Flying leaps/Crashing falls -August 22-28, 2005

[figure_skater]

since no one else started one for today (ahem!!!! its the 22ND!!!) i decided to... so...

flying leaps -learned another routine, sit spin was very low, camel spin was best ever, figured out what i was doing wrong and how to fix my lutz, dance-step sequence was faster/smoother, flip went flying practically halfway across the rink..., i could actually almost complete a sit-sit... it was an awesome practice day :D

crashing falls -coach told me my fs routine was slow... what does she expect for me trying to do 8 things for the next comp.... :roll: :lol: ,
my loop sadly is still lost... :cry: i hope i find it soon... my change-foot spin was off but o well..... so much for a day's practice...

[luna_skater]

Flying Leaps: Change foot spin is, well...changing and spinning! Did pretty well with the sit spin today, after not trying it for a few months. Coach thought waltz jumps looked aggressive, flips and lutzes were good. Loop is getting better; I'm slowly getting the hang of crossing my free foot over during the entry.

Crashing Falls: Despite the flying leaps above, I felt overall useless today. Spent all day on the ice yesterday for a synchro seminar, and my body is hurting today! I have tomorrow off to rest, and hopefully will be in better shape by Wednesday!

[jazzpants]

Flying leaps:

Starting to feel better. I managed to last thru the whole entire public session, skating pretty much the entire time... and NOT get too tired!!! WHEEEEE!!!!
I'm starting to manage a wimpy RBI3 now! Let's see if I could get the LBI3 by Wed. morning!!! :twisted:
Crashing Falls:

Still very congested... had a horrible time sleeping last night b/c of that and am going to bed early tonight to make sure I have enough now...
Monday nights are getting really crowded now! LOTS of kids!!! (School is back on again!) At least ONE isn't watching where she's going and her mom should know better to have her coach teach her little girl to WATCH where she's going!!! :evil: :frus:

[aussieskater]

Flying leaps - have just returned from the comp with a pretty bronze souvenir in my hot little hand...and had the absolute best time. Nearly all of us (18 in all) left spouses and kids behind and went for "a good time, not a long time" - which we managed in spades!!

Other flying leap - Dear Husband has said that he wants to try dance - with me...any hints from jazzpants or Mrs Redboots on how to manage this successfully while maintaining a good domestic relationship??

Crashing falls - none yet as we now have the week off before our season starts again and we start work on next year's program. Will report more in due course. We saw some very interesting manoeuvres (sp??), which we will try to incorporate - even my rather cloudy crystal ball can foresee some crashing falls about to happen here...

[jazzpants]

Other flying leap - Dear Husband has said that he wants to try dance - with me...any hints from jazzpants or Mrs Redboots on how to manage this successfully while maintaining a good domestic relationship??My DH does NOT skate with me! In fact, he makes it clear that skating is MY thing and not HIS thing! That's how we managed a SANE domestic relationship! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :P

[aussieskater]

posted by jazzpants - My DH does NOT skate with me! In fact, he makes it clear that skating is MY thing and not HIS thing! That's how we managed a SANE domestic relationship!

(Sorry forgot to quote before signing in...)

Sorry Jazzpants - I think I might have picked the wrong person by mistake. I know Mrs Redboots dances with her DH and I think there is someone else who posts here who also dances with her DH - I thought it was you but was wrong. Do you happen to know who it is, or am I completely off my tree??

[TwirlGirl10]

Flying leaps: My field moves test was good, Im testing them tommorow! (wish me luck!) :D
Crashing Falls: I couldn't do a double salchow to save my life today during my lesson but I landed one on sunday during open skate quite easily. Its just not fair! :frus:

[tidesong]

Flying leaps: Landed more double salchows. Landed a "double loop" but still a bit underrotated. Landed more Axel-Halfloop-flips, but the half loop I still dont have good control of...

Flying camel and flying sit spin was there after a few tries, but not what I was doing a few weeks back :(

Crashing Falls: double toe double toe double toe :(

[sceptique]

Flying Leaps:

All coaches but two were gone to Sheffield yesterday so I had the rink nearly completely to myself (only one other girl was there with her coach).

Today was the first day of a 3-day skating school. Despite being an only adult among the pre-teens, I quite enjoy it. I like the pace - they just do one thing straight after the other and you don't have time to think: "stop, I haven't done this before!" In half an hour I went through waltz - salchow - toe - loop - flip (well, the last two weren't quite jumps yet but at least I now know which leg goes where :D ), and then waltz / toe. Scary!

Crashing Falls:

Despite the fact that one of the coaches keeps telling me that my spins are improving, I still think they are my major weakness. Even when I get them centered, my tracing is about 10 inches in diameter at best, 8 temes out of 10 I don't seem to find that elusive "ball of the feet"; I keep falling forwards at the end of 3-turn or backwards in the middle of the 1st rev and I have to stop the spin to hold the balance. The "perfectest" spin is about 3-4 revs.......... I can go on and on.

And it's all about forward upright spin. My first sit spin today was about 1/2 revolutions..... more like a "weird leg swing with chaotic arm movements" 8O

Yesterday I practiced spining on my carpet untill my foot was burning. I think, I found a new enemy, after I conquered 3-turns and Mowhawks (the latter were a very nasty tribe! Still causing me trouble from time to time).

[Skate@Delaware]

Other flying leap - Dear Husband has said that he wants to try dance - with me...any hints from jazzpants or Mrs Redboots on how to manage this successfully while maintaining a good domestic relationship??
Maybe you mean me and mine? Ours is an on again/off again relationship! He gets soooo frustrated by his lack of progress (in his own mind-I think his progress is fine) and that he is just a bit behind me as far as skills go; he gives up completely. I get him going again by mentioning that "I'll get Mr. So-and-so to skate with me"....

At home, we have a nice relationship-we just don't talk about skating unless we are doing off-ice stuff or stretching and I try not to be too negative! I tell him that he is doing fine, he started later than I did and he is almost 56....
On ice, I do give him lots of attention and encouragement and take my time with him. Even daughter works with him on skating stuff...

Although, lately I scared him because I showed a video of a lift I wanted him to do-not an overhead lift-and he said "forget it!" But, he is still signed up for classes! We have Friday nights blocked as "ours" and we will be working on things before classes.

Just remember-keep skating and domestic life separate! Try not to let the two lives overlap and you will be fine!

Poor guy-yes, he still wants to do the Tango on Ice with me..... :giveup:

[Skate@Delaware]

Flying Leaps: Looks like I have a coach! Yay! Pre-Bronze, here I come! Feel like I'm moving up to the big-time! And, as you can read from my previous post (the novel above) hubby is FINALLY in my class! We are a cool bunch of advanced adults (we are really all over the place, but we have fun working on anything from edges to the lutz-no axels yet). Looked at my skating schedule and it looks as though I will get about 6-8 hours of skating a week (2 hours more than my doctor wants me to have but less than I had last year-oh well). Then I have the off-ice classes which are really great! My blood pressure is down!

Crashing Falls: Have to wait 2 more weeks for the rink to open :cry: but I'm ready! Boy, this has been a looooong summer! And, my sewing machine and serger are still in the shop! I haven't been able to get anything done....not that I've had anyone wanting anything made (yet-they always wait till the last minute)...
I'm hoping my spins return!!!

[AnnM]

Flying Leaps:
I actually made it to the rink earlier than usual, which is a major feat for me in the a.m. :) Back inside three turns are still good, so the breakthrough from a few weeks ago was not a fluke.

Crashing Falls:
We were working on Silver MITF when my coach noticed that my forward inside three turns are badly overrotated and underchecked, resulting in very uneven tracings on each lobe. We spent about twenty minutes working on just forward inside threes, but I still didn't make too much progress with correcting them despite the many arm/foot variations my coach had me try out in order to fix things. So it looks like I have a very bad habit that will apparently be a b*^%h to break. :frus:

[Mrs Redboots]

Back from the Scottish Adult Championships, where we did (for us) very well - 4th out of 5 in the Elementary compulsory dances and 3rd out of 4 in the Free dance (first ever non-default medal in dance, we were so pleased!). We were also pleased that we know why we lost marks on the compulsory dances, which is a great step forwards. Whether we can avoid making the same mistakes in the next competition is another question!

Ice was great, and our only grumble was that they changed the schedule at the last minute without telling us, and there was nothing posted when we arrived!

So back on the ice this morning, but we are going to relax this week, so the DH didn't come (he's skating tonight), and I really only did some edges and dance moves & a bit of circle cycle.

Flying Leap: Got a good length of back cross-cuts and thought I'd mastered them at last.

Crashing fall: Couldn't repeat it! Grrrr.....

[sunshinepointe]

Flying Leaps - Oh man, today was just a great skating day in general. My scratch spins were almost TOO fast - I kept stopping because I was getting scared. It's better than the alternative of NOT being able to spin so I'm breaking through that barrier. I've also got my sit spin back (mostly, see below) and I'm getting more revolutions and a lot of speed - best of all they're centered. My toe loop, waltz, salchow are all back to normal - somehow my toeloop seems even better. My flip is coming along smoothly - I'm still landing kind of heavy, but there were a bunch of good flips that landed quite smoothly with good exit flow. My friend was pretty impressed and says I've improved even from last week. Cool!

I also did 3 loop jumps today!!!!! They weren't my best, but they were off the ice and landed on one foot, which is all I'm shooting for at the moment.

Crashing Falls - Those 3 would be the only ones I would get. Like I posted in the "Confidence Game" thread, I got too greedy and lost it again. Grrrr. :frus:

I didn't seem to have any leg strength today. I couldn't push up into a camel spin to save my life, and as good as my sit spins were I couldn't get up from them. Ah well. I'm not too picky since I worked very hard for two hours today and I made a lot of progress.

I can't wait for my lesson on Thursday! Nothing but loops and backspins :twisted:

[Kit kat]

Flying leaps

my flips arent flat anymore!!
i got alot of more revolutions on my backspin
my waltz loops are good
learned waltz falling leaf toe loop combo
and landed a couple of lutz's


Crashing falls
my spins are horribe!! i keep on going on the toe AGAIN! i thought i fixed this problem!
my lutz's are flat still
just bad bad bad spins.


CONGRATS MRS REDBOOTS!

[Thin-Ice]

[QUOTE=Mrs Redboots]Back from the Scottish Adult Championships, where we did (for us) very well - 4th out of 5 in the Elementary compulsory dances and 3rd out of 4 in the Free dance (first ever non-default medal in dance, we were so pleased!). We were also pleased that we know why we lost marks on the compulsory dances, which is a great step forwards. Whether we can avoid making the same mistakes in the next competition is another question!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! It always feels wonderful to make a break-through like that. Here's to your continued success!

[jazzpants]

CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS REDBOOTS!!! YAAAAAAY!!! :mrgreen:

Crashing Falls: Secondary coach called. No lesson this morning! Zamboni is broken... It's getting fixed this morning!

Flying Leap: Jazzpants thanks secondary coach for calling her at home about it... and goes right back to bed to catch up on some well needed SLEEP!!! http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/kao/otn/pmoonsleep.gif

(Hey! I'm still sick with the flu!) :P

[flo]

Mrs. Redboots - Way to go!

[TwirlGirl10]

Flying Leaps- Passed my Preliminary Field Moves test today!!!!
Crashing Falls- Nothing! :D

[samba]

Back from the Scottish Adult Championships, where we did (for us) very well - 4th out of 5 in the Elementary compulsory dances and 3rd out of 4 in the Free dance (first ever non-default medal in dance, we were so pleased!). We were also pleased that we know why we lost marks on the compulsory dances, which is a great step forwards. Whether we can avoid making the same mistakes in the next competition is another question!

CONGRATULATIONS ANNABEL, WELL DONE!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Now the chain is broken, you have proved you can do it, keep up the good work I'm so proud of you.

This should inspire us all to never give up. Looking forward to seeing you at the British.

