Gold: Ran through my programme a few times and actually landed my loop on one foot at least once -even our resident 'elite' skater mentioned that he saw me land it and later commiserated over the horrors of the RBO edge for the take-off ( he hates the triple loop apparently! I'd just like to do a decent single one day!).


Lead

Still have problems getting the timing right for the programme and all jumps need to be much better and sit spin is still a work in progress.
Failed to land the loop in programme more than I landed it and still no clean landing with flow.

Gold: did the same casual adult competition as Nicki T and by somewhat of a fluke got the gold (of 2!) I shall have to treasure my medal as it may well be the only time I ever win a gold for Freeskating...

We also got feedback which was interesting as the judge said my friend and I were pretty similar in terms of speed, flow and quality of what we did, so it came down to the fact that the only difference was in one element where my friend did a clean 3 jump whereas I attempted a loop but had to hop on the landing. This judge would have given my friend the gold (as she achieved what she set out to achieve) while I hadn't done a clean loop (in fact she said I 2-footed the landing which I hadn't - I landed on one foot but had to do a hop because I wasn't quite right in my landing to get any flow out - so an error but interestingly not the error the judge had noted???) but the other judge gave it to me. It came down to the third judge who was not really a qualified judge so I have to take the result with a pinch of salt. Basically there was not much to choose between us. Of course now I have to see if I can fit a 3 jump in as well as the loop attempt (coaches comment was - "you dont' need to do that - just do your loop properly!!") and my friend will add a loop jump to her programme.
Don't want to make it too easy for those judges!!!

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Gold:Starlight lesson went well on Monday other than I was rushing the timing on the waltz 3 at the end of the pattern.

Paso went well today also. Did about half solo work on the Paso and half work with my coach. I can do the quick change edge swing mohawk at the end of the dance with my coach, but not yet solo, so I am adding a prep for it on my solo cross-roll work.

Also we worked out an alternate beginning WITH a 3-turn that doesn't involve a Progressive followed by the 3-turn, since that's the sequence that seems to cause me the most grief. Since doing intro 3-turns from either a straight stroke or a cross-swing roll don't cause problems, we swapped around the progressive and the straight edges in my coach's "default" intro and that seems to work (I just have to remember to remind him....)

Lead: REALLY BAD LEAD. My quick cross-rolls (Paso-style) look like "lobe" "straight" "lobe" etc... my right over left is a nice lobe, the left over right is abysmal.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Gold: Finally started my choreography with my secondary coach... and I already know it's gonna be a beautiful program when it's done...

Lead: ... that is... if I could do justice in my skating... Oh, dear! I got a GOOOOOOD reminder as to why a FS skater must practice their 3turns, mohawks, choctaws, etc (moves or ice dance) as much as their spins, jumps. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have a good fast RFI3. If anything, it's the worst of all the forward 3's I have.

I can also see why I have to work on improving my flexibility when I looked at my reflection in the Plexi-glass too! (Though the "Gold" part of this is a fellow skater, who knows how "inflexible" I am, was watching to see how much torture I would put myself thru to get this new spiral variation. She was surprised to see that I was able to get it pretty quickly.)

But I'll work on 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!!!

Shut UP!!!!! I am so-o-o-o not ready. I suppose the compulsory dances are fairly nearly as ready as they're going to get, and we don't need our Free Dance until we get home (and Barbara says we can probably work on it in the camp as there aren't many dancers this year), so that is another 3 days, but my interp isn't working, and I have to have both versions (1'40" and 2") ready before I go... And the long version has the same problems as the short version, and then some of its own! Sheesh..... Plus I haven't finished the costume, quite (still, we all know people who are sitting in the cloakroom frantically sewing while the gate steward is sending out search parties.....)!

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

Knee-bend - I bet you aren't bending your right knee quite as much as you are the left, and then not re-bending.... everybody has one side better than the other, but you can even them up by judicious knee-bend in the right places.

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

Just 4 words for today...

I LANDED THE FLIP!!!

...a bunch of them

__________________
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

GO CASEY!!!!!

