Anyone make any progress lately in Silly Skating or showoff tricks?

My big joy for the month came this morning when I was jumping up and down on my toepicks waving my arms back and forth like a cheerleader along with one of the kids doing her GirlyPop Christmas program I just cut for her. I realized that I'd never been able to do that before!

Between occaisional jumping rope, my hinged boots and practicing skating with decent posture I'm actually comfortable leaping about on my toepicks for the first time!
Lyle

Heh, I tried a spin the other day with my arms behind my back - entrance and all. I used just my free right leg to bring it around and to speed up rotation.

Surprisingly, I had good speed, many rotations, and above all, I managed to center it better than when I use my arms!

I just love stupid little tricks like this one when they work better than expected.

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Bill Schneider

I had a lovely woman teach me how to do an ISI-regulation cross-foot spin this week. I managed two revs, which is really a shameful accomplishment. (Still, I'll take it!) The coach did about ten revs with ease, although she didn't go full tilt. She's recovering from a double hip replacement!

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I don't know if this counts as a 'silly accomplishment' but up until today (I think I've FINALLY corrected it), I had the wierdest spin entrance ever.

It's hard to explain what I was actually doing, but in my last lesson my coach did a demonstration of what I was doing, and suffice to say it did look completely daft!



S xxx

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

For the show "auditions" a while back, I did waltz jumps and put my arms over my head....just for fun. When I told my coach about it (as we were "tweaking" my waltz jump) she had me do all sorts of arm variations...just for kicks to see what I could do and what didn't really work well . Discovered I can't do a waltz jump with my arms on my hips....

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

See, this is why waltz jumps were fairly easy for me to learn--essentially they're a tour jete (sp?) from ballet (same movement as a waltz jump but with the arms overhead--though I suppose they don't have to be), except on ice. Not that my waltz jump is wonderful or anything, but that's exactly how I saw the move once it was demonstrated to me--"oh, it's a tour j'ete!" See how helpful ballet is??

Topic? I don't think I have any nifty tricks. Have not gotten to skate this week--daycare problems with dd and rink taken over by hockey this weekend and next so several public sessions have been nixed. pffffffffffftttttttttttt. It will be a SUPER accomplishment when I can regularly get to the rink 3 times a week!

OMG, that's my silly accomplishment, too, LOL! I got my coach to teach me the cross-foot spin and finally got 2 revs on it myself. But it isn't really silly at all. The only reason I decided to try to learn it is because it just got classified as a difficult variation that can raise the level of a spin.

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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

You guys rock IMHO.
Only time I ever managed the crossedfoot spin was working my pitiful crossover underleg extension position trying to not hit the boot edge (cause I roll my ankles) going from front glide untwisting to back glide back and forth and I really hit it and started to spin but gradually ground to a halt and there I was perfectly balanced with boots crossed, unable to move a muscle! I really tried but I couldn't get out of it so I just sat down. "Finally you got your legs really crossed" says coach with a laugh.
Lyle

That explains why all these USFSA pros wanted to have the ISI people teach them how to do it at the seminar. It was odd because they think of ISI as an afterthought for their skaters, not as a primary organization to test and compete through regularly.

The ISI Freestyle 6 test requires a choice of Layback, Sit-change-Sit, or the Cross-Foot spin. It's very rarely chosen; supposedly it was to give boys/men a second option since very few would choose a layback. (Rohene Ward must have been the exception! )

Cross-Foot Spin
Making the approach from a forward outside entry edge, the spin must be performed on the flat of both blades with the feet crossed (right foot to the left of the left foot in a counter clockwise direction, left foot to the right of the right foot in a clockwise direction) for a minimum of six revolutions.

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Wow, that's kind of weird. I was taught to do it from a backspin entry. I wonder which is easier and which is harder?

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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

Many years ago, I tried to learn it from a forward scratch spin and really couldn't get the feet to go the right way. Since my sit-change-sit was wicked at the time, I focused on that instead.

I've seen a lot of coaches/skaters working on cross-foot spins lately from both upright and back spins.

The woman who taught it to me last week did a LFO spin and later just a LFO edge, then executed a very small RFI three turn to get the toes together in a "V" position (left foot in front.) So, it is a variation of the back spin. The toe-to-toe position is the hallmark of the properly done cross-foot spin.

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Okay, that makes sense. My coach taught it to me from a 2-foot spin, but later, I tried it from a backspin and it actually seemed a little easier.

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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

Once when he was in town to skate pairs with flo, rlichtefeld suggested that method to me for when I'm having trouble centering my scratch spin. (And he's a good spinner...)

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Yes, and when I was in "spin remediation" my coach had me do spins with my arms crossed on my chest (i.e. NO help at all from my arms...) so only my lower body was actually working the spin. If you tend to bend over at all or cheat with your arms, doing this will reveal it!

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

I once biffed a toe loop so badly that I did a walley instead. Not sure how the hell THAT happened...

I was messing around with the change foot walley and I just about got it to backwards. I can only manage half a turn on the regular walley though

...while I have been in a jump plateau lately, my spins have improved much. I have worked on scratch spin over and over and over and over again and I am finally getting the free leg in front. Attitude spin as my "pre-layback" spin is improving nicely with variations in arm positions too.

Another fun one - this morning my wife and I actually did a full runthrough of our Christmas Show Pairs number and the kids cheered! (They are sweet because we aren't very good) I've come to the conclusion that we must provide vicarious pleasure
Lyle