Snazzy: I did it!!!! I did a spin that spun for 3 beautifully-centred revolutions. Never done that before in my whole life..... I was so pleased I even called my coach over (he was teaching someone else at the time!) to look at the tracing - he was impressed. Of course, I couldn't repeat it (although I did come pretty close), but at least that's once!

I have fallen in love with a piece of music I want to do a solo free dance to, but I can't compete it until I have a reliable spin, so this is actually quite important for me! I will choreograph it though, probably in the new year, and have a good play with it, and then I'll have to start thinking about next year's Interpretive piece....

Stressy: Had a horrible time going to the rink as there'd been a bad accident just outside it - police cars, ambulances, road closed off, etc - and I was terrified that it had been my husband knocked off his bike. Then, of course, I was rather ashamed of being relieved that it had been a motor-cyclist! Found that husband, who had realised I would be upset, had forgotten to lock his bike, so had to go and do that for him, and the net result was we didn't actually have any time on the ice together (we'd got up later than we meant). But we both have stuff to practice solo, so that's okay.

Back cross-cuts still don't work, but I finally got the feeling of "sitting" into them today. But they still grind to a halt after six or seven. Sigh.....

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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!

Snazzy: I won three medals at the MO State Games, two gold and a silver. I had two great skates, one of which was the silver, go figure. I also won my first gold in bronze free (other gold have been in interp and compulsories.) My synchro team has pulled its program together for our Christmas show and my coach and I will be starting work again here soon on the flip, lutz and camel spin.

And yay! I have my first-ever solo in the club Christmas show!

Stressy: I won't name names or even go into too much detail for fear of hurting anyone's feelings, but my eyes were opened to the shenanigans of a friend who played me for a fool. Never, ever again.

Also, in the first performance of my new bronze program, instead of doing a waltz- 1/2 loop - salchow, I did a waltz- 1/2 loop - 3 turn. And turned a solo loop into a solo half loop. BUT I did to a nice sal-toe combo and managed a good sit spin and backspin. AND footwork with twizzles in it!

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

WAY TO GO, MEL!!!!

I had only heard about one of the gold until now.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

thanks Gary! Silver was in spotlight dramatic, gold was in freestyle 3, the other was in bronze free.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

CONGRATULATIONS MEL!

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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!

Congratulations, Mel! Sounds like you're ready to kick butt at AN!


I sympathize. Without naming names myself, I've been there and done that quite a bit recently. My story involves quite a few wolves in sheep's clothing.


I've just started working on this combo. I've done plenty of 3 turn salchows, too!

Stressy: Only one spin worked today, and that was our side-by-side, arm-in-arm pairs spin, which has improved dramatically since last we worked on it. Could this be due to the ice quality which, ditto and likewise, has improved dramatically? I wish I thought it was due to our improvement! The dance-hold spin still doesn't work, and the best solo spin I did was only 2.5 revolutions. Huh - "Only" - I'd have killed for that a couple of months ago! But they weren't good today.

With husband, worked on the free dance, trying to remember how we'd dumbed it down, and what to do on the end now that the coach has banned our feeble attempt at a lift for testing.

Then suddenly didn't feel at all well - I'm not sure if my sinuses are playing up, or if it's my digestion - could be either. Think it's digestion, since paying a visit since I came home has helped enormously! Was okay enough to concentrate on lesson - coach also not feeling well - and, you know what it's like, if it's minor enough you forget you aren't feeling well! But I did go off the ice straight after. Lesson very late because coach was feeling sorry for himself! That didn't matter, of course, except I was longing to get it over and done with!

Snazzy: SPEED Probably due to good ice, but in the past, if I'd been going so fast going backwards, I'd have put the brakes on! And my anti-clockwise back crossovers were way outside my comfort zone! I nearly did have to put the brakes on, but forced myself not to. The clockwise ones are still not as good, but coming along. Did some good back cross-rolls - coach says they are "half-way there", and I am now to practice them across the rink, on the line, so I can see that I am on an edge, not flat! Cross-cuts still hopeless, but I work on them every day, so they should improve sooner or later, no?

And managed to do several Mohawks without losing too much speed going into them, which is new and delightful. Fiesta pattern rather dreary, though - either I got a terrible back inside edge after the Mohawk, or the run didn't quite come off... sigh.... But not a bad lesson considering everybody is feeling very end-of-year-ish.

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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!

Mel - Congrats! Mrs. Redboots - keep spinning!
Stressy: Skipped skating last night to work on things for the Baltimore club show this weekend - by the way, all are invited, and there should be some open skating after! On Saturday I finished the choreography on the Oh Holy Night program, so there's one practice, then showtime!

Snazzy: Finished painting the costume for above - will try it out tonight.

Snazzy: The Silver moves have really improved with my new blades. Should definitely be ready to test in January. I already feel more power, flow and deeper edges. I guess the coach noticed it too, because next lesson, we're learning the Novice sprial sequence.

Even snazzier: Lots of open ice time next week because of the holidays (especially in the morning) and the boss is on vacation...

Stressy: Other skaters who see you in a lesson working on certain things and then immediately do whatever you're doing. Stop it already!! (sorry for the rant).

Happy skating everyone!!
philly

Stressy
Holiday show is next week, and NoVa and I are far from ready!

Snazzy
I learned a walley! It's a lousy walley for the time being, but it's still a walley.


Flo, PM me with more info on your show. Not sure if I'll be able to make it, but you never know.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Stressy:
At my group's holiday lunch yesterday, I was asked about the holiday show. But after a few martinis, I couldn't restrain myself from saying something akin to, "Huh? Holiday show? Surely, you're mistaken."
I just hope 20 of my coworkers don't straggle over to Fairfax Ice Arena to watch my performance. And what a performance it will be.
Um, how many times have we actually done a complete runthrough ... once, maybe?
Nah, we'll pull it off!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Hey, congrats! The novice spiral sequence isn't too bad, actually. IMO, it's way easier than the Preliminary spirals.

Snazzy: Double sals are coming along, and thanks to some great tips I read from doubletoe and company, so are my double toes!

Stressy: Axels are still AWOL. It has everything to do with that stinking takeoff edge. If I go REALLY slow, I can land them with a quarter turn cheat, but the minute I think about getting it bigger and faster, it all goes down the drain. I know...must be patient...

Snazzy
On my own, in practice before my lesson, I made two important breakthroughs. The first was to figure out what has gone so terribly wrong with my spins that I had to go back to two foot spins and have not even been stable with them. I was making two rather pathetic mistakes. First, I was not rising up off of the pivoting foot when beginning the spin. Second, I have become a noodle. I tightened up the tummy and back, rose up on the pivoting foot, and voila: fast, centered, stable two foot spin.

The second breakthrough was on the FO threes in the power three pattern. I have been noticing for a while that the free leg swings through as the turn is executed, but yesterday I observed the same thing in the three prior to a Salchow in someone else's lesson. I tried it, and my FO threes were like a knife through butter. My coach noticed it right away in my lesson.

Stressy
The problem I've been having with stepping forward onto an O edge in the power threes is evidently related to my old roller dancing habit (correct for roller skating) of always stroking from feet together, which in this case would be heel to heel. Instead, I am now to do the crossover early and hold the crossover position with free foot behind skating foot to the line, and then step wide into almost an Ina Bauer position. Scares me to death, but when I did it with a spot, I got a good clean FO edge. I only did it by myself once in the lesson and totally freaked, going almost into a squat. Coach thought I was goofing around

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Considering I've only managed to skate once in the past two weeks, today was actually a very good day. (It's so annoying when work interferes with skating!)

Snazzy - I told a friend on the ice that I wasn't satisfied with my BI3/FO3 double 3, due to the middle part being only maybe 5 inches - so squishy. Then I went to demonstrate, and, low and behold, I did the most beautifully balanced double 3 - each portion equal to the others. I also told my friend I was trying so hard to achieve running 3's because they are so attractive - on rare occasions I can get 5 turns. Today, being so totally brilliant - I managed 7, without putting a foot down!!! And, I did both of these moves at least 3 times each. Of course, I did 23 more without success, but hey, I must be doing something right. (If I could only determine exactly what, although the coach did say balance was so needed to keep momentum.) I did tell my friend I was going to have to start paying her to watch me She's a beautiful skater herself.

Stressy - I only managed one decent sit spin/headless scratch, but I'm putting that down to lack of practise. At least I'm trying off ice to increase the strength in my right leg to help get lower.

Mrs Redboots, how are your double 3's coming along?

This week so far...

I arrived at work Monday morning to find out that I did get the weekend off to do the New Year's competition!!! Oh happy day!!!
Now I get to train TWO programs!!!

Stamina is getting better with the freeskate program, and all my interpretive needs now is a little tweaking. It was cold today on the ice, so to run both programs was the best way to keep warm. Actually, since both my events could very well be in one day, to train the programs this way may be the route to go.

Loops and NoVa, I didn't tell any of my co- workers about my holiday show-it being Christmas Eve afternoon, I figured no one would will go. You guys will be okay!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Loop loop
You got a wally Im impressed, Iv been trying that for weeks and still can't manage it. CONGRATS

HEY PHILLY

I thought you where going to do this test in December Opps sorry my bad, you are right the test is in January. Are you going to the New Years invitaional Iv decided to go in 3 events, Gold free,moves and interp. Man Ill be busy ....

Snazzy:
Ooooh! I am so excited to be in our ice show this year! I wish I could go around to all the rinks and see everyone's shows!

We are doing Nutcracker on Ice; I'm in the synchro portion (flowers). I'm not good enough for a solo (one day though once I get through Adult 4 onto freestyle!!). Our show will be really cool!

What's everyone else doing in their show?

Stressy:
Snazzy, could I borrow some of your spin mojo? Mine have headed south for the winter. I've gone back to 2-footers. It's embarrasing for some of the younger skaters (8 or 9 years) to come up to me and give me pointers (yup, I'm 42, bless the little dearies)! Can't figure out my center-keep going on my toepick (way onto my toepick). I'm just leaning too far forward! I've recently lost 30 pounds and I'm thinking that has something to do with it.

Also working on "the flip" which seems to drive everyone who watches me into hysterics (especially my teen daughter). AAAAGGHH!

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

Loops showed me the walley this evening. I still cannot do it--but I can do a half walley!

And our holiday program is not as bad as we feared (right, Loops? Or do you still think the program will crash and burn?). Our lifts miraculously came back; i.e., I was able to finally lift Loops off the ice (back pain and lack of muscle had these elements sidelined for a while). We won't mention the skating into the boards.

We did great side-by-side camels (well, I thought they were) at the rink end during the public session (see, who says you can't do these things in a public session?). And we came up with harder footwork. I just hope my singles coach doesn't see it; I am NOT doing brackets in my singles program!

And Loops fixed my camel/sit. It's cleaner, more polished, and faster! Major props to her. I'm always looking to improve my spins!!!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Philly,
Good luck on your practices for the moves and ultimately on the moves test. I can definnitely feel your pain. Remember to keep your knees bent during most of the moves (not the spirals, though! ), and you're halfway there.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Rather uncontrollably! I'm better at twizzles. I still can't do a back inside 3 if I stop and think about it, but I can do a FO twizzle if I don't think about it (does that make sense?). I can sometimes do a BO3/FI3 combination, but it's not very good yet. Think they will improve when I get more control over my check - which is coming, now.

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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!

Stressy: Show is Saturday. My program's a work in progress (my silver program's not finished, I needed a show program - quickly). Nothing was working last night - at least I got to skate in my costume.

Snazzy - almost finished the Christmas tree costume for the tot's number!

I'm teaching a holiday show number for kids 4-8 and levels Tot5 through Delta. The kids are doing pretty good and they've really improved. It's hard for the 4 year olds to stay focussed when Santa Mambo is practicing on one side and the Nutcracker is on the other side. However, we do have our moments.

They are skating to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I have two 4 year olds who are Alvins, 3 five year olds who are Simon's, and a five and eight year old who are Theodore. I also have two private students, who have little solos around them, but they help lead them into the lines, which I'm greatful for.

My favorite part is only about 10-15 seconds long and that is when they pick-up their hula hoops when the music says, "Me, I want a hula, hoop." It's great until someone forgets to step over the hula hoop at the end of the number. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out for the Chipmunks!

Hello!! You're right, I was testing in December (at Ardmore), but that was Pre-Juvenile moves...and I passed! (well, at least according to one judge )

And thanks for the testing advice, NoVa!! (Congrats on your recent successful tests, by the way). My key is keeping nervous knees under control. My moves coach recently tought me a little breathing trick where you "blow out" all of the nerves, and while I was skeptical at first, it seemed to work on my most recent test. I was able to get rid of the nerves. And I managed to pass every move (some with extra points ) except for the #$*%@(%!$*!(!@^#* back 3-turns! No touch-downs or anything this time. My coach thinks I've become obsessed with them. I don't know, do you agree that it's obsessive to think about them in the shower, at work, during the drive to work, during the drive home from work, at the gym, during dinner (hubby LOVES that), in my sleep, and, well, now??

Hey, that's great about your double sals and double toes! And I'm still with you on the axel takeoff frustration! I have been working on almost nothing else for the past week. I'm coming to the realization that the speed doesn't matter as long as you can get into the right takeoff position. . . although it's harder to do and you have less time to do it if you're going faster. Mine has been working as long as I can get into sort of a "Z" position with my body when I step onto the takeoff edge. What I mean by that is: Down low on the jumping knee, shoulders and arms pulled back, but chest sticking out and lined up over the knee and toe. I am trying to develop a mental image that helps me get all aspects of that position at once, but I'm not quite there yet. If I get down low on my knee, I tend to forget to pull my shoulders back. If I pull my shoulders back, I tend to forget to get down low on my knee and stick my chest out, etc. etc.