WOW, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
Take care of that ankle, though. I prescribe a few days of rest. . . preferably on your laurels.

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

Congrats on passing JR MOVES!!

Lovely Music: I can skate! Learning these moves is interesting I have never done the lower moves. I started at intermediate, these are very helpful even though I tend to forget the power 3's (french 3's), the new move on the pre bronze is impossible to do with speed. Even starting from a stand still I barely get 4 sets in, 3 works much better. My coach says my waltz 8 is very pretty, the bronze test is much easier. I can do my brackets on all edges and obviously 3 turns but RO rocker, not yet, R knees doesn't have correct bendy action.

Annoying Static: Paperwork for AN's and Sectionals not that I am doing anything difficult, solo dance and moves for sectionals and artistics (2) for AN's.

Put up video of me skating on my Blog, click where it says Movie up top, if you watch remember, 4th day on ice new boots and blades, and 3 month old hip. I have no extension and just barely remember the dances (Euro and R Fox) but...I did make it around the ice.

__________________
Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

CONGRATULATIONS on passing your Junior Moves, myste12!!! WOW WOW WOW!!!



(Now rest that ankle for your own good!!! You want to get a good start on the Senior Moves and working on it with an injured ankle is NOT it!!! Besides, you've EARNED the rest anyway!!! )

coskater64: You make those edges look so easy on those dance videos on your website! We hate you!!!

__________________
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!!!

Lovely Music
skating again after a 2 week holiday shutdown.
Jumping again !!! I love to jump !!!
Gliding, twirling and just skating. Feels so good!

Finally going to be able to buy new skates !!!!! Excited, even though it's going to take weeks before I get them, cos I have to get modified boots to fit my truly horrible bunions.

Static
lousy ice, hot weather making the ice melt.
As always, my spins stay on holiday for weeks after I take a break
Damn I hate that !
Getting balance back

Stiff sore hamstring muscles and butt myuscles after my first session back. Can't believe how much muscle strength I lost in 2 weeks

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Wow.. that's a BIG one. I've been told by many of our local judges anyone who can pass Junior Moves can pass Senior fairly easily.. if they just remember to "perform as if there's music on" during the test, instead of "just skating".

One Club actually DOES play music during the moves tests - the SD said it relaxes the skaters and judges.

__________________

One of our clubs used to play music during moves tests too... in fact, when I took one of my moves tests I was happy about it.. it made me feel better (not to mention, it covers up slight scratchiness). But about halfway through the judge-in-charge called me over and asked if I wanted them "to turn off that terrible music". In my one fast thought for the day, I said I hadn't noticed any music and they could leave it on. (probably NOT what the JIC wanted to hear -- since apparently he was the one it was bothering!

[Lovely Music]

Did some nice high flip jumps last night.

Worked on axels some...not too many because my legs were tired.

Spins were okay...

Moves were decent...the back double 3s were actually quite good as was the slide chasse pattern....brackets....'doh

[Annoying Static]

Axels are still not fully rotated.

Didn't skate too hard last night because my legs were tired, and I have a lesson today at noon, so I wanted to make sure I was okay for that.

We play music on our test sessions, very quietly but just loud enough so it's not dead quiet. We have to keep it soft so the judges can hear the rips of the good edges....

__________________
Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

More Annoying this morning than anything: Yes, my RFO3 turns in particular are very screwed up somehow. Coach noticed when picking for the half-flip that I tended to pick wide. . . whyyyyyy can't I control my free leg???? And the more spins I did during the lesson, the worse they got. When will I find my center? Oh, I am impatient!

__________________
"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Short answer: iPods!!!

Long answer: iPods!!! Serious...if it's just you on the ice patch. It relaxes you and the judges can concentrate on hearing the rips of the edges (or the scratchiness of the toe picks ) and doesn't have to subject to "that terrible music."

Of course, in my case, I prefer not to have it on. I need to hear my edges and troubleshoot myself as I go along the patterns...

__________________
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!!!

On our test sessions, I would not want the skaters wearing iPods while they tested.

We double-panel almost all of our tests (although certain Intermediate/Novice elements are alternated for safety, most Junior MIF elements are alternated and all of the Senior MIF elements are alternated).

But then my club is consistently in the top 3 in terms of total number of tests conducted (MIF, FS and dance) annually (last year we were #1).

Great club to trial judge at, in terms of opportunity and volume.

__________________
American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Lovely:
I got to skate for aaages today - school's shut cos the boiler broke So when I got there at two, there was only about five people on the ice. Wonderful
Anyway...
Spirals: Higher (I think...no lesson today), MUCH more confident with them...
Crossovers: Deeper, more bend, more confident again, both forwards and back.

And the ice!! When I got there, the ice was wonderful...smooth, softish...empty

Annoying:
Waltz-jumps decided to leave me today...but I wasn't really working too hard on them this session, so I'm not too upset

Erm...that was about it! It was a really good session overall.

