My old coach says that spinners are best for backspin practice....I don't know but I can't do a good regular spin on one but I'm good with the backspin AND a spin in the other direction (same foot as my backspin foot).

new & shiny: cchoreography for exhibition & competiton (artistic spotlight) was introduced tonight and worked on. It's cool but now I need to whip up a flapper dress ASAP!!! I have a dress I can fall back on but.....it's not flappy enough!

old & dull: and I need a chair as my prop......

new & shiny: managed TWO falls tonight but these are GOOD because they were from loop landings!!! ON ONE FOOT!!!! I did not hurt my back more (I'm still walking so thats a good sign) I just did not have my free foot in a good position. AND I managed a fantastic 7 revolution backsin!!! It was amazing, it just went on and on and on! I know it was 7 revs because I counted the little loops......

old & dull: scratch spins sucked-I'm fighting a bad cold so bleh!

After meeting with the doc and knowing that surgery is in my future, I am sucking up skating as much as I can!!! I don't know when my surgery will be, I won't know until I see the surgeon on the 23rd of this month. I have another mri and an emg to get first....ewww I hate that test!!!

In the meantime, I'm skating and working out to beef up my body.

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

Old & Dull: Got a head cold, all stuffed up and dopey - not going anywhere today

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

New&Shiny:

My SnowWhite inline frames (a birthday gift) with extra durable wheels arrived today!!!
We have ice till the middle of march this season, so after that I intend to put them to good use on the concrete basketball field.

Today was my first day back on the ice since we finished the ice panto on Dec 16th - and I hadn't really done any serious skating for the week prior to
that either - so I was a bit wary.

I was expecting a half hour to try and get my skate legs back before my lesson but coach's earlier pupil hadn't turned up so he asked to take me early in case someone showed up later and wanted a lesson, so being an obling soul I plunged straight in.

It wasnt' too bad as we started off with lots of moves around the rink and worked up to both way 3 jumps, salchows and toe-loops. Then the moment of truth - a loop - and yes it is still there, landed first time as was my flip. Yay!

Even managed a few revs on a backspin so there is still hope I can take my level 2 sometime soon.

Met a newbie adult too which was nice. She has skated a bit in her teens though so no doubt will soon overtake me.

All in all not too bad a start to the new year.

Congratulations!!!

My coach used that trick on me when I was working on intermediate moves. I'm consistently on a flat for the lutz and have the hardest time getting a real outside edge. The first lutz that I did from the bracket entrance was on an outside edge all the way. Unfortunately, once I realized what was going on, I started flatzing again.

New & Shiny:
I did a few recognizable laybacks and I was able to see not only the ceiling but also the wall tops! Different arm positions, too.
Most of the spins were very good, even the change foot and back camel. Most were centered and fast.
Jumps were good, higher than usual, I think.

Old & Dull:
Patched the serpentines and back circles, which were okay.
Started practicing loop figures, not good at all.
Forward camels were weak and uncentered.
Still not landing the single jumps, but I'm getting closer.

Tweaked my right knee on crossovers, so I skipped them on the MITF patterns. Other patterns were really good, almost no touchdowns on the three-on-the-line.

__________________

Not practicing makes me jump better?? 'Splain that one, Lucy!

New and shiny: Switched the entrance on my double sal to RBO 3, RFI mohawk. A zillion, billion times better. I even rotated a couple, though none were close to standing up. Axel-loop combination also strong.

Old and dull: Camel spins are still meh, and sit spins ... I know I shouldn't expect them to get better when I never practice them, but I feel like such a fool practicing such a "basic" element on sessions where people are landing triples.

This is for yesterday's lessson:

Old and Dull:
Didn't get the promised harness jump. Someone decided to cone off a section of the ice to do patch. Unfortunately the section that he coned off was RIGHT on the path of the harness!!! My wonderful NYC coach commented "I wonder why they couldn't just cone off the other side of the rink so people would still have access to the harness. I shrugged to be polite, but in my mind I'm thinking "Someone is NOT thinking things out here." It could very well be also that they didn't cone off the end of the ice on the other side b/c that's where the entrance to the rink is. However, one can still be careful to go around the patch and skate thru...so beats me!!!

Anyway, sad for me, b/c I was all prepared with those skatingsafe.com hip pads (to take a lot of bad falls given my history with the harness.) and a change of dry pants for changing into when I'm done getting dropped on the wet ice!

Also, coming here... I had a 9am lesson, The FS session starts ON the hour every hour and it took me pretty much the ENTIRE 8am session (which was 50 minutes) to warm up for my lesson!!! It's F-F-F-F-R-REEEEE-ZING here in Manhattan!!! (It was just below freezing today and I saw wee bits of snow flurries.) Worst part was that it was WORSE today!!! (Too cold for this Californian!!!)

New and Shiny:

• BUUUUUT, he DID find an excuse for me to change into a pair of dry pants -- shoot the ducks! Why? B/c he wants my sit spins low to the ground. I think I managed a few of them going forward too. (Backwards was a hopeless case though, even though supposedly it's easier. Yeah, RIIIIIIGHT!!! ) But secondary coach would be proud of me here! She wanted to get me to do the same thing a few months ago. I still don't have a low to the ground sit spin, but at least I'm trying for them now!!! NYC coach also got a kick out of me trying for the lower sit position after all those shoot-the-duck exercises. (Yeah, RIIIIGHT! And you don't think that I know that if I don't TRY to lower my current sit spin that you would get annoyed and say something like "What did we do all those shoot the ducks for?" Sorry, buddy!!! )
• I did get the beginning of what he wanted to do on the harness with me... and that was to go into the jump on a very straight line. Not a problem for me! I usually (try to) do that!
• Got a new foot position on setting up on my loop jump which supposedly helps me to get more over on my landing side. I managed some very nice loop jumps towards the end of the session and the foot position on the take off was pretty much what he wanted out of me. I like it! I think I'm gonna keep it and bring it home with me!
• A small but very important thing... he worked on how to present myself coming out of a landing to a jump or a spin. Small little thing but it helps show sureness of the jump landing... "and judges give EXTRA POINTS for that type of stuff." I'll bite! (Besides, both of my coaches back home told me the problem too, but he gave me some keywords to think of so I would do what he wanted me to do. It worked. It's on video too! I think primary coach will be please. So would secondary coach too, but after she gets pissy about not doing it when SHE tells me to do it. (I'm SORRY!!! But this NYC coach has this way of talking to me and I just *get* things. If I don't get, he's very good at figuring out another way to 'splaining it to me.)

The guy is thinking too much like my secondary coach! I wonder if they DID talk!!! Hmmmm?

__________________
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!!!

New: First day taking lessons after the holiday break. I must say that I did pretty well. Landed a few clean axels after a few failed. I even did a double loop-loop combination. Forward Camel spin was nice. Even my back-crossovers seemed more quiet and controlled. (Less of a ripping sound) But they felt just as powerful. I have no idea why.


Old: I'm really slow in checking my landing. That's what caused me to fall on my failed axels. I gained 3 pounds. (Gee thanks Mom) Double sal is still gone. Double flip was cheated. Double toe isn't there either. Most of the double loop attempts were cheated too. Didn't even try the double lutz or double axel. I didn't wanna kill myself.


I'm rusty but I'll get it back. Must be the holiday dinner weight that's throwing me off.


BlackManSkating

__________________
Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

Well, two nights ago I went to bed at 2:30am, and this morning I had to get up at 5:00am to skate my first early morning session in 2 weeks. Considering the 5-hour time zone shift, I didn't do too terribly.

New & Shiny
- Had a lesson with my secondary coach, always a treat
- Got through my program without the stamina problem I'd been expecting
- Coach's comment on the program: "The jumps were yummy." (I was surprised at how neat and correct they were today)

Old & Dull
- I used up my one good spin in the warmup. None of the 3 spins showed up in my program run-through.
- Still having issues with backspin and back sitspin entry, but I got a tip at the very end of the lesson that I will test out tomorrow. Hopefully, it will help.

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

It was freezing here too in VB..... I took my skate bag into work with me and put in the backseat of the car on the way to the rink and cranked up the heat!! I also only skated a hour.

New and Shiny:
New artistic program music that Primary Coach had a bugger of a time to cut and will do a smoother version at some point this weekend.
Also had her sign my Valentine Open and Easterns applications.
Showed her my attitude to backscratch spin that I want to put in new program.
Did nice forward scratch, backscratch and sit and she asked where these were on test day. I replied "Say no more!" when she asked this.

Old and Dull:
Too cold to skate and back to the crowded circus like atmosphere of afternoon freestyles again. Actually they may be getting worse because the morning ice sessions we had in the fall have been cut, due to lack of participating skaters. If they would have only allowed people to use the freestyle passes as opposed to paying a contract, it may have been better.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

That guy would last about five seconds in my club. A coach would put a kid in the harness and wind right up and they'd aim for him, it would be fun to see the look on the face of the figures skater because harness has the right of way over everything, even if you're in your program with music and six coaches following you.


Speaking of coaches: Old and Dull. Heee, not old and dull but I kicked my coach today and she was not too pleased. She didn't fall over or anything and it was an Accident, so I ran out and bought her a coffee for her next session.

New and Shiny:
We had a video playback. This is normally a horrible event but I've been having problems with spins and she keeps talking about my shoulders and I have no idea. So, I do a bunch of upright spins and I can see the problem (also my fat behind, never mind). Some corrections, more video, more skating more video. Spins feel better now. Hopefully I can keep them.

This is for today's lesson!

