Congratulations! If you can possibly observe, do as much as you can before you start out on your own.

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Skate@ Delaware: How very exciting! And what a nice compliment to you that the director offered you this opportunity! I know you will do well with it!

Didn't have a chance to post after Monday's lesson, but it was MUCH better than last week's . . . just the fact that they resurfaced the ICE was a major plus anyway, but the skating director showed up to teach us "advanced" adults . . . so we had a nice semi-private lesson.

MAGICAL: power stroking? I think that is what it is called . . . both forwards and backwards were very nice, last time we worked on those I was struggling with the backwards ones, this time it actually made sense to me!!

Waltz jump, half flip, toeloop all ok . . . I guess at least recognizable!!!

Scratch spin . . . ALMOST! in public session afterwards I came "this close!" to bringing my free foot all the way over and across! And spins just felt really good . . . totally magical. I can't believe I'm actually ENJOYING spins, never thought that would come to pass.

MYTHICAL: still on backspin attempts . . . just gonna keep on trying it each session . . . I'm sure at some point it willl click. (not the dreaded "click of death," just "click"). Also, for some reason I was feeling like an elephant on the Salchow . . . like I wasn't taking all my body parts along for the ride! The instructor didn't fall down laughing though, so I guess it was OK.

And apparently, I DON'T do "big girl arms" on my 3-turns when I do them in isolation (i.e., not leading into a jump) . . . had to have a little remedial instruction on that. (the instructor says - "you're doing it all with your HIPS!" Me: "your point being . . . ?" ). Something else to work on . . . it's always something, right?

Skate@Delaware, awesome that you were asked to teach and that's great that you could fill in on such short notice! Congratulations!

Mythical Critter: GOOD ICE! It doesn't exist here So @$#% rough that I am going to look for blades with shock absorbers, OFF-ROAD shocks!

Magical Beasts: Yup,that'd be my program (the "beast" part!). Actually not that bad. Though I didn't get the opportunity to skate on the weekend, today's run-through was so-so (my evaluation - coach thought it was ok). Coach video taped - well, it's disk now, not tape, so would it be more appropriate to say she "disked" my program? - and we watched the video after. Ok, I have seen worse in competition - that's encouraging I was surprised that I looked quite a bit faster than I feel when I am skating it - always good! One more session with my coach on Friday and then it's off on the big silver bird on Sunday for my first competition 8 days from now.

8 DAYS??!! OMG!!!

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

Magical Beasts
Decent crossovers tend to disappear at inopportune times for me: during my test and/or lesson, for example. Spent most of my lesson working on the Prel MITF forward crossover circles, then managed to screw up the Power 3's as well. Still, they're better than when I started lessons in November, so I'm grateful.

Mythical Beasts:
My spirals are getting stronger, thanks to stretching after skating and doing off-ice leg exercises with ankle weights. Still 'clunking' down when changing feet on the inside edges.

Did several really good scratch and sit spins today.

Have to work on strengthening my hip flexors and abdominal muscles.

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The Prelim spiral is a headache for me... though to be fair, I don't really practice it as much as I should, especially on the inside spirals.

And lower back too, since you're doing a lot of spirals! Guess how *I* know...

S@D: Congrats on your coaching oppty!!! That is wonderful!!!

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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!!!

Magical: Husband, for some reason, has developed a change-foot spin which is strong enough that he's seriously considering putting it into his programme for next weekend! It's not quite there - only 1.5 revolutions on the backspin part - but so nearly that it's worth trying. The only thing he doesn't know is how you step out of a backspin. But then, considering he never steps out of any other spins but waits for them to grind to a halt, I expect it's moot anyway.

I had such a magical lesson this morning, I think someone enchanted my coach, who actually said "Not bad" (his highest praise!) not once, but twice! Once was for my inside-to-outside changes-of-edge (which really have improved by not being worked on!), and once was for my clockwise waltz 3s. He also made me do the British waltz solo ("It has everything you need to work on in it!") and I surprised myself by being able to keep it to tempo, although it was very small and weak. But a year ago I'd have been putting on the brakes before the 3-turn no matter how slowly I was going, so I was pleased. Need to work on gaining more power - I think if I focus on power I will get speed without freaking myself out the way I do if I focus on speed, if that makes sense!

Also, our Senior dancers decided, for reasons best known to themselves, to give an exhibition of the Canasta Tango, which was pretty magical. Imagine being able to do it like that - although, if I'm being really picky, I'd have liked to see her head a little higher, and just a tad more tango expression in it. But for an ad hoc run-through, it was marvellous - and oh, the edges. "Why can't you go up the rink like that?" asked the husband....

Mythical: I wish our dances were better. They are much better than last year, but I'm still struggling with the Willow, and a little bit with the Fiesta, although not nearly so much. And I hate the Canasta. I do love the Swing Dance, but we must sort out our start so that we don't start on the off-beat like we did this morning. I can easily make the 3-turn last two more beats, it's not a problem, we just have to work it.

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

I get out of it by doing a back crossover (free leg crosses over the spinning leg) then push out to a RBO edge. (Assuming he spins CCW...)

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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!!!

Mrs. or actually Mr. Redboots,

I exit my backspin by opening up my crossed foot and gliding out on the outside edge of my standing leg. It's basically just the exit out of a loop.

Beasties: Both me and my coach are sick and yet we both showed up for my lesson. Changed my program around but basically the lesson sucked. At one point, my coach forgot which way I jumped and I forgot how to do a 1/2 flip.

Mythical: I managed to not hurt myself skating around in a medicine induced stupor.

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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

Mythical: If this program comes together by competition time (2 practices away, gulp) it will be a miracle. Axels are definitely mythical beasts as far as the program is concerned! Combo spin is now missing the camel, as I'm having issues with it at the moment - which is actually helpful as there's more time for the spin and it feels less rushed.

Magical: The spiral sequence finally feels pretty comfortable, though I'm still counting off "1 mississippi 2" etc to make sure they're held long enough

And, just for comic relief: I'm trying to practice in competition tights instead of my usual black leggings to get used to them, and had another skater yell at me from accross the rink "Hey, you've got legs!". Yeah, and a red face now too, thanks very much!

Happy skating!

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The trouble with life is, you're halfway through it before you realize it's a 'do it yourself' thing.

Mythical The step behind in the Cha CHa is going to be mythical when I compete. My daughter told me to go ahead and compete this weekend and fake the step--so I'm going for it. The way I look at it, I'm going to do the person who finishes just ahead of me the favor of letting them beat someone

Spirals - I guess I'm weird in that I can get my leg higher in my back spiral than forward. It's not a matter of getting my leg up, I don't press down enough so I"m trying to raise my leg while my torso is still up so we tried to flatten me out today.

Magical A HALF HOUR FREESTYLE LESSON! I usually get ten minutes --we had time to go over all my jumps, spin and spirals. And this may seem like duh to some of you but I don't get a lot of lessons and this just dawned on me. When I don't jump my waltz, it's not because I'm chicken. It's because it's not set up right and it's impossible to jump. When I set it up, I actually jump and have some flow. DOH!

I can spin really fast - now just keep my leg tucked close (I can't seem to bring it in front yet) and stand up straight and I can really spin. wow.

I am so lucky my competition is after break week - and hour and a half of ice every day (usually only 3 days a week) and TWO HALF HOUR LESSONS. And I got a chance to compete my program twice already. I'm feeling pretty prepared but I hope I don't have to eat those words.

j

All: thanks for the well-wishes on my instructor-ship! and it is "instructor" not coach...because of the certification/qualification thingy and I do plan on spending some free time observing the skating director during her "little people" lessons

Mythical: Daughter fell on sunday and whacked her knee...it was swollen and bruised so I packed her off to the orthopedic doc today (earliest available appointment). He said she had a bruised bone in her knee and some muscle strain in the opposite hip. No skating for 2 weeks. So, her lesson tonight became mine (actually hubby and I split it) and her competitive events at our in-rink basic skills comp went from 4 to 2.

Magical: so, during my 15-minute lesson with my daughter's coach (who is also my coach), we refreshed my memory on the power 3's (brain fart) for the left side; then hit scratch spins. For some stupid reason, my body does not want to glide, glide, glide, spin.....so she had me to back to the line and spin and really hold it (man, that is HARD to do!); then because my arms are really crappy, she had me switch my arms so instead of having my left arm (I spin ccw) swing out (eeek karate chop!) my right arm was in front! Managed to do a centered spin and only fell out of it when I brought my leg in-it's doing something weird on it's own.

I will bring my video camera in, now that it's fixed (my camera, not my spins!) and see how bad I look.

Yeah, my camera is fixed, as is my dvd burner! (both crapped out at the same time) So, now that my competitions are done, i will be making that stretching video, and I have some basic yoga if anyone is interested-I've been working on opening up my hips. When it's done, i will put it up on youtube.

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

And this makes you different from most of the rest of us??? I've NEVER heard of anyone having BETTER crossovers during a test!

Thanks for the advice on the backspin exit, which I'll pass on.

The thing about that step is that it is on to a fairly steep inside edge! Even if your foot isn't quite crossed (I don't think mine ever is), get on to a serious inside edge and make sure you're practically facing the short end of the rink by the time you push on to the RBI edge to finish the dance. That will score you brownie points for getting a better pattern than anybody else.

And jenlyon60 told me last year (when we were competing it) that the judges also look for a definite widestep after the inside chassé at the beginning. This is easy for UK skaters, as we have widesteps in both the Golden Skaters' Waltz and the Riverside Rhumba, so by the time we compete the Canadian Chacha (which we only ever do abroad as it's solely a recreational dance here), we're well used to wide-stepping!

And get a good down-up-down in the knee on the "double whammy" edge, and try to make your slalom edgy, and you should do fine! The difficult thing about this dance, I find, is filling the rink - you really do need power to do that. Mind you, last time we competed it the ice was so fast we had to move our start, or I'd have ended up being scraped along the barrier after the afore-mentioned cross-behind! We very nearly won, too - just one mark by one judge kept us in 2nd place!

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

Not crossovers, but my daughter, when she gets nervous, bends her knees MORE and pushes HARDER. So that before a dance test, her coaches actually tell her to NOT PUSH, otherwise she ends up in the boards.

j

THE BEAST!
got up early worked hard but NOTHING would work, not a centered scratch spin, forget backspins, scraped every 3 turn, forget the Willow! Arrggghhh!
Lyle

Magical Beasts:
Did a few really good spins last night at the seasonal rink.
Waltz jumps were really high and smooth.
Edges were rippin'.

Mythical Beasts:
Ice was just right for spins, even the back spins felt good - tried an illusion, but it was unrecognizable and therefore 'mythical'! LOL

Still working on that d**n Tango Stop. Can't get it to happen with the right part of the blade - I either dig in and trip or use my heel and scratch.


Beasts of Burden:
My arches are getting cramps from all the toe-pointing I've been working on lately.

I think that, since I coach, my crossovers should be better and consistent.
Especially since my coach is the Skating Director, and therefore, my boss.

My coach said I complain the least of all the adult students. I laughed and said "Oh, my knees, my back, my arches, my whatever!" She said, "Well, you don't complain about WHAT we're doing." LOL

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That's my type of "on the job training"!!!

My secondary coach would go "Hey, you're not whining and complaining. You're actually going ahead and doing it!!!" My answer is "Ummmm... you're just going to make me do it anyway, so what's the use of whining and complaining about it???"

__________________
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 mean the illusion was just an illusion?

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

This was really helpful...when I do that cross behind wrong, it's really dangerous so I'm just setting my foot down beside my foot but I really made an effort to get on an edge and I really had a lot of fun with the dance today. My dance coach is gone ths week and she's probably gonna have a fit when she sees that non-step behind, but I just want to go out there and have fun. Someday I will do a step behind but it's not happening in time for this weekend. I think I covered the rink pretty well and felt like I was curving, not going straight like I tend to do on the Canasta


Magical My daughter caught one of my one foot spins that was pretty fast and long and she said "That was really good" My daughter does not hand out praise liberally so that felt good.

j

Magical beast:
Loops and flips are back. Loop-loop, I landed one and missed one. Gold guy said "Oooooh! You got a little more PEP going into it!!!" Primary coach even figured out a way to get me to "visually" do my loop jump. (The red line is now my new "wall") Lower back on my left side is better, so I was able to jump a little.

Mythical ones:
NOW it's my RIGHT SIDE that's hurting!!! GRRRR!!! And I'm still wondering how I'm going to do the loop AT SPEED!!! What a dilemma!!!

Magical beast:
With that in mind, my primary coach did made a compliment that he thinks I'm much faster and less hesitant skater now than I was even just before I took my Bronze FS test.

Needless to say, we also worked on my choreography... and my lower back and I are very thankful to my primary coach for SPARING my lower back today!!!

Off Ice Exercise stuff:
I'm going to be temporarily going off pilates to get a personal trainer and work me for a while 'til I lose all this extra weight that I've gained over the last year or so. Since I HAVE to wear a skating dress for this number , I want to lose all this excess weight so I don't look like a sausage stuffing into its casing!!! Wish me luck! It's 15lbs I have to lose between now and late October this year. Should be cake, but cake is not allowed in my diet!

Other notes:
Primary coach's Interp. program for AN is definitely getting more polished now.

__________________
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!!!

magical beasts: Well loop and flip have showed up several times even in my programme so they are definitely not mythical - not exactly in magical category yet. One of my toe-loops this week was though - felt great!

more magic; dance coach liked the music I wanted for my free dance. Most people seem to go with standard dance music - a blues or a tango for example - but I am going to have an Oakenfold track. I've wanted to skate to this ever since I first heard it and used to make up steps to it when it played on public sessions. Now that dance music can have words I can use it - yipppeeee!!! She even agreed I can put in my made up steps (a version of brackets and crossovers). I don't know if judges will like it but I dont' care - I just know I am going to love this dance and will enjoy performing it even if they dont' like it. Not sure all my friends at the rink like the track either but they'll have to get used to it - they could be hearing it A LOT!

mythical: still looking for that dratted backspin.

I borrowed it until Sunday....after that, you can have it back! I am going to ask to proceed onto the flip (bypassing the loop for now).

And I am changing my gym workout to hit the weights again. I took a 2 month hiatus while I worked with my new chiropractor and did stretching. I feel the difference (ewww, as in not as trim but puffy and flabby !!!)

plus, my jeans are snug....no, it's not the 2 boxes if girl scout cookies I ate! (really!)

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

I believe my secondary coach in saying that my flip was cake once I got my loop consistent!!! (Yeah, I was a skeptic too... until my secondary coach got little ol' me to do a flip in a day!!! NOW I'm a BELIEVER!!! )

__________________
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!!!