dbny-- Sorry to hear about your problems with your now ex-coach! That really was very courteous of you to pay her for your lesson even though SHE was the cause of you not being able to take it that night. I hope you enjoy your break and can find a coach who is a better fit for you!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

Worked on requirements for pre-figures. All the elements are pretty much okay except I could be a little steadier on the left skate (that's the rebuilt left knee side).

Also the waltz 8 needs a tad more control. I passed PPM a year ago but the waltz 8 was on a larger circle. For the pre-figures test, the waltz 8 is on the same size circle I do my figure 8s on. It is much smaller and that 3 turn sure comes fast!!

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Swan: Backspins!!! I did the first two I tried - 8 rotations on the right part of the blade and one-foot exits! Yippee!

Duck: Backspins!!! - Could not do the third one to save my life, nor could I show my coach later on, and she missed seeing the two that I did first thing.

Swan: I managed to put down two decent figures (double 3 and change 3) even though the ice was rock hard, somewhat chewed up and there were freeskaters whizzing around and through my layouts.

Duck: figure loops. Coach says they're getting better but I don't see it.

Swan: program run-throughs were okay.

Duck: obnoxious coach from another club persisted in skating across my path whenever she could and in directing her students to spin and jump right on my layout. My coach finally went over to remind her of the location of the spin circle; she pretended she didn't know about it, even though it's been in that location since she was a skater herself here.

Swan: Club meeting afterward was well-attended and people are stepping forward to fill positions that have been vacant for way too long. Issues that we thought would upset people didn't seem to.

Duck: the people that have been complaining the loudest about the way things have been run didn't bother to show up.

Dying Duck:

We've had four (count 'em) fire-alarm evacuations in the past week and a half. That means I stomped down the 8 flights of stairs to stand, sneezing and wheezing, on the lawn while the landscapers blow freshly-cut grass into the air. So, I'm getting over an allergy-induced sinus infection and a sore knee. I really can't complain because we have a staff member who's recovering from a broken ankle. She also did the 8-flight-stomp several times very slowly. Madness, I tell you!

At practice last night, I did 1-2 good sit spins, but we spent a lot of time on the later parts of the program, redoing choreography to keep it moving. I'll try to get to a freestyle and practice some jumps.

Graceful Swan:
I'm finally getting the program together in my head and on my feet! I just have to figure out how to go around obstacles (ie. the hockey players) and stay with my group.

Show's next week and the costume actually fits! The factory left off a belt or something, so we had to give back the pants. After they're returned, we have to get them hemmed. One of the other coaches remarked that she had to make sure she had enough staples in the staplegun! LOL!

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Those people never will show up. Complaining is their life, they wouldn't volunteer to fix anything. What would they have to talk about if the problems were resolved?

When I was Parent Group President, people would tell me they were going to tell the Principal this or that. They never even called the office. It got to the point where I stopped forewarning the Principal because the conflict never occurred. At one point, I wanted to tell the whiners that they should homeschool their daughters -- they obviously knew so much more than any of the educators! Never said it, but having the comeback ready was priceless.

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Duck - just getting time to skate!
Swan - skates are getting better. I tried a couple of doubles at the PA clinic.

Duck: or chicken, whatever. Tried throw double salchow this morning, and even WITH pads on and WITH the pole I wasn't able to pull in. Grrr. And my right ankle's been swollen all week and I don't know why.

Swan: New lift is coming along. I did well with jumps this week too.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Loops - I loved the throw double sals! Go for it. The hardest part is that it feels the boy is always in the way - and he usually is! Remember to "face" the jump, then pull in. This will make sure you go out away from him before you pull in. It's like a throw axel, if you pull in too soon without getting away from the boy you'll smack him in the face!

Flo, I was plenty far away from him... that might have been part of the problem. I was traveling so far in the air that it was hard to stop that momentum and transfer my weight over to my right side. Maybe we'll try throw double loop next time; that might be easier.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

For reals?
And hopefully next time, coach won't clock me in the head with the pole/harness!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Nova and Loops - Go for it! When my coach started us on them he said "go up first then rotate" and was then shocked when I listened to him and it worked.

I thought this evening was going to be all Dying Duck, as I could barely skate.... don't know what was wrong. And my boots were uncomfortable - my toes were having pins-and-needles from being cramped, but my heels were slipping. In the end, I took them off and started again, and this time things were much better!

