placed ahead of me othewise). Who knows about the others - after all, they could have taken the deduction and still marked her ahead. What did I do about this? Nothing. I took my silver medal with a smile, happy to have not finished last like I had in my previous comp. I did e-mail the comp chairs a few days afterward, thanking them for the comp and suggesting that they might want to print the element restrictions for the adult events on the announcement (as they did with the kids' events) rather than just telling people to see Rule # whatever, as a skater in my event had an illegal element. They responded that it was a good idea and they would do that in the future. Did they do that next year? No, and Lutz Lady competed in PB again.

And it's not just adult comps - I've heard of several situations where the start order (which lists the restrictions in small print at the bottom) was incorrect, b/c somewhere along the line incorrect info was given. Last year, at my club's comp, one of the coaches brought to our attention that the start order for one of the events (one of the beginner levels) had the wrong restrictions on it (mixed up with another level's). Someone told her they would take care of it and went upstairs to the official room. The next day (the day of the event), I noticed as I was preparing the ice monitor sheets that it hadn't been changed, so I had to find the chief ref, who was out on the ice working an event....fortunately, his wife (who is also a judge) just happened to be around and just happened to be refereeing the event in question, so she wrote a note on her sheet to tell the judges. Problem averted.

There is a lot that happens at a comp that is beyond your control, and you'll do better to just chalk things like that up to experience. Focus on your own performance and what you can take away from that, and focus on improving for the next time.

techskater

03-07-2010, 03:04 PM

I would do that if I knew I could graze him without injuring *myself*, but the setup for that jump is a LFO swing rocker, and he is spinning just to the right of where I go into it. In other words, he would be right behind me in my blind spot as I exit on the LBO edge, which just invites somebody's blade ending up in somebody's shin.

CONGRATULATIONS on your clean run-throughs!!

Hmm, that's when coach #2 makes me move 3 feet over (or a safe distance), restart from that point and gives me a lecture about not giving up on things in programs. :lol: Basically, I have to finish the run through and then pick it back up and finish from there since I "gave up". 8-)

Thanks. Hopefully it will translate to next weekend. It helps to have near-empty ice to skate through it on and not be worried where some idiot is spinning.

jazzpants

03-07-2010, 10:17 PM

It sounds to me like ALL of this was positive stuff! Your flexibility increased with just a little stretching from your coach (meaning it will *not* be long, painful and difficult) and once your blade is aligned correctly, you should be able to do everything better on the ice! :D
AHHHH, but you see, doubletoe... the problem with that is that I now have to build up STRENGTH training to KEEP that leg up. And trust me, from those exercises I did this afternoon with my trainer for this specific thing... it's gonna be a LONG, PAINFUL AND DIFFICULT process to KEEP that free leg up at that height!!! 8O :twisted: :giveup:

PinkLaces

03-07-2010, 11:48 PM

For Friday

Proud Worked on cleaning up jumps. Salchow-loop got cleanned up. Also found the right arm position for 1/2 lutz....normally my arms are up in the air and flopping all over. Coach gave me a goofy mental cue...a little on the risque' side, but it did the trick. Coach was happy with results - nice straight and high and arms in tight. Going to work on the full lutz next week. We worked on getting nice positioning on my spiral. My toe tends to turn down on the free leg. On my practice, camels were getting better 2.5-3 revs. They felt much better.

Wounded Flip timing is messed up again. I am waiting too long again. GAH! Sit spin not so sitting. Well when I get down to hip height I am putting my foot down.

Laura H

03-08-2010, 08:12 AM

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you or your coach should have made such a big stink about this.

I apologize if I made it sound worse than it was - it really wasn't as dramatic as all that . . . this is our in house rink comp and the judges were all LTS instructors and coaches, in other words, my coach's peers, and I don't think she discussed it with them in a confrontational way, it was more like trying to figure out what was wrong so we could fix it for next time (i.e., if there was an illegal element that needed to be taken out). She has many, many years more experience than I do, so I just left it to her discretion, trust me, I'm brand new to the whole competitive experience, and I'm quite used to coming in last!

Like you pointed out though, the whole thing could have been averted by just making sure the (correct!) judging guidelines for a particular event are printed on the judging sheet. Particuarly for adult PB, the requirements are really sort of minimal!!

(also, this was all addressed before the actual awards ceremony, they just skipped the medals for that event while they were checking the scores, and knowing how informal our club is, they probably just gave us both silver medals in the end, which is fine by me, like you said, it's not the Olympics!)

PinkLaces

03-08-2010, 10:49 AM

Wounded Very tired this a.m. so spinning sucked. Couldn't get more than 2-3 revs on anything but scratch spin. Everytime I tried to get low on the sit spin I put my foot down or could only hold 1 rev. Camel was 1.5-2 revs. When I remembered to look up instead of down, then my left arm went all wonky. Loop jumps weren't very good also.

Proud Spent lots of time on the flip and lutz. My first attempts at the flip sucked, but I think I fixed the timing issue. The last few were pretty good and I even tried a few flip-toe loop combos. Not bad. Then spent the last 15 mins. of the sesion working on the lutz. First half lutz and getting those arms back under control. Then on to the full lutz. Building up from 1/2 to 3/4 to full rotation. I got a handfull with the full rotation, but 2 footed landing. I am happy with that for now. I was really concentrating on the edge to make sure I wasn't flutzing.

doubletoe

03-08-2010, 12:59 PM

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you or your coach should have made such a big stink about this. As you said, it sucked for the woman who was moved down after the fact. Things like this happen all the time, and in this case, it was really pretty inconsequential. Yes, it's nicer to finish 2nd than 3rd, but keep things in perspective: you weren't competing at or for the Olys or Worlds or even AN - no fame or fortune was at stake.

At one PB comp I competed in, there was a woman with a (illegal) lutz (and also a camel-sit-back sit, which you never see in PB) and was clearly sandbagging (she entered PB at this comp again the next year, b/c 1 gold medal apparently wasn't enough :roll:). She won the event (I got 2nd) and it was hard to tell whether the judges took the deduction for the illegal element - 1 judge had me 1st, so obviously she did (b/c there was no way this woman would have placed ahead of me othewise). Who knows about the others - after all, they could have taken the deduction and still marked her ahead. What did I do about this? Nothing. I took my silver medal with a smile, happy to have not finished last like I had in my previous comp. I did e-mail the comp chairs a few days afterward, thanking them for the comp and suggesting that they might want to print the element restrictions for the adult events on the announcement (as they did with the kids' events) rather than just telling people to see Rule # whatever, as a skater in my event had an illegal element. They responded that it was a good idea and they would do that in the future. Did they do that next year? No, and Lutz Lady competed in PB again.

If someone had won the Senior Ladies' event after doing a backflip instead of a listed jump, I'm sure the referee would have been approached as soon as the scores came out, and rightfully so. Your story just proved that people don't care about things that don't affect them unless someone makes them care. Why should your Pre-Bronze event be any less important than anyone else's event? You paid for it and put just as much effort into preparing for it as anyone else (actually, more, since you bothered to read the rules). As far as I'm concerned, you would be doing the judges and referee a favor by pointing the rules out to them.

rlichtefeld

03-08-2010, 02:39 PM

I apologize if I made it sound worse than it was - it really wasn't as dramatic as all that . . . this is our in house rink comp and the judges were all LTS instructors and coaches, in other words, my coach's peers, and I don't think she discussed it with them in a confrontational way, it was more like trying to figure out what was wrong so we could fix it for next time (i.e., if there was an illegal element that needed to be taken out). She has many, many years more experience than I do, so I just left it to her discretion, trust me, I'm brand new to the whole competitive experience, and I'm quite used to coming in last!

Like you pointed out though, the whole thing could have been averted by just making sure the (correct!) judging guidelines for a particular event are printed on the judging sheet. Particuarly for adult PB, the requirements are really sort of minimal!!

(also, this was all addressed before the actual awards ceremony, they just skipped the medals for that event while they were checking the scores, and knowing how informal our club is, they probably just gave us both silver medals in the end, which is fine by me, like you said, it's not the Olympics!)

Interesting that you had coaches and instructors as judges in a Pre-Bronze USFSA freestyle event. Usually to get the sanction for the event, you have to have a USFSA referee and he/she must ensure that all the judges are accredited for the levels they are judging.

Is it possible you skated your Pre-Bronze level freeskate in a Basic Skill Competition or an ISI competition?

If you had actual USFS judges and referee, I don't think you would have had problems with which elements were allowed and was was included in a Well Balanced Pre-Bronze Program.

Rob

Debbie S

03-08-2010, 04:25 PM

As far as I'm concerned, you would be doing the judges and referee a favor by pointing the rules out to them.But by the time the results were posted, the judges were judging another event, and I'm sure they had plenty of events after that. Particularly at club comps, judges work lots of events in a row and take breaks for eating. There is usually not a time or place to go up to a judge or referee, and plus, I was there w/o my coach, and I think protocol dictates that the coach, not the skater, should make inquiries. (and technically, once the results are signed off on, they really can't be changed, can they?)

My club runs a comp (not the one I'm referring to) and there are always a few coaches (and hard-core skating moms, lol) that want an explanation of their skater's scores (usually it involves IJS events - level calls). Most of the time, the official in question is either working an event or eating quickly before they have to rush out to an event. Conversations usually aren't possible. The only thing anyone who feels rules weren't followed can really do is e-mail after the fact, just to ket them know. And hopefully, they make adjustments the next year to prevent the mistake....but sometimes they don't.

At our comp a few years ago, one of my coaches had a student in "Pre-Prelim A" (i.e. no axel) and there was a skater in that group who landed 2 axels, and won. Coach was livid, parents were mad, but there was nothing that could be done about it once results were posted (or before they were posted, really). The coach said she was going to talk to the chief ref (a judge with our club that she knows well) at some point.

Back to my experience....I had no way of knowing if the judges took the deduction - maybe they did. For reasons stated above, I couldn't go up to them and ask. I suppose I could have gone up to the registration desk and asked one of the volunteers to find such-and-such referee....but even if they found the referee, what could happen? The referee would have thanked me for letting him/her know.....and then probably have forgotten about it by the time he was at his next event, lol. Before I e-mailed the comp chairs, I thought maybe I should contact the chief ref, but I couldn't find an e-mail address on the announcement. And there's no guarantee that ref would have been the comp ref the next year.

Which brings me back to my earlier point: you can't control the judging or what other skaters do at a comp, so approach the comp as a way to have fun and build on your skating.

PinkLaces

03-08-2010, 05:19 PM

But by the time the results were posted, the judges were judging another event, and I'm sure they had plenty of events after that. Particularly at club comps, judges work lots of events in a row and take breaks for eating. There is usually not a time or place to go up to a judge or referee, and plus, I was there w/o my coach, and I think protocol dictates that the coach, not the skater, should make inquiries. (and technically, once the results are signed off on, they really can't be changed, can they?)

My club runs a comp (not the one I'm referring to) and there are always a few coaches (and hard-core skating moms, lol) that want an explanation of their skater's scores (usually it involves IJS events - level calls). Most of the time, the official in question is either working an event or eating quickly before they have to rush out to an event. Conversations usually aren't possible. The only thing anyone who feels rules weren't followed can really do is e-mail after the fact, just to ket them know. And hopefully, they make adjustments the next year to prevent the mistake....but sometimes they don't.

At our comp a few years ago, one of my coaches had a student in "Pre-Prelim A" (i.e. no axel) and there was a skater in that group who landed 2 axels, and won. Coach was livid, parents were mad, but there was nothing that could be done about it once results were posted (or before they were posted, really). The coach said she was going to talk to the chief ref (a judge with our club that she knows well) at some point.

Back to my experience....I had no way of knowing if the judges took the deduction - maybe they did. For reasons stated above, I couldn't go up to them and ask. I suppose I could have gone up to the registration desk and asked one of the volunteers to find such-and-such referee....but even if they found the referee, what could happen? The referee would have thanked me for letting him/her know.....and then probably have forgotten about it by the time he was at his next event, lol. Before I e-mailed the comp chairs, I thought maybe I should contact the chief ref, but I couldn't find an e-mail address on the announcement. And there's no guarantee that ref would have been the comp ref the next year.

Which brings me back to my earlier point: you can't control the judging or what other skaters do at a comp, so approach the comp as a way to have fun and build on your skating.

Hope you don't mind me butting in here to ask a question. Even if a deduction is made in the 6.0 system, is it large enough to knock someone out of first place? If the overall skating is considered better than the other skaters, is the penalty for an illegal move large enough to change the placements? I am asking about USFS specifically.

Last year at ISI Worlds, my DD competed in the Silver FS event. That is supposed to be only elements from FS5 and below. None of the girls did axels, but 2 of the girls did spins from FS6 (sit change sits and laybacks). They ended up taking 1st and 2nd. My DD got 3rd and her friend from our rink got 4th. DD's coach went to protest the illegal moves and was told that none of the individual jumps & spins were graded. The judge just gave the kids an overall ranking for the quality of the jumps and spins.

techskater

03-08-2010, 08:06 PM

Under 6.0, it can be if the skaters are relatively close to move from 1 to 2 or 2 to 3.

Kim to the Max

03-08-2010, 08:08 PM

Wounded in Battle: Taking my junior moves on Friday, and the power pulls have been acting up :( they were fine on Sunday, but today....horrible...coach was trying to look at them because it will be next to impossible to do them tomorrow during my lesson and I just couldn't do them :( I'm so frustrated and disgusted... :frus:

Debbie S

03-08-2010, 10:37 PM

Hope you don't mind me butting in here to ask a question. Even if a deduction is made in the 6.0 system, is it large enough to knock someone out of first place? If the overall skating is considered better than the other skaters, is the penalty for an illegal move large enough to change the placements? I am asking about USFS specifically.As techskater said, it could, depending on how close the scores are. I believe the deduction is 0.2 off the tech mark (or is it 0.1 off each mark?). Since 6.0 scores are not posted, there is no way of knowing. I assumed that the one judge took the deduction and it must have affected the placement b/c, like I said, this skater was way ahead of me and the other PB competitors and would definitely be scored higher than me if not for deductions. It's possible the other judges took the deduction but there was enough of a gap so that it didn't affect placements.

PinkLaces

03-09-2010, 12:02 AM

As techskater said, it could, depending on how close the scores are. I believe the deduction is 0.2 off the tech mark (or is it 0.1 off each mark?). Since 6.0 scores are not posted, there is no way of knowing. I assumed that the one judge took the deduction and it must have affected the placement b/c, like I said, this skater was way ahead of me and the other PB competitors and would definitely be scored higher than me if not for deductions. It's possible the other judges took the deduction but there was enough of a gap so that it didn't affect placements.

Thanks for the explanation. I kind of figured that may be the case.

Laura H

03-09-2010, 08:05 AM

Is it possible you skated your Pre-Bronze level freeskate in a Basic Skill Competition or an ISI competition?

Oops, yes, you are EXACTLY right. It was in fact a Basic Skill competition with some extra stuff tacked on (not sure how you term those events such as pre-pre, etc., but that's what it consisted of). I've been in the LTS atmosphere so long, I tend to forget there is something beyond that!! :oops:

P.S. I do apologize for hijacking the practice thread so thoroughly!! It has been an interesting topic though!!

tazsk8s

03-09-2010, 09:26 AM

Marching Proud: I had a really good spin day yesterday. Most of them just cooperated.

Felt like I was less toe-pushy on the crossovers on the perimeter stroking. Oddly I felt like my CW ones were more "technically correct" than my CCW ones even though I'm far more comfortable CCW.

Jumps through the flip were fine. I even worked on the evil loop entry I learned at my last lesson.

Wounded: Lutz was wonky. Axel non-existent.

Spirals...uggggh.

Taught my special ed skate school class after the freestyle. Normally I love the class to death (it's the only one I can be persuaded to stay late for on a regular basis) but one of the students was extra-distracted yesterday, to the point of being a bit disruptive for everyone. Oy. I needed a drink by the time that was over.

Think I need to get back into some "official" off-ice conditioning for awhile. I did classes with the kids when my daughter was still skating, and was able to somewhat keep up on my own for the first couple of years afterward. Right now I think I need to have someone kick me in the butt and get me going again...since the broken wrist I just haven't been able to motivate myself to workout on a regular basis. It's silly because I have the use of a fully-equipped workout room through my employer, free of charge, and can even workout a couple of hours a week ON company time. But that's entirely voluntary and I just don't feel motivated enough to actually use it.

Skate@Delaware

03-09-2010, 09:31 AM

Marching Proud: skated last night (had lesson) and everything went very well. Worked on the flip, which is getting better and closer if I can keep my right arm under control. Coach had me approach it with my right arm by my side and that helped. I'm finally getting the transfer of weight to the picking foot.

Spins were good, sit is getting lower and good if I remember to "reach" for my toes. Change-foot is good, I'm finally doing the last spin towards the center and not stepping too far out.

Wounded: I had been cleaning out the attic and my left hamstring was tight from climbing stairs all day Sunday....ouch! Need to stretch it out a bit more and yoga this morning helped.

Also trying to squeeze in another session of skating, which will be easier on Saturdays, as the rink is doubling-up that freestyle session to 1.25 hrs instead of 50 minutes!

Car wreck: there were 30 people on the ice (show rehearsals were also going on) and one of the girls brought her "prop" onto the ice and left it while she went and played. Someone skating backwards ran into it and she fell over and knocked the prop over. At that point the director decided the prop needed to be removed because it was crowded.

Train wreck: I was spinning my "one more time before the zamboni comes out" scratch spin and I saw my friend heading towards me (funny how perceptive you are while spinning). I yelled out "I'm NOT stopping!!!" and kept spinning-it was a great spin! My coach thought my friend would be mad at me (she did get close) but she was cool with it. She didn't realize I was in a lesson until she was close and screeched on the brakes.

Aaahhh, life at the rink!

LilJen

03-09-2010, 06:20 PM

Wounded In Battle:
The 3's are a bit smoother, but they aren't as "checked" as I would like and is curving back too much after the turn. :frus:

Have you checked your hips? I have this annoying tendency to drop my free hip, even if I'm careful with the free leg/foot, and that has caused me to get off of pattern.

Wounded in Battle:

Those stupid power pulls!!!! I feel like i've regressed and regressed and regressed on them. Coach noted that yes, the outside edges were particularly weak, so I needed to work on 2-footed slaloms with putting my weight on the outside edge each time. . . STILL don't see how I'll generate any power at all, no matter how much I bend my knees!

Kim to the Max

03-09-2010, 08:58 PM

Wounded: Major meltdown on junior power pulls tonight...I knew it was coming (always does, coach expected it too), but that doesn't make it any easier. Took me 3 times and a time out to make it through the right foot (which is the strong side!)...

I WILL pass this test on Friday, I just need to keep things under control...

PinkLaces

03-09-2010, 09:44 PM

Wounded Feeling very rusty and blah on the first session...including my lesson. Ran through my program. It totally sucked. Even my footwork section sucked. Worked on camel spins and my loop jump from the back cross-overs with coach. Then worked on the footwork section into the loop jump. Coach is no making me skate a "strong" lap after my program to help build up endurance. Have issues with my laces. The right foot comes apart almost every time I skate no matter how careful I am.

Proud I did a lot better after my lesson. Footwork was stronger Got some decent loop jumps on the circle and then in that section of the program. Got some decent camels. I was dropping my left arm and once I fixed that it was much better.

Got the assignments for the ice show today. I am skating with 4 other adults. We skate on Weds. DD's practices are on Sundays. Looks like there are 3 weeks in April where I will be at the rink every day of the week.

techskater

03-10-2010, 06:46 PM

Wounded: fought with my program during the first part of lesson with coach #2 today
Proud: reprogrammed my brain with the timing required and transitions with the first section and low and behold - clean!

Skate@Delaware

03-10-2010, 07:17 PM

Marching Proud: hit the public session today-forgot it was "homeschool skate" and a bit crowded (eeek!) but I managed to get everything worked on. For $5/2 hours, you bet!

Everything went well, and even managed to squeak through some of my loops and flips. Then I worked on sit spins....and they are slowly getting better/lower.

Wounded: Forgot to work on combo jumps; the ice was getting too ratty for my "new" thing-LFO spiral into a 3-turn then LBI spiral. (I would have just done a knee-high back spiral it was soo crowded). Backspins weren't as great today, and my loops were blech....but I can't complain too much since I got to skate today!

Next week, I have clinical orientation so can only skate Friday/Saturday for practice. There is a competition coming up so ice will be crowded. After that, my Thursdays & Fridays will be out since my rotation will be 3-11pm. It will make it interesting-I get off clinical at 11pm then drive home (1.5 hr drive). Skating session on Saturday is at 8:20 am....hahaha!

liz_on_ice

03-11-2010, 08:31 AM

Wounded - lesson yesterday was my first time on the ice in three weeks due to rain, snow, work, and family.

Marching - worked on forward spin entrance and seriously improved it. All forward spins benefitted. Practiced jumps after my lesson, landed a tiny baby loop, and an itty bitty lutz :)

PinkLaces

03-11-2010, 06:38 PM

Wounded Got to the rink late so didn't hit the ice until the second hour. One of the coaches was teaching some hockey players cross-overs so couldn't run through my program. Spins were traveling. Had a hard time holding camel for more than 2 revs, 3 revs on sits and back sit. Back sit was high. Had a hard time getting in the flip right.

Proud After a bunch of drills, was able to get the flip right. Was able to do some flip-toe loops. Then tried flip-loop. It was pretty tough. Managed to do a couple. Spent a bunch of time working on loops on the circle. They are getting more consistent. So I got bold and tried some loop-loop combos. Even managed to do it 3 times. The second loop was teeny tiny though.

Kim to the Max

03-12-2010, 07:43 PM

failed. again. don't know if i have it in myself to try again.

PinkLaces

03-12-2010, 08:19 PM

failed. again. don't know if i have it in myself to try again.

((((HUGS)))) Sorry :cry:

PinkLaces

03-12-2010, 08:31 PM

Wounded A bunch of college hockey girls thought it would be a great idea to warm up in our rink - because games were going on in all the other rinks - "there is no where else for us to go." Played their music sooo loud that it was drowning out everyone trying to do their program. Several us complained to rink mgmt and some complained to their coach (who wouldn't do anything because there is no where else for them to warm up). They were yelling and making fun of some of the skaters doing their programs. Yeah, we see you...now get over yourselves. Luckily, they left before I had my lesson.

