I had a pretty rough day today. I showed up at my home rink to skate and have a lesson. When i got there i was informed by a skating mom that the rink ice was absolutely awful with huge bumps all over it and really rough that they couldnt resurface it becuase the zamboni was broken and one of the owners had to drive 240 miles to get a part for it and wasnt even on his way back yet. So i and all the other skaters at our rink and coaches decided to go to the other local rink. I hate this rinks ice. It is really hard i was tryiing to do my jumps and stuff on it and was having extreme difficulty. After talking to coaches husband found out their son was having difficulty on this ice as well with his triple jumps. My lesson rolled around and i was working on putting my program together and i started with my sit spin she picked that apart till i got it right then i did the spin then tried my salcow toe loop combo well lets just say that that was a complete and utter disaster she was like you did such a nice spin and then "that". then the next attempt she said i scared her really bad the way i landed. I tried again and after about 5 attempts she told me to go and try my flip she couldnt stomach watching my attempt on the salcow any more today. So i go and try the flip and land on my stomach (how i dont know but i managed somehow). Her husband came up to me and asked me if i was having a really bad day or if i was just working on harder elements. Then she asked me after about the 50th fall if i was paying her to watch me kill myself. It was one of those days when you wonder why you even got out of bed in the first place. Then when leaving i got a comment from someone i didnt even know about how well i fall.

dont worry everyone has rough days.. at my arrena there are2 rinks.. one for the smaller kids and one for the elite.. and when i was younger and having a bad day my coach took me to the other side and showed me the elites.. we saw about 7 people fall in the first 30 seconds.. everyone has bad days..
speeking of bad days.. i had one too

i fell on my double axel and double lutz double loop combo.. and kicked a girl in the middle of my cammel spin.. i kept falling on my flying camel.. my coach told me to leave it for they day ,, because i was havning an "off" day..
my coach just told me i have to practice on "recovery" forgetting the past.. and working on the future

Don't feel so bad!
I always do terrible on ice that
1. hasn't been "zambonied" in a while
2. that I haven't visited in a while
Don't worry I have more than enough of those days!
(expecially trying a jump that I have been doing for such a long time, screwing up terribley and almost hit a public skater with my foot, making her stumble and with her leaving on a stretcher!)

We all stumble into this kind of mess. When I run into this kind of thing, I just roll my eyes and stay extremely careful. I skate on every inch of the surface and identify where the major bumps, cracks, holes, and uneveness. I make a visual on which part to avoid. Then if I have students I try not to have them completley discouraged if they attempt an element and fail at it. I just say, "other skaters in other countries have this kind of ice everyday, at least this is only one day."

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Tim David's Website

Yep, bad days happen. Believe me, I know first hand unfortunately! Thank goodness a good day usually shows up soon after.

Good thoughts are sent your way. =-)

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

Things will be better after your rink gets resurfaced and it's nicely clean... and if you still feel crappy about it... remember that we all have bad skate days and you are a bit more daring in trying new skills.

And if THAT also doesn't help, well, ummm... be glad you actually have a rink to skate on and you actually had a lesson today!!! (I'm still waiting for a lesson and a home rink to go back to...)

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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!!!

I just say, "other skaters in other countries have this kind of ice everyday, at least this is only one day."
You are absolutely right.I can't remember skating on surfaced ice for a long time - and I live in one of the major cities of estern Europe.Sometimes I'm just happy to skate at all.

Yes, perspective is always important. What occurred to me reading your post was that it was so fortunate that you didn't end up in the emergency room! In other words, it could have been much worse.
Speaking of bad ice, my coach was recently telling me how, until the mid 1960's, the World Championships were held on outdoor rinks. Yikes, talk about hard, bumpy, bad ice!

I hate people like that. Who don't know you and throw in their two cents. 90% of the time, they can't even skate.

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Check out the sites I run
http://www.joelisi.net
http://www.charlieday.net

I echo what chico says. I should know, I've had two bad skating days in a row. Even the top people at our rink say exactly the same.

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Hang in there! I hope today was better.

*hugs*

What I always find is that if I'm off even after 15-20 minutes, I'm going to just continue having a bad day...BUT...leaving for a couple hours and then returning usually helps. Every time I ignore the "wow it's really going badly" feeling, I end up with some painful falls, a new nick in the skates, feeling depressed about skating, or most recently, something broken.

What I have finally learned the hard way (yeah, I'm a slow learner) is that on such days, I need to leave, period. They seem to happen infrequently enough...

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

What is wrong with your home rink?

That is part of the problem this isnt just a one day thing our rink is horrible about resurfacing the ice. Half of the time they dont do it. Sometimes my coach does it so her students can actually skate. The roof was leaking today during the rain so it was putting holes in the rink that went all they way down to the concrete. I am upset about the current rink i am at and their disregard to their skaters but i dont like the other rink either and the rink i like is an hour away the adult skate is so early in the morning for me that i have a hard time getting to it and my coach is at the bad rink and i really like my coach (although she is ready to strangle me as of late). I guess i have just been frustrated lately today was better got my skates sharpened today so maybe tomorrow will be better.

There's problems with the pipes at the bottom of the rink. You may have read on some of my lesson threads that I was complaining about a ditch almost the length of my home rink. The pipe issues seemed to be the main reason why there was a ditch.

But something tells me there's more to it than that, b/c I was told that the rink is now closed for longer than the posted date of this Thursday. The outgoing message on the main line of the rink now says that the rink is closed and to either keep calling the rink or to go to our website for updated information.

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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!!!

<<<gt20001>>> today is another day.

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Level one Field Moves......PASSED 05.06.08
Level one Free dance.....PASSED 02.10.08

GOALS FOR 2009

• Level One Compulsary dances.......PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Elements.....................PASSED 10.07.09
• Level Two Free dance.................PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Free...........................
• Level Two compulsory dances.......

Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!!!!!