Okay, I've been looking at the judges' scoring sheets for Skate America today, so the + or - Grades of Execution title seemed like a good one! Mind if I start the thread for this week?

+ GOE
Actually managed to get up at 5am on a weekend to practice, ensuring I would actually be able to play my music on a freestyle session, LOL! For the first time, I skated my whole program (missing any jump over 1 revolution, but never mind that detail) and immediately skated the last minute of the program, in effect skating a 3-1/2 minute program. If I can keep this up, I should be able to put an end to my stamina problems.

I'm also getting pretty consistent on my Intermediate MIF, which I'm testing in a week and a half.

- GOE
Still can't seem to land my loop-axel anymore, and the double sal has gone missing, too. Hopefully, I'll have more time to work on my jumps once I pass this MIF test. . .

__________________
"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

+GOE:

• Nice to be back skating again after 5 days of working around Skate SF.
• Landed 3 clean flips!!! (Thank you! Thank you, doubletoe!!! That 3turn entry advice DID work!!! It wasn't hard landing them after waiting out the entry and really going into the 3 on a deeper edge!!! )
• Spins are all present and accounted for!
• Sal, toe loop, and waltz jumps also all accounted for!
• Was at Skate SF for a short time today and ran into Craig Heath on the way back to my car. Felt embarrased that I didn't recognized him right away b/c he was in his normal clothes and no sunglasses and he recognized me... (I've skated with him a few times during FS sessions. That's the one good thing about morning FS session... you are more likely to end up on a session with an elite or almost elite skater at my rink.)
• Last night I was star-gazing the Senior Men's Free Skate event. How often do you get to have Nicholas LaRoche, Michael Villereal, and Braden Overett LIVE on your home ice??? (BTW: I've managed to snag a pic with Braden Overett! What a handsome young man and a class act to boot too!) And if you're curious, yes, he won both the Senior Men events and got a nice big glass "salad bowl" trophy to take home to Denver! (Besides the big jumps and gorgeous spins, he's got GORGEOUS footwork, presence AND charisma in his program!!! WOW WOW WOW!!! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!!! )

-GOE:

• No loop!!!
• Working out the kinks of my new footwork to deal with a judging thing for my Bronze FS test program...

doubletoe: Good luck with your Int. Moves test in a week and half! WOO HOO!!!

__________________
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!!!

GOE -

Saturday: Lingering effects of bronchitis, after 2 weeks. The ice was horrible, seemed like it hadn't been done for a couple of days. Fell on a mohawk and banged my knee which has proceeded to swell and stiffen. Not enough energy to do much, jumps seem completely stalled. Oh, and then I got a migraine when I got home. Still felt rotten on Sunday morning so that session wasn't any better.

GOE +

at least my spins are starting to come back. Whenever a miss a couple of sessions my spins completely disappear. Even though I haven't felt like skating I have pushed myself and it is worth it just to centre spins again.

I now have what I consider to be a good 1/2 flip. All this practising the entry set up and picking, the 1/2 jump works well. Hasn't translated to decent full flips yet though.

GOE -
Going through one of those stages when I wonder whether I am ever going to get all my elements back. I set myself the goal of having all the elements I could do 20+ years ago back by the end of this year. My loop sucks, but then it did 20+ years ago, so that doesn't bother me too much. I am a flip and a lutz away from my goal. I know I can do these jumps, I just have to persevere. My spins aren't too far away, although my change foot needs to be more consistent yet. Perseverance !!!

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

GOE-

I worked on waltz jumps with students yesterday, then did a whole bunch of them myself. Much easier on a deep edge than a flat. So why a minus? My heel hurts again.

GOE+

Spins are back on center and controlled. I did a backspin and I was shocked to see one of my twins follow my lead and actually do a beginner version! Really shocked since she spins the opposite direction from me!

I think I can pass Pre-Bronze MITF and even FS since there are no full jumps, only half jumps.
Left a message for a coach that I want to take lessons from in preparation for the tests.
I'm waiting for a call back to try and arrange a time.

__________________

- GOE
Havent practiced my competition program for this Sunday nor even ran through the program + I havent skated bc I was at Skate America

+ GOE
Got a lot of useful and helpful advice from Kurt Browning, Emily Hughes, and Nobunari Oda on performance execution

__________________
Tim David's Website

Yay!!!! That's so exciting about your flip!
I didn't realize Nick and Michael were doing Skate S.F. How did they do? I often see them at practice on the weekends down here and occasionally chat with Nick. He has such beautiful flow over the ice, and of course he's got that gorgeous hydroblade. Meanwhile, Michael has that powerful triple axel! His costumes are always just a little odd, though. . .