Well done! Or "Great job!" as they say in your country.

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

Yay Casey!

Okay, for me:

Lead:

1. Haven't skated in about a month (haha) so my skates HURT yesterday.
2. Went to new rink in Pasadena and boy was it INSANITY after 3PM. Probably because school got out...it was like a freestyle session, except that I have never been to a freestyle session this insane. Felt like I was in everybody's way, but I suppose that's what happens when you're new to a rink and don't know the programs and patterns.
3. OMG parking in Pasadena is impossible! Not only will I have to pay $7 for the public session, but $7 for parking too! I know there is free parking at the mall about a mile away, and I'm willing to walk it as a warmup/cooldown, but that means I'll need to devote a good portion of the day to skating.
4. Scratch spin was kinda there kinda not. Sit spin, ugh. Still.
5. Kept on missing the pick for the toe loop. Strange.
6. Foot cramp after doing some backspins. Yuck. It was near the end of the session so I pulled off a good loop then decided to call it a day.
7. Note to self: Next time I go to the rink, ask someone about sharpening, cause I think I'm going to need one, stat.

Gold:

1. Talked to people in the pro shop about classes, and a coach was kinda listening in and introduced me to some instructors there. He was right, a LOT of coaches come in after 3PM when all the freestylers come to practice. I looked around some and it seems like most of the skaters there are very very good and have multiple coaches, so I'll probably need some more time to figure out who would be good for me. The difficult part is that none of the skaters I saw yesterday were about my level. They were all either total beginners or people working on their doubles.
2. The ice is really nice here. Yay! Even my footwork seemed to improve.
3. The scratch spins that I did cross on, were good! Yay!
4. Backspin still there....well, at least I haven't totally lost it, LOL...

__________________
"The ice is finer when the zombie goes over it!" - said by an excited 5-year-old at the rink

"The life you've led is in fact not the totality of what is possible for you." - John Partridge of Wheaton College (and a Matrix philosopher )

Gold: I had the rink to myself yesterday. They are setting up for the ice show but it was okay if I practiced so I did figures and freestyle, including Salchows. The coach of the Haydenettes whom I know very well was impressed by my figures and my Salchow...talk about a great compliment.

Lead:An hour later I had a lesson with my coach....immediately went into the "I have never been in a pair of skates before" mode. My figures were wonky and my alternating 3s, which I had really made progress on, were really awful.

Looks like about a month break before lessons start up again towards the end of June.

__________________
Keeping School Figures Alive!!

HOORAY TO CSHOBE for landing your flip!!! That was quick!!! You didn't skate that long and already you're landing one!!! I'm jealous!!!

Lead:

• Power 3's on my RFO3's side still needs work on the step forward. I can do them but they're uncomfortable. LFO3's are doing pretty well!!!
• LOTS and LOTS of kids (from a school that requires uniform) came in right when the rink opened and TOTALLY DEMOLISHED THE ICE!!! By the time I got there to warm up, ice was already CRAP!!!
• B/c of previous bullet item, I didn't have a chance to show what I started with secondary coach with my new artistic program. (Just as well anyway. I have to get those RFI3 nice and smooth so I don't look like I'm killing myself.

Gold:

• Thankfully, the first group of kids left right when I started my lesson. Of course, the rink immediately filled up with ANOTHER group of kids right when my lesson was over!!! (And nope, I didn't plan this one...)
• The rest of my moves are getting pretty good. Primary coach says that I'm a lot closer to being ready to take the Bronze Moves test than he originally thought... He seemed pretty calm and relaxed about my passing this test very soon.
• Backspin was okay to almost pretty good... well, "almost" b/c I was able to cross my leg and that got me started building up even more speed... and of course, I panicked and come out of the spin as best I can w/o killing myself. (This is one of the case where he wishes I would fall...)

__________________
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!!!

Lead:
Today was the first day of skating in over a week thanks to the necessary evil we call work! Needless to say. my feet felt as if they were wearing bricks and I felt slow and sluggish on the ice. Moves were okay given the cirucumstances, but my power threes sucked horribly. I also couldn't spin worth beans in my morning lesson either!

