Since starting to do synchro, my 'bad' side is beginning to catch up to my good side. EVERYTHING in this year's routine seems to be going in the 'wrong' direction off the 'wrong' foot.... aaaaaaaaaaak

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

I'm having those problems with my forward crossovers, and back to a lesser degree. I just can't right the right body rotation and grip on the inside leg and so it feels real unsteady.

So yah, my left leg sucks the most.

Three turns for me however are okay, but I have not yet practised 3 turns from backwards position yet

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starting at 28

Sigh!

It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one riddled with problems. Really nice.

Lately I've taken to watching the other, better skaters do their perfect 3 turns and feeling that lump of envy and self hatred rising in my throat until I'm forced to give it up for the day and go home before I start crying right there on the ice.

I will definately say that there is a one sided thing going on but, at this point, I guess I feel so certain that even my good side isn't much to look at that I content myself with just getting that right.

With one exception. And maybe this should be a whole other thread but...

My left and right three turns--on the outside are both...functional and roughly equal. However, since trying to start learning the inside three turn I have discovered it to be IMPOSSIBLE! I have stuck mainly to the left (my preferred edge) because the right is not even funny how much I cannot do it.

What I don't understand is how the outside turn seemed, if not easy, at least understandable. My first try out of the gates I recall turning it. For weeks I kept putting my foot down but it was still turned.

This inside, for all the money in the world, does not want to turn at ALL.

My coach says "more speed". In other words, a better push off. But the moment I try to give it a good push, I'm around the corner before I can even think about turning. She also says the worst that can happen is that I put my foot down.

I suspect she underestimates how bad these are. I'm pretty certain that the worst that can happen (and likely would, if I just went for it...I can feel it try to happen, every time) is that I slip over to that outside edge, trip, and fly towards the ground at break neck speeds.

The crazy thing is that I've been trying to sort of training wheel this step. Start on one foot, put the other down, two foot turn, lift up on one foot for a finish. To at least get the edges down. What's uncool about that is that I know that that second foot is actually pushing me back. When I try to do it as it is, I end up not making a "3" but making a strange little circle. Even when I try to turn it.

It literally sends me into a fit of rage. Because I cannot think, for the life of me, what to do to make it work better. And, believe me, I analyse this stuff to DEATH.

I feel like the biggest REMEDIAL skater that ever lived. Still struggling with 3 turns and terrified of back crossovers (though I finally kind of got them going now...YAY!) and even choppy with my snowplow stop. Bleck.

Okay. Rant over.

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"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." (Kathy Butler)

My right side sucks too. Dance partner gave me some 'exercises' yesterday to work on control on that side; he said I need to build up my core strength to hold thing in alignment. I also need to start trusting my right edges.

So much work to do...*sigh*

Oh my gosh. I discovered THIS VERY THING on Friday. I finally, finally figured it out: These 3-turns come from the abdomen and mid-torso, not from the shin!

I was concentrating way too much on "stopping" mid-3, to begin the change of direction. I also was dropping my eye.

During the perfect LFO 3-turn, I noticed, I felt muscles tighten slightly around my tum, and my shoulders lift slightly and coax the entire upper body to swing around. Duh! I though. Think of the 3-turn as a bit of a spin! And the next thing I knew, I could do the RFO.

Here's also what helped: One to the left, one to the right, one to the left, one to the right. Boom, boom, boom. No standing there thinking about it. No goofing on the right and redoing and redoing (actually, renotdoing, renotdoing. Ahem.). Right, left, right, left.

Thank you all so very much.

... And now to insides. And backs. Eeek!

Or, as my ex-roommate used to say, "A spin is simply a 3-turn set free."

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve