Blooming:

I passed Gold Moves today!


Withered:

Nothing right now. I'm much too happy!

CONGRATULATIONS!

That's wonderful! It takes lots of hard work, and you did it!

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Bill Schneider

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WOOO HOOO, MORGAIL!!!!

CONGRATS to you!!! (And I'll bet you'll be looking out for that Gold Pin too!!! )

Did you film it?

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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!!!

Withered: Totally, completely exhausted and it's showing in my (very limited) practices. I got to skate this morning and I was just so worn out by the end of my lesson it wasn't even funny, and then had to drag my butt through a 9 hr day at work. I'm skating OK, just get tired much more quickly than usual due to lack of sleep, stress, and lack of time for cardio, weight training and other off-ice workouts. But it is what it is. When you work full-time and go to law school at night, you can't do everything. I should whip myself back into shape this summer (classes end the week after ANs and my last final is May 13) and next year should be better, I'm only taking 3 classes and hope to have more time for exercise. I'm staying silver at least one more season, so hopefully that will also free up more time in my lessons for dance. I've hardly worked on dance at all this season (partially because I stayed silver for solo dance ANs rather than getting killed in gold and therefore couldn't test more than 1 dance).

Blooming: On the plus side, I am jumping better, my sit-change-sit is better than ever, and I did a decent run-thru of my program today. I tend to lose the spark during the last 30 seconds or so because I'm so tired to begin with, but when I run that section alone it's fine. Adrenaline will get me through it at ANs. Also did a few good patterns of my dances.

Withered: Flying camel is still the bane of my existence.

And we lose our morning ice tomorrow because of a basic skills comp, and I have 5 hrs of make-up classes from when we had a snowstorm earlier this year that got scheduled for tomorrow, so I can't make later ice time at another area rink. Luckily I have an hour or two Sunday and an hour or two before I leave Tuesday (plus practice ice there).

I am really sick of my program though, and can't wait until this summer when I work on a new one that is much more fun.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

congratulations!!

I didn't want to lessen Morgail's achievement but did want to brag a little bit. Blooming In spin patch last night we each get to do a challenge spin to the group, and mine was change foot spins, so if you do 5 rev on the forward spin, you have to match 5 rev on the back spin. We also count out loud so we get used to knowing how many revolutions we get. Well I did 10 forward and then thought, you know, in the nanosecond transition moment, oh heck, I can't do 10 on the back, but Did It! My backspin is now in a place that I can do it as easily as a forward spin. It is just there, but I will not take it for granted.

Which meant of course Withered the next challenge was edge changes on spins. Bleah. Edge change = ice splat.

Congratulations Morgail...now start working on Figures, that'll keep you busy for a few years.

Withered:
I'm now back to leaning out of the circle when I do FO8's on the left foot . This means on a left FO8, I'm actually on the inside edge--it should be impossible. If I was riding dressage that would be doing the counter-canter on an 8--and be an advanced move. Now it's just a mistake.

Blooming: On the other hand, I can now feel when I'm wrong on an 8. I couldn't before. Also my flow and position is much, much better.

I'm now holding the inside edge coming out of my FO3 with control.

I also did a spectacular lunge--I must have gone 20 feet. Any day now I'll be spinning into a backward lunge, falling on my tuchus, rolling across the ice like a barrel, then leaping to my feet crying "Ta Da!",

Withered: coach now wants me to do 'freestyle' cross overs. I mean how many kinds are there? Do I want to run screaming from the room now?

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Great forum quotes:
On Falling: '...it doesn't matter, it's what you do AFTER you fall that's more important' ISK8NYC

thanks everyone!

Noooo way! I was far too nervous.

That is tough! I only worked part time during law school, and I have the utmost respect for those who manage to do law school and a full time job (and skate, too!!).

Yay for you! That's no small achievement. I don't think I can get 10 revs on a backspin...

I am, actually! My coach is going to start teaching me figures in the fall. I'm hoping to catch up on dance this summer, and maybe find that elusive axel.

x.........CONGRATULATIONS!.........x


Withered:
I could not manage FI threes yesterday after the first 2 or 3 (they've been missing in action for about a month now), so I began today's lesson with them, and much to my surprise, skated the best alt FI three pattern on the line that I have ever done in my life - until the last BO edge, when, as I approached the line, the tail of my blade went just a tad over a cone, and I went straight down hard. I was so mad, that I got right up (after some very unbecoming cursing ) and had to do something more energetic for a few minutes before going back to the FI threes. I now have a wrap on my R wrist and a tentative doctor's appt for Monday. It's feeling better, so I may be able to cancel, but I once cracked my ulna and didn't know till the middle of the night, so fingers crossed on this one. If it is broken, I'm showing up for next week's lesson with whatever they put on it. I'm not stopping now!