Gold:
The jumps still exist!! I had a good solid sit in both lessons today. Secondary coach acutally got me on edges doing the 5 step mohawk sequence.

More lead:
I will not see my primary coach for two weeks, thanks to next weeks PSA conference in Denver (she'll be taking her Master's ratings test for moves!) and the Memorial Day holiday( that's my weekday off from work that week)

Also, my home rink is only going to have freestyle sessions from 6-9 am- Mon-Fri this summer. Since I'll be back to the old one weekday off during the week gig starting in June, I'll have to practice at a smaller rink, which is cheaper, and closer to home and work, but a smaller surface.
Unless my home rink offers afternoon sessions ( and they might if hockey camps don't fill up), Bronze moves may not be tested this summer. But. I'm going to Peach Classic, come hell, highwater , or hurricanes!

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

Well, I sure hope that you will get your afternoon FS session so you can continue to skate at the rink where you're gonna take the test. I need at least one person from the "AN 2006 or Bust" group to go to AN. (Which reminds me...time to resurrent that thread!!! )

__________________
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!!!

Gold
I had an awesome lesson today. I ran through my programme three times clean and my jumps were good. I've changed my spins in my programme and now I can actually do a decent camel spin as it's nearer the beginning of my programme. Change foot sit is going OK too.

Lead
That was how my legs started to feel twenty minutes before the end of the session. I just skated so hard in my lesson I used up all my reserves so I ended up getting off twenty minutes early but better that than stay on and do something I'll regret due to tiredness!

Nicki

Gold: Competition today! I had a clean skate. Love my costume!

Lead: I came in last place again, felt more nervous than usual.
Also, fell in the warm-up on toe-loop jump. (coach wasn't too happy)

More gold: still got a ribbon, and...... it's over with!!

~tired kittie

Congrats on your clean skate. That's what counts. The fall in the warm-up doesn't matter. Nobody skates well in the warm-up.

Nicki

Gold:
I've boosted my spiral stretches from a 10 count to a 20 count in each position. Today I skated the Prelim spiral pattern with the spirals for the first time. My two foot spin is back and the one foot is feeling hopeful. Three turns are starting to come back after fleeing from newly sharpened blades. Managed a full length of the rink on the R side of the power threes.

Lead:
Missed two of the spirals and free leg was not quite high enough on most of them. Could not get the Choctaw on the L side of the power threes. New exercise for this: eliminate the crossover entirely, put feet together and glide, pick up L and attempt Choctaw. My torso and shoulders are not happy with that turn, and I suspect the same of my hips!

__________________

Lead: Threes. Any of 'em. I'm just sick of them. Hated the patterns back then (4.5 years ago) hate them now. The worst are the lbi and lfi. Buh and a bye.

Gold: did what I might consider a sit spin. FINALLY. I felt like I was low but I remember from pics from past days what I feel is low isn't really low but who cares! I 'felt' like I did it. My knees seemed to be together. Later told hubby we must get video phone and he must video me on said phone so I can see the truth. Actually tried a change sit and sat on ice. Not so bad. Sat there for a few minutes and played with snow on the ice. A few people asked if I was okay...can't one just sit on the ice and make snow balls anymore???? Sheesh! 8-step mohawk is coming slowly but surely, coach says, "Some might consider this the hardest pattern on adult silver......" then her voice trailed off as she realized she was talking to ME, queen of the "I hate 3s in the field." "Well, others, not you." DUH! Good lesson and practice all in all.

Lead: Willow waltz.... but I have a horrible feeling it's as good as we're going to get it. Did several run-throughs when the relevant music was playing, and the first run-through was dreadful (but then, it was a warm-up), as was the last. Husband was rushing so fast he was barely holding his edges for 2 beats, never mind 3!

Still can't decide whether to do the 2-minute version of my programme at Bracknell - I don't mind making a fool of myself in local club competitions (I have yet to come other than last at my own rink, and don't expect to break that particular jinx this time!), but in Opens it's another matter. On the other hand, if I don't do it, there's no point in us going on the Thursday, and I might miss seeing people (Batikat?) who I haven't seen for ages. So on balance perhaps I will - but I must send the papers in very soon!

Gold: Had good runthroughs of all our compulsory dances for the Mountain Cup. Watched Husband doing his Foxtrot solo - his back edges are so much better than they used to be, I'm really impressed. Such a pity he still breaks at the waist after his RFO x-roll 3, especially as Other Woman finds that x-roll 3 very difficult still. He made me laugh at the start of the session by saying "Gosh, you do go fast backwards if you bend your knees - I can't do more than about 2 pushes like that or I scare myself!" Well, duh.... I didn't quite like to say "So please will you push like that in the Swing Dance!" but almost did.

Free dance went well, and we managed the lift at least once. Haven't done it to the music yet, though - that is for tomorrow - but definitely counting! He did drop me once, but I landed on my feet. We hope to get a chance to work on it during the Mountain Cup camp, too.

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

Worked on Starlight Waltz yesterday

Gold: Made it through 1 pattern of the dance to the music several times.

Lead: Rushed the intro-3 and the 3-turn at the end of the dance, even with music playing. By the end it wasn't rushed as bad, but it was still rushed. Gotta work on that!

__________________
American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Annabel - just do it. I'll enjoy watching you!! I'm only doing the Thursday this year - no dance. I'm in a small group number (in fact 2 from our rink this year - very different ones) so I'll be making a fool of myself too!

You have to think why you are doing it - to have fun, meet up with friends and not care how you place - or to worry about placings (and artistics are so subjective anyway). If it's the first then do it.

I have decided I'd rather keep my Free programme as is with the Loop in it and not add the 3-jump back in, even if it means reducing my chances of scoring well. My reasoning is, that I'm not doing it for the medals but to challenge myself to land the Loop properly, in a Programme, in competition. If I do then I will be happy with myself regardless of placing and if not then having a good 3 jump in it, (and I'm hardly likely to be trying the Loop unless I can do a 3 jump), will not make me feel any better about it even if it could increase my placing.

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Gold:I had my competition today(didn't forget my program)

Lead:I got last place and twofooted my axel and lutz and my coach wasn't there to support me!

~cutie

__________________
Skating is suppose to be fun , no PRESSURE at all

~*Courage*~*Confidence*~*Consistance*~

Lead:
Dragged myself out of bed and to a rink 30-45 minutes away from my house that has a reliable 9-11 am freestyle session. Something in my gut told me to call or not go and I didn't listen!
Got there to find that the parking lot was empty and the rink was CLOSED!!
So, only got to skate once this week!

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

Sorry to hear about your rink misadventure, Terri! That sure is frustrating.

This morning I went to see flo's club's show, and it was great. Flo did a great job with the kids' "Mary Poppins" number - and did a great spread eagle, in new skates, no less! There were some really good performances, including an adult dance team with great speed and flow. And the adult pairs team that trains there was awesome - they got a big round of applause at the end.

Hi, Terri! Yeah! That SUCKS, big time!!! If it's any consolation out of that, you reminded me to check my weekend rink for birthday parties before going over there. And speaking of which...

Gold:
It was nice empty ice at my weekend rink and I got a lot done there. Well, except for one "Lead" which scared me (see below)... I started working on smaller pieces of my new artistic program too!

Lead:
I started developing a fear now of going into my RFI mohawks at the beginning of each end pattern. I've been doing these for God knows how long and all of a sudden... POOF!!! Gotta stop thinking about testing in Sept. (I'll just tell myself that I haven't turned in the test forms yet...and can easily back out of the date if needed.) Thankfully, it came back at the end of the session, but it was scary to have that happen to me.

__________________
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!!!

Thanks Debbie! It was great to see you an Mika.
The show went well and our tot's number was cute. I also had a pair of tots do the "Perfect Nanny" from Marry Poppins. They forgot what to do and motioned for me to go out with them. We started again, and they were great. What fun.