__________________
"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

+GOE:

My coach had me work on salchow all the way through the lutz yesterday and we made some major improvements! The jumps are higher, more secure and feel more natural.

We also worked on my flying camel a bit, which is usually inconsistent. After a couple of small changes in body position, I hit every single flying camel I tried.

As an added bonus, I tried an outside spread eagle from a sort of "squat" position and it worked! Now I just need to add some more speed and work on strengthening my calves so I can stand up straight!

-GOE:

I fell out of a layback spin and picked myself in the back of my right knee. So, now I have a rather large gash that's a little tender to the touch

+GOE
made the 6AM session
getting better at picking up my wife (she won't let me pick anyone else up, no really! )

-GOE
made the 6AM session
so now I'm tired, behind and short tempered
anyone else want something!

Lyle

I just hope you don't look quite as much like a weight-lifter as my Husband does in the photos of us at the British Adult Championships!

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

-GOE

My entire lesson last wednesday was a disaster-- my weaker leg was tired from really pushing it all week long, so about 5 minutes into the lesson I lost most of the strength towards the front of my foot.

My instructor couldn't understand why, one minute I could cleanly pull off a BOE and BIE... and the next minute I was very ungracefully hugging the ice every two minutes.

Of course, that was the day that he planned to work on a lot of 1-footed stuff on that leg!

And forward inside 3-turns. Argh... my inside edge cuts so deep into the ice that I get "stuck"... have to work on those!

+GOE

An awesome public skate on Sunday. The ice was packed with B-day party kids, but for the first time in ages, it was as smooth as silk. And I was on the entire time.

But one of the more rewarding moments? One of the little b-day party kids was having a miserable time trying to sludge across the ice with her boots basically unlaced (one was tied at the top of her foot! with the rest of the boot flopping loose at her ankle! What ARE these people thinking?). I sat myself on the ice with her, relaced her skates properly, and sent her on her way.

I'll trade a million perfect 3-turns for the smile I saw on her face as she skated by later with her friends! It's little things that help foster the love of skating in kids... and other little things-- like poorly laced skates, indifferent skate guards, and bad ice, that can totally turn someone off of skating forever.

wife says I make all sorts of faces and look constipated
Lyle

well done
Lyle

LOL!!! My primary coach says that I looked constipated coming off the ice from my last Bronze Moves test!

__________________
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!!!

A good deed that will no doubt be repaid at some point in the future!

__________________

+GOE
Went barefoot today and loved not having that awful slippy feeling!

-GOE
Was too tired to work much on anything, though I did try everything we worked on in my last lesson.

__________________

Usual free skate on this evening's tea-time session.

+GOE
Jumps.

-GOE
Spin entrance has reverted. Even my coach, who has the patience of a saint, was starting to get exasperated.
Sit spin has disapeared. Should be renamed 'Stick butt out randomly air and collect air miles' spin.
Programme: Haven't done it for about a month so decided to give it a bash today.
The good news: I am no longer out of breath halfway through, which means asthma is better at the moment and/or I am getting fitter.
The bad news: Apart from the bit at the beginning, even the simple steps/arm movements set seem beyond me at the moment...I feel (and look) extremely clumsy. These are going to take an inordinate amount of work.

Bit worrying that free skating is supposed to be my 'strongest' discipline and I'm finding such a simple programme so hard. However, I'm up for a challenge, and I am determined that by the middle of next year, I'll not only be able to skate it, but skate it well.

S xxx

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

Well, let's see if it STAYS there this time around!!!

It was a weird experience b/c all of a sudden I could easily land those flips clean and the only thing I was left having to clean up were the arms flying up over the ears. OMG!!!

Nick got the Silver and Michael the Bronze. Everyone else withdrew from the event!!! Both Michael and Nick did a wonderful job on their program, but Braden has the better footwork and interpretation scores! But in any case, let's just say the Senior Men was the MUST SEE EVENT this year at Skate SF...

And you get to see those two at practice on the weekends and speak with Nick!!! OMG!!! (Yup! Nick definitely a hottie...well for a kid anyway!!!) though I think Braden was more "hottie" than the other two b/c he has this charm and charisma about him... (If you've read Shere's comment on him at CAS or have met him, you'll know what I mean...) The beard and goatee suits him quite well, I think!

