After a month of practicing the waltz jump on the wall me and my friend that goes skating with me tried it off the wall. We actually did it. Hers was better than mine but I actually did it! my first jump... landed!! I mean I still have to perfect it but at least its a start. now I'm all excited about the next skating session. xP

Is this sarcasm? A month for a waltz jump at any age would be pretty rediculous.

I got it in after two weeks of doing near a wall when I just turned 32... so I doubt it's sarcasm. (Then again, when I was skating as a little kid, the only jump I had was the waltz jump.)

Congrats to you and your friend, Leda!!!

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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!!!

Nothing like getting your first "real" jump. Congrats.
I don't think the time taken is important. Some people take longer than others, and what you learn fast, I might learn slow and struggle with.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Whee!! Congrats, Leda. Isn't that a great feeling?

Go Leda!!!!!!!

A month is great!!! It took me 4 months at the wall I was 42........yeah I feel dumb now. Fear was my enemy then (now it's just laziness <sigh>)...

Congrats!!!!

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

Well done Leda, I had been skating for almost 2 years before I dared do a jump, I thought I would always do dance, after that, the dance went on the back burner but I do regret not having the odd dance lesson in between.

Leda: Congrats for getting your first jump! It is just a different perspective for those of us newer to skating. A waltz jump to us is like the feeling of accomplishment that a long term skater has when learning a double! I still have to talk myself into the fact that I am expecting my feet to lose contact with the ice! Kids have no fear and under estimate that bones can really break if they land wrong even in a simple fall. The older the skater starting, the less denial of facts...lol. Good luck to you as you perfect that jump!

Congrats from me too Leda Jumping is a way off for me yet but I'm sure I'll be overjoyed when/if I manage to land one.

Wouldn't it be great to have a little switch in our brains marked "I'm 5 years old and have no fear!" that we could use at times like those?!

Clare

It wasn't sarcasm, it really did take me a month to get the confidence up to even try it off the wal. but then again I wasn't spending all my time on that so I don't really care. =P thanks for all you congrats!!

Don't feel bad S@D, I am right there with you averaging at 4 mos. The harder the element, the longer it seems to take.

Way to go Leda!

Ooh, NICE way to encourage someone.

I know adult learners that have taken almost that long to leave the barrier, never mind jump.

S

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

I recommend not using the wall and attack the jump, try it out for a week and you'd be surprised what you come out with.

The neat thing about any skill is that you can always make it better. A year after my first waltz jump my timing finally reached what my coach refers to as the "culmination point". I think it took about 300 plus waltz jumps. Like any jump, when the timing is right, the effort is minimized and the height & distance is maximized. In my opinion, A huge waltz jump is really fun to do and impressive to watch.

There's a very short video of Scott Hamilton doing a waltz jump in a warm-up at this web site: http://oasis.dit.upm.es/~jantonio/pe...je/welcome.htm
Navigate to "jumps" and then to "waltz". Then right click and select "save to file". I forget which media players work (I remember Windows Media Player dosen't).

It's a shame the video doesn't show more of his preparation, but it is HUGE.

The biggest key for me was to pause longer on the LFO take-off edge. Then I could make the launch very deliberate.

Congatulations & keep practicing!

Quite probably, nothing. Many of us need the wall, or the boards, to learn what to do with our bodies, and even once we know, a friendly hand or something just to give us that extra bit of confidence.

I think Leda did extremely well.

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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!

I second that!

It doesn't work that way for a lot of adult learners. Many adults have this thing called FEAR that they need to work through before being able to move off the wall for an element.

all the wall does is create bad habits. Everyone has fear, but a waltz jump...are you being serious? Most people learn that without even any coaching.

if you decide you want to progress in skating you've got to realize eventually that the wall is actually dangerous. performing any kind of jump or spin close to the wall is putting your own safety in jeoprady...and if thats not enough, it also makes for bad habits.

you'd be much better off just trying sometihng on the ice and falling.

We understand what you are saying, beachbabe, but as adult skaters we need the wall. Our muscle memory takes longer to set up. Our minds need a bit more time to psyche our bodies into doing something. I would say that 99% of us use the wall constructively. There are 1% of adult skaters who never leave the wall. It is a very large step to take.

As far as learning the waltz without coaching...that may be true for a 7-year-old, or a twenty- or thirty-something with some skating or dance experience....but when you get a bit older than that, it's a bit harder to get your body to behave and do what it's supposed to do. It's also more difficult to have that body awareness (i.e. where your different parts are supposed to be during the different phases of the jump). We actually need it spelled out for us in minute detail (especially those of us who are more detail-oriented). It's just the way we work.

That being said, once we do the jumps away from the wall, it's like graduation day!!! It opens up a whole new universe for us! And once we get that first fall under our belt, and survive , then we are good to go!!! (truthfully, I've had worse falls from just standing or doing moves).

As far as spinning near the wall, it is dangerous and I don't know anyone at my rink that is taught to do it...but they would be cautioned if they were too close.

I occasionally use the wall for technique finessing. It has become a tool.

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

If you spent less time on the wall you'd have more time to get everything else...no?

Me? I don't skate at the wall now, although I do occasionally work my mohawks close to the barrier to orient my upper body correctly.

These days, I have a dance partner to hang on to, instead.

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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!

Why are you so discouraging? People learn things in different ways and not everyone is aggressive enough to learn things in the middle of the rink at full speed.

Leda did a great job to finally graduate from the wall on doing a waltz jump. Doesn't matter if it was a minute, an hour, a day, a month, a year or a lifetime, she did it.

I know people who have learned all their single jumps at the boards and as they have gotten more comfortable with each of them has moved progressively away from the wall. I know a coach who teaches the mechanics of spins at the wall. I have been known to work on my B-3-B at the wall to keep my body square and work on the free foot position at a stand still, of course.

I never learned anything near the wall except for the spiral, and that was so I could have something to hold on to while I'm at a stand still. But when I started group lessons, the coach had us try waltz jumps by the wall, and it never worked for me because I was more afraid of crashing into the wall. But for some people, it helped them. For me, it was just easier to do it away from the wall, but everyone is different. I say congratulations to Leda. As long as she eventually gets away from the wall, it doesn't matter how long she was there for.

I love that people *coughcentaurandbeachbabecough* who have never seen Leda skate think they know what she should or should not be doing. CONGRATS, Leda. The important thing is that YOU feel like you accomplished something! Bigger and better things to come!

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

What does off the wall mean?