With all this talk of new skates, broken down skates, this is our theme - Broken is good, just perfect. Broken down, well you know how bad that can be

Broken Down Too much coffee at show meeting last night, didn't get to sleep till after 11 - get up at 4, that is not enough sleep for me!

Broken in - I felt real good on my crossovers in power class, I think they are getting much smoother.

Followed coaches orders to do two foot slaloms when the others did power pulls and as boring as that is, I do believe I am getting the rhythm.

And after power, I got taught our adult holiday number to "it's the most fattening time of the year" It's quite easy and quite cute.

DD is choreographing the dance number in the Spring show. It's to "ku-U-I-Po" by Elvis Presley from "Blue Hawaii" and we tried it - we are going to have high level dancers do the Rocker Foxtrot and Low Level dancers do the Swing. At the same time. Plus we have a curtain blocking about a quarter of the rink so DD has to figure out how to cut off the pattern. I think she'll figure it out.

I'm competing the Swing in January -- wonder if I can convince them to play the Presley song for the dance

j

Broken Down: Failed my Bronze test yesterday. Was doing great on the first 2 patterns and then I make the stupid mistake of falling on a back crossover. After that it was all downhill. I already had it in my mind that I failed. I'm pretty sure it was written all over my face. I have never fallen on my moves when I practiced them so I know that it was sheer nerves getting the best of me. Spent a ton of money to take both the bronze moves and free at the same time. I couldn't take the FS test and they definitely kept all of the money. I'm a bit burned out and I have been that way for a while. I told my coach that I'm going on sabbatical and I am not sure for how long. I'm not giving up skating because I am still going to practice daily. But I need to find the joy in skating again because I've seem to have lost it somewhere along the way.

Broken In: Finally got the hang of my forward sit-spin and now I can do it at will. It's thigh is pretty parallel to the ice now. Now I want to practice changing to an outside edge. This is a huge leap forward for me because sit spins have been a nemesis of mine for months. Today it just clicked. I accidentally found the sweet spot on the blade and I was able to repeat it over and over again. Now my sit spin is more consistent than my camel spin.



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

Sorry to hear that Blackmanskating. I wonder if maybe you were trying to accomplish too much too fast and that took some of the joy out? You should definately just skate for the fun of it and do what you like for awhile.

Also, I know you didn't get to do your free skating test, but I wondered about how wise it was to put in a lot of difficult footwork that was not necesary for the test....maybe just too much pressure you put on yourself?

j

I am definitely considering a change of pace and maybe a change of coach. I cannot continue like this or I will eventually hate to skate. I think that it's great that I have the potential to land a double axel after such a short time on the ice, but it doesn't mean anything if I can't do it when it matters. There is a huge difference between talent and experience. That's the one thing that I can take away from this. What makes it worse is that I didn't fail by much. I failed by 2 tenths of a point. One judge passed me and scored me well above the passing average. The other 2 marked me .1 below the average. These moves are completely within my ability to do, so it seems rather silly to come up short.


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

Blackman, sounds like my driving tests... But I do have a driver's license now. Third time around, after the examiner hit the brakes, I decided I had failed anyway and so I didn't feel like I had to prove that I could pass it... so I just took a deep breath, forced my legs to relax and to unclinch the wheel and just drive the rest of the session out cuz they must let you drive at least 45 minutes anyway... I was *convinced* I'd failed, but I passed. And something similar happened on my last skating test.

I'm sure you'll do better next time! Dust it off, and try again, be a man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuIVnj0mIPI

As for the change of coach, I do know how you feel but I've also heard you be very praiseful of the way your coach can explain things to you. Perhaps you need to talk with him/her and explain what you're looking for from him/her rather than find a new one?

Sorry to hear that! Just remember though, that a fall can happen to the most prepared skater. Sometimes the ice just doesn't cooperate I had a similar experience when I tested dances last spring. I didn't fall, but I let myself get freaked out by the unfamiliar music - I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep count, and, with that mindset, I couldn't keep count and didn't pass. I hope the time off lets you relax and remember what you love about skating Everyone needs a break once in a while.

