Looks can be deceiving!!! Trust me on that one!!!

(Sounds to me like you're well on your way on working the Bronze Moves too!!! )

__________________
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!!!

Doing them is pretty easy. Doing them perfectly on pattern and to the level the judges want to see them is about 500% harder. That's the annoying thing about MIF!

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

Clean: After seven attempts at "opening up the loop", I finally landed one my coach said was "getting the idea". LOL!

Dance test target date is 1/07. Coach says she even thinks I could pass in November, but she wants more out of me, so.......I guess that's getting "cleaner".

Slide chasse's done correctly down the length of the rink, with NO PUSHING!

Cheated: All those little glitches.....in the dances. And in the new things coach tried to show me today, one of which was the "inside slide chasse" pattern. Which was fun, but when you barely have a LBO three, and do not have it at speed....EEEEK! This had to look laughable, but I enjoyed working on it. Also the cheated bracket work. Just call me the "bobbing bird" on the forward outside brackets!

I'm struggling with just learning this jump. Aside from the timing issues I have, the worst is just what you mention. It's that long back outside edge. For one thing, I go pathetically slow, which I know doesn't help, but I feel like I must understand the technique first, then build speed. Kind of a vicious circle I guess. When I don't have either technique or speed! LOL!
But, I do find that while I'm forever coasting backward on the LBO edge, I just think and think and think and really block myself by the time I get to the pick in.....

I'm wowed by how you enter the lutz from an outside spread eagle. Would love to see that!

Yep, more than likely mine are pretty sloppy. . . once coach gets a look I'm sure they'll all get ripped apart. For now, though, working on pre-bronze, and I believe 3 of the 5 moves are currently passable.

Well, I went to my lesson tonight not expecting too much since my cold is trying to stage a comeback (I need a smiley for beating something off with a stick, LOL), and amazingly enough, it was all:

Clean Had a good lesson on decent ice and didn't fall over any of the little kids. Jumps were good, and I negotiated a temporary change in my program with my coach so I feel better about the whole thing. We did two run throughs and they were pretty good. On the second one, I think it was, with regard to one of my spins, my coach said it was "the best spin I've EVER seen you do, ever!" They were all good, but he said that one was exceptional. Those of you who know me and know how rotationally challenged I am will understand what a big compliment this was. Anyway, so it was all good and Friday we'll go back and also review my interpretive program, which I haven't skated since February, so won't that be fun?!

Thanks for all the well-wishes when I was sick! Good luck everyone who's competing or testing soon!

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August 22, back on the ice!

Hear, hear, doubletoe!
Today primary coach and I did work on a couple of moves, then some freestyle. Secondary coach is enjoying a lovely honeymoon in Hawaii (she got married in NY on Sunday).
Power threes- adding a introductory step ( I was doing 5, now it's 6) and gettngi the first three on pattern. While the back crossover portion was great, the threes were placed too early. Need to pay attention to shoulders.
Did work on intro steps afterward and was able to place the three on pattern!

Five Step mohawk- coach finally discovered what was driving her crazy on my LFI mohawk- I was not pushing into it enough and was on a flat. After some work on it at the boards, I finally got the idea.
Spins were good, as were jumps.

Cheated:
Too crazy a freestyle session with Regional bound kids and beginners.

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Will this do? LOL!!!

__________________
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!!!

Clean:

Oh ho ho ho, santa came early and must have left some flips in the building because mine showed up!

Cheated:

First, the ice is terrible, the resurfacer broke and is stuck outside the building. This rink doesn't have the best ice to start with so it got snowy and chewed up just like a Sunday afternoon public skate. I gave up on working on skills as I was getting stuck in the ruts. (edited, I wrote "rust" , heh heh, some times it sure feels like I've rusted to the spot)

Second, they've changed the ice schedule again, I could either quit my job and skate or continue working and not skate. I've already changed my work arrangement once for skating based on the "final" schedule previously published. (is there a super pissed off smiley?)

edited: of course I could quit my job and skate but would have to give up rent and food let alone pay the ice bill

Clean: me at the rink!!! Yay, I went skating today (doc didn't say anything about not skating, just said take it easy)....Did some alternating crossovers and worked a bit on the pre-bronze 3-turn thingy...very slow it's ok.

Cheated: I've been warned by the skating director "No hockey career for you!" and to stay off the hockey skates until after the spring show (we lose ice then). Oh well. I did run through some elements, spins were WEIRD!!! and some jumps which were really sloppy. Ran through my program (first with headphones and it was ok) but it was really weird and I was way off. Tried again but bailed when I saw hubby fall. He was ok-it was the click while doing crossovers.

I'm having hate issues with the toe-loop! I keep straightening up when I pick and then it's no good! It's not so much of a toe-waltz but I don't like the fact that I'm not really vaulting as much as I used to. I need some serious bent-knee time on this jump! Knowing what I'm doing wrong is one thing-trying to fix it is something else!

Spinning was fun tonight! After I finished one runthrough, and after I did a 2-foot spin at the end....I had to wobble my way to the boards and hold on for dear life! I thought I was going to puke and everything was going up and down! stupid labrynthitis thing! I hope it clears up soon!
ETA: oh yeah, I did go to the chiro AND the massage therapist today...they fixed me up really good! I do feel much better. The chiro advised me to take it easy for a day or two (i.e. no more falling on my face). So I didn't fall today-that's good!

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

Clean: Being kind to my right ankle, I stayed away from RFO3s and worked on LFO3s and forward Mohawks. I am FINALLY getting the step in the forward Mohawks (both ways) and just need to find my balance coming out on the backward edge. I also did more work on backward stroking.

In lesson tonight, we worked on forward stroking and added cross-overs around the end of the rink, both ways. We also did some backward stroking with emphasis on longer backward glides.

Cheated: DAMN the rink was COLD, extremely COLD! I just couldn’t get completely warmed up and loosened up. It was so cold my legs were shivering for the first half of the session. Stroking to try to warm up only created WIND CHILL! I am going to add a pair of ski pants to my skating bag for the next "arctic rink" I encounter! I love my skating dress and the freedom but when I am chilled to the bone it interferes with my skating worse than pants!

Cheated: My coach said, earlier this week in an email, that there was something we need to talk about in person regarding my competitive asperations. Since it took me a long time to get her on-side with my plans, I was afraid she was going to pull the plug! (Drama queen here - let's assume the worst and fly into panic mode!)

Clean: What we needed to talk about was she doesn't feel that I have the conditioning or endurance to "take my skating to the next level". (I guess she was afraid I would take it badly and that's why she wanted to talk about it face to face.) Ok, no problem! It is about time I buckled down and got serious about the off-ice part of this sport! Anything for skating! (Though I did suggest she bring handcuffs and a muzzle for Saturday since I will have quit smoking by then and may not be fit company for awhile!)

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

LOL, okay, here you go. . . I had a spread eagle-lutz at about 1:40 into this program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzbGYcv1zmc

I originally started doing this entrance so I could practice my lutz on crowded sessions without that unnerving blind entrance (since the coach who originally taught me the lutz never thought to teach me the mohawk-crossover entrance. )

By the way, you NEED speed on the lutz. It's just impossible to do without it, in my experience. Even on the mohawk entrance, you need speed and deep knee bend, and a nice straight mohawk. It might help you to practice the flip from a RFI mohawk to get the idea of a long, straight mohawk from speed.

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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

Clean: Well, we did three run-throughs of the Synchro program tonight. Missing two skaters, so the circle footwork was on wicked edges and FAST. I'm pleased because we've never done run-troughs this early in the season. We have a habit of getting stuck on one part of the program and working it to death and never quite getting enough practice on the end or doing enough run-throughs before cometing. Well, this year we're not competing until Februart, so we have oodles of time to get comfy with the entire program.

Cheated: Somehow managed to click blades with another skater -- I was leaning in to her on time with the music, she was two beats ahead and started her back crosses and crossed into me. Somehow I did a crazy hop thingy that had me landing forward, still connected to my backwards-moving line, then I squeaked out a bracket and rejoined the footwork as if nothing happened -- except me leaving my heart thumping on the ice where we collided. This was, of course, right after another skater bumped my bum in a blind intersection. Because, clearly, there was a target tattooed on my back, lol.

Right now there are only four spots in the program where I'm feeling iffy -- the blind intersection (this was OK until the bump, grr), the circle footwork (only when we're skating at speed, otherwise it's fine), a little bit of turny footwork coming out of our pairs spiral (my partner was in borrowed skates, so I'm not counting last night's practice as indicative of our ability), and the bracket in the straight line footwork sequence (also fine when not at speed).