[lovely music]

Coach and I did a full run through of my moves today.

They were okay...some small fixes I need to make...but, I can do it! Pretty much t-minus 3 weeks until the test session...coach asked if I was going to freak out beforehand...we'll see....I also need to decide if I'm going to skate the early morning session before the test (6am-7:30am)...

My power circles were okay...backwards were off...coach is getting me a copy of the darn metronome CD so that we can make sure the tempo is right...

Power 3s - good, need to work on the CW, making sure I'm pointing my toe and getting my feet a little quicker

Double 3s - very good, transition on the inside needs to be quicker so that I'm closer to the 1st 1/3 on the first three

Brackets - getting better...I think that one is a confidence thing seeing as I pretty much despise that pattern...

Slips and Rips (Slide Chasse) - just need to do some more presentation on them...otherwise, not bad...

Coach is trying to get me to do the adult synchro team next year...it all depends on the $$$....

Coach also commented on the axels she saw on Tuesday and how she was a little surprised Of course, that was part of my super-secret plan

Thanks for the congratulations everyone!

Lovely Music:
My ankle's feeling better, not good yet, but not intensely painful anymore. I did skate this morning and walked through most of the senior moves patterns with my coach. I took it really easy on my ankle and just got the basic idea of the patterns down. There was certainly no speed or power to my skating today! I also skipped the left foot side of a few patterns (spirals and double 3turns to quick twisting rockers) to spare the injured ankle. The individual turns and edges weren't too bad because I've worked so hard on them for all of the preceding tests, but getting the power, quickness, and extension that's expected on a senior test is going to take some time to say the least...

The highlight of the morning was watching my coach (who hasn't skated competitively in 20 some years) breeze through these patterns. Now there's some inspiration!

Annoying Static:
Will be spending the rest of the afternoon sitting down with a heat wrap on my ankle instead of hitting an afternoon skating session. I hate injuries!

I was really tired today, but I skated anyway. I skated badly, but I made the effort anyway.

Static:
Change-edge spirals from inside to outside were impossible today, but I can do the change-edge gliding, so there's still hope.
I'm totally befuddled with the turns I've been working on; I can't even remember what they're called. Doesn't matter - today they looked NOTHING like what they should have, lol.
Spins were flaky and hard to hook. Finally made some progress on the camel, but nothing outstanding.

Twizzles were awful, no way to sugar-coat that one.
Catch-foot spirals (1st tries) were poor, but no one was injured, so it's okay.

Music:
Prelim MITF were much better, thanks to Tuesday's lesson. Can't wait for next week's lesson!
Serpentine Figures were sloppy (edge-wise), but stronger and consistent. I think the sizing is off, I have to plan my layout better next time.
All jumps were jumped, with the usual two-footed flip and loop landings. sigh
Salchows were 100% better, though.

Tango stops and spreadeagles were very good.

__________________

[Music]

My axel is back after a 2 day hiatus! Landed 9 of them cleanly but I had to reduce my speed coming in on the entrance. I would constantly overrotate if I had too much speed. I've been a little under the weather so everything that involved rotation was way off including spins. Double loop is coming back, still a bit underrotated but it's getting there. Back spin has returned along with my forward sit and camel. Double sal is better than it's ever been. Happy to be skating somewhat normal again. Ready to start adding that loop on the axel to prep for Silver Free. I'm going to blow those judges away this time. Bronze moves are feeling good. I'm still working on the silver moves.


[Static]


My Forward scratch is still travelling to Japan. No idea what's going on. Determined to fix it though. Still too scared to land the double toe cleanly


Today was a great skating day. Learned a ton.


BlackManSkating

__________________
Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

Music:

Primary coach changed my program a lot at the beginning to give me more time to set up my loop jump.

Static:

Of course, the payment for more time to set up my loop jump now is I have to do a LOOP-LOOP!!!

And just to make sure I would do it... my secondary coach walked into the rink early and heard it. The two coaches talked and she said to me "Oh, she's upposed to do a loop-loop instead of a loop? Is THAT so!?!?!! We'll have to fix THAT!!! " (I see the horns coming out of her head right then and there!!! EEEEK!!!)

There's more!!! The other option for the primary coach is that I do a loop-toeloop at the beginning and a salchow-loop as the second jump. Of course, I told my secondary coach this and she gives me this look like "WIMP!!!" and said "Do a loop-loop, then do a salchow-loop!" Missed the loop-loop but did land the salchow loop, even though it was kinda wimpy. She said "Is there a difference on the landing between the loop and the salchow?" Me: "Ummm....no?" She said "NOT from MY end of things!!! Now go do a loop-loop again!" Landed the second loop-loop clean (though again wimpy... but what do you expect at the end of a half-hour lesson with primary coach.) She said "I'm glad you see my point!!! "

Music Again:
Secondary coach did bragged to primary coach that she made me do a double CLEAN runthru yesterday.

Static Again:
Needless to say, she also hinted at how much her lighting a fire under my butt ALWAYS gets me moving!!!

__________________
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!!!

I too have become the victim of coaches cahooting.
Today it was decided that Primary Coach will deal with Easterns stuff on my lessons with her and Secondary Coach will deal with Valentine Open stuff during my lessons then. So today when I showed Primary Coach my straightline footwork for Bronze CM, she declared it was too boring and added more tortuous stuff to it. Tappy toes are not going to happen, so she now wants me to do the swing roll, up on toes thing on each foot, then forward crosstrokes to power threes and then back crosstrokes to the salchow.
Uh, Bronze CM has a 1 minute time limit.

Lovely Music:
Got the ballpark idea of the above footwork. Did a sitspin that rocks during freeskate program runthrough. Did a okay runthrough of artistic program that I just started Tuesday.
Will be going to secondary rink tomorrow to skate- more room, nice ice and more adult skaters!!!

Annoying Static:
Lost 15 minutes of ice today, because I complained to the skating director that the ice was HORRIBLE!! It was- there was no resurface after the hockey that preceeded the freestyle, but boy oh boy that Zam is lined up and ready at 5:50 when the session is over.
What is so digusting about this is everyone is paying money to skate on this ice, whether it's freestyle ice, for lessons or commission and the freestyles are crowded to start with. Having crappy ice is only asking for accident to happen.

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Yup! I am the "Queen Bit@h" at my rink. I am usually there by 6:15 a.m. to warm up for the 7 a.m. session, well before the head coach. I have rejected the ice so many times they must think I work for management!

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

So what do you do to get the ice cut? Several skaters and parents and a coach complained this afternoon before I did and got nowhere.

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Wide to the inside? Could be that your right shoulder (assuming you jump CCW) isn't checked back enough after the 3 turn. My coach had me working on this for what felt like months, but it has improved now. I just have to remember not to allow myself to start pre-rotating before I pick now, otherwise it happens again.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Lovely Music Skated yesterday with my coach, first time on the ice in a month, and it was fabulous! The session was crowded and the ice was crappy but it was great! I didn't let my coach let go of me, though, LOL. Still, we did forward and backward stroking and one-foot glides, forward and backward inside and outside edges, forward and backward crossovers. The back crossovers were really quite good, but boy, did they tire me out! We were talking about how no matter what other exercise you are doing, there's nothing like skating for tiring you out, LOL!

Also saw a couple of people I hadn't seen since I really got started skating again, so hugs all around. It was nice.

The ankle doesn't hurt at all but it does complain a bit about deep knee bend, like when I was doing the back crossovers. Oh, we also practiced landing positions and that was interesting!

All in all, a great day on the ice.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Static: Had a long sleep last night - 3 of them actually - and still woke up VERY tired. Oh well, coach is back today so off to the rink..... and the rough ice (again) ....... but I got on 10 minutes early (6:50).

Music: A few upright spins were really good and a couple of sit spins almost happened but jumps were less than normal (which puts them pretty much at "non-existent"!) .

Static: Didn't see any sign of coach or her other skater by 7:15 - don't blame her - after a week on a beach in the Dominican, I wouldn't be in any hurry to return to a rink in Winnipeg either! Had pretty much pooped myself out by 7:40 so decided to rest for a few minutes and see if coach showed up at 7:45 - sure enough - tanned, sun-bleached hair, looking ever so refreshed and perky! (She ought to be ashamed of herself!)

Spend some lesson time going over a bit of everything but mainly talking about choreography, music time, etc. By the time we finished, I had been out there 50% longer than I had planned - but it's the weekend now and I can SLEEEEEEEP!

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

The twins had their lesson this morning, so we managed to get out and make a 7am :80: freestyle session. Since I was there anyway, and it wasn't crowded (so I didn't have to play bodyguard) I skated too!

The heels of my blades need a bit of adjusting, but the front seems to be okay. I've gotten very good with my screwdriver and skewers, lol.

Static:
Flip jumps were two-footed on the landing. Five more pounds, five more pounds.

Sit spins were nice and low, but I blew the change-foot every time. Should have really warmed up more.

I've decided that I have "clubbed feet" when I do back crossovers, so I'm going to practice POINTING my toes more often.

Spreadeagles looked nice, but I just couldn't straighten out the inside curve today. Hips must have wanted more sleep (or more stretching).

Music:
I did five camel spins today that were on the mark! As a bonus, three of them had a change-foot to a back camel that didn't fail too badly.

Waltz, Salchow, Toe Loop all good. I even managed a few with a nice backspin position in the air. Have to practice that more - I think I'm afraid of spiking my landing leg.

Spirals were very good, even did a few FI-FO and vice-versa change edges.

MITF were sooo good today, even the 3's on the line and the crossovers that I've been neglecting. Not perfect, but getting there. Now I need a theme song to get some rhythm going during Moves, haha!

__________________