Blooming:
When I went back to the alt FI threes, I did nail them, to passing standard ! This was a huge thing for me. Coach and I hugged, and I was up for the rest of the lesson, in spite of the nagging pain in my hand/wrist.
Asked coach to help me with extension on CCW progressive/chasse sequence from Canasta Tango. I'm in danger of kicking my dance coach, and can't figure out quite where I should be extending to. That went very well, with good acceleration and extension. Spins were also on . I have to just go for it with the spins, or they don't happen. Finished up with 5 or 6 revs on one foot from T push, and nicely centered too. In my ice dance lesson yesterday we worked more on the Canasta Tango, and someone else complimented me afterwards, also saying she didn't recognize me while I was skating. I really don't skate much in front of people I know at the rink where I teach.

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Congratulations!!

I hope to pass that test, someday.....but next up is Pre-Juv, since I decided to start testing both tracks this season.

Are you going to go for Intermediate MIF? I think no matter when I pass Gold, I'm going to wait for the 'new' Int test, b/c I think I'll have an easier chance of passing with the non-power moves, lol.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Morgail: Congrats!!

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

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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!

Morgail - congratulations!

Blooming:
Hoping to go skating tomorrow to make up for the lack of ice time I've managed to find recently.
I think I've finally got the moves to my level one dances ingrained into my mind, along with the right rhythm - now I just need to get my feet to catch up!

Withered:
Session on Wednesday was really crowded. My spin was non-existant (although I've since got my blades sharpened) and my jumps were pathetic to say the least.

Lack of practice and a reduced number of lessons has definitely taken it's toll.

MITF: While it wasn't crowded at today's public session, the people were spaced out just enough so that I couldn't finish any one full-rink pattern on anything. My spirals were good and my three turns were good. I only did a few lobes of the Five Step. I was worried about the crowd.

Spins were okay, little bit of traveling. My skates need a sharpening. My laybacks were pretty good and the camels (both) were good, even the change foot ones. Scratch spins were scratchy, esp. the back scratch. Started working on a back spin with interesting arm/leg positions that ends in a back pivot position. Felt nice, looked pretty good on the video I took.

Jumps - mediocre. Didn't really try a lot since I was wearing an iPod; just walked through.

Did some choreography for one of my students and a little for myself. One of these days, I'm going to start testing again. (After the PSA Conference next month, I'll focus more on that.)

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Got a retry on Intermediate moves today Comment were really all over the place, but I'm focusing mainly on 2 of the judges because I know they're considered among the toughest judges in the area. I got one 19.3 (.1 above passing), one 18.9 (.3 below) and on 18.8 (.4 below). My problem moves were the forward power circles, the back power 3s with perimeter stroking and the brackets. I had a pretty significant wobble on my first LFI bracket.

But I'm not totally distraught over the retry. My coach said, before the papers came in, that she was incredibly proud of me no matter the result because I looked much more confident and wasn't as nervous, which was true. Plus I really feel like I did my best--I could have done better on the forward power circles if I'd had a better idea of what the judges were looking for, but other than that, it was really my best attempt. No regrets.

Going for the moves again in another month along with the FS.

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Youtube Videos

CONGRATULATIONS, Morgail! That's quite an accomplishment.

ibreakhearts, sounds like you are sooooo close. . . keep at it!

Worked on spins & silver moves yesterday. One spin did actually stay on the red dot (decimated all 8 red dots plus the head & puck of the hockey guy mid-ice, tee hee) and I wish I could have taken a photo. It was kind of . . . beautiful. Now, why couldn't I do that the other 78 times I tried????

No energy left to work on Fiesta Tango with dance buddy; I think he was disappointed. I've been feeling up and down physically all week--fine one day or part of a day, totally wiped out the next. "wiped out" took over Friday afternoon after I'd been a good girl and worked quite a bit on slaloms, BO and BI threes, and cross strokes. And spins.

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

This is for Thursday & Friday.

Thursday:

Blooming:

Fiesta Tango; started working in lessons with my coach to tweak it for testing. Coach fixed the step where you half your right foot crossed in front of the left foot, slightly pick up your left foot while still crossed behind and then place it back on the ice. Well, I had been putting my left foot down on an inside edge instead of an outside edge. Boy did that make it easy when we corrected it. I have much stronger flow in the dance and better edges too. (LOL, so strong that once I crossed the axis in the middle of the side part, half to watch how hard I'm pushing. )

Waltz + Loop is getting much stronger. Still need to watch the arms though.

Split
Toe
Salchow

Not quite Blooming:
Lutz is kind of messy and more two footed.

Withered: Fell on both hips with one fall. Fell on the closed Mohawk in the Fiesta when I tried to copy how closely my coach does the Mohawk by clipping the backs of my skate blades together. Right hip is still a bit sore but nothing like Friday morning.

Friday:

Withered:
Woke up really sore and stiff like my coach said I would because of the fall I had Thursday. I skipped skating on my own session.

Bloomed:
My friends Misty and Jane came out to my rink to skate. Even though I was sore, I went home to get my skates and joined them on the ice. I felt much better after skating.

Withered:
Didn't do much.

Bloomed:
Did a very fast centred Forward Corkscrew in front of Jane. She was impressed.
Heard my coach talk to my friend Misty who is doing the Fiesta Tango as well about my dance edges. I was secretly floored and pleased as I kept this to myself.
Coach made me laugh so hard that I fell from laughter (controlled fall). He was copying my friend's move saying that she was skating like in a Russian folk dance while skating backwards. That took all the pain away.

Did Waltz + Loop in front of my friend Misty and she was taking a second look because of the height of my jumps and that I was all the way around on both jumps.

Got to work with Jane (she's doing CanSkate) a bit and got her confident enough to try to skate backwards (two footed doing the twist) and reminded her how to stop on the ice (took 10 mins).

Happy skating everyone.

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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

Congratulations Morgail!!

I wonder if that's a regional difference in the dance? Down here, we have to put the left foot back down onto a LFI and are marked down if we put it down on a LFO. After that LFI, you then push onto a RFO swing roll change edge to RFI (6 counts).

Same in the U.S.--it's an inside edge, to continue on the same circle you're already on. An outside edge there would definitely be marked down--not to mention it would change the pattern pretty dramatically!

Singerskates, are you sure that your coach wants an outside edge there??

See video for full visual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlB5-QRHAAY (fiesta starts about halfway through--good angle to see that edge)

Blooming: My axel seems to have returned just in time!! WHEW. I've been in a near panic for several weeks, but I landed a couple today. They're not that pretty, but at least I'll be ok for ANs.

Withered: Not much. Had a good practice this morning, everything seems to be flowing and moving well in the program. I'm excited for this week!

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

ibreakhearts66 - bad luck; you'll get it next time, for sure.

Blooming: Changed the intro to our free dance and it is much smoother! All the same, we'll probably put the 2nd spin back (or rather, the 1st spin, but we kept our better one) for the Mountain Cup - Bracknell does not allow 2 spins, alas.

Withered: Husband discovered he didn't know how to do a bunny hop!

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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!

I don't know about your area, but in my area, in the forward power circles we're looking for

a. consistent increase in tempo of crossovers from slow to fast (not just 3 or 4 slow then a sudden shift to quick crossovers)

b. Lack of overall power (minimal increase in power generated even though the crossovers are being done at a faster tempo)

c. Circle should be circular and spiral out as tempo increases, not just start medium size and end large, or start small and suddenly increase in size.

Those are the 3 items I seem to comment on the most when I'm judging that move on Intermediate Forward power circles.

On the back power 3's on the Intermediate test, I like to see a consistent tempo around the ends, and both directions (CCW and CW) should be about the same. The BO3s should be controlled and even tempo or even increasing in tempo, and not turned on 2 feet, nor should the BO3s be rushed (sometimes the turn will be rushed and almost ripped or jerked)

Good luck on the next time, Intermediate can be a tough 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...

You know what, I must have heard him wrong. Because I watched the video and I also looked up the Fiesta Tango pattern and saw that I was right in the first place on step 7 XB-LFI but I must have been wrong on step 6 CR-RFO which proceeds step 7. I must have been on an inside edge on step 6 and misunderstood what my coach was talking about.

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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

You've got to be kidding! Your husband does do the single jumps, right? How did he get were he is without knowing the bunny hop? Who forgot to teach it to him way back?

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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