Spiffing/Splatting Lessons+Practices 1-7 Dec

[icenut84]

This is for yesterday morning:

Spiffing:

In my group class, forward and backward cross rolls were both good, consecutive FO3s, double 3s (coach told me my FO-BI double 3s were excellent! Yay! :mrgreen: )

Haven't jumped for a few weeks to give my knee a rest, started back on some again today. The good thing was I could still do them all! :) Even a few loops. The only one I didn't try was a flip. At one point I was doing salchows and trying to get more height, and on one I actually did get more spring in it and my coach couldn't stop laughing at the expression on my face as I was in the air, shock and fright I believe! lol

Dance lesson - all the dances we went through felt good (canasta tango, fiesta tango, swing dance, british waltz, canadian cha-cha). The mohawk in the fiesta and swing was much better too, and not as scary as it was.

I was fooling around before my dance lesson and made up a circular footwork sequence! 8-) It was fun! I've been meaning to do that for a while. :) I put 8 different turns in it - FO3, FI3, BO3, BI3 (including a double 3), inside open mohawk, outside closed mohawk, BO-FO step and BI-FI step. I'm gonna work on it next time too, making it more varied and jazzy and maybe add some hops and edge changes and other bits and maybe a jump on the end! :D Footwork seems to be my best "element", better than jumps or spins.

Forward spirals. Did a bit of the LBO3-LFI mohawk sequence (so easy to get dizzy on that!) BI pivots, footworky things like different mohawks.

Practiced spins (2 foot, 1 foot, different ways if getting into it etc). Still there, if not as amazing as I'd like. But at least the 1 foot seems to be getting a bit more consistent, even if I'm not rotating as many times round as I'd like...

Splatting:

I forgot to use my arms on the first toe loop :lol:

Likely no more skating for three weeks! :cry:

When doing jumps in my lesson, I took it careful because of my knee, and it was ok but I started to feel it when I got onto loops. I think we've got the culprit - or what aggravates it anyway. At least I'll get to rest it now anyway...

Spirals caused me a bit of pain :(


Happy skating y'all... see you in three weeks... :(

[Mrs Redboots]

Spiffing: In our lesson this morning I actually managed to do a Swing Dance all the way through and was on an edge on every step! And our Fiesta Tango and Canadian Cha-Cha were, for us, reasonable. Especially once Robert realised that it makes everybody's life easier if he brings his left shoulder forwards as he does the cross before the step to forwards - "Who'd have thought such a little thing could make such a difference?" (Well, we all know little things make huge differences in skating). We also did our Rhythm Blues after the lesson. I do hope we haven't peaked a week too early....]

Tonight was the Winter Festival, and I gave my new Interpretive programme its first outing. The audience adored it.

Splatting: But the judges didn't! In fact, I thought they were a bit mere with the marking, although I hadn't expected to finish other than last. In hindsight, I should probably have asked to do it as an exhibition, as it wasn't really the right class for that programme. Still, I did what I wanted to do with it. We are going to rechoreograph it a bit on Wednesday, though, as it's a bit uneven - it starts great but tails off a bit and needs another highlight.

The ice this morning was packed out and adrenalin-filled as we had skaters preparing for the British Championships, our Winter Festival AND next week's Dune of Flanders cup all on the ice, all queuing for the music, and all a bit stressed..... but we survived.

[singerskates]

Well, it was really cold in our rink today. Everyone was freezing. The contruction on the side of the building is letting in the cold air. The temps have been around -5 C for day time highs. It took me half of my session to warm up today. Not the usual thing.


Spiffing:
waltz
toe loop
flip is getting ever closer. Actually was able to cheat a flip and add a toe loop of the end of it
outside inside spiral getting stronger
RFO 3's getting better in footwork sequence
LFI op mo getting a bit better
Ice dances; Canasta (strong fast edges and steps that I've never had before), Baby Blues (same as Canasta) and Fiesta ( better stronger back edge steps coming out of the RFI OP Mo. Just need to remember to get my right arm back before stepping forward) I can see that I'm going to be able to test all three of these dances this year.

Splatting:
salchow - my mortal enemy!
back spin Need help from my coach
My coach once again wasn't there.

I'm going to have to talk to my coach and find out why she didn't come. I moved to my current club so I could be coach more by her and she hasn't been showing up lately or leaves just before my session. She hasn't been there for the senior sessions either. I didn't mind that she wasn't there for November but since I'm feeling better and can actually try stuff again, I'd like my coach to be there to help me out. I can't see what I'm doing wrong and I can't bug other skaters' coaches for help. I need to call her tomorrow and see what is up.

Brigitte

[melanieuk]

Splatting
Nothing literally splatted since I didn't do anything that would cause me to splat.
Like Annabel's, the rink had an air of excitement/dread/anticipation due to the British Championships, starting tomorrow. I'm going, btw, to spectate of course! :roll:
My skate-bud was in, so we "practised" together, but neither of us was being very successful - her at her double lutz and me at the single 8O ). Since I'm off ice for a week anyway, I decided not to worry about the lutz.
My coach has this ability to make me do it!
I didn't do much.... a few splattish backspins, of which about 5 were ok - NOT a good ratio. :cry:
The other jumps were ok, and I managed an axel exercise - but no attempts today. ;)

Spiffing
I know British elite skaters don't really compare with the top nations in the world - at least not this year!
I've been to a European championship and seen the best there is (Alexei Yagudin ;)) but I've never ever been to a British Championship.
Anyway, I am really looking forward to it, and want to send out lots of positive "you can do it" vibes to all the skaters (plus a little extra for my favourites!)
It would be great to see an exciting competition and not a splatfest.
I'm not saying GB skaters fall on their triples all the time (well I am a bit, I suppose) but more that when they do fall, they might as well have "I give up" tattooed on their foreheads.
There's so much more to it than the triples!
Don't give up - never give up.
Make the most of the time you spend on your feet.
Every little helps.
Be confident and proud!

[MissIndigo]

Spiffing:

Not much from yesterday. Ever have one of those days when you're just kind of blah and not in the mood to be at the rink? Coupled with a crazy public session, I just wasn't into skating. The session was not crowded but there was enough chaos for me to have to hold back. Maybe that's why I didn't feel into it.

The best thing about being there yesterday was goofing around with my friends. :) And, spins were centered well. Even sit spins, which are getting lower.


Splatting:

Couldn't feel my knees yesterday as I did last week. I felt stiff all over. My left knee collapsed in several camel spins and I don't know why. Therefore, combination spins weren't even about to happen. :(

Sigh. Try again next time I suppose.

[jenlyon60]

Spiffing: Not much. Made it to the rink on time but that's about all. We started working on alternating crossovers for Bronze MIF and coach started re-building them to make sure that I had a good strong FI on the transition, and that I was rotating my upper body the way he wanted. Tough to do, because I had acquired some bad habits working on these on my own, but when I came close to doing them the way he wants, the CW progressives were the smoothest I've ever done.

We also worked on alternating back outside crossovers to back outside edge, and all my old habits were back, so we're working on getting my transitions smoother, getting my head turned the direction of travel, and stronger crossovers with longer edges.

Finally, a bit of 5-step mohawk sequence...

[flo]

Just sniff: sick, so I figured the best thing I could do for my skating was not to skate. I really want to go, as we just finished my choreography for the new interpretive program. Oh well. Perhaps tomorow.
I'm skating through it in my head, and designing the costume. It's going to be a fun one!
Hope all had a happy Thanksgiving.

[JDC1]

Haven't skated in almost a week - went away for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Splatting - couldn't do too much yet because of my left knee so nothing too splatting but the fact that I can't spin or do any waltz jumps, salchows or toe loops or flips. :(

Spiffing - I actually got around on the back spin a few times. My problem is getting my leg up and in the correct position. We did lots of edge work since I cannot jump much and it was actually pleasant and Double 3's both inside and out were pretty good.

[sk8er1964]

Splatting
Literally. I went down so hard yesterday on a double salchow that I felt it throughout my body. Today I ache all over. As my mother said (even 38 year olds need their mom's when they hurt ;) ), I'm not 14 any more. I think I've learned a good lesson about dropping my right side on take-off, which is a bad habit of mine on the single. Hope I'm able to move by the time my lesson rolls around tomorrow.

[Yazmeen]

Splat: The first half hour today, after 10 days off the ice. I spent a week on the island of Saba in the Caribbean. It is warm, beautiful, and MOUNTAINOUS--many many hills, plus a hike through the rainforest that lasted three hours. Got back on ice today, and for the first half hour, my muscles didn't know what to do. They wanted to walk up hill in 85 degree weather!!!! :lol: Seriously, I skated like a rusty truck with flat tires at first. I had to rediscover my edges, waltz jump, half flip, etc. Luckily, I found it funny, not upsetting.

Spiff: Attempts at my program by the end of the session. It all finally came back to me, thank goodness!!

Its interesting how spending a time doing another form of exercise could actually shift my muscle memory like that for a bit. It honestly took a while to get to anything resembling normal form. Verrrrrry interesting...

Beth

[Mrs Redboots]

This for ice-dance club last night:

Splat: With a major competition at the end of the week, I found I really didn't want to dance anything that I wasn't going to do there, although I did dance the Level 3 compulsories with Robert, who may have a test soon. Nothing majorly wrong, except the final step of our Fiesta Tango needs more work than we are going to have time to give it. And we messed up the end pattern of the Swing Dance a time or two, as well - mostly it was okay, though. And in the Golden Skaters' Waltz, I thought Robert was jerking when he tried to lilt!

Spiffing: The ice was better than it's been for weeks; not perfect, but not at all bad, either. Nice and fast, which I always like - we did a couple of fantastic Rhythm Blueses, and a really nice Canadian Cha-Cha, too. Fingers crossed for the weekend..... And I finally realised what is wrong with Robert's swing rolls - when he is skating solo, he tends to jerk his upper body forward, which makes him look as though he is kicking a football. Fortunately, he doesn't tend to do it when he is skating with a partner. And, sadly, however much I criticise his skating, he is and always will be a better skater than me!

[Blue Line]

Splatting: I was always a streaky player in other sports, so it does not surprise me that I am a streaky skater, too. Things that just weren't there today:
a. Jumps
b. Edges
c. My brain
I wasn't horrible, but I didn't feel "on," either. Jumps felt low and conservative (I will blame my Thanksgiving meal for that!). When I was working on edges, my upper and lower body did not feel like working together…and so I am going to sit them down and give them a stern lecture on cooperation before my lesson on Thursday!

Still struggling with a "swingy" Salchow. Coach decided that doing it from a mohawk might cure the habit of letting the 3 turn do all of the rotation work for me. Anyone else do their Salchows from a mohawk? Coach and I only walked through it, and I'm pretty sure that this change is going to feel mighty strange for quite some time.

Spiffing: Scratch spins. Who would've guessed? They were centered and they were fast and, though I still am not holding them for a massive amount of revolutions, I'm getting a lot more comfortable with them.

Toe loops. My most reliable jump. They're like that pair of sweatpants that you put on after wearing a pair of restricting, gut-sucking, trendy jeans all day.

[Terri C]

SPIFFY:

For Monday:
Due to a cancellation, my coach asked to take me for my lesson on Monday as opposed to Thursday afternoon. Turns out to be a good thing, as we may very well have ice/ freezing rain/ sleet, snow, etc in Southern VA starting tommorow afternoon.

Now to the SPIFFY part:

I LANDED MY FIRST LOOP JUMP!!!

This was only from a standstill position, but after three years of trying, who cares?


SPLAT

After a crazy day at the hospital, with a headache, I went to the rink for practice, only to find that the Zam chose to take the afternoon off. Even though part of the ice was cut, I still was not comfortable to go out there and waste a practice pass, knowing that the ice would be worse later!

[batikat]

Well, today made me remember why I love skating - after a totally splatting day yesterday when my heart just wasn't in it and I was ready to give up. Most of yesterday's session was spent rehearsing a group number for the upcoming panto which I was initially enjoying but now it has changed so much from the original version which I really liked and to me it is now so much less interesting to do that I rather lost heart.
:(

Today however I got the chance once again to dance with a man!!!!! It is so much more fun dancing with a partner and we had such a laugh that I realised skating was fun again! We even finally sussed out how to do the swing dance and end up on the correct leg at the end pattern - a big breakthrough believe me. We even managed a few 3 turns a la the British Waltz and ran through a few other dances.
Then I had a bit of time to practice freeskating and although my sit spin was a big splat and not much else was very good I enjoyed trying. The rink had Christmas music playing (too soon, too soon!) so I tried to practice things in time to the music.

The really spiffing bit was in my lesson where we were trying to choreograph my new Free Dance. I do love watching my coach making up programmes - though I think he sometimes forgets who he is making things up for and gets extremely over ambitious with his moves. I like the fact that he has such confidence in my ability to do the things he comes up with (even if it is sadly misplaced confidence!) and merrily throws in back spirals and choctaws and what he terms 'interesting' moves (I think this means no-one in their right mind would even attempt them). Great fun!

Guess the moral is that I am not really a team player (well not unless I can be in charge!!:lol: )

Happy skating!

[Mrs Redboots]

TerriC, many congratulations on your loop jump, and may it be the first of many.

Rather a mixed bag today, so I won't use labels. It was our last practice before the Dune of Flanders Cup - HELP!. Robert was able to come down for an hour, so we went through all our dances, including his test dances. We had the ice to ourselves, and were allowed to use the music, so we had a good run-through. I do hope we can do the Swing Dance and the Fiesta a bit better than that on the day, though - they are much, much better than they were last time we had to compete them, but still not very good. The Rhythm Blues and Canadian Cha-Cha, though, assuming we do them that well, are nothing to be ashamed off.

After Robert left, it was time for my lesson. We rechoreographed my Interpretive - I knew this was going to happen, and had had some thoughts about it, so it wasn't too hard - and then worked on my changes of edge and backwards outside edges for a bit, before a final run-through of the new programme. After which, I was seriously tired....

And next time I skate, it will be in France..... and next time I skate at my home rink, it will be Under New Management.....

[JDC1]

Congratulations Terri on your loop!!

Spiffing - fun practice, adult only ice and it was really not crowded. Focused on back edges and double 3's and spirals. Am really working hard on ending my spirals by curling my extended leg up and curling back toward the leg. Catchfoot spiral went well and I did a move (spiral?) I don't know what to call it but I've seen lots of skaters do it, I grab my right blade and bring my leg up in the air (kinda like a y spin) and hold it.!!!! I've wanted to try that for so long and I felt loose enough last night to try it.

Splatting - still can't get that darn loop. I think we need to try another entrance into it the 3 turn the jump just isn't working for me. Couldn't do power pulls because it hurts my left knee and I really need to work on those.

[garyc254]

Originally posted by Terri C
I LANDED MY FIRST LOOP JUMP!!!


YOU GO, GIRL!!!!! :D :D :D

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by Mrs Redboots
And next time I skate, it will be in France.....

GOOD LUCK!

And congrats on the loop, Terri :D

[TashaKat]

Originally posted by Terri C
SPIFFY:


I LANDED MY FIRST LOOP JUMP!!!

This was only from a standstill position, but after three years of trying, who cares?



Well done :) That's really cool ..... I remember my first one well, it's a GREAT feeling :)

Lx

ps If anyone has found my love of skating can they PLEASE return it? I was looking forward to coming back, didn't do TOO badly and then ...... found out that I'd lost my coach :( Since then I can't be bothered and there isn't anyone else that I'd take lessons from :(

[JDC1]

Because of Thanksgiving and eating too much I decided to skate an extra night this week.

TASHA KAT - Get thee to a Learn to SKate or Basic Skills class with 5 year olds and you'll get your love of skating back!! If that doesn't work then watch your favorite performances on tape.

Spiffing - Generally skating backwards and back crossovers are vastly improving since I cannot jump or spin on my left leg. Did a lot of stroking and posture and abdominal control and basically tweaking work last night and it felt really good.

Splatting - nothing really but my back is getting a tiny bit sore from too many spirals and my left knee was hurting and I forgot the brace last night!!

[Mrs Redboots]

[ps If anyone has found my love of skating can they PLEASE return it? I was looking forward to coming back, didn't do TOO badly and then ...... found out that I'd lost my coach :( Since then I can't be bothered and there isn't anyone else that I'd take lessons from :( Quick, quick, hop on a ferry to Dunkerque (we could even give you a lift if you can be at mine by 8.30 tomorrow morning - genuine offer!) and come and cheer the British Adult team - that'll restore your love of skating!

Also, aren't you moving to Sheffield? There are some great coaches there, and I would be happy to recommend a few, but not on-line.

[garyc254]

Originally posted by TashaKat
ps If anyone has found my love of skating can they PLEASE return it?

OH NO, TashaKat!!!!!!! :cry::x

What happened with your coach? :??