So I ended up having a couple of run-throughs of the long version of my programme (2 minutes), choreographing the inserted section.... I've only been and gone and put in one of my coach's Evil Exercises! I must be totally and utterly crazy! But it fits with the music.

And what was very nice was a huge noticeboard in the entry to our rink from the local council detailing the plans for the future, with the assurance that the ice rink will remain open until the new rink is available. They hope to start work in the autumn of next year, and the new sports centre finished by 2008! Some people have worked very hard indeed to ensure continuity of skating, and I, for one, am most grateful to them.

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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!

By the way, the Ice Club of Baltimore's show is May 21st!
All are welcome!
Also, I got to give a pair lesson the other day - lots of fun!

Jazzpants & Sk8pics, thanks for the support. She actually tried to give me back the money, but there was no way I was going to owe her anything.

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Starskate, will we be seeing you as a guest skater again (with or sans stilts)?

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

This week has been more swan than duck:

Duck: My double loop finallly fast finally big and oh so cheated. Just a 1/3 to a 1/4 but so annoying. Where's the snap?

Swan: My loops (figure) look loopy unfortunately only the left but hey I can trace them. Consistently, landing the double sow all week, over rotating the double toe by about 1/2 rev or landing beautifully w/ a quarter cheat, timing rats. Spins good, footwork good, gonna take that Jr moves soon.

Overall not bad, dances are better especially fox and euro along w/ rocker fox.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Dying duck? Nah, I shot it and ate it with hoisin sauce. It was good.

Graceful swan - Well, upright swan, anyway! Today I finally focused through my irrational fear of the double toeloop and landed 5 of them! I landed my first double toe ever back in October, but after landing 5 in 2 days, I back-burnered it to work on my program for Nationals. After 7 months of avoiding them completely, this was a real mental battle, but I did it! Yay!

Arrrgh I'm so annoyed!

There is a competition at Deeside today (Solo Ice Dance I think) and knowing that there'd be no coaches, I rang up the rink to check if the early morning patch session was on. To my delight I was informed that yes, it was. SO i got up at 4.30 in the morning, got my train, I was in Blackburn at 6, with a closed ice rink. I had to wait an hour to get back home.

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http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

Oh Melzorina, that is annoying - bad luck! Can you go tomorrow instead, or rather, as well?

We had a good practice today. Almost all swan-like. Even ended up with being lifted on the ice while we were still moving!!!! Only about 1/2" off the ice, mind you, and I don't think we actually moved more than the same amount.... but still! First time we've done that. Also had really good run-throughs of our compulsory dances for the Mountain Cup, and of one of the ones we need for this country.

Duck: Still can't quite get the placement of the end of our free dance on the ice - want to finish in front of the judges, but this hasn't, so far, worked. Also getting some of the footwork muddled - and I choreographed it myself, so I shouldn't! We show it to a coach tomorrow, and hope to get some ideas.

Inside edges still skiddy in Golden Skaters' Waltz, alas, and stepping from back to forwards in the Swing Dance isn't quite what it should be. And, as always, my Mohawks need to be held for a lot longer than is in fact happening.

All the same, although there is masses of room for improvement in our Willow Waltz, if we skate it in competition as we did today, I shan't be too upset!

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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!

Tuesday and Wednesday this past week.
Dying Duck:
Back spin even after fixing the boot still needs work. I need to spend mega time with my new coach working on this. For some reason, I keep falling out after 1 and 1/2 rotations probably because I'm rushing or something. I'm not sure.
Camel spin hooked this week and I got one and half rotations but I was just to sore and sick to keep it up. At least I understood how to get into it this week. I still have to fix my left boot and blade so that I don't tip onto my inside edge so much. It was partially fixed but still needs more tweeking.
Forward corkscrew (scratch) My coach was noticing that when I did them I was actually going into them with two feet. I had no idea I was doing this. Once she got me out of that habit, I really cranked the forward corkscrews and had to ask her where she was because I couldn't tell the difference between the ice and her to exit. LOL

Sitspin worked on getting lower even with sore left knee (partial injury and partially from infection that has entered my blood stream. I'm on antibiotics now.) She got me to get my knee way past my foot so that I couldn't see it. She's still trying to get me to get that free leg over to the skating leg while spinning. It's getting closer but not there yet. Even so, my sitspin is getting some speed and better centering.

Jump landings were fixed but I still need to practice doing them so I can do them in my sleep without thinking about them. The positioning on the landings made my jumps look like jumps instead of hops.

Loop is a sorry site but maybe that's to do with the fact that I've not had so much time with my right boot being fixed and I haven't adjusted to them.

Flip rotated but landed on the wrong foot first.
Lutz same as flip.

Graceful Swan:
Got a new coach that likes Tara Lipenski(sp) who somehow could tell from my skating that I like Michelle Kwan. Just think of it. Michelle Kwan is finally going to get some technical skating to go with her artistry. LOL yeah right.
Anyway, now that my landings have been fixed, my waltz jumps are huge and flowy with my free leg extended high like Michelle but with proper technic like Tara.
My toe loop is much stronger too and actually flows out with speed.
I'm going in and out of my jumps now at the same speed. No more going in quick and dying on the exit.

It's great to have someone look at your skating and fix it because one can not see for themselves as they're doing it.

Brigitte

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Annabel, that's a damn good idea...I might just do that, thought not an early morning skate as the trains don't run so early on a Sunday (unfortunately!).

I might persuade a friend to go with me and just have a laugh on a public session, last time he skated with me (about 6 months ago) we had a great time playing tig (tag?) going at the speed of light. Great fun!

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http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

Poor Mel, you sure are dedicated to get up at that time of the morning and travel alone on a train, the sooner you can get some driving lessons the better and safer it will be, do take care now.
Cheers
Grace

Mrs. Redboots I had the most interesting lesson on the Willow last week. On the ladies 3, I was instructed to aim right at the man, to try to do the 3 turn right through him. I was reassured that the man would get out of the way (I assume if he knew what was good for him), and to my shock, it actually worked, I'm not scraping the three quite as much and am on balance for the progessive after.

I did apologize to my partner beforehand for any potential injury because I thought that this was just the dumbest idea, but coach was right (again) and I was happy it worked.

We spent a lot of time working on the forward steps into the ladies mohawk, getting the lobe and the lean right. Sometimes the easiest steps are the hardest.

Graceful Swan:

must have been all the work on the RO 3. My RI 3 has improved greatly and I've got my alternating inside 3's to a point where coach smiles, sort of.

Dying duck:

spinning. I can either have centred or speedy. Not both. sigh.

Dying Duck:
Went to weekend rink late, only to find that it closed early b/c they're having their annual summer skating show. Lucky for me there was a rink about 10 minutes nearby, but it's the rink that I don't usually like to go to b/c of the neighborhood and the crowds on the weekend. And I only got an hour out of it. Nothing too productive since one of the ends was coned off for "lessons." (That is...when it wasn't coned off for the paramedics to get a girl with a broken arm/shoulder off the ice...)

The only reason I even went to that rink is b/c our next Adult Sectionals is at that rink! And I skated on the Olympic side and I have no clue whether the Olympic sized rink is the side that I'll be competing in, nor do I know whether the Olympic side is warmer than the NHL side.

Graceful Swan:
After getting frustrated with dodging the kids while practicing moves, I ended up doing spins and jumps just to see if the ice feels right enough for me to skate on. It didn't feel hard like the time I went there for coffee club. But there were a lot more people there (i.e. more heat => softer ice.)

Went to summer skating show to cheer on my friends. Finally got to meet Thin-Ice in person! Showed her my purple skates, but not my skating since I intended to meet her at my weekend rink in the late afternoon before the show, only to find that it was CLOSED to prep for the show. (So Thin-Ice... do I look like anything like what you thought I might look like? For some reason I remembered you with lighter hair. Of course, this was going on at least 2-3 years ago and my memory can be awfully faulty.)

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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!!!

Yes, that's the way it's done! The Willow is a long way up our food chain, and there are other dances requiring 3-turns that come first, so I've known that one (knowing it and doing it are 2 different things, mind!) for many years. The step I have trouble with is the run afterwards - we tend to "cut the corner" a bit.

There's still masses of room for improvement in our Willow, but if we skate it the way we did yesterday, I'll not feel I've made an **** of myself on the ice!

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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!