Regarding the FO mohawks - I find them to be extremely easy if the upper body is used properly. The people I see struggling with them usually don't rotate the arms or check out of them easily. The FO mohawks are actually easier for me that FI...probably because I never practice FI

The video shows what should be a FI mohawk. In the show, I'm to do a FO mohawk. I can't get either right because I'm sure my upper body is fighting my lower body. That was the issue with the 3-turn he** I went through.

I believe for the FI mohawk, I should be curving a bit-I'm on a straight, however and end up "hopping" it (bad, bad, bad).

Ugh.

I'm skating tomorrow at club to see if I can sort this out. I have my comp at Bowie on Sunday (rescheduled from the snowstorm) and I'd like the FI mohawk to look 1/2 way decent (although I'm doing Artistic so it doesn't matter 100% but it matters to me).

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

Cloudy
Still getting used to these new skates. My gawd, they're *so* stiff. I'm wearing them around the house in hopes of getting a better feel for them. The left ankle still rubs hard against the inside of the boot, but it doesn't do it all the time (for some odd reason). And these gigantic toe picks are definitley going to take getting use to. No more breezing laps around the rink for me (at least for a while). I feel like I'm snagging that toe pick with even the slightest movement. And then I end up trying to be too far back on the blades to the point that I almost fall off. My once "perfect" (in the words of my instructor) 2-foot turns are now scratchy as hell, but they're starting to come back along, but it seems I'm either hitting the edge of the toe pick during the turn or scraping the back of the blades trying *not* to snag the toe pick.

Sunny
I'm getting the hang of forward swizzles again with the new skates! I can just whiz along in them, but I can tell that my right foot is much more cooperative than my left (which seems to feel rather scratchy in compairison). My backwards swizzles are actually much better in the new skates than they were on the rentals, but they're not nearly as smooth or as fast as the forward ones. It almost feels like I'm back at week one. Oh well, that's why there's practice, practice, and *more* practice.

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"finger painting?"

Just remember to relax in your knees a bit and it will make it easier on you. I remember getting used to mine and once I relaxed (instead of being really stiff-legged) it helped a lot. Hope they feel comfy real soon!

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

Yeah, I'm constantly going "bend your knees. BEND. YOUR. KNEES." in my head while I skate. Well, that combined with "stand from the waist --- shoulders up and back. Posture! Posture! Posture!" I have a tendancy to try to lead my body with my shoulders, which I'm constantly trying to fight. I always have to remember that my feet are doing the movement and my upper body is simply steady and along for the ride.

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"finger painting?"

"forward to backward moving two footed turn" is exactly what it is called!

Take care of that foot!

Skate@Delaware - F Mohawks, both inside and outside, are difficult for anyone without good natural turnout. I read somewhere recently that "turnout is not needed for Mohawks, only 90' is necessary". Well, that is about 10' more turnout that I have, making Mohawks much more difficult than for everyone else. One trick to learning FO Mohawks, is to work them on a hockey circle: Rotate your shoulders so that your back is to the center of the circle, and lean back into the circle, pushing your trailing arm back. On the 8 step Mohawk pattern, reverse your arms/shoulders on step 2 as you crossover. You can do a FXO as a prep for the turn also, using it as your cue to rotate shoulders and put back to the circle.

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Sunny:

Had a decent skate today... met about 5 new people.

I believe I did the correct back foot pick up on my forward crossovers a few times, (of course when hubby and coach arent there to see them ), and what was it from?? BENDING KNEES!!!

Ive stopped lacing to the top of my boots (I leave one hook undone), and I only lace it tightly enough around my ankle to keep my heel in place (otherwise I feel like Im sliding all over the place)... It seems to help!

Backward stroking and lifting the front leg is getting there...

Mohawk control pattern is getting better, although Im still stuck on one side.. it just doesnt seem to want to work

Cloudy:

Backwards Crossovers SUCK... STILL!! I seem to have degressed... I cant get them, and I cant get them slowly or neatly!!! Its getting REALLY annoying!!!

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On another note, I watched some of the tests that were going on today, and got to see one person do Prelim (which I have to do before I can get anywhere in dance test wise), and it was good to see the diagrams put on ice The girl passed as well, which was nice..

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-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

Thanks everyone for the Mohawk tips....I'm going to talk to my coach about these.
This is for group lessons last night:
Cloudy: my good scratch spins have departed somewhat. I'm not sure what has happened, but they aren't that great. Travel a bunch. I compete at Bowie tomorrow so that leaves tomorrow morning to try a few more to see. It was terribly cold in the rink because of the hockey tournament AND we have show rehearsal an hour earlier tomorrow...

Sunny Skies: However, I have a wicked 2-foot spin now! Anywho, group coach had us do the perimeter power stroking and I can only do 2-3 across the rink (short way); Hit the jumps and she doled out some advice for my salchow that really helped!!! She also mentioned that this will be my double next year! Yay!! I just have to get some AIR under my skates!

She mentioned off-ice jumping. I haven't done any because I'm not sure about form. Mentioned it to her and her response was, "Oh, you'll be fine" I'm wondering if she says that.....so you have to take more lessons to get something "fixed" later on. My take on it (or am I naturally suspicious?)

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

SUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I GOT MY BACK CROSSOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Oh thank goodness!! I swear I was about to murder someone yesterday cos I couldnt do them!

My teacher has given us an exercise to help with the idea of crossing over, and I couldnt get it yesterday (see above post ), and I still couldnt get it today during the class session... VERY frustrating...

So I took myself off to a patch of ice after the class, practised the exercise, listened to my body, BENT my knees really deeply, and then just got it... It was a very small circle, but I dont care!!! Not a scratch in sight on one side, then I swapped, and I was scratching, so I worked out (through trial and error on both sides, and help from a lady at the rink) that I wasnt rolling myback ankle enough... thus I was raking it... Rolled the ankle properly and its all good... NO scratches in sight!! YAY!

Also, my teacher told me that my mohawks are very nice and Im being very neat (which I took as a compliment), but I should try extending properly now... So extend going into it, and then stretch going back ... will work on that next time.

I was mucking around, using my 'ballet/dance' pose (correct posture ), and pushing off on an outside edge from T position, curving around, with leg nicely extended behind me, then my body decided it wanted to do a smooth 3-turn and my free leg swung thru to the front, again, nice and extended, and I glided back on a backward inside edge, and it looked pretty!!! I had no idea what I was doing, just mucking around... love it!

My Tstops are better, I did them up and down the rink... alternating feet... push push stop, push push stop... It was quite satisfying to see the little piles of 'snow' behind me where my stops happened... tells of the awful state of our rink, but still...

Ummm what else??

Forward crossovers arent great still... but do I currently care?? not really!!!!

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-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

Sunny: Ordered my first skates today (rentals for only one more week).

Had a pair of rentals today that were SHARP- they must have had a recent sharpening. NOW I know what edges are.

Backward swizzles don't make me feel like falling anymore.

Practiced falling because a young girl who was there by herself kept falling and was beginning to look unhappy... I made sure she wasn't the only one with snow on her pants.

Cloudy: Can't think of anything.

Cloudy: British Summer Time began this morning, which meant an hour's less sleep than usual (particularly as we had been watching the Ladies' Free programme, which went on until nearly 11:00 pm our time). That didn't matter so much - once one is up, I find, it's not much different - but it's horrid having to wake up in the dark again, just as it had begun to be daylight! Ah well....

The ice was foul! A lot of soft, wet patches. It wouldn't have mattered had it been soft all the way round, but it was in patches, so you kept catching yourself. And once it had dried off and begun to harden, it had awful ruts in it. Not nice! So I basically didn't do any fast, aerobic skating at all, but just worked on 3-turns and Mohawks.

Sunny: The Husband landed his loop "the best I've done it in years!" so he was pleased. But he's totally lost his Salchow, which serves him right for going on about being a better skater than I am! Tee hee! And he can't do a BI3 solo for love nor money - mine is pretty dire, but at least I can do it. He has super double 3s, though, which I can't do!

When practising my spins, I decided to have another go at my change-foot - managed 2 revolutions on my left foot, one on 2 feet and one on my right foot! Definitely coming - must keep practising. I actually find a backspin easier if I do it from a changefoot than if I try to do it solo, although I can occasionally do one "in isolation". And since Husband's and my spin in our free dance is a backspin, I'm getting used to the sensation!

My back 3s are almost beginning to happen, but because I spent the morning working on skills I can't really do, it felt as though I couldn't skate at all! Kept having to do the occasional lap of edges just to remind myself that I could! But it really wasn't a good skate morning at all!

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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!

Sunny :
Managed to please the coach with back crossovers in both directions today. I couldn't believe it since usually she says one way's much better than the other.

Cloudy :
Was getting taught bunny hops, mohawks, pivots and lunges today. Should've stayed well away from that. I couldn't for the life of me get the bunny hop to look like a bunny hop. My mohawks were okay but I need to get some more confidence to go faster cause I seem to turn onto the other foot but stop dead! Pivots were okay but I wasn't getting the revolutions happening. Lunges - FORGET it!! I thought the coach had lost her marbles, no way I'm going to get that happening any time soon.

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AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

Sunny Skies: Watching dear nine-month old Milo right now. He's fearless -- just trying to stand hands-free, shouting "Hieee daaadeeeee."

MIF class yesterday. More work on perimeter stroking -- A-OK CCW, only OK CW. Preliminary spiral pattern probably passable, but only because I've got a flexible back and I can get my left leg up to hip height without leaning at all. That right side stinks, grrr.... Left spiral is up tp my head with a nice, moderate but not scary lean. Right side lean is terrifying yet.

Started working Waltz-8 pattern by pushing off from T position onto an outside edge around a hockey circle. First attempt petered out about halfway around, but subsequent attempts made it all the way around.

I think this class is really helping my confidence right now -- I'm realizing that all of the work I've put into practicing my stroking and edges is really starting to pay off. I know that the things we're doing at the moment are review for me, but it's so NICE to be polishing and refining things instead of struggling with learning them. I feel GOOD out there -- not like the usual bumbling adult that I am when I'm working on harder stuff. I like feeling confident and I think it's starting to come into my Synchro stuff and my private lessons, too.

Bonus: landed several easy 1/2 flips and 1/2 toes, worked on 1/2 lutz entrance and consistently picked in whilst still on the outside edge (still too chicken to jump yet).

Cloudy skies: STILL trying to get into one foot spin on one foot. Hqave developed a silly mantra that I'm thinking as I try to get into the spin: drop the knee, nesting C's, little toe around the buttons, ball of the foot, breathe. Helped some. Got tired of working on spin from a T-position and, believe it or not, I wanted more speed. What's with me????

Aww. That was nice of you. I think I need to do some falling practice. I've fallen twice since I started back, and no problems, but my fear of falling is definetly going to inhibit progress as I start learning new things.

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

can't stress the importance of learning good falling technique. Yetserdya i fell on my knee while doing my double sal. i kep underrotating and got super frustrated and really kicked in to it very hard. I completed three roations and I had never tried a triple before so i got scared and couldn't untabgle my feet in time and landed on my stomach shouldder and knee, now I have a nasty bruise on my knee which limits range of motion i can get without pain. If i had been properly thnking i could have easily turned slightly and landed on my butt instead. it would have saved me ALOT of pain

Sunny Skies: found out why my spins have sucked lately-HOCKEY ICE!!! Everyone has been complaining! The Ice is sooooo hard (sissy hockey boys can't play on anything but hard ice, we can take it though and can skate on ANYTHING!!!)

Worked on the mohawks and they are better. I have to bend deeper in the knee. I had also been changing from the outside edge to and inside edge on these outside mohawks (doh!)....

AND-I can now do the drunken sailor/windmill movement! Guess i was reading too much into it.

Ran through my program. Skate at 6pm tonight at Bowie. I wonder if I will have any time for cruisin Bowie Town Center before everything closes (it is Sunday after all)......

Cloudy: cold rink because of HOCKEY ICE! AND, people were goofing off and not paying attention while we were running through our part of the rehearsal-got right in our way . AND I almost got creamed by one of the coaches who was skating backwards (superfast) not looking where she was going-it was all I could do do move sideways and suck in to make myself smaller!!! Talk about CHAOS!!!

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

Cloudy: Today was the last session with my second club - now they are both closed for the year and I am shut down for 9 days (until Spring Skate School).

The ice was c@#p today! There were sheets of frost falling from the roof like bombs and water dripping and forming lumps on the ice.

I have been busting my britches to try to get my RFXO back. My forward edges are all pretty good and I got my LFXO back a couple sessions ago. Last session with my coach (8 days ago), she was just starting to talk about working up to forward cross-overs and I SO wanted to go back with BOTH FXO's - aint gonna happen

Sunny I did figure out that I tend to skate (and walk!) with my right hip in the lead, which is why the LFXO came easily, so today I worked on "hip rotations" on a RFO edge and it is helping - with the left hip rotated forward, I almost had the RFXO today but simply ran out of ice time and energy.

With only 2 months on ice, I am already so ADDICTED that I am going into withdrawl!!!!! COM'ON SPRING SKATE SCHOOL!