Clean
Bizarrely I am good at the hard exercises in the field moves - I can do the Choctaws and the brackets better than the double threes. And coach even said I do them better than 12 yr old (the best skater at our rink) - but only those 2 exercises. Yay. Even back outside double threes (both ways!!!) were much much better.

Am getting the hang of the test dances - 14step and willow waltz - with a partner. And when I say getting the hang of I mean understanding in my head where I should be even if my shoulders and feet don't quite get it yet.

I've been loving skating this week - even more so than normal. Had a really fun practise on Monday - did all my jumps and spins and it felt nice!!!! And again on Tuesday.

Cheated
No jumping or spinning until these field moves are done. L. Back inside double threes are are the sticking point (right foot only) but unfortunately they appear in 3 of the 6 exercises - forward outside double threes, back inside double threes and the double Mohawk step.

Dance teacher has been messing my lessons round a little. He overslept on Tuesday so I went on Wednesday as well and today he cancelled in favour of tomorrow. A little annoying as I would like one normal morning start especially since work is so busy at the moment and I'm not leaving before 8.30pm at the earliest.

Also managed to do the Mohawk in the willow waltz pretty much on my teacher's foot yesterday. I'm sure my blade is supposed to be on the ice not on his boot. Whoops!

Good luck with your field moves test. I daresay I passed my inter bronze years ago but sort of got stuck on these horrible bronze ones. I actually took a year out of doing them then my coach left so I didn't attempt them with new coach for months and have kind of given up on them. I found the choctaw exercise not too bad - it came and went - but the double threes were terrifying. I had so many painful falls from them. I decided I'd go for the new equivalent level 5 exercises instead, only to find that the backward double threes are done in a straight line alternating down the rink....eeek. I sort of got used to doing them in a figure of eight! So I definitely won't be testing before the old system goes out!

Nicki

__________________
www.myspace.com/insatiableskater

Clean

Last week my instructor decided that I was way too advanced to continue on in Adult 2 (USFSA LTS) and made me test out into Adult 3-- my favorite was when he tried to make my backwards snowplow stops look decent by telling me to do backwards crossovers into them-- his reasoning: "the tester will be so impressed that you have backwards crossovers that she might not notice how shaky your stops are." I finally got the stops down right before the tester came over, but that had me giggling for a while (skater subterfuge! Look flashy and shiny and maybe they won't notice me landing on my butt!)
So this week... Backwards edges and progressives!

We had a substitute instructor, so she had the joy of introducing me to progressives ("Do you know how to do progressives?" Me: "Huh? Pro-whats?" Instructor demostrates "See, easy!" Me: Jaw open, squeaky voice "Uhm... can I go back to Adult 2?")
It was nice when I was working on the progressives and the instructor commented on how fast I managed to pick them up (at least clockwise), and asked me if I really only started skating as an adult, because I was picking things up so quickly. It was kind of nice to hear (especially since I felt like I was about to take a huge dive at any moment and felt clumsy and awkward on the ice trying to "progress")

Cheated

Please tell me why I can do so well in lessons and then when I go to practice during public skate, I can barely keep upright? Sometimes I feel as if I've never skated before when I get out onto that ice.

And backwards edges.... ugh. A million times scarier than forwards edges-- I know they'll get easier, but until then I'll spend most of my time terrified that I'm going to flip over backwards and crack my head open!

Because the ice is rougher, the crowds are distracting, and you're secretly afraid that someone's watching you. Keep practicing. The ice won't get better, but the other two problems grow smaller as you gain skills and confidence.

Clean:
I've been working on my edges and turns whenever possible, mainly because that's what I'm teaching. I force my way through a lot less now, and I think it's because I've been practicing them as figures on my own as well.

Cheated:
I normally spin/jump CCW, but I have a student who is a ClockWise skater. She's really very sweet and I've worked hard to "translate" my instructions for her without making mistakes.

I demonstrate a lot of the things in my direction, then "fake" them in hers. I did a really crummy upright spin and waltz jump in her direction! Still, it's a useful skill to be able to "go both ways," right?

__________________

I don't know if your back double 3 pattern is the same as ours, but on the RBI double 3's we start at 12:00 on the circle, do the RBI 3 at 3:00, then the RFO3 between 4:00 and 5:00 (after checking the exit of the RBI 3). For me, the trick is to wait until I can see where the 2nd turn will be before executing the first turn (the RBI3).
Here's what seems to work for me:
1. Face into the circle until you hit 1:00 or 2:00, then bend the knee, turn head to look over your right shoulder, and pass arms so that you're now facing outside the circle.
2. Bend deeply, then continue to look over right shoulder until you can see where the 2nd turn will be. That means you have actually reached the 3:00 point, at which point it becomes easier to execute the turn with control.
3. RBI 3-turn.
4. After exiting RBI3, switch arms so you are hugging the circle (facing into the circle).
5. Bend deeply, then execute RFO3.

This has made these much less scary!

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

Clean:

Well....nearly clean. My program that is. First nearly clean runthrough yesterday. Two footed the flip and didn't make the combo, but I did everything else, even the second lutz, which is at like 2:01. I love this new program so much. The gym has helped me alot too, because I'm not nearly as tired as I used to be when skating a program. So much more work to do, but I'm planning on skating up to Silver in January. I'll try and stay out of the cellar!

Cheated:

My axel! And two footed. But it is getting better.

Struggling to add a back sit to my back camel. At least the back camel is more consistent now. Slow though.

Hey, thanks! If you don't hear back from me for quite a while, it's not because I didn't watch it and have comments, it's because *it will still be downloading via dial up*.

Thank you for the tips. My coach is pushing me to go faster, but she also recognizes that I can just "go fast" if I have no idea what to do.....so.....

I remember having these issues...now my husband is going through this. It will get better!

Clean: Skated not once but twice today!!!! I'm really zonked out but feeling pretty good! Spins were really much better-got a centered 10 revolution spin and some fairly centered 6-8 rev (they were better this morning, fair this afternoon). Ran through my program and all my "stuff" that I've been given to do. Actually managed to do the 3-turn pattern on clean ice on the afternoon session....helps being able to see the shape of your lobes and try to get them even (a little trick-I turned around at the end and skated over them).

Did some very nice back spirals in the afternoon session...hip-height and fairly straight (i.e. not curly-curvy!). I have one in my program and it has been messing me up for my toe-loop...I'm way off for where it's supposed to be but not as far as I was weeks ago.

Cheated: That darn toe-loop! I'm going to have coach help me on this...it's really bugging me! I focus really hard on it and when I jump it, boom, do the same stupid mistake (pick in then straighten up my legs and jump)! It's starting to affect my sal-toe combo (sloppy, sloppy). Did some dance stuff but not any complete patterns. I'm a week behind (missed on-ice for the cha-cha due to my little accident).

Trivial question of the day: how much knee-bend should you have on outside mohawks? Obviously more than I've been putting into them!!! Yikes! I saw my reflection in the glass and looked like a skating zombie with those stiff legs!!! No wonder I'm having issues! At least having open shoulders is 50% of the battle!

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

Thank you

I will try. The FO-BI double threes are done in half lobes down the side of the rink, the BI-FO double threes are done in two circles each way making a figure of eight, and the BI threes in the mohawk step are done after a closed mohawk cross in front in half lobes down the side of the rink.

I panic and try and turn before I've even got an inside edge and before my shoulders etc are in the right position - so I will definitely try your exercise.

Clean

• All spins for Bronze FS.
• Last camel attempt was about 2-3 revs and extended until the last rev.
• All jumps except for loops and flips... well sorta... I have one loop that is borderline clean. Actually I had a BUNCH of them today that was borderline clean... (Still working on arms, doubletoe... and funny... Jay suggested today also to check out quicker too!!! )
• Primary coach finally likes *something* about my toe loop!!! He says that when I'm not doing my obvious "toe-waltz"-ing, the toe loops actually looks more "explosive" and higher! Of course, he then says "Why can't your other jumps be like that??? " LOL!!!

Cheated:

• Most of my landings on loops and flips!!! Flips are probably gonna be the next jump that he's gonna be going and crazy over. (Yeap, fully rotated... just not cleanly landed...) Have to work on arms so it's not wall over my shoulders when I jump again. (Yes, I was trying the same tip re: arms for loops for the flip too... feel different for me...)
• Most of my camel attempts!!!

__________________
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!!!

Cheated

Can't skate tomorrow - dance lesson cancelled AGAIN. I can't even go in and skate as there will be no other teachers on the ice and so I won't be allowed on to practise.

This is the 3rd time this week that my lesson has been moved/cancelled.

Clean

Nothing as I can't skate tomorrow and I'm sad

Do you also do your RBI 3 at 3:00 on the circle, then do the RFO3 between 4:00 and 5:00 on the circle?

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