Proud Other than being super annoyed, I had a good lesson. Went through my program and ended with the music. Worked with coach on some arm positions so that program is "prettier" in the places where it is lacking. Camel spins were better, but we decided to take out the camel-sit. Program will have 1 plain camel and 1 camel-backspin or camel-scratch-backscratch. Worked on arms in the backspin and got them better. Flip not bad. Loop jump good. Lutz not bad.

Wounded Coach not happy with sit or backsit. Not low enough.

Proud Second run through pretty good. Ended before the music. Feels so good especially since I was struggling to keep up with it last week.

AgnesNitt

03-13-2010, 01:03 PM

Last lesson on freestyle ice for a few weeks. Rink is stopping freestyle sessions for some reason, so it's back to public ice.
Marching proud Made it two times around the rink stroking backwards on my own--this is the bane of my skating skills. People stare because when I"m nervous I hum music from the Pirates of Penzance, so I started counting instead (which appears to be socially acceptable). Will this backwards stroking never end?
Crossovers are back! (Again!) How many of you have had to relearn stuff over and over again? At least the 3rd time around it doesn't take as long.

Wounded in Battle My butt sticks out on my figures....sigh.

Started 3 turns (again!) on the boards. Coach points. "That's the ankle you broke. I can tell" Apparently my left leg waves around in panic mode when I'm on the formerly broken right ankle. She also diagnoses that I don't do "down-up-down", but "up-down-up-down-up". It's killing me to get rid of those extra 'ups'.

sk8lady

03-13-2010, 02:43 PM

Wounded: Last ice of the season tomorrow night, then back to scrounging all over the state for an hour here and there. :cry:

Marching Proud: Stellar season to look back on:

Passed Bronze Free
Passed Hickory Hoedown with extra points
New freestyle coach
New dance coach (driving 180 miles EACH WAY though)
Gained solid loop from back crossovers
Progress towards fully rotated flip (still slightly cheated)
Ready to partner Willow Waltz
Started working on Ten Fox at last!
Can finally do all Silver Moves straight through; three are at pass level, 8 step needs additional speed and power, and back 3 patterns need to be bigger

Isk8NYC

03-13-2010, 03:23 PM

[retest]. Again. Don't know if i have it in myself to try again.
(((((kim)))))) So sorry. You're having a bad year so far. Hope it gets better soon.

tidesong

03-14-2010, 10:10 AM

Marching proud:
I'm skating again! Was too tired/lazy/just needed a good break. Anyways I started basic ice dancing lessons and know how to do (sorta) a progressive, chasse and swing roll yay

I also randomly tried my jumps and I can still do all of them singles plus the double salchow

Terri C

03-14-2010, 10:20 AM

Last lesson on freestyle ice for a few weeks. Rink is stopping freestyle sessions for some reason, so it's back to public ice.
[

Agnes,
What rink is this? I know that I've heard etchings of the Charlottesville rink closing and Prince William had a roof collapse during one of the blizzards, so I was wondering what rink is stopping freestyle when there's such little ice to skate on as it is.

AgnesNitt

03-14-2010, 11:46 AM

Agnes,
What rink is this? I know that I've heard etchings of the Charlottesville rink closing and Prince William had a roof collapse during one of the blizzards, so I was wondering what rink is stopping freestyle when there's such little ice to skate on as it is.

Coach told me it's the Sat Freestyle... But rink sched shows it still up. I'm confused now. Sent you PM.

LilJen

03-14-2010, 02:38 PM

failed. again. don't know if i have it in myself to try again.

So sorry, Kim. I hope you can find something else in your skating right now to thoroughly enjoy.

Kat12

03-14-2010, 07:48 PM

Marching:
Hrm, not much from today. Got in a few stork spins that were really fast...gonna have to get used to it so I don't end up dizzy afterward!

Financial situation has settled down a bit that I might be able to get back to class soon. Thank heaven. Still haven't decided what I want to do when it comes to classes, though. Emailed a couple of the rink buddies since I haven't seen them in a while (they haven't been at public skate lately when I've been there) wanting to get together with them for lunch, and would like to run my situation by them too. (For those who don't remember, my dilemma is between classes at my current club, with the rink buddies, where I was learning most recently, or classes at a different club, which would be cheaper but wouldn't have friends there--there are some coaching differences between the two as well. Long story; I posted about it once. Rink buddies have both been at both classes, so they might be able to give me opinions on what they think I should do.)

Wounded:
Ugh. Bad skate day, IMO.

For one, I am so very sick of public sessions I could scream. They're so crowded, and so chock-full of clueless little kids (some of whose parents don't correct them or even watch them) that I feel like I can barely accomplish ANYTHING. I think I'm going to need to pony up for some freestyle sessions, and/or get back into skating at the "school" rink near where I work. The school rink isn't as near to work as I'd like, and I hate the time (3:30-4:30, which means I get back to work just in time to pack up and go home--ouch; my coworker keeps saying, "why don't you just go straight home?" Because I want to make it clear I'm taking my lunch hour rather than just leaving early, dumb as that sounds. It might be time to talk to the boss and let him know I'm planning on doing this maybe once a week; he won't care, but that way if someone else says something, I can tell them I already cleared it with the boss. And I feel like it might just be common courtesy to let him know if I'm taking a longer lunch one day and making it up from other days).

For the most part, spins were so-so. I can do a stork spin kinda okay, but when I start trying to turn it into a real scratch, all hell breaks loose. I can sorta-kinda get my leg to the point where it's out in front of me (though no further), but that different leg position changes my balance just enough that I don't have it down yet. Actually getting it crossed over is not anywhere in the near future, I don't think! I tried it on one and immediately hit the ice, so, yeah.

Salchows are still wussy. Very, very wussy. I mean, I can sometimes land a tiny one that is decent for a tiny one, but ugh, I'm tired of my wussiness.

Toe loops also not so great. Problem is that I realized that for the pick, I was actually turning my foot out to the side, rather than leaving it pointed to the front. All the better to cheat the jump with, my dear, no doubt. So I've been trying to do it correctly and, obviously, not having as much success with the jump as I was before. But I'm not mad about that because again, now I'm trying to do it correctly.

3-turns and mohawks pretty much sucked today. Dunno what my problem was. Last couple of times they actually were improving.

Tried a couple spirals, but I can only get those in at the very end of the session, in those last few seconds when most everyone else has left the ice and before the zamboni dudes cut me down with laser glares of death for staying on the ice too long, so the ice is all scratchy, hard to get up speed, feel rushed, etc. So spirals sucked especially much today.

Fell a few times but didn't hurt any of those times. Stumbled a LOT of times and felt like an idiot, but oh well.

Still do not have the edge control I want. I know I need to work on it more. In part I don't because I want to have a lot of room, which is difficult at a public, and in part because it's just so discouraging when I do try; I feel like I don't get anywhere, so I don't want to work on it. But I know I should really try to whip myself into shape. I still need a lot of work on the basics, and i really want to get solid on that before I do too much with the more fancy stuff.

Gave advice to another skater today...a couple girls; one was trying to teach the other back crossovers. I was watching, and realized the one was trying to cross her foot in BACK. I don't usually like to butt in on people and give tips, for a lot of reasons (just like our thread about that), but I felt bad for her because learning back x-overs is hard enough without starting out doing it wrong. So i let them know she needed to be crossing that foot in front, and demonstrated. The friend that was helping her acknowledged that she THOUGHT the girl was doing something wrong, but couldn't figure it out (probably was too close--she was holding onto the girl's hands to help her keep balance). I hope I helped. They asked me to demonstrate a few more times, but the girl said she was pretty confused. Maybe she'll keep working on it and figure it out, though.

Also forgot a couple weeks ago to share a funny story. That day on the ice there was a lady with her two young daughters, and she was clearly trying to teach them figure skating. The younger one was probably four, MAYBE five? and I saw her skate over to a little hockey boy the same age and say, "can I tell you something?" I didn't hear most of the conversation as they were several feet away, but I heard the little girl say something about "my mom" blah blah blah and I think she was telling the boy her mom was teaching them to skate and I got the gist she was either trying to tell him how to do something (presumably that she'd seen him doing in a manner she thought was incorrect), or telling him her mom could teach him, or something. The conversation lasted a few minutes, and then I heard him say something about "my dad" and I assume it was something like, "my dad is teaching me" and he was essentially blowing her off. So as he skated away, she got this super-indignant look on her face and yelled after him, "but you can't even skate backward!" I wanted to crack up right there on the ice. It was just so obvious she thought he couldn't skate for beans, and he wasn't listening to her, and she was just so mad about it. Too funny.

Kim to the Max

03-14-2010, 10:05 PM

Thank you all....I was quite bummed on Friday and Saturday about the whole thing. I'm frustrated with myself because I know I can do it, I just can't seem to put it all together on the day of the test.

I still haven't looked at the test papers. I don't know if I will anytime in the near future.

I also know that there are several factors that went into Friday's bad test: 1) I ran straight from an all day work meeting that wasn't over when I left and I thought I was going to be late getting to the rink 2) I can't get any quality practice in at my rink because the kids are clueless (I've been raising a stink about this at my rink) 3) I generally crack under pressure.

Friday I was ready to give up and to not test them again - I was that disgusted with myself. Then today, I had a reminder in someways...one of the sweet little girls at the rink (who I have had for LTS too) got last in one of her events at the comp this weekend and was crying. I reminded her that if she skated her best and had fun, that is what is important...I guess it was a reminder to me that while I didn't skate my best, I tried and while testing is certainly not fun, skating is. I told the kiddo that I didn't pass (it was one of the first times that I had told someone what had happened) which was in some ways a turning point for my mood about the entire thing.

I don't know what the plan is entirely. The club show is on 3/27-28, so we won't be doing moves until after that (plus, I'm gone from the 19th-22nd at a conference!!). I know that there is a test session on April 25th and one on May 15th (but the one on the 15th may not have high enough judges, I don't know). We are probably going to take a bit of a break from Junior moves...another coach (who I took lessons from when Coach had her baby) suggested to my Coach that she teach me the Senior moves to break things up, give me something new to work on and to perhaps boost that confidence a bit - and to give me start on working on them too :). The other option is dance, the agreement between us is that we would start dance after senior moves, so who knows what we will do.

A lot of folks at my rink (and other rinks!) are so stunned that I didn't pass and I don't want to say that they feel sorry for me, but they definitely feel for me because they see how hard I work at it. A coach I goof off with sometimes said that she won't let me quit because I am so close. And one of the mothers from the rink I tested at, who has seen me skate a bunch when I skate there, was so shocked. But she takes the cake when it comes to comments....#1. What happened? Our rink is bigger!!! ((I hit the wall on all 4 sets of rockers)) and #2. Next time you test, let me know and I will find some kids to put out there so you have to dodge them.

I'm glad I have a bit of a vacation coming up with this conference because that means I am off the ice starting Friday and won't get back on the ice until Wednesday or Thursday (depends on what time I get back from Boston). I usually don't like taking time off, but I think I need it after this...

Skate@Delaware

03-15-2010, 08:52 PM

Kim, I'm so sorry! (((((Hugs!!!!))))

wounded: tonight's lesson was painful! Many of the problems I've been having with the flip relate to poor technique learned YEARS ago from my first instructor, who never bothered to correct mistakes, or teach how to check! Now we have to deconstruct my LFO 3-turns to fix them. I think this is the last 3-turn left to fix.

I almost got creamed twice by clueless girls skating backwards NOT WATCHING WHERE THEY WERE GOING! I was spinning (sit) one time, and doing a loop jump the 2nd. Barely got out of the way each time. I was in a lesson. Complaints fall on deaf ears. My coach will talk to the director. Hopefully, that will have more of an effect.?

Marching proud: loop went a bit better, as long as I bend down more...I can actually get off my toepicks! Some progress is better than none.

Trying to figure when I can skate next is a chore; but Friday I'm free from school/clinicals so that will be my overload day! 2 back-to-back sessions (one public/one freestyle). Then I need to figure out when my pairs partner can meet up with me and skate.

jazzpants

03-16-2010, 01:38 AM

(((Kim to the Max)))

Marching Proud:
It's slowly and steadily improved during the lesson... to the point where I managed to start reworking my sit spin during the lesson. Not perfect, but the spin got better and better thru the lesson to the point where I was able to get back my sit spin and my spin coach was VERY HAPPY with the progress!!! :D

Wounded in Battle and carried off on a gurney:
*sigh* My spin entry is still in the dumper though!!! ESPECIALLY when I tried to do camel spin. QUITE frustrating for my spin coach!!! :frus:

And tomorrow my skates will be in surgery... getting the blade alignment changed to see if it would make a difference in some of my weak spots (i.e. power pulls on the right foot, spin entry...)

tazsk8s

03-16-2010, 09:34 AM

Marching Proud: Last couple of days on the ice (last Friday's lesson and yesterday's practice) have gone pretty well. I had been skating with a knee brace on my perpetually wonky left knee for the past few weeks, but felt good enough to go without the last couple of days. It really is easier to bend my knees without that thing!

Worked on some evil axel exercises in my lesson, and then was instructed to alternate between my back crossover entry on the circle, and just doing them from a standstill on the line. I'm getting the weight transfer pretty well, just not enough height. The standstill entry did seem to help with that..all I had to focus on was jumping UP.

Just for fun, went to a public skate with my 18 year old daughter and 23 year old nephew. Nephew hasn't skated since an injury in high school but wants to get back to the point of being able to play some pick-up hockey games. Daughter has been teaching basic skills off and on but hasn't really *skated* in a year, since a non-skating back injury. Wouldn't you know it...she could still spin, still had all of her singles including the axel, plus a double sal and slightly cheated double loop. NOT FAIR! :twisted:

Wounded: Not much, really. I'm going back to work with my previous off-ice trainer for awhile starting this Saturday and I'm sure there will be loads of sore muscles then.