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

Ok, I had my competition today at Bowie Maryland, the Valentine Invitational, which had been rescheduled because of a snowstorm in February (2nd out of ?? so far, let's see I have the in-house left, then Halloween Classic in the fall). I got there a bit too early and had a bit too much time on my hands... The rink is in a nice park area so I went outside to warm-up off-ice. If I had gotten there MUCH earlier (by hours) I could have gone shopping (and probably missed my comp).

My warm-up on ice was fine, except for falling on my salchow (which was weird cause I hardly ever fall). Everything else was fine. I was first, skating against no one at 6 p.m. No video this time as I flew solo. My coach said I did really well, except for wonking out on my toe-loop and 1/2 flip and finishing up 5 seconds ahead of the music (which meant my 2-foot spin had to really last) . Coach said my spiral was even higher than all the others but the photographer didn't get a shot! I didn't think to check out the video booth until I was driving home, then it was too late.

I placed first (skating Artistic 1). Coach was pleased. Most of her other students placed first and one placed second. She had a good day also. I got to watch all the other skaters after me, all skating Artistic 2-??? and they were great! Beautiful skating, music, dresses, etc. It was great to see that. Most young, one woman.

I have a goal of actually competing against someone someday. I am told that so far, there are no competitors at our in-house comp in the Adult Bronze category . So, I may have to wait for Halloween Classic. I will have an updated routine (same music). Hopefully a sit spin and RECOGNIZABLE MOHAWKS!!!! And a new dress!!! (I'm making it over the summer).

I did mention to coach that I need work on mohawks and footwork. We will be concentrating on them .....and other stuff.

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

sunny: finally got 12 revolutions on my scratch spin, and 3 on my camel spin

cloudy: still only get 1 revolution when I switch feet. Couldn't even work on jumps, because of my stupid triple salchow accident. I was too scared to try in case my knee gave out on me. Pretty much worked on spins and MIF, stupid choktaws (sp?) and back 3 turns need a lot of work as i am now finding out. i got so carried away with jumps that i totally forgot about all my footwork elements.

Sunny
Had a very good practice today. Considering the awkwardness of adapting to the new skates, I decided to do extensive work on stroking today, ignoring my greed for speed. Finally, I think I *might* have gotten the hang of Satan's Toe Picks of Death. Backwards swizzles are coming right along. Far from smooth or perfect (and no where near where my forwards swizzles are considering I think I could do those in my sleep now), but when I find the right groove, I can feel it. Now, if I can just keep myself from wanting to pitch forward as I'm going backward. I attempted to work on my one foot glides (which I'd started working on before getting the new skates, but then put on hold until I got used to them) and did actually manage to get on one foot with, what I think is, a nice position, but I was *very* wobbly. And my shoulders kept wanting to pitch forward (yet again) and I'd feel the toe pick *almost* grab. Then I'd mentally tell myself "shoulders up! back!" but then I'd go *too* far back and almost fall of the back of my skate. I'll get it with a bit more work, though. And my 2foot turn is back!!! I glided into it with some light speed, whooshed myself around, and kept right on gliding backwards. Granted, it's not as consistant as it was (and it was definitely scratchy a few times), but I've got more confidence in it than I had a few days ago. And I *almost* wiggled today (for the first time). Now if I can just keep that blessed right leg from wanting to go so far out that it doesn't want to come back.

Cloudy
Well, we've started working on crossovers. I see this is being the bane of my existence for the next few weeks. Ben wants us to go into them (on the circle) from 1/2 swizzles to get movement into the crossover, but my 1/2 swizzles went to hell with the arrival of the new skates. I did manage to do a crossover or two, but I just can't seem to step that right foot out far enough in front of the left to keep my legs from getting tangled up in one another (combined with the fact that I seem to want to come to a complete stop). Well, I guess that's something else I have to add to the list to work on.

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"finger painting?"

Sunny Skies:

Literally here in the Bay Area... and the weekend rink is a bit emptier b/c of that!! Well, okay... only at the beginning (about 1.5 hr) of the LOOONG public session, but that's enough time for me to get in my Bronze moves practice. I did managed to get my spins, my jumps (landed a couple of flips and one good loop.) and still improved my FI mohawks for the 5 step mohawks on the hour after the first one... The power 3's are getting pretty good (well, good for me anyway) towards the end of my moves practice.

Cloudy:

Not much for now!!! Given I had such a tough time trying to get in my practice b/c of the skating season (which officially ends now b/c of Worlds.) I might finally get a break from the crowds for the next couple of months. 5 step mohawks are still crappy though on the LFI side. (RFI side is okay) Extensions are okay, not great...

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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!!!