__________________
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!!!

+GOE

I at least got back on the ice today (only 25 mins) froma 3 week break. Bad thing is my ankle still hurt so ill be off for another week! grrrr. I think i might go watch sectionals since it is only 1 3/4 of an hour away and i have a friend competing in it.

-GOE

Streched muscle in my ankle is really starting to make me mad. I know i need time to heal it but i just want to get back on the ice. And skating today didnt help it!

+GOE:

• Landed a couple more flips clean!!! I also had a couple of toe tap and scary wonky landings where I'm all twisted up. I wish primary coach saw those tonight but he was busy with all 3 of his students! DRATS!!!
• Backspins, sit spins and forward spins all accounted for at the beginning of the sesssion.
• Toe loop, salchow, waltz-toe and waltz all there!

-GOE:

• No loops!!!!
• Backspin disappeared along with the smooth ice and my legs towards the end.
• My legs and lower back on the right side (my spinning side) was cramping towards the end of the session. I decided then that it was a good stopping point and went home. (Figuring that I have an early day tomorrow anyway and shouldn't stay the entire evening anyway...)

Funny notes of the day:

Note 1: Primary coach ragging on his student to NOT CUT OFF THE CORNER... then he said "You hear that!!!" then turns to ME and says "DO NOT CUT OFF THE CORNERS!!! " Then says (to me) "Oh, wait! You already passed this test!!! " Of course, I snidely reminded him ONE of the judges comments was "GOOD ICE COVERAGE"...even right thru that STUPID DITCH!!! He cracks up more!!!

Note 1a: I also was supposed to deliver the message "Nice costume!" to Primary coach. Of course, he was just wearing his usual coach's casual clothes!!!

Note 2: My husband, who was cheering for the Mets, was exchanging verbal jabs with our Monday night ice monitor, who happens to be a CARDS fan! And I was the go between b/c my husband doesn't skate and I was... Stuff like "Tell him that 'Cards SUCKS!!!'" to "Before you give me your husband's message, tell him I'm not accepting message from Yanks!!!" (Of course, both were doing it in good humor -- the ice monitor likes me, but gets along with HIM better!!! LOL!!!)

__________________
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!!!

Negative GOE: Well, I don't know what happened, but we were just skating along doing plain inside edges in Kilian hold - one of our easiest exercises - and all of a sudden I lost my balance and got totally stuck, and could only get out of it by falling! Husband held on to me, but I was laughing so hard it took me awhile to get up again.

Coach gave us some fiendish exercises to do in our lesson - mostly trying to do semi-circles (Field Moves style) in various holds - not at all easy! Husband's shoulders don't move too well, and nor do mine, and the object of the exercise was to get our shoulders round. We both find, too, that we expect each other to know what we're going to do without saying - I assumed he'd know I was off-balance; he assumed I'd know he was going to do a run there..... not at all easy.

I think Husband, having remembered to bring his water bottle, his guards and his fleece home from Oxford (this is unheard-of, he usually leaves at least one of them at every competition), has left his water bottle at the rink this morning! I should have double-checked; I usually do - of course, this was the one morning I didn't!

Positive: We also had to run round the circle in reverse Kilian hold, which is one of our more difficult things. We didn't feel we'd done it very well, particularly anti-clockwise, but Coach said it was the best he'd seen us do! Ah well....

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

+GOE
I had the usual post competition excitement at the prospect of practising whatever I want! But I was good and practised my field moves for 30mins. They seemed ok. There is always need for improvement but they felt comfortable. And I had to demonstrate choctaws to one of the kids as it is the one thing I can do better than her!

I did a few decent axels - without a thud and to backwards. Sadly arms are still flailing out of control and there is little to no distance between take off and landing.

My free skating teacher is back so it was nice to see her! She's been away for a week with some of the kids training in Switzerland.

Noone realised I was competing yesterday so everyone was asking me how Victoria did. I then pointed out I competed too and they felt bad for not asking! Awww

Had an excellent free skating lesson today though. My teacher's 7.30am lesson didn't show up so as I was there she took me early and I ended up having an hours lesson. It was fun! We didn't do field moves at all which was a nice change. Did axels mainly. First few were horrendous but I then did a few decent ones and so she decided to rechoreograph my programme and put it back in! Yay.

Did one nice double salchow - felt nice and light. And then we moved onto double cherries and I nearly landed one to backwards. I did about 3 or 4 that were a quarter short. They don't feel difficult in the air - I was surprised that she said I had pretty much landed it as it didn't feel hard. The take off is a bit weird sometimes but if I can get that right and consistent I feel I could get this jump.....

-GOE
Spins were a bit off. Last night I kept falling on change foot sits. Todays were better but teacher said it looked like I was being strangled on the back sit!

Was very out of practice of running through my free skating programme and that along with the horrid cold I have was enough to have me exhausted after each run through.

And now the worst part - my dance teacher was ONE HOUR LATE. So I didn't get a lesson. I guess it was ok as I got an hour of free skating but still I am annoyed. I got a half hearted apology from him when he eventually arrived. And I'm already feeling quite upset since he had texted me about lessons on Sunday but didn't say well done or anythng about my competition. And I'd told him how I'd done. I don't expect him to call or text to find out how I'd done but if I've told him and he's having to text me anyways he could have said well done. I think I'm just used to my free skating teacher who always wants to know how I do, even in dance.

I have a dance lesson tomorrow morning - in theory.........

Hopefully by either that little girl passing the "proper lacing" technique onto another skater when she sees someone in that situation (thus keeping kids skating and rinks open instead of shutting down because there's "not enough interest"-- oops, did I reveal my master plan? *mwaa-ha-ha*)

or...

Maybe someday she'll become a famous skater and remember the old lady who fixed her skates her first time skating and then offers me free coaching...

Really, seeing a formerly miserable kid falling in love with skating is definitely payment enough. Even though the skate guards don't give a #$@^ it seems, at least these kids (and their parents, who are watching) leave the ice with a great feeling. And at the rinks that I skate at, it's usually the older figure (and one or two adult hockey) skaters who go out of the way to help out these kids (and adults)-- so, I think it's a really positive impression we leave of our sport. (Especially since most first-timers leave the ice with shell-shock from the little speed monsters in hockey skates who zip by them, in front of them, and kick ice onto them.)

-GOE:
No loops! Then again, we really didn't go over that today! Seems my coach STILL has an OBSESSION with the waltz jump! Today's focus was making sure that I'm kicking thru consistently and trying to jump higher. She's threatened a couple of times to put me back on that harness and "drop me" again!

+GOE:
Waltz jumps are kicking thru, though it's not consistent on the attempts, especially if I'm tired!!! We also worked on "jumping skills" and towards the end of the session I've started getting a little bit more height and lift, enough that secondary coach was tentatively hopeful, but said "you have to keep this up! I don't want to lose whatever progress we did make today!!!"

-GOE:
Legs are very tired and right lower back wasn't happy after the lesson. After going home, a very warm shower and a LOT of stretching, I'm finally getting back to normal again.

__________________
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!!!

Snuck out for a scenic skate on a wonderful ice at lunchtime today. I've forgotten how nice it is to skate in fresh air. $5 for a 2-hour session with four other skaters. Can't beat that deal.

+GOE:
Ran through every maneuver on the Pre-Bronze MITF test. Forgot my diagrams, so I had to fake the new 3-turn pattern, but I think I actually remembered it! (Plus, I intimidated two hockey players into getting off my pattern! )

Scratch, sit, and back spins were good; a bit of travel but I haven't skated at this rink in years, so I'll attribute it to unfamiliar ice.

I DID A CAMEL SPIN! It took six tries, but I eventually did two or three good ones. It's all in the arms for me, for some reason.

Waltz jumps were good. My half jumps (flip, lutz, loop) were okay. I'm going to find out if the half-loop is acceptable for the Pre-Bronze FS test since it's stronger than my half-lutz. The half flip looks cute because I can bring my feet together in the air!

-GOE:
I've discovered that doing a two foot spin from back crossovers makes it travel. I'm much better doing it from a standstill. Things that make me go hmmmm.

I need to lose a bit of weight before I really try to jump, but I couldn't even come close on landing the flips and loops today. Didn't even try (no death wish here!) a lutz or half-axel.

__________________

+GOE;
Finally conquered my insane fear of backward crossovers and let go of my coach's hand. Now if I could just remember to breathe next time too, I'm all set

The backwards one foot glide which has been eluding me for an embarrassing amount of time finally showed itself tonight

LFO 3 Turns are starting to work fairly consistently rather than very occasionally.


-GOE;
RFO 3 Turns still need to improve by about 900%

Hit the ice in spectacular style during the great backward crossover breakthrough, unfortunately taking my poor coach with me. It's lucky we both bounce

Clare