Old and Dull
Even COLDER than yesterday morning! We have black ice too and DH almost tripped on a couple of those! (And wouldn't you know it? The weather report says that it's gonna be sunny and close to 70 this weekend in NYC! Of course, I'm flying back to SFO tomorrow to a MAJOR thunderstorm and temps in the low 40's to high 50!!! )

It's HARNESS DAY!!!

New and shiny:
We went thru some basic safety thing with the harness and all. Had to remember to stay as close to the line of where the harness is. I had a bit of trouble seeing the ice line that NYC coach drew at the beginning. Thankfully, he made another one that I could see. But the beginning went well. We did simple jumping up and scoop the arms straight up w/o raising the elbows or the shoulders. I figured out that when I'm jumping up straight and bringing my arms in the way NYC coach wants it, it's as if I'm doing a self Heimlich on myself. (Which is not too much of a stretch given how tight he tied the straps around my waist on the harness either!!! )

Old and Dull Again:

Then came the torture. I tried doing jump rotations and it just flat out refuse to work. I told my NYC coach "No, I haven't done off ice jumps!" But I didn't tell him only b/c I want to preserve my lower back from doing too much impact on it. I probably should now. On top of that, I'm not jumping and keeping my back straight either. (Again, the self Heimlich thing sorta helps a bit. LOL!!!)

Shiny and New again:

I got a little bit of progress towards the end of the session... well if in this case it was NOT chickening out on trying to land it. I think I did land those loop jumps in there with my legs crossed and at least a wee bit closer to what looks like a back scratch position.

But the best part.... I think NYC just did the impossible... he's MUCH closer to fixing the toe waltz problem I've been having for AGES!!! Of course, it's a tiny wimpy toe loop jump, but it sure looks fixed in the video!!!

Old and Dull Again:
Last lesson with NYC coach 'til NEXT Dec!!! I'm gonna miss him SOOOO much!!! And this year I've made a lot of progress with him in just those 3 lessons alone!!! WAAAAAH!!!!

__________________
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!!!

Dull: Today was my last lesson for a month. Coach was a touch late but stayed later to make up for it. The rink was putting new light bulbs in so the first 10-15 minutes there were workers, extension cords, and a genie (lift machine to get to the ceiling) on the ice...interesting.

Shiny: Started alternating 3s today, so I have officially learned all pre moves! The concept seems easy enough, but actually doing them is a totally different story. I think I may have done a sit/scratch combo spin? Not sure how much of a sit it really was. Now just lots of practice till test time...March/April maybe?

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

New and Shiny:

Well, for a start, I finally GOT to skate . . . scheduling/crowded public sessions over the winter school break has meant very little ice time for me! But I finally got to attend a public session last night and it was very sparsely attended, which allowed a lot of room to work on whatever I wanted to!

Toe loops!!! I have (theoretically) been able to do these for a while, but not very well . . . last night though, I worked on the entrance a bit, and the proper check, and then tried the jump itself . . . wow . . .what a difference it makes when you don't prerotate. They felt great. (I also tried a tip - to find a spot on take off and then look for the same spot on the landing . . . it helped a lot!). So then I just kept doing them over and over - hopefully it will "stick" for next time.

And since I was having such luck with the toe loop, I went for broke and tried a combination . . . waltz + toe loop . . . and it worked! I did it several times . . . only had to abort one of them due to wonky landing on the waltz jump . . . coach will be quite surprised at next lesson if muscle memory doesn't fail me!

Old and Dull: spins traveling all over the place again . . .grrrr. I had a couple of nicely centered ones, but not quite able to pinpoint what was different about those. Oh well.

Somewhere in between: salchows were mostly OK. Still not as solid as I would like them to be, but I can at least count on landing them most of the time. It's a start . . .

jazzpants . . . thanks for the self-Heimlich imagery . . . I consistently have the dorkiest arm positions on jumps . . . I find it really hard to scoop and pull up and still keep those shoulders down and back!!

Oh, forgot another DULL item from last skate . . . I am such a WIMP on the flip jump . . . I can do the setup and the takeoff/pick, but scared to actually pull in and rotate the jump . . . I blame DS . . . he had the worst crashes trying to learn this jump and I think I have that in mind subconciously!

Got to skate 2x this week, which is what I am allowed only 45 minutes each session. Learned APBFM and ABFM I don't like that new move on the APBFM test it is very odd and really requires some good edging into the lobe with the 3 turns. I can see that it does help build skill for the next level it is just difficult for me with the RFI 3 turn and the other side the steps leading up to the LFI 3 turn are difficult for me because they are very deep. I am still just barely able to press 70 lbs on my right leg carrying all my body weight on a deep edge is slightly difficult for me still. What is very interesting is my backward stroking, xovers and several of the prelim and pre juv moves are very easy for me. A lot of my power is back because my legs are much more even with regards to ability to flex from the hip, which I haven't been able to do easily for 2-3 years.
My coach says if I am good, she will let me skate one extra session next week. I started doing very minimal pointe work again, both legs are rather pooped but it all seems good. I am off to the gym to do weights.

Hope everyone has a happy new year!!

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

Shiny-
-Back on the ice after a 2 week break. I actually could have skated yesterday but it is so cold on the East Coast I just couldn't bear to leave the warm house and go to the cold ice rink. I met MdVaSkater today.
-Coach decided it was moves day and they weren't awful.

Dull-
-Sit spin. Do you think somewhere I'll just get credit for a broken leg squat spin because that I can do.
-Loops. Am learning to do them from a crossover entry. Oh the inhumanity.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Dull: Felt so crappy yesterday I didn't skate or go to work. Still not feeling well this morning but no more time to lounge about! Coach will be back in a week and I want to show SOME progress!

The rink was deserted when I arrived at 6:15. I spent 20 minutes looking for a maintenance man to unlock the music cabinet - nobody around. Normally the night man doesn't bother closing the Zam gates after the last flood but he closed them last night AND left hockey nets on the ice! Fought with the Zam doors (damn they're heavy!), pushed the hockey nets off the ice, and closed the Zam doors again. Still no music key to be found. Booted up for 7 a.m., checked for a maintenance man again and found one - got the music key and put the music on. [I connect my MP3 player to a pocket sized FM transmitter and my MP3 player comes through the rink's FM radio and sound system ]

Shiny: After warming up, the rink was STILL deserted - not a soul around - no coaches, no skaters! I had intended to work on elements but the vacant ice was too good an opportunity to pass up so I put my MP3 player and my FM transmitter in my pocket (to control my music from on-ice) and started working on the first half on my Bronze Freeskate program. Oops! Needed to make some major changes to the first half - hadn't revised the choreography since the music was changed from 1:30 to 2:30!

I had four run-throughs of the first half of the program before, lo and behold, ANOTHER SKATER (and a coach) showed up! LOL! Oh gee, busy ice - two skaters and a coach - - so I went to working on elements.

Upright spins were not bad (considering the state of my sinuses and sense of balance!) - I think some went 4 revolutions. Was a bit stiff to get good sit spins (though I attempted quite a few between elements and program practice) and the Shoot the Duck had the same problem. Worked a bit on BO edges - still not as comfortable on LBO as RBO and no cross-overs yet. A few Waltz jumps had some height but Toe Loops just weren't coordinated.

After 40 minutes of "private ice" and 20 minutes of "busy ice" (2 skaters! what a hoot!) I was pooped and called it a day. Man, if I could have 40 minutes of private ice everyday, what a difference it would make!

Right now my coach is sitting in some warm place on her Honeymoon reading my journal and thinking how much she misses 7 a.m. sessions in the frozen north ...... yea, and pigs can FLY!

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

Dull only:

A sprained ankle (done off-ice) is keeping me off the ice entirely for a couple weeks.

I have accounting duties scheduled at a couple upcoming competitions but it looks like that's as close to ice as I'll be getting until the foot heals.

I'm helping organise the nationals at our rink. Today were trainings, tomorrow and day after that is the competition.

Boy is all the walking making my ankle hurt. I hope I'll still be able to skate on monday!

New & Shiny: Got indoctrinated into the world of ISI yesterday, as our synchro team (Silver Blades; average age: 47!) is doing an ISI competition next month. It looks like I can manage the compulsory FS1 moves (this comp: waltz jump, fwd spiral, FI pivot), and I'm contemplating putting together an FS1 program. I plan on playing around with Audacity tonight & tomorrow, and if I can get a decent 1:30 cut of some music I like, I may go for it.

Old & Dull: Just kind of wobbly and tentative yesterday. Coach was understanding, seeing as my ice time has been minimal the last few weeks (and months). She felt confident that everything would come back. Have to say, though, that my half-flip sucked. I think I have TAJphobia (that's Toepick-Assisted Jumpophobia, as defined in the AOSS Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 1st edition). Although, come to think of it, I bet I could do a toeloop (or, rather, a half-flip CCW for this particular program), since I pick with my "good" foot, and with the half-flip I pick with my "bad" foot. Will try Sunday. . .

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

WHAT???? The forecast for my area is in the 50's and we are SOUTH!!! I'm not getting THAT one?!?!
Any sort of spin where you leg is bent counts at the beginning!
My coach ran out of ideas on loops for me....3-turns, crossovers, etc. We are down to the wire on a mohawk entry now (come to think of it, we are also using that entry on my salchow....maybe she is just tired of everything else)
I say go for the competition-you will have a blast!!!! And keep doing the 1/2 jumps, you will get better with practice! Wait until you get to the ballet jump! I love that one!!!!

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