For me:

Broken In:
-all forward 3-turns! I even did the LFI 3 successfully.
-inside mohawks improved from last time, but I'm still hesitant and scratchy
-forward cross strokes were much better than last week
-RB power pulls were great until I almost took out a little kid skating in the wrong direction
-all crossovers were good at medium speed
-I've revised my no-spinning-for-a-month rule to no forward one-foot spins for month I did a few backspins that were good (they don't involve the injured foot!), and did a nice two-foot spin.

Broken Down:
-Back 3s were scary. I was afraid to try any on the left foot.
-R-L outside mohawk is somewhat better than L-R, but both were sad.
-forward power pulls were awful. Not sure if it was the bad ice, or my fear kicking in.
-I felt stiff, like I couldn't get down in my knees very well.

The rink was noticeably smaller than what I am used to. I don't even think that it was a NHL sized rink. The corners of the rink seemed cut off and the hockey circles were so close together I couldn't imagine doing Pre-Bronze on those. But I was pretty sure I got a handle of the rink size during the warmup so I really didn't focus on it much.


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

Blackmanskating, just remember that you will pass this test. It may seem like a huge setback now, but as soon as you pass the test it will be a small bump in the road and not a major pothole. Can you try again next month?

I don't really see my test failure as a huge setback. Everything leading up to the test was so last minute that I was a bit more stressed than usual. I actually felt more nervous about this test than my pre-bronze and I was more prepared for this test. I'm pretty sure that all I need is some time off just to clear my head and make some decisions about my future in this sport. The only thing I know is that something has to change because I haven't really felt good about my skating in months.



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

You have my sympathies on the retest. You're more than capable of passing this test, based on the scores.

One thing I learned is that each rink/test session is different.
For example, most test sessions use the hockey lines for Waltz 8's, others the center, one had them test on the double circles.

Everyone should (if they can) watch a test session before they take a test at any club/rink. Even better, try and do a runthrough before your next test on the actual ice surface. It helps so much to be able to get your bearings beforehand and "feel out the ice." (I know it's not always possible, but if the opportunity exists, take advantage of it.)

You'll get this - don't give up!

__________________

I haven't given up yet so you don't have to worry about finding my skates for sale on ebay. This has been something that has been going on for a while and this entire week has just been the final nail on the coffin. Thanks for the support. It is greatly appreciated.


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

I'm so sorry to hear that the nerves got the better of you on your test. I think most of us have been there and know exactly what that feels like! I know I sure do! On the other hand, I would say that the GOOD news of finally having that sitspin click FAR outweighs your bad news! You will re-take the test and pass it, so the "retry" on the test will be history soon. . . but your nice new sitspin will stay with you and serve you well for years to come! Embrace the process and try to think of every failure as a chapter that just makes your final success story all the more interesting.

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

Oh man...I'm so sorry that happened...I tell you, there's something about that Bronze moves test. I put my foot down on pattern 1 and never had done that before, nearly failed it myself. Got a reskate on that but it was very, very close. I'm about to join you on the bleachers, which leads me to:

Broken down: Lost my second job today. Skating is now out of the question. I'm kind of destroyed and have to email my coach tonight. There's just no way I can pay for it anymore. Also had a crappy practice yesterday with no backspin at all so maybe I was having a psychic moment. Regardless, December is starting out very bad.

Broken in: my boots, and that's about it.

__________________
Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

I'm so sorry, looplover! I know what you're going thru, since I've been thru that a few times myself. I've also been thru long period of unemployment too and have contemplated quitting skating back then too. I ended up cutting back on it, b/c I realized that it was the only thing that was keeping me sane from the unemployment experience.