Cheers
Grace

[luna_skater]

Flying Leaps - Really gettin the hang of sit spins! Coach is very impressed with waltz jumps. Made some progress on the loop. Getting braver and going into the lutz with more speed. Change foot spin is still coming!

Crashing Falls - Camel spin has totally deserted me. *sigh*

[Tessa]

Yeah TwirlGirl and Mrs. RedBoots! Way to go!

Flying leaps: Well, I actually had my first real practice since June. Wow. I am OUT of shape. Skates newly sharpened! It's nice to hold an edge again.

Crashes: Just about everything. Need to work and work and work to get back; but at least I took the first step. Will skate at least 2 days a week for the next few weeks, then I'm hoping more ice opens up for the new season. I'm not even up to having a lesson right now -- maybe by next Wednesday.

More flying: skating is so fun, even if I bite the dust! And I did land some nice jumps, had some okay spins and even did a weak camel or four. My threes in the field have decided that they are still down the shore. I guess they rented for August and are enjoying Bar A down in Belmar. :D I mean, I took them there in July but I had no idea they'd stay! 8-step mohawk is back from the shore though, but a little hungover and slow but I discovered a smaller way to work on it and it's working for me for now. And those forward edge pulls -- well I think some of them are keeping the threes company at Bar A.

ETA: Someone is using a piece I considered using this year for a proggie! I was soooooo upset, esp. since my living room choreo is way better than hers! ;) Sigh. I am moving on to less popular music.

[aussieskater]

Whoever offered dance as a soft option was wrong, wrong, wrong. DH and I had our first full dance practice session today, and just doing forward swing rolls, making sure each roll was a full half circle, with shoulders properly aligned, arms locked, toes pointed and no toepicks to push off was hard.

Crashing falls - the first pass around the rink.

Assisted-with-a-winch flying leaps - the last pass. There was some significant improvement. There needed to be. And there needs to be a *lot* more.

Maybe by the end of the year, we'll be able to do a respectable Dutch Waltz? (Any dancers out there, how long does it take to get the basic dances passable? Since the coach quite properly won't let us do the interesting stuff until the basics are down....)

[samba]

Flying Leaps- Passed my Preliminary Field Moves test today!!!!
Crashing Falls- Nothing! :D

WELL DONE TWIRLGIRL THAT'S FANTASTIC!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

[Thin-Ice]

Flying Leaps- Passed my Preliminary Field Moves test today!!!!
Crashing Falls- Nothing! :D

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What new goal are you aiming for after your latest success?

[Mrs Redboots]

Flying Leaps- Passed my Preliminary Field Moves test today!!!!
Crashing Falls- Nothing! :DOh well done! Is that the UK test - if so, could you - or someone - please help me how to do those expletive-deleted back cross-cuts!!!!! I am so-o-o-o struggling. I thought I might do Prelim Field Moves instead of Level 3 Dance moves, but now I can see that I will get the back cross-rolls (inter-Bronze Field moves) long before I get the cross-cuts, so I'll stick with Level 3! Husband, who has passed level 3, can't remember how to do them, nor can another skater who also passed her level 3. I sometimes think I'm getting there.....

[Mrs Redboots]

Whoever offered dance as a soft option was wrong, wrong, wrong. DH and I had our first full dance practice session today, and just doing forward swing rolls, making sure each roll was a full half circle, with shoulders properly aligned, arms locked, toes pointed and no toepicks to push off was hard.Totally hard. Dance is very far from being a soft option - and if you think you spent hours doing that, wait until you start doing it in waltz hold for the Swing Dance! Make sure you practice your swing rolls in both Kilian and reverse Kilian holds (reverse Kilian is a bear), and chassés, and also progressive runs round the circle in both directions, both in Kilian and reverse Kilian (and it's harder than it sounds). And chassés, and if you get bored, try forwards cross-rolls!

Also, if you have time, try skating backwards in hold, which is surprisingly difficult - just plain vanilla back outside edges. You don't need it for the lower-level dances, but it's a useful skill - I don't know how soon you get into Variation, Original and Free dances in Australia, but here it's at once, along with the early dances.

