A practice thread in honor of the 4th of July!

Grand finale: Had two decent double toes that my coach was quite pleased with. I can't say so much for the other 50 million that I did, LOL!

Double sals were awesome...before my lesson. I had a great double sal-double loop while on lesson, but then again, the rest of 'em were somewhat shaky.

Duds: About 95% of my double toes stunk, which results from one of three things, as my coach put it. 1.) Pre-rotating my body to the left and opening up/leading with my left shoulder too much; 2.) Stopping myself on the pick in before jumping (a.k.a. hitting the brick wall); 3.) Checking out too early from in-air position. Seriously, I think I may just duct-tape my arms to my body. That oughtta keep 'em in!

Grand Finale:

I ordered my new blades (MK Visions) and will ship my skates off to Chicago later this week to have them mounted and sharpened!

Duds:

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't followed it up with a retry on my silver moves test later in the day.

I had a pretty good feeling that the test wasn't going to pass, but seeing it in writing was like getting slapped in the face.

My coach kept my test papers, but the gist of the judges remarks were that the moves were just scratchy and unpolished. I can partly blame my flat blades for the scratchiness, but mainly I think I've been really low-energy since ANs (as I am every year) and didn't put as much effort into really working on (and not just doing) the moves over the last month as I did before ANs.

I'm hoping the combination of new blades + getting back into my training routine will get me a pass on my next try, whenever that may be (before January 15, 2009 ).

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I've got mad salchow disease!

flying~camel, I'm sorry to hear about your retry

[Grand Finale]
Axels were feeling pretty good today...I was getting my foot crossed, but I still just need to stay in a split second longer to make sure that I complete the rotation...

[Duds]
I had to fork over the money for my 25 sessions over my package

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

F~c: I'm so sorry about your Silver Moves and your local comp. For those of us who are working on Silver Moves, do you remember what you felt was your best move (okay, aside from the spiral... ) and what was the move that you feel was the one that needed the most work? (For me, I see either the 3's in the field or the 8 step mohawk as my bad moves, though I *know* the back cross-strokes will also give me h*** too since I don't have much of a turnout and you really need the outside edge push to get power for that move.)

TIA.

Duds: No skating this weekend! I'm still recovering from a bug I caught. Fever broke this Friday so I'm on the mend... just in time for my JOB to run me ragged!!!

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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!!!

Grand finale

FO rockers and FI counters on a figure pattern coming along nicely. FI rockers and BI brackets coming too - not so nicely but coming.

Duds

Shame about the FO counters and BO brackets. Those things are eville

School's out. Rink's packed. So that's pretty much it for skating until almost the end of the month, when they all go back to school!

Duds: If it makes you feel any better, I just forked over $244.00 for PSA membership renewal, PSA insurance renewal, and the 08-09 coaches registration/background check! I guess that'll teach me to wait 'til the last minute to renew everything. Oh well, it needed done, right? (Just trying to be optimistic here...)

Bummer, flying~camel. Sorry to hear about that, especially at your own club's competition. Did you have fun at least?

To be honest, none of the moves feels like my "best" move. My stronger sides of each move are:

CCW 8-step
Fwd cross-strokes
LFO-RBI 3's
LFI-RBO 3's
Bkwd power pulls
RF spiral

I didn't really have fun skating (I usually don't when I skate bad), but I did have fun with my friends.

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I've got mad salchow disease!

Yeah, I'm a CCW skater and those sides/directions are generally my 'best', too - best being a relative term, lol. But in the case of the FO-BI 3s, it's the RFO-LBI which is better, sort of. I tend to skid the LBIs, but I've reached the point where those turns are actually in the correct place and on the right edges. The RBI turns have never skidded, but they freak me out to the point where I just can't seem to wait until the top of the lobe, and I have edge change/rocking issues on those.

Now I've received word that the test session next week, where I signed up to test Silver MIF that was cancelled, is back on (they found another judge). This is after I didn't practice this weekend b/c I spent both Sat and Sun volunteering at my club's annual comp. I have a lesson tomorrow night and will decide if I'm good to go. I really want to get this test over and done with, but I also don't want to spend money to get another retry - 3 is enough.

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

Don't feel too bad. Neither my primary or secondary coaches are on the "Cleared" list yet. In fact, a lot of our coaches aren't on the list yet!!! (My wonderful NYC IS on the list though! I expected him to be on the list. He's good with that type of stuff... )

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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!!!

I'm sorry Saturday didn't go well for you, Flying Camel. If it's any consolation, interpretive event placements tend to be all over the place, so it's quite possible that your placement will be very different when you're at a different competition with different judges. I am honestly just impressed that you were able to tackle a competition and a MIF test on the same day. I think I would have fallen apart!
FWIW, my moves improved a lot as soon as I got new blades with a nice round rocker, so I am hopeful that your new blades will help yours as well!

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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

DUD!!! OMG! It felt like I had been off the ice 5 months not just 5 weeks! Everything was weak and wobbly and my muscles felt like I had spent 5 weeks doing nothing (which I hadn’t)! At first I was afraid I was even going to do a nose-splat on forward stroking

Not-Quite Fireworks Fortunately, within the hour the forward edges were all back (am I the ONLY one who practices edges?). The back edges came back rather quickly though I found that muscle in my lower back again - the one I only seem to use when I am deep in my knees on back edges). Upright spins haven’t gone too far - was getting 2 revolutions 50% of the time. Wasn’t getting the right spot on the blade for sit spins but was getting lower than I have since January.

One day off (for the sore muscles to heal) and back at it on Wednesday.

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

And just what's WRONG with LAST???? I'll have you know I have a long and proud tradition of being LAST! Makes me easy to find on the results list

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

Oh I'm a proud last place finisher too...I htink I've come in last in every competition I've taken part in except for 2: one where I came in 2nd to last and one where I came in 3rd to last. The time where I placed 3rd to last was pretty uch the excitement of my competitive skating career lol

Duds: I got my wisdom teeth out last week so skating was not too great today...my mouth was kind of sore, so I didn't jump or spin today...I spent the whole session on dance and skills...ahhh it was so hard not to jump

Grand Finale: I learned the second part of junior silver skills! They involve flying choctaws which are pretty..um..intersting..but kind of fun, too I think I'm actually beginning to enjoy skills, which I never ever ever thought I would say! lol and my dance coach is giving me a lesson on Wendesday so that's exciting, since I havent seen him in over a month

My skating and skating life have been all duds lately.

It took me upteen years to pass the Bronze FS test and qualify to compete at AN. So now that that's happened, my rink came up with the idea to have "contract ice."
The pricing now is not bad, compared to what was originally proposed. But you can't buy like what I wanted, a hour and a half, you can only contract by the hour. So, I'm now only skating 4 1/2 hours per week, as opposed to 6.
Then, had to e-mail Secondary Coach to see when she'd schedule me for lessons. She e-mailed back telling me that because of school commitments, she will not be at the rink much, and I would have to find another coach to work with alongside Primary Coach in getting me ready for AN.
So I'm looking for another coach now.
Why now- I feel like the rug was pulled out from under me!!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I know one in your area that I'd recommend whose initials are MSG

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I've got mad salchow disease!

*In Homer Simpson drooling voice*

"MMmmmmm, MSG......"

Yeah, but I have to check as to her availability and really I need to have this conversation with the Primary Coach first, who is in Omaha this week at the US Swimming Olympic trials!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Grand: Spins were wonderful today! I did fast centered backspins (something i have been struggling on lately...), a very fast sit, good camels, and some decent back camels and back camels. It was amazing! I also worked on my catch-foot spin (which I got more revs and a slightly better position on) and my bell aka "A" aka "butt-in-the-air" spin that turned out fairly nice. I figured out that if I have a really fast centered sit, I can get into position fairly quickly and easily.

Duds: My 2sal refuses to land cleanly. I managed a few almost clean ones that were fully rotated at the beginning that had just a tap down from my left toe-pick after I was solidly landed... This jump is more mental than anything else right now...

Duds: I have been waiting a couple of months for a Pre-Bronze group class at my rink. I was SOOOOOO excited because I can't really afford private lessons right now, but I still want to learn all the testing stuff, and this was a way cheap way for me to have lessons. Well, it seems that I was the only person with any interest in the class, and due to lack of enrollment the class was cancelled! I had to get really creative with my night shift schedule in order to take this class and it was all for nothing!!!! The person in charge of the LTS classes thankfully called me and enrolled me in a different skate class, but that doesn't start for three weeks....so I will just have to be patient.

Grand: My toeloops are back, and I'm teaching myself combo jumps (waltz-toe, sal-toe). I have no idea why, but I can do my toeloop better in combination with another jump. I also have a fairly nice inside spread eagle. Thank you hip turnout. Now if my hips could just cooperate and let me do all my 3 turns well, i'd be set!

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My Blog - FINALLY updated!
Living out my childhood dream

I think it's quite an accomplishment to have competed and tested on the same day, even though neither turned out as well as you had hoped for.

A LOT of coaches all around are not on the list yet. We were told it could take 10 days for the background check, so anyone who only registered last week, like moi, will not yet be on the list.

Run of the Mill Fireworks:
Only got to the rink for 1/2 an hour today, but made the most of it. Prelim power threes seem to be flowing and faster than usual still, so maybe it is real progress. On Sunday, when I got to see Liz on Ice, I was showing her my problem with pre-rotating my shoulder on the choctaw for the LFO threes, and was amazed that I could do it. Tried again today, and could still do it that way. Also did the pre-bronze three turn pattern faster than I have been. Fast enough to test, but not fast enough for my own satisfaction.

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I'm the same way. I remember the first time I didn't come in last (I came in second to last...). Anyways, my coach is standing to the side, and I come running over, ecstatic, screaming "I came in 5th I came in 5th!!!!" Seriously, coming in second to last really was quite rewarding.

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Youtube Videos

Grande Finale- After my horrid flying camel fall yesterday, I managed to do one and not wimp out, and it was a nice one at that. I wasn't allowed to jump, my coach said it would be bad for my wrist, but I snuck in a few axels and double toes. I landed every one! My laybacks were nice, and so were my beillmann spirals and spins.

Duds- Camels. They are my best spin but today they went to pot. I'm blaming the haven't-been-sharpened-since-december blades. I then decided to do "One last axel" half an hour before the end, and I fell so hard on my stupid wrist I had to leave the session 20 minutes early. I feel like such a failure. I NEVER leave sessions.

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I just forked over that much for my daughter (yea I'm still paying her bills) AND club membership for both of us.

j

Grand Finale: We rather surprised our coach with how well we did two of the exercises he gave us in our lesson!

Duds: Wish the same could have been said for the rest of 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!

Grand Finale:
I got first place at our competition this weekend! I was surprised, to say the least. I was skating the Paso Doble, which I just learned. I got off balance & wobbly for part of the second pattern, but the rest was about as good as I can do it for now.

Also, in my lesson, 3 times in a row I did an exercise, came back to coach, and he said, "That was really not bad at all." (that's as gushing as he gets when handing out praise) My response was a suspicious, "Am I dying?"

Dud: He DID however, focus on that wobbly second pattern in the competition, rather than on the fact that I overcame my nerves & skated reasonably strongly, especially great after my testing disaster 2 weeks ago. Which made me feel a little bad for a bit, but I need to remind myself that he would only be that critical if he truly believed I could do better---so my coach being very critical is actually a sign that he believes in me! (is that twisted or what??)