Great advice, Jen. In fact, when I took this test my coach insisted that I skate the XOvers on the hockey circles even though I was sooo much more comfortable using larger circles on the long axis.
My judge had me re-skate the element specifying that I use the long axis so I could enlarge the circles & stretch out the extensions on each push.

Having previously said that the test can be taken centered on either axis...

Note that an adult (or tall kid/teen) can still get 4 quality crossovers on the Preliminary/Pre-Bronze Forward and Backwards Crossovers pattern using the hockey circles, though, with some kneebend.

For an adult/tall kid/teen, much more than 4 or 5 crossovers using the hockey circles and centered on the short axis often means the skater probably isn't getting much "push" from either stroke ... something that won't necessarily cause the element to be retried, but may well be commented upon by the judge(s).

And since the alternating forward power crossovers and alternating back crossovers on Pre-Juv/Bronze MIF build off of the Prelim/Pre-Bronze crossovers, acquiring good control and "push" on the lower level MIF can only aid the skater on the next level test.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

I finally learned how to do a T-stop properly (ie, outside edge of dragging foot) last year. That would be a solid YEAR after I passed my intermediate moves! If you learn one now, you'll be way ahead of me.

Fair:

Landed a few loops in front of primary coach too! WHOA!!!

Foggy:

But not during the program runthru!!

My lesson came unfortunately with a group of at least 15 rugrats running around the rink PLUS the usual crowd... PLUS two couples that normally doesn't show up at the time I show up, but were there this time. One of the couples was practicing for the same competition as me!

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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!!!

You know what's weird? I can actually do a great T-stop. Hockey stop? No clue. Snowplow? Hell no.

Fair:
Had a good lesson with primary coach today on moves. We worked on the pain in the a$$ moves on the Bronze moves test.
Power threes: Coach was very pleased with the left, as the turns were perfectly on top of the lobes!!
Still need to hold longer on the right, I tend to rush the first three after the transition from back crossovers and throw the pattern off a little ( evenutally getting back on).

Five step: Better than last week, but still need to extend on step 5!!

Foggy:
It's not December yet- I just want to get this test over with!
There were two little sisters between 3-4 years old taking a lesson, who can barely skate. I backed off from doing my freeskate because God forbid if they got in my way! Next week, though, the program runthroughs will begin again!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Fair: Good lesson with my secondary coach yesterday. Was able to show him my right power 3, which I just got a couple of weeks ago and he was properly happy. Then he started to work on improving it! Also did a run through of each program and they were both pretty good. I was especially proud of myself because as I turned from backward to forward to do the 3-turn into my salchow a kid crossed right in front of me. If the timing had been off, we'd have collided (par for this particular kid) but we didn't, and I still did the jump pretty well without freaking out, so that was good!

Then my coach helped me pick up my new 32" TV, loaded it into his truck and helped me into the house with it, and also helped me with the unbelievably heavy stand I'd gotten! What a guy!

Happy skating everyone!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

Foggy: I was tired-still fighting this cold. Didn't jump. CW crossovers were mediocre to bad!

Fair: Thanks to all the advice, I FINALLY managed 5 crossovers in the figure-8 pattern! I worked on making my strokes shorter and circles larger and that did it. Whether they will pass my coach's inspection is another story....

Spins: Were really fine-reviewing the video, I did manage to raise my leg up a bit higher than normal on the scratch. Sitspins still bite. Didn't backspin.

Spirals: ok, but felt a bit "off" and flat. Gotta see if I need to have skates sharpened soon.

Got off the ice early to try on a skating costume for the show....very pretty!!! Cancelled the evenings appointment (daughter's voice lesson) and got to be early.

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

Fair: Last night was dance club - for once, we actually broke even, if not made a profit of £1.00! Normally we make a slight loss. But there were enough people last night, which was great.

Foggy: But, of course, that meant there weren't enough men! So for some of the dances, it was a case of dance by yourself or not at all, and although I'm trying to do the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango solo, I don't much like doing anything else solo.... Does depend on the dance, mind. I'm not doing the Fiesta Tango at all until after Oxford, as Husband is practising it solo to compete there, and I don't care to do it solo if I can avoid it!

Fair: His Fiesta and his 14-step are really getting good now, especially the latter - if only he gets the forward swing roll okay, he really should do well at Oxford. I'm thrilled for him! We did a couple of really good Swing Dances together, and I had a great Prelim Waltz with another partner. Our Golden Skaters' Waltz and Riverside Rhumbas were okay, I think.

At that, our Golden Skaters' Waltz was okay this morning.

Foggy: But it was about the only thing that was! Our Riverside wasn't exactly awful, but we had to run through it 3 times before we were satisfied, as we kept forgetting corrections we'd been told about last lesson. And there was filming going on, nobody seemed to know who or why.... and when we finally got the music for our Free Dance, Husband seemed to think we were keeping people waiting, and rushed through it like a train, thus destroying the whole point of playing the music in the first place! We haven't had quite such a bad run-through for ages, and of course it was just before he had to go to work.

Nothing seemed to work for me this morning - my solo dances were okay, although my Dutch Waltz could have been better, but I think my Canasta was okay. But the Dance Moves simply weren't happening, so in the end I gave up on them and just worked on aerobic skating for a bit.

Plus I've started having anxiety dreams about Oxford already, and it's still over a week away.... sheesh....

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

Fair: Landed 3 times the double axel clean ! I was so excited to being able to do it!! Did some nice combination spin and two lovely flying sit.
I just started skating again this month after a few years of absence and It feel so wonderfull to be on the ice! I'm very happy..


Foggy: I have some problems doing the double loop and flip.
my flying camel is very bad and I can't center the layback. I still haven't tired double lutz because it scare me.

Fair--
The skating dress that flo helped me paint looks GREAT! It's sky blue at the top, fading to royal/cobalt/turquoise at the bottom. The part at the bottom is very vibrant. It reminds me of the coloring on a paperback copy that I have of the novel "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold (great book, BTW). (I can barely get into and out of the dress, but that's because the brand has really odd sizing--I've got what the company calls a "large" but the tag inside says "Size 4." If that's the case, I really wish they offered an XXL!)

Foggy--
Skated earlier in the afternoon than usual yesterday, so I went on the ice without warming up my feet (hence cramps in boots!) My two program run-thrus were cruddy and middling, respectively--but at least I did the laps of stroking immediately after that my coach demands (he's away at regionals). My camel spin for the spin event is still pretty cruddy, too! Then I felt like playing with some edgework (FO and FI rockers), so I didn't do as much work on the program or my spins as I should have.

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Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

I covered a class at another rink tonight. Unfortunately, my husband took the van this morning with my skates in the back. I realized it before I left the house and decided it wasn't worth the time or effort to go fetch them from him. So, I borrowed my oldest daughter's skates. I knew it would be a beginner class, so I decided they were good enough.

I have absolutely no idea how my child could skate in these things. I was going sideways because they were incredibly dull! They're so high cut compared to my Klingbeils, I hurt my knees trying to keep them bent against the boot! God bless her, she loves these skates. Unbelievable.

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Isk8NYC: Gives new meaning to the term "Walk a walk in my shoes!" Or in your case, it would be "Skate a lap in my boots!!!" LOL!!!

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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'm similar. T-stop is my favorite. Snowplow is ... okay I guess. Hockey stop is right out. That show stop or whatever it is all the skaters at my rink do where it's the same edge as a T-stop but with the stopping foot up next to the toe of the skating foot, NO WAY!!

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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

Foggy: Don't wear hair gel when skating, it doesn't work out. Was a bit lazy today when I got to the rink, even though I had an Olympic-sized surface to myself for a while. Must remember to make some CD's of fun music before selling my computer for such times. Must remember to examine rink audio equipment to see if there are input jacks that I can plug my phone with MP3s into, which would be somewhat more convenient. Spins started off unusually crappy...

Fair: Jumps started off unusually good, I was able to do loops with unusual ease and cleanliness. Once some other skaters showed up for the next session, it was encouraging enough to get me working a bit harder (heaven forbid I ever get really good and don't have people to try to catch up to). Spins suddenly magically got better, and I was doing them with 11-14 revolutions fairly consistantly, and the bad ones were still 10 revolutions usually, so I was happy. Did the best spin EVER today, I have no idea how many revolutions it was because it was actually centered and impossible to count, but it was really comfortable and lasted a LONG time, I would hazard to guess 20-25 revolutions. Tried like mad to get one like that again but did not suceed. Worked on the backspin and managed to actually get all the way around a few times, I think in the best one I actually got 2 revolutions, but I don't know if I'd really count them because I was all over the blade and ice. Well for me, that's good progress, anyways.

Foggy: Left my newly-arrived rule book and binder at the rink. Went back to get it but it was gone.

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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

That's known as "the click of death" because if you do it at speed, you will almost always knock your foot out from under and take a good splat. The cure is to keep your knees bent, do not rise up as you cross over.

Yes, they are the same thing.

(((((Debbie S and Raye)))))

Foggy:
I haven't managed to skate more than once a week for the past two weeks. Yesterday I spent 2 hours at Klingbeil trying to get my boots, especially my left to feel tight but not painful, and to correct the constant pressure to the inside on the left. They took out my orthotics and added a leather liner under them so they could shape the bottom. I spent a lot of time just standing in them to be sure they felt OK. All to no avail. I got the rink today and was in terrible pain almost immediately. There was so much pressure on the first metatarsal that I had to tear my skates off. I loosened the laces and tried again - but same thing. It took a lace hook to get the orthotics out. I removed the leather liner under them and went back out. This time it was OK. I decided to have DH check my LFO's which have been the problem all along. I could feel myself skidding out constantly. After a lot of skating and studying, he found that my upper body and hip alignment is fine, but my ankle is bending to the inside so that I am on a flat instead of an outside edge. Then I stood up straight and still while he checked the blade positions. He says the R is mounted farther to the outside than the L. I think I'm going to NJ, where Isk8NYC says there is someone who can work on the blades at a rink, and I can try them out right away. I think that looking at the blade alignment on a floor is not the same as looking at it on the ice.

Fair:
Although I haven't gotten any practice in the past two weeks, I have absorbed some sort of feeling for the ice from attending Skate America and watching it on TV when I got home. When I got on the ice Monday, I fully expected to feel stiff and awkward, but I felt great instead! I can't say that I've accomplished anything in the past several weeks, due to the boot/blade problems, but I did have a little fun today with B cross strokes, and managed to finally do the B cross stroke/B power pull exercise again, and enjoyed doing it.

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Hmmm. Skating by osmosis - I like it. Wonder if it works with video as well.

I really, really like the fitter at Hackensack. Very talented, patient, and kind. I thought someone said he won't touch Klingbeils, but he adjusted my blades fine.

If you can get there during the day, the older man at Mennen is very good. I can't remember his name right now. He doesn't work at night, so you have to get there during the day.

In either case, make an appointment.

DH came home tonight and still hasn't realized that my skates are in the trunk! I think I might take the twins to Warinanco tomorrow.

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It does. I got my first BO three after watching Irina Slutskaya do them on a video of some Grand Prix event, don't remember which one or when, but do remember just feeling it and going to the rink and doing it. Then I got chicken and let them go. If I ever get my boots/blades right, I think they will come back. Thanks for the info.

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for Friday, 29 Oct
Foggy: It was test night and I left my book in the skate bag... She will fill it out later, not sure when I'll get it back. Spins were slightly off.

Fair: Edges: we did all our edges, I wish I had a video going of my BACK INSIDE EDGES because they ROCKED!!! They looked like coach's!!! WOW! I even amazed myself! It was nice because we were down on the end and I didn't have to worry about kids from the class next to us running into us.....Then we did our crossovers, and proceeded to waltz jumps. Mine was fine, but could have gotten more height into it. I did not rush through-took my time with the set-up. Salchow was very nice and neat-only toe-tapped once out of the 3 jumps; so now she says she wants to see me push up and get some air with it. Overall, I'm pleased.

PS-Figure 8 Pattern: on warm-ups, I did manage to get 5 crossovers on the circle, by increasing the size of the circle and by shortening my pushes on the strokes...now I'm working on making it "pretty" like other coach wants.

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

Fair:

Video!
Flip is better than the loop. The loop feels very comfortable but it's tiny and the flip feels like a bunch of arms and legs and looks like a nice jump on video. I skate by feel so usually video days are really crummy for my ego, everything feels so good and looks bad, so it was nice for once for the bad-feeling jump to be ....good .

Foggy:

I'm still fighting sinus infection and have three parts of my body on sick leave (wrist, hip, ankle) so coach has ordered me on 5 days rest. Good. Now I can eat all the halloween chocolate, go to parties and stay up late without having to be at the rink at 6am!

Fair: Had a break through on my waltz jump. I was over preparing with my arms back to far, no wonder I wasn't able to carry through!

Foggy: back inside edges ; sit spin just can't bring my free leg in. I have no problem w/ shoot the duck position but can't get there when I'm in a spin. Any pointers?

Foggy: I haven't skated for three weeks due to various reasons

Fair: I started the beginnings of a flip jump at 8.27am this morning, and had it fairly consistent by 8.39! Landed quite a few clean ones! Amazed and excited beyond belief, I didn't wanna leave the rink. I was surprised because I was convinced that it would scare me shit out of me, but I actually quite like it!

EDIT: I also landed 2 loops, very tiny, but they were loops for sure!
ANOTHER EDIT: I started work on my sitspin today, it's a "working progress".

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http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

Foggy:
Missed my session on Monday because I strained my right arm and ended up paying $10 guest fee for a SUPER-crowded ice time on Thur. Not to mention that I am broke this month because I just paid my tuition and text books.

And then I took the stupidest fall on the easiest backward perimeter stroking pattern! My coach yelled at me to stay close to the board on the crossovers, which I interpreted as I still had room behind me. Before I realized it, I am already too close to it and down I go on my strained right arm.

Next I still have a HUGE problem communicating with my coach, largely due to her broken English. It has been a pointing game between the two of us. She never really tells me the correct technique or body position in those jumps and spins unless I asked, and then we'll start pointing and say "Here", "Here", "There", "Like this", "Like that"... blah! Like WHAT if you don't get down there and show me a proper sit spins?????!!!!!!!!!

I have to put up with her because my old coach stopped teaching. There's only 2 coaches available for the adult session -- one teaches dance and she teaches the freestyle. I'm frustrated coz I'm willing to learn, willing to pay (talk about paying the bills to a broke uni student), and I can't find someone who can teach.

Fair:
None.

Sorry, I just feel like ranting, especially after I overcooked my dinner tonight.

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Reach out for the sunshine ~*

We no longer have a couples lesson on a Sunday morning, but it's a good practice session, and Husband still has his solo lesson then.

Fair: Extra hour in bed this morning due to the end of summer time!

Relatively good runthroughs of everything, hope they stay okay. Husband's extension on the end pattern of the Riverside leaves much to be desired, alas.... but then, I don't expect mine is much better.

Played with the Rocker Mohawk, and found we can do it, albeit slowly.

Foggy: Also played with the 2nd lift we hope to put into next year's free dance. Which was a disaster - he dropped me on to the barrier, then landed there himself, and one of the coaches - nor ours - saw and nearly wet himself laughing.....

We also realised that we don't have a dismount for the lift we normally do - it comes right at the very end of the dance, so he just stands there - or, ideally, turns - with me in his arms and then puts me down and we bow. But we might want to choreograph into the dance next year, so we need to work on a dismount! Tried that and it wasn't a success today!

Husband finished the session sliding across the ice..... don't know what he did, but we were playing with our spirals for the hop, skip and jump competition in a couple of weeks, and somehow he caught his toe-rake on the dismount and went flying! On which happy note.....

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

I'm sure you didin't mean any harm, but you just SPOILED the Skate Canada results for some of us who plan to watch it when it's broadcast! Please NO SPOILERS!

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