It won't be long before you're allowed to step through the basic dances, and then you think "How hard can this be" - until you try doing it to music.....

It is, I am convinced, totally impossible to get through a dance, even the Novice Foxtrot, on decent edges, with decent extension and toe-point, correct posture, head up, smiling, in time with each other AND in time with the music! At least, I can't.....

[Skate@Delaware]

Totally hard. Dance is very far from being a soft option - and if you think you spent hours doing that, wait until you start doing it in waltz hold for the Swing Dance! Make sure you practice your swing rolls in both Kilian and reverse Kilian holds (reverse Kilian is a bear), and chassés, and also progressive runs round the circle in both directions, both in Kilian and reverse Kilian (and it's harder than it sounds). And chassés, and if you get bored, try forwards cross-rolls!

Also, if you have time, try skating backwards in hold, which is surprisingly difficult - just plain vanilla back outside edges. You don't need it for the lower-level dances, but it's a useful skill - I don't know how soon you get into Variation, Original and Free dances in Australia, but here it's at once, along with the early dances.

It won't be long before you're allowed to step through the basic dances, and then you think "How hard can this be" - until you try doing it to music.....

It is, I am convinced, totally impossible to get through a dance, even the Novice Foxtrot, on decent edges, with decent extension and toe-point, correct posture, head up, smiling, in time with each other AND in time with the music! At least, I can't.....
Oh, but they make it look sooooo easy!!!! I was an ice-dance drop-out last year (couldn't remember the last half of the canasta tango to save my life!), and my instructors made it look easier than it was! I'm waiting for hubby's skills to catch up and we will sign up (hey, I told him there's no jumping!). My instructor was always telling me "point your toes-point your toes-why can't you point your toes?" :oops:

[Scarlett]

Flying Leaps
I'm back. Had first lesson with new coach yesterday. It was awesome. We just worked on basic skills that I somehow how managed to cheat my way through. Who knew you were supposed to use your toepick to jump? :) Apparently I have been getting around through sheer will.
Scarily, I expressed an interest in testing pre-bronze. I don't know where that came from. I was actually shocked when I said it. Oh well. I guess I'm hear for the long haul.

Have a great week everybody.

Crashing Falls
As of now, none. I'll keep you posted. They will come.

[sceptique]

Flying Leaps:

Had a couple of nice centered spins - still not fast, still not too many revs but the tracing was textbook good - a few tight circles about my fist size at the end of a small curve with another curve leading out. I think I'm starting to get the technique :idea:

Crashing Falls:

I think I'm overrotating on Salchow take-off because I chicken out. I wait till I almost kill the speed and then do a really shy jump. The effect is quite comical - I do nice strong backward crossovers, step into a good bent edge, do a nice 3-turn and then instead of taking off keep holding the edge until I almost swing aroung on ice and then do a little hop. :D Total disaster. Will be trying to fix it on Saturday.

[sunshinepointe]

Crashing Falls Ugh, my lesson was cancelled today because of the impending hurricane. Stupid hurricane!!!!!

Flying Leaps Ah well, it'll give me some time away from the loop and it will give me a chance to practice it off the ice - it's not even good off the ice anymore so I know I need to start there.

[flying~camel]

Flying leaps: Spins were good yesterday, as were axel attempts. I think Kathy Casey's "loaf of bread" technique is really helping! ;)

I also managed to get part of the novice backward double bracket pattern down, which I hope will help me develop more difficult footwork sequences.

Crashing falls: No lesson this week because my coach is on vacation and no ice for the next 2 weeks because the rink is closed for maintenance (and, boy, does it need it!).

[Mrs Redboots]

Flying leaps: Dance club tonight - nearly as many men as women. Why do all the men do the Festival Quickstep solo? Weird....

Danced as much as I wanted, and even had a go at the Foxtrot and 14-step, but it's kinder to draw a veil over that! Not a success!

Crashing Falls: Nothing, really....