Yup! I've learned from skating those Bronze Moves patterns at both my home rink (NHL size) and my old weekend rink (which was Olympic sized... much bigger)... gotta practice on the ice that you'll be TESTING on. Otherwise, you won't have much of a chance to adjust your pattern to the rink. (I also had a similar thing happen when I had a lesson in NYC at the West Rink, which is SMALLER than my home rink!!! Ran out of rink before I got done with the beginning of the pattern. Oops!!! )

What do you feel is missing from the experience? If the issue is that you feel a sense that you're just skating for the sake of passing tests and competing and not for the pure enjoyment of just skating and doing the artistic thing, I can totally understand what you're going thru. I think for me, once I got the Bronze FS test monkey off my back, I felt a HUGE sense of relief b/c I don't have to worry about qualifying JUST to go to AN. I can take my time, plan out my program and work on those technical skills I don't have now at my own leisure. I can just focus on having a good time competing at AN!

__________________
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!!!

Sorry about the retry! It was probably an off run-through, especially after the fall.

Broken In: I ran through all of my prelim moves today.
Broken Down: And fell on a right outside spiral. As in just tipped over and no one knows why.

Broken In: I might be testing my prelim moves soon...
Broken Down: on Dec. 24, and there is no way I am getting up before 9a.m. to take a test on Christmas Eve. So the test may be delayed.

Broken In: I think I landed a double sal...
Broken Down: I think...

Broken In: I did an axle, 1/2 loop, flip sequence...
Broken Down: but somehow hit my leg with my hand on part of the jump and was flailing.

Overall it was a very broken in day though.

Broken Down: Back XOs are still weak in one direction, nonexistent in the other. Waltz jumps as ok (for me), Toe Loop wasn't happening.

Broken In: To my great amazement, my upright spins were making great leaps forward - some of them were actually CONTROLLED and easily went 3+ revolutions with a controlled exit (instead of bailing when it starts to come apart!).

In lesson, I talked to my coach about the sit spin (which neither of us expected me to be able to do) but after watching some old US Nationals tapes I picked up an idea. Tried a few and actually got into "the legal position"! Not 3 revolutions yet but low enough to count as a Sit. (Not too shabby for 58!)

Broken Down: It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes to drive from the rink to the office. Thanks to a snow storm, it took an hour this morning!

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

broken in - I love skating freestyle sessions with my daughter. it gives us some together time, and it is fun to share tips and suggestions.

broken down - I hate skating freestyle sessions with my daughter, as we spend too much time chatting, and I spend too much time watching her.

broken in - I finally isolated a problem with my spin that was making it not centered. I was trying to bring the free leg around and straighten the skating leg at the same time. I think I should be bringing the leg around first and then straightening the skating leg, no? Then I did 2 best ever spins after I fixed that. Fast! Centered!!

broken down - but my spins completely fell apart as I played more with the timing of the bringing around and straightening. Took several tries to get them back again.

broken in - I can do that inside/outside 3 turn nightmare on the pre-bronze moves pretty well by the third time around. hope I have that much time to warm up when testing.

broken down - this week, for the first time, I've occasionally put my foot down or not been able to do the 3 turn on that stupid move! I think it's nerves, but dang! they are supposed to be getting better, not manifesting new problems at this point. maybe this is because I'm going faster?

broken in - cross rolls are getting better! jumps are getting higher.

broken down - still no stinkin' backspin.

(((Hugs))) to blackmanskating. Look, for the rest of this year go and HAVE FUN on the ice. Do things you enjoy doing. Put yourself a silly Christmas-themed programme together, even if you never perform it. Learn ice-dancing.... just have fun out there.

For me, no skating this week; I have some kind of virus and really don't feel well enough. I may go to the last-ever dance club at Alexandra Palace tomorrow night, but probably won't do more than sit and watch, we'll have to see. Tonight I have to go to our rink as it's our Christmas Gala and I'm announcing - last thing I really feel like doing given the headache I have... ah well.

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

Need my right blade moved further to the outside. It's definitely off.

Broken Down:
Still struggling with the Circle 3's, which ties right into my despised threes-on-the-line. It's all about bringing my feet back together after the turn in order to step forward. Practiced a million FO-step-FO three sequences.

Tango stops and twizzles aren't really very good, but I can fake it. Sort of.

Practiced my CW spins - hate the backspin - I go right up on an edge of the heel. CCW spins were okay, but the camel was no-show.

Broken In:
Did some figures today - actually managed a few wobbly BO/BI eights.
I've resolved to practice those regularly. (Can't hurt)

Practiced all my edges and three turns. Mediocre at best, but doable, except the back inside 3's - both are crapola.

Jumps were okay, still not landing the flip, loop or lutz.

Power 3's - good; PM spirals - good; PM crossovers - good.

Because the ice was fresh, I could actually SEE my tracings for mohawks. That coaxed me into doing FI-BI-FI sequences on a circle. They look correct! hahaha

__________________

Blackmanskating... sorry about the retry. Just keep working those moves, even though you may hate them, so that muscle memory compensates for nerves next time! I'm implementing that for my re test of Bronze free, which is next Friday!


Broken In:

Had a challenge from Secondary Coach today. After skating my test warmup, I did back to back runthroughs of my program! While both runthroughs had bobbles here and there, the overall skating felt pretty strong and I held back on absolutely nothing!! Coach was proud of me!

Sound system is working again.



Broken Down:
The rink "dog", a Golden Retriever named Gretzsky, had to be put down to sleep today. He had had a emergency splenectomy last month, only to find out that he had liver cancer as well.
Gretzsky... R.I.P.

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

Broken Down - drove 3 hours to get my daughter a dance lesson. Her coach is moving and this is the closest one we can find.

Broken In She's master rated in dance, freestyle and moves. DD said she got more out of 45 minutes with her than she has all year up to now.

And I grabbed 15 minutes of the hour....Very helpful--we reviewed with a stroking excersize, bend, push, rise, feet together, bend (before changing feet) and then push. We did the same thing with swing rolls - it's a little tricky rebending before changing feet- I had a little balance problem, but I think that will be a very helpful excersize. Also worked on back swing rolls, and improved my edges immensly.

broken down DD wants to finish her gold dances by next fall. New coach thinks she can do it but it's gonna mean a LOT of 3 hour trips.

DD's fs coach is going on maternity leave sometime in March. There is no other high level fs coach available so she's bringing in her friend from Florida to take over while she's out. I've decided I'm not taking any more lessons after her maternity leave because I have to save money somewhere and I want DD to be able to get her gold dances. DD can coach me and I can pick up 15 minutes here and there from her other coaches.

I'm okay with that. There will be time for me later.

j

Blackmanskating, I'm very sorry to hear that. Once you get some time from the test, it will put some perspective on it...you can make a better decision. Don't make one in haste. I know what you mean about losing the joy. When I decided not to test USFSA, I felt 1,000% better. (sorry guys!)

Broken In: public session was EMPTY for the first hour!!!! $3 for private ice!!!!!! I worked on stuff I normally don't get to (even my leg cooperated) like back in/outside edges! Then two people showed up to skate. That was it for the whole session!

Jumps were really good and I even tried FLIPS on the ice!!! Could not make it all the way around, but since I've only done these off ice.....

Broken Down: Spins were gone, even the backspin. But, I can do a 2-foot and sort-of one-foot spin in the other direction....that's what i get for teaching learn-2-skate! Is it too late to switch directions?????? Because spinning on my right foot clockwise, they are centered....

Tried some loops but that foot touched down again so I stopped.

All-in-all, i'm EXTREMELY pleased with today's session!

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Blackmanskating- sorry to hear about your test. What an unfortunate fall- but all the best skaters have had those unfortunate moments. I know it stinks to just barely get a retry, but that shows that the test is most definetly in you- it just wasn't your day (Of course, now I'm scared! to take that test... Bronze seems to be WAY harder than PB, but the moves really don't seem to be that much harder)


Broken In Yesterday was just a fantastic day of skating. It really made me feel good about myself.

We started group lessons by having the Freestyle 1 kids take their tests. The other adult and I reminded the instructor that we had both passed it (I'm going to be stuck on the Freestyle 4 test forever, and the other lady is working on the Freestyle 3 test) so we both went to work on back 3 outside 3 turns to forward inside 3 turns. I've been doing pretty well with that pattern, so after a few minutes I started back inside to forward outside- which is much more difficult for me. And about 90% of the backward ones turned!!! So when the instructor came over to check on us he said "Perfect... but..."
Broken down Apparently I put my foot down like I'm wondering if water is cold. So I need to do a really strong edge push before the 3-turn. I tried it a few times just on back edges and scary! I wasn't able to ever do the turn with a more powerful push. I'm blocking myself with my arms, so he worked with me to fix that, and then I tried a really strong push and managed to fall and then slide into the wall. The instructor laughed and asked how that happened because he was watching my arms (which were right). By the end of the lesson, I did one "good" 3-turn with a strong push before it. I prefer skating to be slow as molasses!

Broken in Then we worked on spins. My scratch spin has gotten a lot better with the new blades. I'm spinning about twice as many revolutions as I used to, and am holding my position much better.
Broken down But I cannot center at all. I'm traveling a lot. Like grab a passport and a bag traveling. I've been told to lift my toes up while I spin, to stay off my toepick, but we'll see. I'm not spinning on the toepick, I don't rise up onto it, it's just that it drags- I need to be further back on the blade.

Broken in I did some backspins! I got up to 5 (not in position) revolutions. I haven't been able to do a backspin in months, after progressing to be able to do a wimpy one about 4 months ago, after 6 months of work. I think my new blades are also part of that, as well as the advice a different instructor gave me to keep my leg out. They need so much work, but the instructor was complementary of them.

Broken down Possibly the new boots? They are more than supportive doing moves and spinning, which is what I do most, but doing lots of jumps, I felt like my ankle is bending a lot more than it used to. It might just be because they are more broken in than my boots, but I don't know where the line is that makes them not supportive enough. There is no visible creasing, but in my landing position, I can kind of see a small bulge in the leather where I bend. Even if I have to go back to my new boots (no! my toes don't want that!) spending the $50 to try these was worth it to get the blades!


Than cheapskate afterwards was an insanely crowded mess, but it was a fun crowd with a good energy, so I stayed and practiced a bit. I had a guy, flailing all over the place ask me how I managed to not fall down, and I told him "just keep standing up"- he came back about 20 minutes later and told me he was trying that, and it seemed to be working okay. About a minute later I fell on a spin! (Who falls on spins!) So much for just staying standing up. I got abuot 40 minutes of good practice on that session. Usually if there are more than a few public skaters, it's not worth it. I guess this was because it was a college group instead of kids, they more or less stayed in the outside of the rink, in a counter clockwise direction, instead of crossing all over the middle every which way. Most couldn't skate well, but well enough that I bet they have skated before at a rink that actually has some sort of rules/traffic pattern.

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Sorry to hear about your test blackmanskating. This is a tough time of year to be training hard, there are so many other commitments. Scaling back over the holidays could be a great idea.

broken down - I've been involuntarily scaling back all last week, various circumstances kept me off the ice, this week I had to cancel my lesson for my daughter's birthday. She's four

broken in - yesterday I finally got to a freestyle and it felt soooo nice. Skating wasn't great, but the rink was empty, I put on my music and just enjoyed it.

__________________
It's all about the dress!

Broken in - Had a good lesson with dance coach. Basic skills are getting stronger.

Broken down- I'm going to need to suck it up and buy new boots. Anybody want to start up a fund for me?

Blackmanskating- Sorry about your test experience. Everybody else stated everything so eloquently already that I have no other sage advice. Just sending an internet hug.

__________________
Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal