Neatly Press or Hung Out to Dry: June 1-30 Training Thread

[AgnesNitt]

Neatly Pressed:
I'm making progress to single edge 8's.

Hung Out to Dry:
Am regaining skills from my year off the ice, and adding the FI3 which I never mastered before. Maybe I'll get a bracket before the end of this year.
Once I get a bracket, it will only be a few years until I have a rocker and a counter. :lol:

[liz_on_ice]

Neatly Pressed - last lesson with winter coach today, I haven't seen as much of her as I'd have liked this season, but despite everything, I detect some improvements. Spin entrance is seriously better, sit spin is starting to sit and camel spin is starting to take shape. I've done a lot of work on basics this year, and very little on elements - but the basics are paying off and the elements are improving with less effort.

Hung out to dry - no lessons till end of June or early July. Have to keep myself focused without help - and that is going to be tough, work pressure is seriously crowding out skating lately.

[dbny]

Neatly Pressed:
Skated today for the first time since my surgery exactly a month ago. Felt a little unbalanced at first, but quickly got my legs back. Then, I actually picked up a private lesson, and the girl was very good and loves it. The mom called me later to say they want lessons every Sunday! I didn't skate much for myself, and I have a feeling my own skating is not going to happen until I'm done with chemo in the fall, as fatigue is a real issue.

[Skate@Delaware]

Neatly Pressed: My pairs partner and I had a lesson yesterday! It was great! We learned:
-handholds
-crossovers
-tracking
-exiting crossovers
-beginning pairs spinning
-throw waltz

Hung Out To Dry: We were on the public session prior, I got "zinged" by some hockey boys skating too close and I tripped over my toepicks and fell down, skidded...and to protect my face from slamming into the boards I put up my hands, and ended up jamming my fingers. It hurt like a mother! I could not get myself off the ice without help, I sat out for a bit. By the time I got home, my right middle finger was swollen twice the size. Ice and a compression bandage helped. My knee was ok. They both hurt. Oh well.

Neatly Pressed, Starched: Had dinner with Sk8Pics!!! We had a great time! I'd like to meet up again (let's not let it be years before the next one).

[flo]

Neatly pressed: not my laundry. Finally did all my skatng clothes I took to Oberstdorf. Skated a couple times since I've been back and it feels pretty good.

Out to dry: still getting over bug I caught in Germany. At least now I don't have to push it!

Skate @ Del. Hope you enjoy pairs!!!

Best to all.

[sk8pics]

Hung Out To Dry: We were on the public session prior, I got "zinged" by some hockey boys skating too close and I tripped over my toepicks and fell down, skidded...and to protect my face from slamming into the boards I put up my hands, and ended up jamming my fingers. It hurt like a mother! I could not get myself off the ice without help, I sat out for a bit. By the time I got home, my right middle finger was swollen twice the size. Ice and a compression bandage helped. My knee was ok. They both hurt. Oh well.

Neatly Pressed, Starched: Had dinner with Sk8Pics!!! We had a great time! I'd like to meet up again (let's not let it be years before the next one).

See, I told you we should have gotten some ice for your finger at the restaurant! Anyway, hope it feels better soon! And yes, let's have dinner again before years go by!

[Skate@Delaware]

Neatly pressed: not my laundry. Finally did all my skatng clothes I took to Oberstdorf. Skated a couple times since I've been back and it feels pretty good.

Out to dry: still getting over bug I caught in Germany. At least now I don't have to push it!

Skate @ Del. Hope you enjoy pairs!!!

Best to all.
I never seem to EVER catch up on laundry....ever! So far, we LOVE skating pairs! I loved the throw jump & the other elements! And my partner will NEVER wear spandex!
See, I told you we should have gotten some ice for your finger at the restaurant! Anyway, hope it feels better soon! And yes, let's have dinner again before years go by!
It would have been hard to eat though! I will get some of those "instant" ice packs to next season for my skate bag though.

[tazsk8s]

First day skating in almost 2 weeks. I usually do freestyles on Mondays and Fridays and a public over the weekend, but the Memorial Day holiday got in the way, plus my coach being gone last week for the PSA conference. So I wasn't sure if I'd be well-rested or rusty at lesson today. Fortunately the rest seemed to do me some good.

Neatly Pressed: Skipped working on pre-pre moves in my lesson today. I didn't mind because we have been hammering at them for the last several weeks. Instead we started with spins. Had one where she loved the tracing of the entry - stepped back into the circle very nicely. Camel was working well and she decided we should start a camel/back camel. Kind of fun to start something completely new (never even tried those before my injury). We decided one of my goals for the summer is a new spin of some sort...either camel/back camel, or maybe a good attitude spin. (Not really interested in working on a layback...back flexibility just isn't there for me and I don't want to have an ugly one.) Hopefully start on a flying camel later in the summer.

Flips were HUGE today. Eeked out a couple of flip-loops and an okay lutz.

Hung out: Most of my axel attempts were "whippy". I've learned that on my whippy axel days to just leave it alone and work on the entry by itself.

[dbny]

Skate@Delaware and flo - Feel better soon!

[Skate@Delaware]

Skate@Delaware and flo - Feel better soon!
Thanks! Flo, hope you are over your bug!

Pressed/Hung/whatever: skated today, only one session. Tried out an outfit that seemed to work. Seems to me, the older I get it gets harder to lose weight ((sigh)). A skirt that was too big is now very snug. It will have to do. At least the 2 girls I asked said I looked "very nice" and "put together" so that will have to do.

My test on Sunday morning will be skated in the very center of the rink, possibly to include my crossovers. For my 3-turn pattern, I will have the rink to myself. Yikes! Major freakout! Another coach reassured me that, based on my skating that she has seen so far, I should pass. I'm buggin' about it anyway.

Skated everything 3 times through. Debating about going tomorrow morning....part of me says "you're ready, give it a rest already" another part says "one more time"...it's club ice so it will be chaos; not sure I'd really accomplish anything anyway. I'm already taking a day off from working out (legs & all-don't need to be sore, might just do yoga instead).

[dbny]

My test on Sunday morning will be skated in the very center of the rink, possibly to include my crossovers. For my 3-turn pattern, I will have the rink to myself. Yikes! Major freakout! Another coach reassured me that, based on my skating that she has seen so far, I should pass. I'm buggin' about it anyway.

Good luck. My daughter loved having the ice to herself because she knew there would be no interruptions in her patterns. Maybe that thought can help you with the jitters.

[drskater]

Good luck S@D!! I know you'll pass with flying colors!

[Skate@Delaware]

Good luck. My daughter loved having the ice to herself because she knew there would be no interruptions in her patterns. Maybe that thought can help you with the jitters.
I'll try to relax, my only thought when I do that **** 3-turn pattern is always "don't fall, don't fall, OMG don't fall" LOL!
Good luck S@D!! I know you'll pass with flying colors!
Thanks! I will post ASAP after my test with the results, it might be a short post as it will be from my phone and I can't type well on it.

[Skate@Delaware]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

[Kim to the Max]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

Congratulations!!

Neatly Pressed: Junior moves are making even more progress. Coach is being uber picky because that is what seems to be happening with the judges.

Hung Out to Dry: Not skating this weekend since I am in Milwaukee and I wasn't going to be here long enough to warrant bringing my skates. I will be back in Syracuse on Tuesday with just enough time to head home, change, eat something, and go to the rink.

I am ready to get back to Syracuse and my own bed and my car...

[drskater]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

Woo-hoo!! Congratulations! Doesn't it feel goooood?! Now, on to Bronze!

[Bill_S]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

High fives all around! Feels good, doesn't it?

[Skate@Delaware]

THANKS, EVERYONE!!!!!

Neatly Pressed: Junior moves are making even more progress. Coach is being uber picky because that is what seems to be happening with the judges.


Kim some of the judges today were EXTREMELY PICKY! Even our skating director/top coach was upset about some of the fails. The judges had their microscopes out.

Ok, here are the results from my test: (I will put what my judge wrote in)
Forward Perimeter Stroking: w/blade push & knee action for power & crossovers (I'm thinking she was mentioning the crossovers on the end-pattern)
Basic Consecutive Edges: Steady 1/2 circles (she noted back outside edges were a bit small), for back inside edges: steady on 1/2 circles with correct push
Forward & Back Crossovers:
-Fwd: power & flow, smooth
-Bkwd: a bit scratchy but with decent flow and ccw a bit stepped over (my coach disagreed but, meh)
Waltz-8: Small circles but with control of 3 + back outside edge (my circles were -meh- but my timing rocked FINALLY)
Forward 3-Turn Pattern: R/L-with control of 3's on edge (the whole time I was thinking: don't fall, don't make "the face", turn the shoulders, and stay down in the knee!!!


AAAAAHHHHHHH Big sigh I'm glad it's over! My friend tested the Dutch Waltz but messed up a step so she will retest next month.

Lesson tomorrow night, on to Bronze!!!! (no rest for the wicked or weary):D

[Debbie S]

Congratulations, Skate@D!

[Skate@Delaware]

Thanks, Debbie S!

[drskater]

Neatly Pressed:

Broke out of the Bronze moves plateau by making some major progress on the right-side power threes. No scratchies and even managed some flow and control. Perimeter stroking is just fun and I love doing the bck Xers to outside edges—no problem in getting motivated to practice these. Made some major progress in the sit spin, in the sense that I can actually do them now! I bonked my head about 6 weeks ago and it took awhile to lose the fear. Now I quite enjoy them, though I do blow it about 50 percent of the time. Loop jumps are getting springier and the flip is about the same. Learned the Dutch Waltz but haven’t practiced as much as I should.

Score one for the figure skaters! Because so many coaches were away this week and because of impending rink closures, a whole bunch of us showed up for a public. Naturally, the place was crawling with pre-teens who were flinging chairs all over the ice (they claim they need them to “learn” to skate!) and leaving them willy nilly in the middle of the rink. We all got on the ice and simply grabbed the chairs and starting putting them away. Only one obnoxious Mother objected, informing us that her son (who was happily skating away about 10 feet over) needed the thing since he “Could. Not. Skate.” I replied, “then why did you come to an ice rink?” She didn’t appreciate the logic. (BTW, no guard on duty) Still, in the annals of public session horrors this one was a win for the figure skaters.

Hung out to dry:

The five step Mohawk sequence would be much easier without the darn mohawks! This is my bête noir. Because of coaching weirdness and rink weirdness I won’t be able to test until 2011. I was striving for Christmas but oh well, c’est la vie.

[sk8pics]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

Yay! Congrats! :bow::bow:

[dbny]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.

CONGRATULATIONS!


My friend tested the Dutch Waltz but messed up a step so she will retest next month.

The Dutch Waltz is part of the Preliminary Dance Test, and as such, is quite specifically an "encouragement" test. I think it is just bad judging and nasty to fail a skater for messing up "a step", as two patterns are skated. I saw a Dutch Waltz test where the skater forgot the steps (meaning at least 3 in a row) and still passed. She got them right on the second iteration.

[aussieskater]

Congratulations Skate@Delaware!

[GoSveta]

Neatly Pressed: Working on forward jump entrance and I think I got it (it's the most difficult thing for me... I wish waltz/axel didn't exist, TBH).

Skates feel good (they don't leave me wishing I had stayed home 5 minutes after putting them on again). Training's going generally well, I'm just not getting much coaching time, ATM, but that is something I must discuss with the applicable person.

Hung Out: I'm still extremely one-sided. Having some issues with looking down, and my shoulders have a mind of their own, apparently... They are quite violent when they decide to go the opposite way they need to go... Any tips?

[Skate@Delaware]

The Dutch Waltz is part of the Preliminary Dance Test, and as such, is quite specifically an "encouragement" test. I think it is just bad judging and nasty to fail a skater for messing up "a step", as two patterns are skated. I saw a Dutch Waltz test where the skater forgot the steps (meaning at least 3 in a row) and still passed. She got them right on the second iteration.
I agree! The skating director (who is also the head coach as well as a coach at U of DE) was ticked! They nit-picked every little thing on every skater.

She was late in the swing roll the 2nd time around (and it was almost left out, but it did get done, although rather quickly). The first pattern was perfect.

[Isk8NYC]

it's official, i passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.
bravo, s@d (s@d)!!!!

[Laura H]

It's official, I passed my pre-bronze moves test! Details to follow.


Congrats!! That is fantastic . . . good work!

I did not do so well with Bronze MITF - well, it really wasn't THAT bad, actually I thought I had passed, and I kind of think my coach did too!! but the judge was looking for a little more . . . lots of little nitpicky things to work on . . . but now I understand that the test not only needs to be powerful but look effortless and beautiful too!! (and I'm sure it wasn't intentional, because the elements that I didn't pass, were pretty close point-wise, but actually, I think the only positive comment was "keep skating" OUCH!)

BUT - I did pass PB FS in the afternoon with extremely positive comments (from another judge though!!). So that went well and made me feel a little better.

The whole test experience was VERY emotionally draining this time around - lots of random stuff going on behind the scenes (coach on crutches from an injury a couple of weeks ago, my grandmother died this past week, etc. etc.) and to top things off, I was scheduled as one of the 1st 2 skaters to skate, which didn't help AT ALL . . . like, one of the comments on the forward power perimeter crossovers (first pattern) was that I looked "stiff" . . . umm, hello, I am 42 and it is 7:30 in the a.m. and I am skating in a short dress in a completely silent arena with one judge watching - that's a no-brainer!!! LOL!!

[Isk8NYC]

Congrats on the Pre-Bronze Free, Laura H!
So sorry to hear about your grandmother's passing and the Bronze Moves retest. (((Laura H)))

They nit-picked every little thing on every skater.I've heard similar things about our area testing. One coach remarked that the last high-level MITF test session was a "bloodbath." Not one skater passed. I didn't see it, so I don't know what happened, but it's an issue.

I was skating just okay with my SuperFeet (blue) inserts, but I decided to switch back to my new skates' original leather insoles. No good - I'm definitely off-balance and falling to the outside. Back to the SuperFeet and maybe a blade wedge or two.

[Kim to the Max]

I've heard similar things about our area testing. One coach remarked that the last high-level MITF test session was a "bloodbath." Not one skater passed. I didn't see it, so I don't know what happened, but it's an issue.

At the last test session, looking at my test papers, coach said she thought that the judges were being overly harsh because of the upcoming changes in moves. That they were being so nit-picky because they thought people were just throwing tests in to get them passed before the change.

[Skate@Delaware]

At the last test session, looking at my test papers, coach said she thought that the judges were being overly harsh because of the upcoming changes in moves. That they were being so nit-picky because they thought people were just throwing tests in to get them passed before the change.
Well, that's something to think about, although that doesn't excuse being overly harsh and failing a move/dance when it would have previously passed :cry:.

Laura H I'm sorry you didn't pass-I felt the same as you, I was in the 3rd group up, taking the ice at 7:50 am. We had a humidity problem and it was too late to take a hit from my inhaler. I could not catch my breath very well and using my inhaler was out of the question as I get shaky.

My coach made sure that I did a thorough off-ice warm-up well beforehand (at 48 I need all the help I can get to start moving that early in the morning).

Question of the day: is it necessary to take the freestyle test or can one just keep taking the moves tests? Just wondering....

[Isk8NYC]

You can take Moves tests without testing any Freeskate tests, all the way up to the top tests.

The only issue is with competitions: if you've tested more than two moves' levels higher than your freestyle, some people feel that it gives you an unfair advantage. (Not saying it's true or not, it's just the perception.)

[Skate@Delaware]

You can take Moves tests without testing any Freeskate tests, all the way up to the top tests.

The only issue is with competitions: if you've tested more than two moves' levels higher than your freestyle, some people feel that it gives you an unfair advantage. (Not saying it's true or not, it's just the perception.)
Thanks! I'm not in any hurry to test Bronze (nor am I close to being ready). I wanted to know so I can plan ahead.

[drskater]

Adding to the scuttlebutt...I've heard that more people in my area are failing lately--can't tell if it's because skaters are testing before they are truly ready or if the judges have become more picky. It is so difficult to get a good picture, since there's so much variation in standards across the country.

[Isk8NYC]

I was just thinking about varying standards last week. An adult skater said she was worried that the judges would be tough in her area because there are very few adults. I wondered if taking a test in an area with a large adult skating population would be more fair, or if the presence of other adults would drive up the judges' standards, making them more tough?

Neatly Pressed: Swapped the insoles, they felt better after I added a wedge under the outside edge.

Hung Out to Dry: Can't stay to skate today after teaching because I have to get somewhere else.

[Kim to the Max]

I was just thinking about varying standards last week. An adult skater said she was worried that the judges would be tough in her area because there are very few adults. I wondered if taking a test in an area with a large adult skating population would be more fair, or if the presence of other adults would drive up the judges' standards, making them more tough?

One of the things that my mom said when I told her this past time that didn't pass and after I told her that I hadn't passed was that she thought it was because I was an adult. I am not going to move like a kid any more and I don't think the judges in my area are used to seeing an adult testing higher level moves. But, there is no basis for that... It is something to think about though. And I'm going to be that rusty wheel until September with these Junior moves if I need to... :)

[Skate@Delaware]

Neatly Pressed: had a lesson tonight, the first thing my coach asked me was "well, what now?" haha! I told her I was thinking the same thing when I skated on the earlier session! We started on Bronze moves, with the Power 3's. Very cool! Then we moved on to jumps. I landed my flip correctly, once she fixed my arms (grab the bucket). Then it was on to the sit spin....ugh! better but still needs work.

Hung out: sit spin is still icky but getting better. Coach suggested that I "squeeze my arms tight against my body" and I managed to hit another spin before the zam chased us off the ice.

Pressed: have another lesson on Friday, the last lesson of the season. :cry: Talked with coach about the spin seminar I saw advertised at The Gardens (in Maryland). She thought it would be good and not a conflict at all. I'm waiting to hear if it's for all levels & includes adults.....

[jazzpants]

Congrats, S@D! Well done! (You too. Laura H, on your PreBronze FS test!) :bow:

Hung Out:

Wasn't feeling too well today, but didn't want to cancel last minute. Besides, I've heard of skaters skating in much worse situation and mine is tolerable.

Neatly pressed:
Did okay power pulls. Got a couple of comments (nothing I don't already know.)

Back 3 Turns are better. Sorta found the spot on the foot where I should be now, along with how my torso should be.

Still hung out:

Still have issues with transitioning from FO3 to BI3

Neatly pressed:

I got something I've been waiting for. Thank you, Mrs. Redboots! :D :bow:

[icestalker]

Neatly pressed: Tried out my new blades and they felt amazing. I didn't get a chance to jump or spin besides a hurried 2rev scratch at the end but my 3turns were effortless. The instructor was having us hold the back inside edge after a outside 3turn for a count of 6 (beyond easy) and of course I couldn't resist speeding up, turning, and holding the edge for quite a bit longer than 6 counts :twisted: I haven't even tripped over the toepick yet!

Hung out to dry: I had to wait to try out jumps and spins since I didn't get to do any Saturday! Only two more days.. and even then I have to stroke around for about five minutes before the instructors split us up into our groups.. I know as soon as I step on the ice I'm going to be dying to do a backspin or a salchow! I'll have to sneak some in while the beginners' names are being called (us advanced skaters don't need to say Here, because it's easy for the coaches to see if we're there or not), just in case the coach decides to have us do footwork the whole time.

Neatly pressed: Beginning work on my September program soon, I have private lessons set up for the next few Thursdays.

Hung out to dry: Afraid of what my coach has in mind for me for said private lesson..