[AnnM]

Flying leaps: Spins were good yesterday, as were axel attempts. I think Kathy Casey's "loaf of bread" technique is really helping! ;)

What is the "loaf of bread" technique? And is it used for axels or spins?

[Terri C]

This is for my week:

Flying leaps:
My backscratch and my straightline footwork sequence are back thanks to a blade sharpening. I also had centered scratch spins all week and jumps overall were fairly good.
Coach was pleased with the connecting steps I put in my Interpretive program- slide chasses to mohawk to power threes.


Crashing falls:
My sitspin has hidden itself from any practice or program runthrough whatsoever. May take it out of the program for Peach and do a attitiude spin instead.
Still no lesson with secondary coach- thought I was going to get one today,when another skater was late, but then the skater showed up.

Neither, but a funny story nonetheless:
We had two sisters that skate at UD this week here on vacation and they skated a couple of morning sessions with us. Yesterday, when the oldest, a Junior level skater wanted to play her program, I offered to push play on the CD , saying that I'd be doing my program next. Well, she took position and when the music started, I wanted to die. She has the same music for her long program that I have for my Pre- Bronze free! 8O
Yes, I still did my program afterward, and told her, "Great minds think alike! :lol:

[TiggerNSkating]

Hi!

I'm pretty new to the forums and I have enjoyed reading a lot of the posts. I am starting to skate again to help get strength back after a non-skating related injury. I skated when I was younger and I still love it. I'll be starting lessons in a couple of weeks! Just no jumping yet until I get stronger...

Flying leaps: I got my new Jackson Elites this last Friday and they are so great! The rocker on my Phantom blades got fixed too when I took them to be mounted and sharpened (I bought them used with some SP Teris, and the rocker was too curved). My edges are better and some of my 3s have been found again! I started to learn one foot spins on Wednesday, so far 3-5 revolutions, not too bad for the first day...

Crashing falls: CW back crossovers, myself does not want to balance right that way... :roll: Oh well... more to practice!

[mikawendy]

Flying leaps--
Had the ice completely to myself today! And it's been fixed, so it no longer has speed bumps at both ends. I put on music that I'm going to be using for a program and just improvised a bit (nothing's choreographed yet).

Crashing falls--
Wished I'd had more music with me, just to put on as background music.

Have to go car shopping this weekend, ecchhh.

[slusher]

Dance is the hardest easy thing to do. I've tested and passed the Dutch Waltz, after about three lessons and got goods and excellents, but really, a year and a half later, I wish I could test it again because it would be so much more better! In other words, I learned dance quickly enough to make it look passable, but only now is it competition ready. That's two different things.

A lot of dance is about getting power from the edge. There are a multitude of basic boring stroking exercises to do, and if you stick with them, they do help. I did skills for a long while, having had a hissy fit over dance and swore I would never dance again, but when someone put music on the other day, I did the Willow Waltz, remembered all the steps and had a 10,000% improved RFO 3 turn in it. It was okay before, but just working on boring 3 turnsthrough the summer improved one step in that dance. that was my flying leap for the day So since that was fixed, I spent 20 minutes doing progressives around the circles, yup, those two silly little forward strokes before the mohawk and down again I go through the rabbit hole.

So, dance can drive you crazy,but I'll tell you one thing. Doing dance makes you a better skater. Stick with it.

Oh the other thing? The man is always the problem.

crashing falls Spins. I've forgotten how. Someone else's arms seemed to have gotten attached to my body, strange alien things.

[aussieskater]

Make sure you practice your swing rolls in both Kilian and reverse Kilian holds (reverse Kilian is a bear), and chassés, and also progressive runs round the circle in both directions, both in Kilian and reverse Kilian (and it's harder than it sounds). And chassés, and if you get bored, try forwards cross-rolls!

Also, if you have time, try skating backwards in hold, which is surprisingly difficult - just plain vanilla back outside edges.Well, at our rate that's the next three years of ice time taken care of...now, about that synchro program for next season...

[jazzpants]

Crashing falls:
The kids aren't back at school yet!!! :frus: (Just one more week!!!) No moves lesson yet... GRRRR!!!

