Grand Slam or Wooden Spoon, Lessons & Practices 30 March-5 April 2003

[Mrs Redboots]

Robert is watching England beat Ireland (yaaay!, but it'll put him into a bad mood, alas, him being Irish and all) in the Rugby, hence this week's title.

Wooden Spoon: The clocks went forward yesterday, and it meant we had to get up in the dark an hour earlier than usual - just when we were getting to the stage where I could dress in the light, too. :(
I ran through my Free Dance first thing when there wasn't a queue for the music, and it was not a success! Partly because I had to slow down to avoid someone, but I went into the Spiral far too slowly and then felt tentative going into the spin. And probably looked even more tentative. So I wasn't best pleased with that. :(

Grand Slam: Ooh England have won the Six Nations!!!!! :bow: :D (let us not gloat aloud when Sir is going "Oh drat!" in the background :roll: ). But we had a good practice, running through our exercises. Still when we did our swing rolls in waltz hold I felt Robert wasn't holding his forward extension long enough when he was going backwards, and he felt I wasn't tracking him well enough. The coach asked us to do that exercise again in our lesson, and I felt then that I couldn't follow his shoulders when he did his RBO swing (my LFO one). Tried to explain it but got my left and right muddled up again.....

We worked on the Swing Dance and the Canadian Cha-Cha, which have both improved, and then did the Fiesta Tango, which has also improved but I'm having trouble with the step to forwards. You do RBO, LBI cross, then RFI, and it's not easy. The secret is to consciously come up in the knee on the LBI, and then you remember to bend into the RFI. And least, it works for me, but it needs practice.

After our lesson we didn't have long to practice as I was preaching and needed to get home to change and get ready, but we did run through a Rhythm Blues while someone had the music on. We did two beautiful patterns, then I either caught my toe-rake or didn't bend my knee enough, and lost it rather. Oh well.

Robert is still having problems with the timing of his Hickory, but it's looking reasonable. Will be better when he remembers to look up all the time - and why can a man who can do back runs (progressives) to die for have such a horrible LFO swing roll? :roll: :?:

[melanieuk]

Grand Slam
A week off.
I had a good lesson .
The lutz has plenty length but no height.. :(
Needs more *spring*.
A bit wooden spoon there.

Backspin playing up, but got a few out - only about 10 revs max.

Jump sequence : loop, skip, chainee turns (?) flip. It works better with the skip rather than the half loop.

Camel doing fine although in my lesson it rocked. As in "back and forth," not rocked as in "great/magic/fab". :roll:

Field moves could always be better but they weren't too bad.

[DancinDiva]

Grand Slam: My bunny hops are coming along nicely:roll: How foolish I feel saying that! LOL Tried spread eagles for the first time, and my instructor was pretty impressed. I guess 18 years of dance lessons have paid off, because I had no trouble turning out far enough to get a decent spread eagle. Also worked some more on back crossovers, and saw some definite improvement.

Sort of OT, but I finally felt brave enough to wear a dress to my lesson tonight, and what a difference it made! Not only does it give me more freedom of movement, but I also felt more like a real skater.

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by DancinDiva
Sort of OT, but I finally felt brave enough to wear a dress to my lesson tonight, and what a difference it made! Not only does it give me more freedom of movement, but I also felt more like a real skater.

ITA!

Grand Slam:

I'm skating at about 80% now - physical therapy has really helped. I have pain for the first 4-6 jumps then the muscle settles in and is ok. I've started running my program again, and have landed the axel in my section work. Maybe AN will be ok after all :D.

[JDC1]

Wow, I know nothing about rugby but congratulations Annabelle!

DancinDiva, maybe wearing leotards etc. in ballet helped the skating dress feel better but I am not wearing one until I test. I absolutely HATE the idea but am getting more used ot it.

Grand Slam - I landed a cheated loop like 4-5 times last night!! Woo hoo. I finally understand the mechanics of the salchow and was having successs with them last night.

Wooden Spoon - I am so NOT a natural spinner but I progress inch by inch/

[Alexa]

I have started a class again after some time off. It is interesting to see the different approaches to teaching that the different instructors offer. My last experience was very good, as we did not work on a lot of skills, but focused specifically on alpha skills and really worked on improving a small set of skills.

This time I have an instructor that jumps from skill to skill, and chooses skills that we honestly should probably not be able to do quite yet. It is actually kind of funny. We started with a quick review of swizzles and one foot glides, but then went on to all kinds of stops...some I have done, some I have not. After that we suddenly jumped into edges and 3 turns. The 3 turns surprised me a bit so early as that is not even an alpha skill--I think it is beta at my rink. But it wasn't so funny that we were trying it, but I got the feeling our instructor actually thought we would be able to do them just like her. Maybe some of those that are very quick learners can do them right away, but usually skills like the mohawk and 3 turns take some practice and edge work in order to get them.

So, it was fun overall, and I don't mind trying new things, but you get the feeling you are skipping a few steps between here and there.

[susan6]

Wooden spoon:
My camel spin seems to have disappeared one week before adult nationals. I was going through my program and I kept messing up the camel. Then it occurred to me that I'm skating to a piece of music that is named after a city we're bombing the crap out of. Great. Bad mojo. I also have a sore muscle at the top/inside of my left leg (aka my spiral leg and my camel leg).

Grand slam:
My sit spin seems to be lower. My sal-loop is pretty comfortable. I like my freestyle music even if it does have bad mojo; I haven't gotten sick of hearing it yet. My interpretive program might be pretty cool if only I could skate it perfectly. I got good advice on switching from a forward sideways leaning spin to a back sit; keep the shoulders rotating.....it seems to work pretty well.

[Mrs Redboots]

Wooden Spoon: My Interpretive/Artistic programme was horrible today, simply couldn't make it do anything. Don't know what was wrong (but have sneaky feeling was chatting to friend instead of warming up, which might have had something to do with it!). First run-through of Free Dance was also dire.

Grand Slam: However, after that things improved dramatically. Second run-through of Free Dance was terrific, and then we did exercises. I was put to doing forward cross-rolls while the coach went to fetch his coat - they were laying carpet tiles in the pros' room this morning, and all the pros were taking their turn. I went in to get my boots, and there was one of them kneeling on the floor measuring up for the next row of tiles, so I went: "Oh, I'm so glad to see you kneeling at my feet!"

Anyway, back to my cross-rolls, which were the best I've ever done! I kept finding the running edge, and maintained my speed all the way up the rink, and back down it again, AND back up it when my coach said "Let's see!" So I am very pleased with them. And with my BO edges, which are still not fast enough, but I found the edge and didn't lose it until almost at the end of the rink - huge progress! As a reward :?: I was taught a counter sequence - I've not done counters before, but was made to do a RFO/RBO counter and step into a LFO/LBO one... surprised to find I can actually do the left one, even without holding the coach's hand, but the right one still has a toe-tap! :D So all in all a Good Skate Morning!

[tidesong]

I went back on the ice today. Just did stroking and some spins. I realized that alot of footwork was out of the question because my right outside edge causes my ankle to hurt sometimes, so I stayed on the inside edge. Amazingly, my ankle seems better for the skating, I half expected myself to do something stupid and limp home, but that didn't happen. So I'm feeling alot better, funny how just about two hours of stroking can chase all that blues away. :D I'll rest my ankle again... maybe I'll go stroke again next week.

[batikat]

Originally posted by susan6
. Then it occurred to me that I'm skating to a piece of music that is named after a city we're bombing the crap out of. Great. Bad mojo. I like my freestyle music even if it does have bad mojo; I haven't gotten sick of hearing it yet.

I can relate to this. My kids skate their pairs program to a piece called 'Old Baghdad'. We picked this out about 2 years ago and it had no negative connotations at the time. I tell myself it refers to the old state of Persia way before any of the present day troubles and it is a great piece of music. They are skating at the British Novice Championships next week so we dont' have time to look for anything else!!!

I dont' have any skating of my own to report as our rink is holding it's Open competition this week so no lessons.:(

[sk8ing is lyfe]

my session today was OK... not AMAZING but definately not BRUTAL...

AMAZING... just as the zamboni was coming on i said what the hell and tried a triple toe... i landed it so i put a triple toe on the end... my first 3toe/3toe...

i landed some CLEAN triple loops today...

OK... i was having some preblems getting my 3sal to work.. but when i got them, they were good... i landed a 3sal into 3toe, but then fell on a double flip

BRUTAL... i was doing 3flips, but they weren't working today, i was doing doubles then turning forwards and falling... it was awefully sad...


i think the session averaged out to be alright.... actually pretty good...

[melanieuk]

Wooden Spoon!

On a positive note, I had nice empty ice. :)
I did field moves twice over. The worst ones are the back crossroll things. I can't stop my upper body from rocking. I need a stick up my back or something. :roll:
Anyway, I tried to run through my neglected programme without music only to find the stamina gone! The flip is not in the right place, and I haven't a clue where to change it. The step sequence was going all in the same direction and I can't DO anything else very well to make up a new one.
The loop-loop has lost its flow - don't know why.



Grand Slam!
The BACKSPIN has improved. I can't imagine why. Of course there are still the aborted attempts, where the inside 3 turn is mis-timed, but when I actually get on to the outside edge, it is working. I tend to wait too long before pulling in. If I rush it, it goes all wrong.
If I get it right on time, I found I had a little bit of bravery and pulled in faster.
Surprise surprise, as scary as it is, I didn't fall over.
*****This is a breakthrough!!!!*****

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by melanieuk
Wooden Spoon!

The worst ones are the back crossroll things. I can't stop my upper body from rocking. I need a stick up my back or something. :roll:
You and me both - I just find it impossible to keep my weight in the right place. My coach says you have to lean way back, further than is comfortable. I grumbled that it was all very well for him - I have dance blades!

[wa_skater]

Grand Slam!
Lesson today was much better than earlier lesson this week. Coach and I continued work on program coreography including smoothing out small jump combinations, some footwork and some artistic moves. It's really coming together and is going to be a really nice and pretty program when it's all done.

The other good news is that I have three additional weeks to train before competition May 16! I was orginally supposed to be in a local competition April 25, but they cancelled my event. So instead, I'll be in the next local comp which is May 16. I'm happy for the additional three weeks to train.

The other grand slam this week was that I kept to my workout and healthy eating despite a large amount of stress. That is always a challenge.

Wooden Spoon
Major anxiety this week. Lots going on outside of skating that is stressing me out and distracting me from my skating. I had a hard time relaxing on the ice during lesson on Wednesday and so while simply practicing fundamental power stroking and crossovers, I couldn't get my legs to do what I wanted them to. Left very disappointed in myself. But I'm glad that I came back with a decent attitude and had a better lesson today.

[Mrs Redboots]

Nobody has skated much this week, I think! Yesterday I went down to the teatime patch for a practice and to say "goodbye" to some friends who are off to the USA for a month - lucky them. The youngest skater of the family is to take her inter-Silver Field Moves when she gets back, to make sure she practices while she is out there!

Anyway, Grand Slam: Quite a good session; worked on all my exercises - changes-of-edge, cross-rolls, back edges, swing rolls - not chassés, though, not quite sure why. Ran through some of the more difficult bits of my free dance to try to get them smooth. Had hoped to run it through to the music, but didn't get round to it. Also worked on my one-footed turns; discovered that (as I had thought) I more-or-less can do a LFI counter (like the one the man does in the Argentine Tango), and can very nearly do the two outside ones I was shown in my lesson on Wednesdays. Interestingly, if you do them with a swing entrance, they make the same pattern on the ice as a 3-turn does! In fact, I got rather better tracings from them than I do from my inside 3-turns :oops:

Wooden Spoon: Had to come off the ice about 10 minutes early as developed a weird sort of cramp in my rectum and similar areas. Made myself feel really rather unwell, but it passed off fairly soon. All the same, I didn't feel like skating this morning and have dozed most of the day. And, although I don't bet, I'd picked my horse for the Grand National, and it was pulled up quite early on. :(

[mikawendy]

Originally posted by DancinDiva
Grand Slam:...Tried spread eagles for the first time, and my instructor was pretty impressed. I guess 18 years of dance lessons have paid off, because I had no trouble turning out far enough to get a decent spread eagle.

DancinDiva--if you can do a spread eagle easily, you should ask your instructor to teach you an ina bauer. If you have the turnout for one, the other may come easily. I can do ina bauers (taught them to myself by fooling around), but I'm not good at spread eagles. They just look like mohawks that stay 2-footed instead of having a one foot to the other foot transition.

[mikawendy]

Grand Slam--
Had first lesson in 6 weeks due to time off for tendinitis in knee, infection in foot, bad cold/sinus infection, and volunteering at Worlds. It felt *great* to skate, and there was a lot of room on the practice ice (last few times I've skated, it's been in the coned-off middle of a public session).

Spins were great today--I wound up with a lot of knee bend and was able to rise up very centered--it felt like the rink was going around me rather than me going around in it. I had a few good attempts at scratch spin and a few good plain one-foot spins.

My RFI 3 turns are improving, finally. Not up to par with FO3s yet.

Wooden Spoon--
Started working on traveling FO3 turns (ones that don't just start from standstill). They feel completely different than starting from a standstill. My hips seem to be in a totally different position, and I almost feel like I'm trying to jump over the front of my blade instead of letting the blade do the turn.

Also started working on doing FI mohawks after crossovers (instead of from a standstill). All the speed I generate in the crossovers is too much for me to handle during the mohawk, and I freak out!

[jenlyon60]

GRAND SLAM:

I Passed my European Waltz today!!!


Can you tell I'm a happy camper???

[singerskates]

Originally posted by sk8er1964
ITA!

Grand Slam:

I'm skating at about 80% now - physical therapy has really helped. I have pain for the first 4-6 jumps then the muscle settles in and is ok. I've started running my program again, and have landed the axel in my section work. Maybe AN will be ok after all :D.

Glad to hear that you're feeling better and able to jump again. That really sucked that you had to pull out of Wyandotte. Oh, by the way, Kristen and gang were there at Red Robin's the same time we were. They were just hidden away in a corner. LOL

I'm competing again on the 12th of April in Thornhill north of Toronto, ON. There are 3 of us competitors in both the FS and in the Interpretive FS. So I'll be getting a medal in both events but which one, I don't know. It's going to be a fun weekend for me. I'm going to probably guest skate at the Toronto Cricket and Skating Club and at the Markham Skating Club so I can get more miles on both of my programs before competing. Got a hotel room for both Friday and Saturday, so that I'll be well rested this time around. No sleeping on ice this year.

To get a link to the competition go to http://www.skatecanada-centralontario.com/Irma/2003%20Fun%20Adult/default.htm to see who is competing and what the results are.

Can't wait to check out the US Adult Nationals. Want to see how my US skating buddies fair.

Brigitte

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by singerskates
Glad to hear that you're feeling better and able to jump again. That really sucked that you had to pull out of Wyandotte. Oh, by the way, Kristen and gang were there at Red Robin's the same time we were. They were just hidden away in a corner. LOL

Thanks Brigitte! You are doing the A2 Spring Invitational, right? Me too, assuming everything keeps going in the right direction. See you then, if not before.

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by jenlyon60
GRAND SLAM:

I Passed my European Waltz today!!!


Can you tell I'm a happy camper???

Congratulations :D :D :D :D !!!!!!

[jazzpants]

Originally posted by jenlyon60
GRAND SLAM:

I Passed my European Waltz today!!!


Can you tell I'm a happy camper???

YAAAAY!!!! NO MORE EWWWWWW!!!! :P

http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/kao/otn/pcheers3.gif

Congrats to you!!! :D :D :D

(Edited for Adrian fixing the signature thing that was undid for Worlds...) :P

[Mrs Redboots]

YESSSSS!!!!!!! Well done, Jen!

[singerskates]

Originally posted by sk8er1964
Thanks Brigitte! You are doing the A2 Spring Invitational, right? Me too, assuming everything keeps going in the right direction. See you then, if not before.

Actually, do to unforseen financial difficulties, I couldn't registar for the Ann Arbor. Sobeys had cut everyone's work hours which made my paycheck incredibly small. I will be in severe debt from the Skate Canda COS Adult Spring Skate as it is. Never mind that my Canuck (Monopoly) money is worth next to nothing. I would have had to play $180 Cdn to enter two events. I still haven't paid my coach since February. I'd love to win the lottery and then I'd gladly pay the late fine to compete at Ann Arbor. I was really looking forward to competing there too. Drat. What can I say? No cash. No competing. Sorry.

Brigitte