[momsk8er]

Talked with coach about the spin seminar I saw advertised at The Gardens (in Maryland). She thought it would be good and not a conflict at all. I'm waiting to hear if it's for all levels & includes adults.....

My dd did this last year. They divided into a high group and a low group. Don't think I saw any adults, but the Garden's is a very adult friendly place!

[Skate@Delaware]

My dd did this last year. They divided into a high group and a low group. Don't think I saw any adults, but the Garden's is a very adult friendly place!
Thanks! I still haven't heard back from them (will probably call) but my coach skates there and from what she says, it runs 50/50 between adults & kids so that is good to know.

Did your dd enjoy it? Did it help her or did she go for the social part (cause her friends were going)?

[sk8tegirl06]

Neatly Pressed Well, today was my first day back on the ice after graduation. I kind of made myself take a few days off, so I was itching to get back.

The rink at home has publics in the middle of the day, so it was a nice chunk of time and space to work on moves. Power pulls are slowly but surely getting better, on occasion I can even get the rip of the blade on the pull, but I definitely need to work on power. The pre-juv 3 turn pattern is getting stronger, but now I have to work on getting it bigger. Loop-loops actually had a little distance on them instead of up-down-up-down. Spins were actually nice and centered today.

Hung out to dry Well, I didn't take/pass the pre-juvenile moves test before graduation like I wanted too. But maybe I'll be ready by August to take that, and maybe just maybe if I can get that @#* backspin preliminary FS too.

[techskater]

Re: Test pickiness - I know in our area that passing a test is getting harder to come by, even things that would have passed even 6 mos ago. I am also aware of a few judges who have made it clear to the local clubs they will NOT sit on a test panel until after Sept 2. Take it for what it's worth...

[LilJen]

Neatly Pressed: Finally, finally, finally got my camera back working again after videoing myself 2 weeks ago on silver moves.

Hung out to dry: WOW, does it sure look as though I have no upper body control at all. That's the general impression I get seeing myself go through silver moves. Arms wavey, shoulders bobbly. And believe me, it ain't that I have no upper body strength. I don't know what it is but it isn't attractive!!

[icestalker]

Went skating today. Does anybody have any tips for getting through a program fast enough? I mainly have problems doing certain spins/jumps at speed so I end up doing the footwork slow too. Of course after my coach noticed me slowing down she made me do toe loops at high speed, of which I only got maybe 2 out of every 10.

Neatly pressed: WOW. I don't know what it was. But my jumps were so easy to land, it was like I was just stepping down into a cloud of cotton candy. I wasn't slamming onto the toepick then wildly rocking back and forth between the toepick and the heel before finding my balance. Just a gentle picking sound, then glide. Today was the first day I jumped on my Coronation Aces. Anybody else have this experience?

Hung out to dry: My 1:30 program is clocking to around 2:30. Speed, speed, speed! Oh, and my salchow has been scared away by my new blades.

This isn't really skating-related (well, maybe it is), but another Neatly Pressed: My allowance has been doubled because I've been good/helpful/mellow lately. So now I get $520 a year, which is enough to buy skates when I need them!! Also, my Saturday classes cost $135 per 8 week session, so when I advance out of Freeskate 6 and can't take them any more, $135 will pay for 4 private lessons, so I could take a private lesson every other week and not have to pay for it out of my money.

(Is a half hour private lesson every other week, and about 4-5 hours of practice, plus an hour group lesson every week, enough practice to land axels consistantly? Is it better to practice jumps in lesson or in personal practice?)

[jazzpants]

Hung Out:
Back power pulls on my right foot is still off due to the fact that my blade alignment is still off on that foot. What's more, my blade guy is on jury duty and cannot make any appointments 'til he is no longer needed for another year. :frus:

Apparently, I can't seemed to do RFI mohawks. Now I don't know if it's b/c of the blade alignment or it's just me, but right now I'm having a major mental block... :frus:

Neatly Press:
Well, I could still do a pretty decent power pulls (both forwards and back) on the left foot. :giveup:

ETA:
Just saw on his website that he's excused from jury duty for another year!!! Blade alignment is set for NEXT Tuesday!!! :D

[AgnesNitt]

Hung Out:
Back power pulls on my right foot is still off due to the fact that my blade alignment is still off on that foot. What's more, my blade guy is on jury duty and cannot make any appointments 'til he is no longer needed for another year. :frus:

ETA:
Just saw on his website that he's excused from jury duty for another year!!! Blade alignment is set for NEXT Tuesday!!! :D

Blade guy stalker! :lol:

[jazzpants]

Blade guy stalker! :lol:
Tee hee hee... nah... I contacted him yesterday and he was ranting and raving about jury duty and how he might end up on another Scott Petersen Case. (Funny observation: The blade guy's shop and my other rink is in Redwood City... same city as where the Scott Petersen case was tried... NO JOKE! :lol: ) And he kept making a comment about his website saying so too... (Yeah, yeah! Already saw that.)

This morning I went to check that website to see if indeed he was gonna do jury duty and his outgoing message is "he's not and is spared for another year!!!" So that's when I called him to set the appointment. I want this blade and my crummy power pulls and RFI mohawks FIXED NOW!!! :frus: (And I also need a sharpening too! :lol: )

And I know who YOU stalk online, Ms. AgnesNitt!!! :twisted: :lol: :P

[AgnesNitt]

And I know who YOU stalk online, Ms. AgnesNitt!!! :twisted: :lol: :P

Well, I wouldn't call it stalking. I just read his skating articles. Honest.:oops:

[jazzpants]

Well, I wouldn't call it stalking. I just read his skating articles. Honest.:oops:
SUUUURE... ;) :lol:

Yeah, he's a very popular writer amongst the adult skating crowd. At least two people "shared" his article on their Wall on FB! :P. Shame he had to miss out on competing this year. :( (But I know for a fact that he's doing very well skating wise. (He told me he's taking his Silver FS very soon.)

[Skate@Delaware]

Neatly pressed & packed away: had my last lesson for the season today. It was an extra "pick up" for today. Went well, we hit on another one of the bronze moves (back crossovers with extension) and sit spin, some jumps. She gave me some stuff to work on off-ice over the summer. I'm hoping to come back in the fall stronger.

Hung out: sit spins are blech (although one was on the money as far as being low enough). I'm off-balanced on the extension for that bronze move...it's my bad side so I'll be working with that.

Extra: we re-visited Ina Bauers...and they were somewhat better than before. I'm still working on flexibility & stretching so something's doing it for me! I'm going to the rink Sunday evening to watch the end-of-season exhibition! Not to skate, just watch! It will be fun!!!!

[londonicechamp]

Hi (this is for last Friday's lesson and practice session) (sorry have been working full time, and really busy at work, dead tired after coming home, so no time to go to this forum until now) :roll:

Neatly Press: t-stop- it is very strong on the right leg. My loop is getting there, just need to make sure that the arm movement is consistent, i.e. cross the arms only when jumping. Change foot spin: lost the first one, but luckily get the forward spin on the last one, and coach was well pleased. :lol: Learnt the change foot 3 turns, which was fun to do, and also rework on the waltz 3s was fun. :D Before I left the rink, even managed to do 50 revolutions in my one foot (scratch) spin. Most of the time the spins were good, anywhere between 30 to 40 plus revolutions. :bow: Was really not sure how I will hold up last Friday, as I was still recovering from a cough, but oh well..... :mrgreen: Got extra private lessons with coach the next two weeks as students cancelling lessons, due to the summer holidays. 8-) However, my coach always have last minute cancellations on my practice day- Tuesday evening. :P Hooray, extra lesson tomorrow night for me, as my skating buddies going on church camp, so I can take over one of their lessons. :evil:

Hung out to dry: disaster to add mohawk and landing position after straightaway learning the change foot 3 turns, as it just confused my brain. :giveup: Backspin still sucks, for some unknown reasons I always slip out of the right boot after about 1 to 1.5 revolutions. I think that besides body movement and posture, it can be to do with the fact that my blades have not been sharpened in 4 years. Anyway, e-mailed coach, she agreed to look at my blades tomorrow, and if I agree to leave the skates after my skating session tomorrow night, she will ask one of the coaches to do the sharpening for me, and pick up my skates during my next skating lesson day on Friday. Hoping that will have no silly accidents on ice on Friday. :!: T-stop on the left leg sucks- coach said not to worry, as we always have one side stronger than the other. No time to practise jumps. Not really great to have lesson at 7:30 p.m. as I finish work at 6:30 p.m. By the time I arrive at the ice rink, and get change, and do some warm up sessions, that will be about 7:20 p.m., if I am lucky. Well, still better than no practice though.

londonicechamp

[Skate@Delaware]

Been a few days since my rink closed for the summer. I'm going to set up a time for my pair skating & a lesson up north (U of De) sometime....in the meantime, I've been working out. Trying to gain more strength in my legs (for my sit spin LOL) and extension. Taking summer classes at the college....they are condensed but it will lighten my load come fall (so I can skate-cause I really missed it last semester!)

[RachelSk8er]

Well, after being in a skating funk the past few weeks (not really even wanting to skate), I finally had a good lesson.

Neatly pressed:
Spent most of it on my junior moves. After today, I feel like like this test by September may actually happen.

--My choctaws keep getting better and better to where I now find this pattern almost fun--never thought I'd hear myself say that (they're better now than they were back in October when I was about to test @ Buckeye in Nov but then got injured). I actually surprised myself today with how good they were the first time I did them, I had speed and timing and edges and everything. Need to just work on the cross in between, right now I'm not using that to gain more power so the last set on each side winds up being slow/flatter than the first two.
--Rockers are better, my coach is just really being picky (outside are passable, still need a little work on the forward insides, my LBI have been pesky lately, too, but better than on last week's lesson).
--my spins were good today, my coach had me working on various sit/camel combinations and we focused a little on the transition from one foot/position to the other. My back sit and back camels are getting much stronger and the positions better and I'm getting more (and faster) revs on both. Forward sit getting lower, too.

Hung out to dry
--the stupid power pull/quick rocker pattern. It's getting better, just a matter of getting the parts all working together. If I think about one thing, something else goes. But they were better today then they have been in along time (since before I fell and hit my head doing them in April) and I am starting to be more aggressive again.
--axel...ugh. :frus:

[Debbie S]

Neatly pressed: Can now do crossovers. Had a doc appt last Wed and was hoping to be able to go back to doing everything, but a small portion of the bone (tibia) still hasn't healed, so I can't do turns on my left foot. Doc said bending and leaning are OK, just no twisting of the leg. So I re-learned crossovers and last night attempted to practice the power circles. My coach also taught me the Dutch Waltz. I don't know if I'll ever get around to testing the dances, but at least it gives me something to practice.

Hung Out to Dry: Power circles were completely lacking in....um...power. This is going to take a while. And I've completerly lost it on RFI turns - can barely hold the FI edge and wait for the turn. RFOs were OK - I actually got a few at the top of the lobe when I practiced along the blue line.

[jazzpants]

Neatly pressed: Can now do crossovers. Had a doc appt last Wed and was hoping to be able to go back to doing everything, but a small portion of the bone (tibia) still hasn't healed, so I can't do turns on my left foot. Doc said bending and leaning are OK, just no twisting of the leg. So I re-learned crossovers and last night attempted to practice the power circles. My coach also taught me the Dutch Waltz. I don't know if I'll ever get around to testing the dances, but at least it gives me something to practice.

Hung Out to Dry: Power circles were completely lacking in....um...power. This is going to take a while. And I've completerly lost it on RFI turns - can barely hold the FI edge and wait for the turn. RFOs were OK - I actually got a few at the top of the lobe when I practiced along the blue line.
DEBBIE S!!! :bow: :bow: :bow: Glad to see you're back on the ice again!!!

Hung Out
Last Wed. I had my blade on my right boot re-aligned again!!! Unfortunately b/c of this whole mishap going on with my blade alignment being off, I had lost my RFI mohawks. Cannot trust that foot to stay on the RFI edge. Am relearning RFI mohawks now. :frus:

Neatly Pressed:
At least my edges are MUCH easier to do!!! My primary coach had me do some simple edges and RFO3's and after some corrections, there were easy to do and easy to check again. :bow: I did more power pulls and at least now I know which edge I'm ON!!! :twisted:

Hung Out:
Today with my secondary coach it's spiral day!!! Ummmm... not that great considering that I have a crowded FS session. And to add to that she wants a back spiral??? 8O

I did get a chance to do Chinese spirals today. Ummm.... I've haven't practice those in a while... :oops:

And no primary coach next week. He will be at Theatre On Ice Nationals! :D... ummm.. I mean :( . (Nah, I enjoy his lessons. Really! :P )

[Kim to the Max]

I passed my junior moves today!!!!

[jazzpants]

I passed my junior moves today!!!!
FINALLY!!!! ABOUT TIME!!!! :bow: :bow: :bow: Congratulations!!!! :mrgreen:

[Isk8NYC]

i passed my junior moves today!!!!
bravo!!!
congratulations kim!!!

[aussieskater]

Congratulations! :bow: :bow: :bow: :lol:

[dbny]

i passed my junior moves today!!!!

xxx CONGRATULATIONS! xxx

[drskater]

I passed my junior moves today!!!!

So cool! congratulations! You are awesome.

[Debbie S]

Congratulations, Kim! :bow:

A test session in my area today was a bloodbath. Out of 6 skaters at my rink/club testing Nov through Senior, 1 passed. There were about 10 tests each of Nov, Jr, Sr at this rink, and most were retrys, I heard. 8O :twisted:

[londonicechamp]

Hi

Congrats Kim!!!!!! :bow:

As my skates just got sharpened, my coach needed to make sure that I can still do basic moves, as she needed to make sure that I could feel the edges.

So we started off with basic stroking, t-stops (feel a bit sticky, so the coach sanded down the edges a bit), 3 turns, waltz 3s, and mohawks.

Then we carried onto jumping.

Neatly press

Did waltz jump, salchow, toe loop. Coach said that she noticed remarkable difference in my jumping after the sharpening. :D Then we tried the loop. Now after the sharpening, loops are definitely better. I could feel the edges, and jump better. Coach also noticed that I can now do the glides before the jumping too. She is well pleased. :lol: She said that my blades before are really rough. :( My coach thinks that it must be coz after the sharpening, the edges are sharper, and I can feel them. Jumps are definitely wider too. :mrgreen:

Noticed that am able to do my sit spin better after the sharpening too. :D

Booked my next course of private lessons too. Noticed that there is now a level on my lesson registration form, said Freestyle level 3. As still working on level 4 stuff, so it is fair to say that I am still on Freestyle level 3, I suppose.

Backward 3 turns are better after the sharpening. :P

Did work on edges, crossrolls and forward crossovers to cool down before I left the session. These feel great too. :!:

Hung out to dry
Lose the spins a bit, as needed to get used to the feeling of the spins again, and finding my sweet spot. Coach sanded down my blades again. However, she said that she does not want to do that too much, as the problems will be able to correct themselves anyway. :roll: Worked on spins after practice, lose the change of foot, in terms of the forward spin in the last one. However, still managed to do about 44 to 46 revolutions, compared to my 50 revolutions before the sharpening, in terms of the forward scratch spin. So not that bad really. ;)

Backspin still sucks. However, they are better than before. Hopefully will be able to work on these better, in a couple of sessions time, when I get used to the feel of the blades after the sharpening.

londonicechamp

[Kim to the Max]

Thanks, everyone!! Here is a more proper update about my test :)

Had my normal meltdown on Thursday. Didn't happen for a while and coach was getting nervous (if it doesn't happen BEFORE the test, it tends to happen DURING the test...). My meltdowns are never destructive to others, I don't yell, scream, kick the ice, etc...I just get very, very focused and frustrated with myself if I screw up...

My sense of humor returned that evening when I suggested to coach that we come up with some sort of bribe for the judges :) Our ideas were quite inappropriate, but funny nonetheless!

The test session was running about a 1/2 hour behind because they didn't have many tests and were giving people a few more minutes to warm up (which, I would prefer them running behind for that!).

My warm up was good...I was able to get through the rockers okay with a few corrections from my coach, power pulls were awesome although coach said that those needed to be my 2nd best pattern of the day, and then the choctaws were giving me issues...they were a little wonky because we had been working on fixing something (getting on deeper edges) and in the process, we broke what I had...

For the test I didn't push as much as I wanted to or as I normally do on the forward power circles. Back power circles were much better. Rockers I did well. Almost hit the wall on one set (my pattern tends to get bigger when I'm nervous and this rink is bigger than my normal rink :roll:). I have an issue where I change the edge on the entrance to the RFO/RBO rockers...luckily I didn't get dinged too much on that one. Power pulls were very good. Did almost meet the wall again on the last rocker/rocker on the left foot and had to do a bit of a skiding turn to not completely bite it...but I pulled it off...gave coach a bit of a look when I went to get a tissue after that one... Choctaws were okay...I messed up one set and didn't get strong edges and bobbled a little, but it was okay.

One judge passed me by .4 over! One passed me right on standard, and the last one gave me a retry, but not by too too much. My favorite comment was at the bottom of one of the papers:

"Has good speed, courage, soft knees, and power. Keep up your hard work and enjoy skating" :D

It feels good to finally have my hard work pay off. Now on to Intermediate Free and Senior Moves!!

[aussieskater]

"has good speed, courage, soft knees, and power. Keep up your hard work and enjoy skating"

lol!! Good luck with your next test!

[AgnesNitt]

Hung out to Dry:
I'm very unhappy with my in skate orthotics, while they put my foot in a better position, and I skate better they hurt like the dickens.
I'm very unhappy with my custom skates, they're stiff enough for doubles and no ankle notch, even though I ordered them for figures. Getting knee bend with the painful orthotics is just awful. I just leave them in the car in the summer in the hope that they'll rot and I can buy new ones. The Big Guy was shocked, "I don't know you anymore!" he said.

Neatly pressed:
Today the pain in my right foot got so bad I took out my orthotics and made some adjustments. I have to skate with really really loose lacing over the foot and tight lacing above the ankle. What I need is stretchy laces over the foot. Bunga cords? The pain's a lot less this way.
Then I discovered that I can now do eights (about 40% of the time) without tipping with my toepicks. Okay, this is easy for most people, but it's hard for me, I'm moving a lot of mass. So progress.
Now I don't know the reason, is it that I adjusted my boots and orthotics or is it because for a month I've been doing an hour and a half a day of aerobics and weight lifting. Who knows. Skating is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done. Can't wait til they get a rink here again so I can skate every day.

[toepix]

Hung Out to Dry - I've had an awful cold/chest infection for over a week. Unfortunately this means that my eustachian tubes have been blocked too, and have been getting horribly dizzy on spins (even waltz threes).

I keep scraping my pick when lowering my leg back on the BI catchfoot spiral! Still!

Neatly Pressed - waltz jump is good! I have a decent amount of air time and a good yard and a half of distance, just need to focus on lifting the takeoff leg to look neater. And to translate it all to my horrific Salchow.

FI brackets - done!

[RachelSk8er]

Neatly pressed:

Got out of the office on time today to make it to a session at the rink closest to work. This rink is generally hard to practice moves on because the club there as a whole is pretty young (as in it's not out of the ordinary to be on the ice with a bunch of skaters and not a single one taller than my shoulders) and I never see kids working on moves really above pre-juv or juv. I'm one of two adults who skate there (and the other has a sweet double axel so the kids stay out of his way out of fear). But generally had a good session.

Junior moves!! Ran each element twice today, then spent a little time on the power pull/rockers. Power circles were sucky because I was dodging other skaters and coaches. Forward inside rockers were better (still not great, but steadily improving), same with the back insides. Outsides about the same as the past few days. Choctaws were OK, no real improvement but again I was dodging other skaters. BUT I spent a great deal of time on the power pull rockers and am getting much more aggressive. Making the right shoulder/hip connection so the turns are getting quicker and more confident (still a ways to go but steady improvement is good). Still jerking the power pulls a bit with my free leg/hip, particularly going into the last set when I've lost speed, but I'm going into the first set with more speed than I used to (and usually have to dodge kids at center ice because they can't take the hint so that kills my speed and gets me off my axis) :frus:

Back sit was strong today too. Getting much lower and faster revs.

Hung Out To Dry:

Flying camel. It's getting A LOT better. I'm being more aggressive with it and my back camel position has really improved over the past month or so. But I tend to hang out on the toe too long and end up cheating. When I cheat, I fly into a good spin. Trying to get rid of the cheat, and when I don't wait too long and don't cheat, the spins stinks. My timing just must be all off, I'll have to remember to work on that in my next lesson.

Didn't have time to jump today :(

[londonicechamp]

This was for Tuesday's lesson and practice:

Neatly Press
Coach's student turned up for lesson on the dot, but needed time to do warm up first, so coach took my lesson half an hour early. :mrgreen:

Forward crossrolls are with deeper edges and deeper knee bends.

Waltz jump was not too bad.

Toe loop was good.

For the loop jump, getting closer to getting the full rotation. Just needed more height by having more bent knees. :D

Worked on 1/4 of the ISI freestyle level 4 dance step sequence. This was fun, except needed to make sure that the backward 3 turn is really a full rotation turn. :(

Hung out to Dry

Needed to pay attention to the edges of the backward crossrolls.

For the first time, backspin was on the correct little toe edge. However, had tendency to lean to the wrong side. Will take some time to correct this. :roll:

Spins were so so. As pulled my pelvis muscle some time on last Saturday, only managed to do up to about 44 to 46 revolutions in my one foot spin (scratch spin). Considering the injury, this is not too bad. :P

Also, due to the bad back, scared to fall on the sit spin. Managed to get down low, but did not manage to keep the number of revolutions for long. :evil:

Needed reminding of the correct landing position during the jumps and spins. Have to constantly reminded myself of this during practice. :roll:

Pending confirmation from coach of whether I get extra lesson with her next Tuesday, when I normally go for my practice. She said that she won't know as two of her students working in IT industry and often only called up to cancel the lesson on the actual day itself. :!:

For the salchow, had to do the side kick position after the outside 3 turn.

Coach will be away for 3 weeks vacation after my lesson with her next Friday. :cry: Strange policy in rink that when coach is away, cannot get another coach to replace your coach during her away period, unless you finish your current course of lessons with the coach. :x

[doubletoe]

One judge passed me by .4 over! One passed me right on standard, and the last one gave me a retry, but not by too too much. My favorite comment was at the bottom of one of the papers:

"Has good speed, courage, soft knees, and power. Keep up your hard work and enjoy skating" :D

It feels good to finally have my hard work pay off. Now on to Intermediate Free and Senior Moves!!

Yay!!! A big congratulations!! :bow:

[ibreakhearts66]

I guess it's about time for me to post about a practice.

I've been off the ice for 7 weeks. I might as well tell you all why since I know you are all safe, supportive people to talk to. I was in the hospital for 6 weeks for anorexia. I lost a pretty significant amount of weight, so before I went in, my skating was really starting to suffer, hence the lack of practice reports. It's very strange having to readjust to a new body AND have to remind my body how to skate at the same time.

Neatly Pressed
-Axel jump is definitely bigger than before I went in. I would assume getting some muscle back is a part of that, but I also had a great lesson with a new coach the week before I went in, so I was able to remember SOME of what we worked on.
-Double toes were very light and controlled.
-I landed double sals and double loops
-Got back my camel spin and layback pretty quickly
-I actually INCREASED my flexibility while in the hospital because we were allowed to stretch with the recreational therapist.

Hung Out to Dry
-I have absolutely no concept of my edges right now. Cross rolls, power pulls and the Novice spiral sequence are somewhat frightening. Rockers and counters are still ok, though.
-I also have no concept of how to control rotation, so I'm really overrotating at times.
-Lost proper timing on the sal and the loop. I can still manage to land them, but they're not as big as they used to be.
-My outpatient program runs 6 days a week, so I can only really skate Sundays or, in theory, weekday mornings. I would just need to find time to, ya know, eat...

[dbny]

(((((ibreakhearts66)))))

Sorry you had to be hospitalized, but that's better than the alternative. I'm so glad you are getting outpatient treatment and are able to skate again! Stay well!

[aussieskater]

(((ibreakhearts66))) I'm so glad you're doing the outpatient program. Please take care - anorexia is an evil disease.

[Laura H]

Yay, finally managed to get a lesson yesterday (no ice last week, no coach the week before!!). Thought we were going to work on programs for upcoming competition . . . but . . .

Hung Out to Dry: Coach pulls out my MITF evaluation form . . . uggh. Have been totally ignoring those Bronze patterns since the test session. But, avoiding it won't make it go away . . . LOL! Actually, the scores weren't that bad in retrospect, I had passing scores on the backward perimeter stroking and backwards crossovers to outside edges, 2.4 on the forward perimeter stroking, 2.3 on the 5 step mohawk and power 3's (and heck, that includes a freak fall on the mohawk pattern, so that's really not bad, considering). so, we discussed the judge's comments and I ran through all the patterns again. The only things that I will still classify under "out to dry" is the power 3's because I need to work on "flow" but they weren't too bad . . . still fighting one transition (RBO to the step into the LFO 3 turn) and I have an idea as to what I am doing wrong (something with the arms and not holding the check) so I am just going to keep working on that until it gets comfortable.

Neatly pressed: 5 step mohawk is actually better, I just had to pay attention to the first mohawk & make it stronger, I was kind of fudging on the weight transfer before, gotta make it a true transition so I am solid on the exit edge!! Also coach wanted me to hold the back edge a little longer (3rd step I think?) which was actually not a problem to do, I was just rushing it, so I just had to point the foot and REAAAALLY exaggerate that edge, and then it looked OK, apparently.)

And that was about all we had time for, except she did have me do a few waltz jumps and then we got focused on trying to get me to kick through more (or, should I say . . . at all!), and that pretty much got us to the end of the lesson. Not quite sure what the problem is, but I will break it down this weekend and see if I can figure it out. It's something to do with the transition from the RBO edge to the step into the LFO for the takeoff (hmmm, same as the problems with the 3 turn pattern!) . . . weight is not solidly on that left foot, so the takeoff is sort of wonky and I think I'm jumping around myself, so of course ZERO height.

Hoping to get some skating time in this weekend!! Been doing too much running around lately, and not enough time at the rink . . . where I'd much rather be, anyway!

[Laura H]

(((((ibreakhearts66))))) - glad you are able to be back on the ice again and I'm also glad you are getting treated for the anorexia - sorry you have had to be going through all that. :cry:

[drskater]

I was in the hospital for 6 weeks for anorexia.

Everybody here wants you to be healthy; thank you for sharing. Take good care of yourself and let us know how you're doing.

[jazzpants]

(((((ibreakhearts66))))) Glad to see you back on the ice. Yes, as you already figure, eating healthy and having a healthy amount of weight is very important to being able to skate well. Keep up with the outpatient program!!!

Hung Out to Dry: Spirals.... let's see... my secondary coach told me her team coach says "You have the Swastika spiral." :giveup: :lol: My answer to him when I skated by him afterwards was "Heil, Hitler!!!" LOL!!!

the rest of the session, my body just didn't feel like skating, no matter how hard I tried to make it go skating. Lower back, legs... :( :cry:

Neatly Press: I just found out "The Chack" is now coaching at my rink!!! HOLEY MOLEY!!! 8O :bow: (He was there since at least last week... but then I thought he was just a mystery skater who knew my primary coach... Mystery is now solved!!!)

[londonicechamp]

This is for my lesson and practice on Friday night:

Neatly Press

My coach said that my forward stroking is good, though I need to bend my knees more. We also did crossovers at both ends of the rink.

My coach taught me progressive runs. This is fun. The move is not really cross over, but then I have to have my leg slide over my boots. Also did chasse. Got extra push at first, but then got it in the end. :D

Loop jump: not too bad, getting the rotation, but needs to work on height. :P

Sit spin: getting lower, needs to make sure that I keep my number of rotations in that lower sit position.

Forward spins: practised lots of these. Not too bad. Maximum I did is anywhere between 20 and 46 revolutions. :lol:

Chinese coach's wife was asking me about how to do a pivot spin, as she cannot do it. She was amazed at how centred I can do the sit spin. :bow: She must be impressed. :P Her husband, the chinese coach, then went up to her, and said that I am his ex Chinese friend's friend (this chinese coach and the ex-chinese friend were in the same team before, the ex-chinese friend emigrated to Australia with his wife later on). The chinese coach's wife and I then started chatting.

Hung Out to dry

Did not attempt to practise too many of the sit spins, as my sore pelvis problem seems to come back from hours of sitting in the office. I did not want to fall on the ice, so as to make the sore back even worse. :evil:

Coach said that backspin is getting better, and I need to keep working on them, so that I can progress onto ISI freestyle level 5 in the future. :o

Skipped the jumps as did not want to strain my pelvis area further. :cry:

Almost last week of school holidays here in Singapore, so the kids are getting crazy at the rink. They were breaking rules, and the ice stewards had to keep on blowing whistles at these kids, upon the request of the ice rink management. :?: The ice stewards later had to put cones around the area where the chinese coach was teaching his high level freestyle skater how to do a double jump.

[tazsk8s]

This is for the past couple of weeks:

Hung out to Dry: I've gone back to working out with my old off-ice trainer. It has been working really well and my coach could see the positive effects on my skating almost immediately. Last week, I was doing squat-jumps in the off-ice class. Came down completely wrong on one of them, and my left knee just buckled (this has been my "trick knee" for years anyway). Hurt like you-know-what. I am walking okay on it, except for going walking down the stairs, where it's still painful and weak. It's improving enough that I don't think it's serious, just a lovely sprain and have just been icing it and taking it easy the last week or so, but really. I'm SO TIRED of being injured. I just started feeling like I'm moving forward again after the layoff from my broken wrist.

Neatly Pressed: Obviously not a whole lot since I couldn't skate much. Yesterday was my first attempt. Since the pre-pre moves are getting close to testable (just need to get the stupid spirals a little higher, I think), we worked on the new figure-like move that will be in Preliminary come 9/1. It was....interesting. Coach grew up when figures were required and liked them so she is thrilled to be able to teach them in some form again. I'm not getting the "enjoyment" thing, really, but I do see where they are good for teaching edge control and such. One of the rinks close by has a public tonight and at this time of year they are usually empty, so I think I'm going to wrap the knee again and see what else I can do tonight. If nothing else, I'm only out 5 bucks. :lol:

[Bill_S]

Neatly Pressed: After Thursday's roller session (extremely hot, inside temps around 90F), I decided to make the drive to Columbus Ohio to the Dispatch Ice Haus for a noon session on real, cool ice.

While I've been doing spins on the PIC skates - about 3 or 4 revs if I'm lucky - I immediately nailed a fast, centered scratch spin on the ice within the first 10 minutes of the public session. It is SO much easier to spin on ice!

BTW, what's wrong with you Columbus, Ohio skaters? In the entire $4 public session, there were never more than 6 people TOTAL. The ice is the best I've ever skated on, the huge windows along one wall are good for the soul, parking is free, and it's EMPTY! It's all going to waste!

There was another fellow my age on the ice the whole time - Jeff from Logan, Ohio - who has some native talent. His style was unconventional, and he was unafraid to be himself when skating. It's not test-passing style/material, but he had a lot of interesting expression in his arm gestures and steps. It was obvious that he just loved skating. I should do a documentary photo project on some of the interesting figure skaters I meet.

I pushed hard the whole 1-1/2 hours of skating,and came off the ice soaking wet. Today, I'm paying the price of 2 hours of vigorous roller-skating on Thursday, and the time on the ice yestereday. My upper thighs are complaining today. It doesn't take long to get out of shape.

[AgnesNitt]

Worked on edges, two foot brackets,counters,rockers, back edges, back crossovers, and strikes.

Neatly pressed:
I can do clockwise back crosses with flow and good position. Hooray! One way down!
My forward edges are solid. Flow, position, speed, shape. I've seen freestyle adults with nice jumps at this rink who can't do forward edges as well as I can. Now coach is working on my strike (more later).
Then we started fooling around with two foot brackets, counters and rockers. I can do this.

Hung out to dry:
Everything here has to do with my left leg.
My counterclockwise back crosses have toe pick drag and my back stroke (the left leg) is weak. Also I have foot drop with the left leg.
A strike should be at a right angle to the skating foot.I can do that with the right foot not with the left. We spent 15 minutes working on getting my left foot to go to a right angle for a strike. I have the CURSE OF ONE CLOSED HIP!
Relearning back edges--nothing to see here, avert your eyes. Coach is making me do it the grown up way with the arm swing and starting facing down the line and everything (wail)