Good practice this evening; I did a fair amount of speed work and then worked on the end pattern of the Swing Dance. I didn't have a lesson - and nor, for quite a lot of the time, did my coach as someone didn't turn up, so he was showing off and doing double jumps all over the place, and not landing them properly! So a skating mum and I barracked from the sidelines...... good to get our own back a bit.

Anyway, after the patch it was time for our Red Nose Day celebrations - this is a fundraiser run by the BBC that over the years has raised over £250 million for projects here and in Africa - and over £6 million so far tonight. The rink owners and management company had each offered to give 50p per person coming to the Junior Disco this evening, and the Action Group had offered another 50p for everybody wearing red. And we were offering a face-painting service (and hair-glittering) for another pound.

Half-way through the evening, there were some exhibitions - the winning show numbers from last winter, and some hockey, and then they all formed the longest conga-line ever in the rink. I don't think we quite reached 100 people, but it wasn't far off:


The little girl in the wheelchair, Lucy, played R2D2 in the Star Wars show number!

I think that overall we may have raised over £300 pounds for Comic Relief. I was, however, thankful that there were some cleaning wipes available so I didn't have to go home on the bus with a bright red face with "RND 03" painted on it, matching my T-shirt!

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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!

Grim - Really bad fall on change 3's during skills...coach didn't make me do it again lol...camel is much worse than usual
Glorious - Backspin finally has speed! didn't work on my axel because i'm testing my freeskate this month so we only did that
Willow waltz is looking good and is on time and everything probably won't be testing it this month though...thats all!

This morning I had the first part of a skating seminar. I felt quite bad because I may be the slowest skater in the whole group... even with the lower level... eek... I was always lagging behind in stroking and footwork...

Jumps was ok... I landed some axels, two double salchows (by themselves) and the good thing is I landed one axel-half loop double salchow combination. First time I landed that combination

We didn't have time to work much on spins today. Except for one sequence with camels in both directions !

Going for off ice later...

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Tidesong

Now Tidesong, you do realize that that combo is physically impossible LOL! Congrats on landing it!

Maybe it was acomplished using a harness.Or maybe skating a pairs program
GoldSeals

Well...welcome back TashaKat!
Im back too..I think.This was my 4th Friday back.I skate the last freestyle session on friday.My stamina is not back yet though.Im huffing, and puffing.I didn't realize how much work it takes to move down the ice.
Regards,GoldSeals

hee hee you guys are joking about the combo being impossible right? :p Anyway, for the second part of the seminar we had off-ice.We did alot of jumps and focused on the landings. The coach said my landings are still not strong enough and I forget to turn out my free leg just a little bit... But she said it was getting better towards the end of the session... does that mean better jumps today? lol axel-half loop double sal you watch out... (oh well just in case... the half loop finishes on the left foot so you can take off after that into double sal)
We also did stretching and learned some choreography which was fun.

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Tidesong

Two BAD skating sesssions in a row for me. Not very encouraging.

Grim: I have been really off with flip for the past week. The entrance doesn't feel right, at all. I can't tell if its timing or the edge that is wrong. I sat down on most of my lutzes, and some them I didn't even try. Another jump that is usually natural to me running amuck. And sit spin, oh sit spin, where did you disappear to?

Glorious: The loop is feeling weak, but the timing is there. It much more controlled and focused now versus following on the basis of natural instinct/tendency. Waltz-loops are feeling good, I tried some axels. I wiped out on some of them but I think I need to get more snap in my rotation. I nearly landed one but I had landed it on the back of my blade, so I fell. Camel position is getting there!

An up and down week:
Had a good skate on Tuesday and even managed the complicated ending my coach put on my Free dance (once). Did some good (for me ) spins but not too hot on any of the jumps. Did not get the chance to do any dances with a partner (boo hoo).

Thursday was a disaster.
Annabel, you'll be pleased to hear I made a total and utter hash of my Free Dance - completely off with the timing and messed up so much of it. Guess it was my just desserts for having spent most of the session up til my lesson time tootling round the rink and chatting, so that when my coach asked what I had been practising that day so far I had to say'nothing'.
Mind the 'punishment' was rather fun. He made me do back swing rolls and crossovers (like a backwards novice foxtrot!) and outside edge work whilst holding my hands so I was going very fast backwards and after the last circuit instead of just stopping, swung me around and around with some fast turns.


Friday
went to group jumps and spins class. Did probably my best ever sit spin (not that it is very good - position OK but need to get lower) and was introduced to the layback - very hard. Also tried a change foot spin but since I can barely do a decent upright let alone a backspin this was tough!!
Best bit was nearly landing a Loop - so this jump IS possible - I was beginning to wonder. Problem was I could get a good postion and take-off and come close to full rotation when the coach was watching but as soon as she went to help the others my loop went with her and the darned thing never came back

for 14.03.03

grim
the dance partner could only skate for about half an hour, so we didn't accomplish very much. and in that half hour I still didn't feel "into my knees" so our unison and extension felt a bit off for most of that time. also just not being able to skate enough in general. I don't have a car...what would take 25 minutes by car, takes well over an hour on the bus, so I only get to skate twice a week right now.

glorious
the silver samba finally started making sense. never mind that I still have a few test levels to go before it actually matters, but it made me feel good when we skated it well. (and on the second try we threw timing out the window and somehow fit the steps to michael jackson's "billie jean"...)

Yeah, I'm kidding you. But I do think that is a very hard combo myself - could never quite get it when I was a kid and have only tried the single version (waltz-1/2-sal) as an adult. It's the holding of the 1/2 loop landing before the sal that gets me.

Oh well, at least you know it! I can't even remember the steps of mine - I think we are starting serious work on it, and on my Interpretive for the Streatham Open (which is first this year) on Wednesday. My coach has transferred the Free Dance music to a CD for me, so as I had the music in the rink the other day (forget when) I ran through it and was horrified to find I'd almost completely forgotten it. After all, I only did it last October!

If I don't do my exercises before my lesson, I have to do them during it, which is an awful waste of lesson time, so I tend to do them beforehand. And even then, I sometimes have to do them in the lesson.

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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!