I've made a break through in my way of thinking of myself as a skater....I was always thinking of myself as a chicken, too chicken to jump, too chicken to do 3 turns and mohawks. The change began as I worked with my waltz jump with my coach and realized that when I "wheenied out" of my waltz jump, it was not fear, it was because I was not set up properly and no normal person could jump in that position. I realized the same thing while working on power 3s today ...I'm not rushing the 3 turns so much because I'm such a chicken I want to get it over with, I'm rushng it because my body is so twisted that I have no choice but to turn before I want to. This is the opposite of "it's all in my head." It's not in my head. It's my technique. And this is good news because it's much easier to fix technique than my head.

Has anyone else experienced similar epiphanies?

j

Yeh me too, I often go back and forth between its all in my head and I'm not doing it right!

So let me tell you the strange thing I have been practicing -> every day I just glide on each edge, forewards and back, with the goals of trying to stand tall, staying off my toepick and hold open/ closed shoulders and hips and free leg. I concentrate on what feels most uncomfortable. THis helps, for example, to control the exit from outside Mohawks and choctaws; I glide on BO edge with free foot tucked in at my heel, chest out and free arm and leg open, looking where I am going (ie head rotated open too) now arch my back and try to deepen that edge and if things are working hold my arms straight up over my head (woohoo)!

Another adult skater asked me to help me with her FO3's yesterday "what's wrong, I keep curling in?" Nothing is wrong with the three, she can't hold the exit position of BI edge with free shoulder and hip open, which means she can't check on her exit. So I had her work that position and after a while she had a little more check.

Lyle (OTOH Patsy thinks it really is all in my head )

LOL!!! You know, given how I've addressed my loop and flip problems last month, the appropriate title would have been this:

"Yeah, it's all my head! Fix my technique to deal with it!!!"

Yes, I have found that I would start and learn something from my primary coach until I'm "almost there"... and then my secondary coach finishes the job b/c she's more nit-picky about the small details, which is what I need to fix my problems. (There were also a couple of small things she fixed where she would say "Yeah, no wonder you're scared. Your body is all wrong going into this! I would be scared too if I did them that way too!!!" )

(Hmmmm? Maybe I should have her look at my camel spins then! )

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Absolutely! I wasted lots of energy and collected lots of bruises going for the axel when I was first landing it. But once I became more aware of what takeoff edge and body position I needed in order to make the jump, I learned to just abort before taking off if it didn't feel right. It's not cowardice, it's awareness! My double toeloop, on the other hand, was all about chickening out, LOL!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

That's certainly been the case on some things, but it isn't the case on my LFI3s, which I can do absolutely perfectly when holding on to my coach's finger, and invariably either rush or bottle when trying them alone. Sigh....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Yea that's how it is with step behinds, my coach will tell me my body position is perfectly safe to put that foot behind me, but I jest can't do it...

j

One of my coaches often tells me I am hesitating on my moves pattern and you just have to push, but I think something feels funny. She says it looks fine. After I further pick the move apart, I realised I was on a flat before the turn. So when something doesn't feel right their usually is a reason. Once I realised the problem the move was fine

Yes!! It took me a while but I finally realized that every single fear I got, especially when it consistently appears (I don't really know how to explain it but once I put my finger on it I can feel the difference between a technique fear and a generic mental fear), comes from a technique problem.

Sometimes, the fear prevents me from getting the right technique, eg really bending knees for power pulls. I did finally get over that one and realized its exactly alot easier than I thought

However, alot of other fear of jumping is due to weight in the wrong place for me, eg dropping one shoulder or the other, having the upper body pre rotated, not checking my edge before the jump. Not having my weight squarely over my hip over my ankles.

I realized that these things tends to place higher stress than your body is accustomed to on certain muscles when trying to keep your center of gravity over your blade. Unfortunately the first reaction for me and I guess quite a few of us here is to feel 'fear' instead of oh... i'm not squaring/checking etc again... but when I figured out which technique problem was related to what "fear" my feelings start to help to point out to me what I should be doing. And this has resulted in a much more productive season for me.

I would like to add that ballet helped alot for me to understand how my body works too.

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Tidesong