Flying leap:
Not a total waste though... we worked on 3 turns today! And I surprised my coach with... a wimpy (and inconsistent) but technically a BI3's!!! He's quite surprised that I'm working on these. I told him evil secondary coach made me work on them b/c of an exercise she wants me to do which involves BI3's...and I had to be honest to her and tell her that I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO BI3's!!! :twisted: (Hopefully by the time I see her again... that statement won't be true!!!) :mrgreen: He was also surprised to see my FI3's ... OMG 8O ....STABLE!!! (I don't dare tell him that was NOT the case two months ago!!! :twisted: )

Also (and I know Thin-Ice would want to read this), my weekend rink dodged another bullet (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/23/BAGDKEBP9L1.DTL&hw=Berkeley+Iceland&sn=001&sc=1000) from the City! WHEW!!! :D

[Thin-Ice]

[u][b]
Also (and I know Thin-Ice would want to read this), my weekend rink dodged another bullet (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/23/BAGDKEBP9L1.DTL&hw=Berkeley+Iceland&sn=001&sc=1000) from the City! WHEW!!! :D

Yes, and what a relief THAT is! Now we have until 9/23 for the rink to put in a new temporary refrigeration system that uses less ammonia than the current system. And once that is signed-off, the rink has until mid-April to find a permanent refrigeration system the city approves of. (For those who just LOVE bureaucracy, here's the background: The city just discovered the 65-year-old rink uses ammonia in its refrigeration system.. and horror of horrors, THAT presents a "potential hazard to life and property to the surrounding community" -- which has built up around the rink in the last 25 years! Currently Freon is the only alternative, and since Freon will not be usable/legal after 2006 -- unless laws change-- a lot of other rinks are switching BACK to ammonia. But the city keeps saying it's committed to providing recreational facilities for the community... it just doesn't say it's committed to keeping this historic skating rink open. GRRRRRR!!!!!!) Sorry, this is a really sore topic for me. Jazzpants' weekend rink is my secondary rink, the closest one to where I live (still 30 miles away) and where I work with my moves coach. It's where I practice.. but not where I work with my primary coach.

[Mrs Redboots]

For Jazzpants & Thin-Ice: When our rink was threatened with closure, they formed an action group (http://www.sisag.org.uk/), representing all the interested parties - figure skaters, dancers, hockey players.... and okay, we aren't out of the wood quite yet, but it is 90% certain a new rink will be up and running next door before the old rink is closed, and there will be continuity of skating.

Wonderful day today!

Flying leaps: In our Compulsory dances, I made the same mistake in the Golden Skaters' Waltz that I made in Scotland. Which sounds as though it ought to be a crashing fall, but it isn't, because I now know exactly what we did wrong, and can concentrate on not doing it next time! Husband said "Yes, I thought I noticed you doing that before.....".

In our free dance, we actually managed to bring our free legs in front during the spin. We hadn't actually tried before, I was too chicken, but this time I tried, succeeded, and told Husband to do it, too. He hadn't actually realised one was meant to, so it will take a bit of remembering, but if we remember, it should improve our spin no end, and also make it look more "Scottish Dance-y". Also, I managed to get lower than ever before in the "dip", although I still think that bit of the dance is weak - I did quite good work on it solo after Husband had gone, though.

Also did a run-through of the Canasta Tango solo to music, and was pleased with myself. I think I see how to improve the pattern, too, which is good.

Crashing falls: It was co-o-o-ld this morning! And I am still having problems staying off my toe-rake when going backwards and, especially, when stepping from backwards to forwards. And the ice was horrid - although it was fairly clean when we started, it was a bit corrugated, and horrendously hard.

[NickiT]

Crashing Falls....all the way

So I've been away for two weeks and been off the ice for three (well two weeks and six days to be precise), and I now cannot skate to save my life. I had my first lesson on Wednesday and second today and I daresay Wednesday was bad but today was even worse. I have totally lost confidence on all my jumps. It took my coach and I about ten attempts to land my lutz-loop, and even my easier loop-loop felt awkward though I did land it. I managed to get through my programme but without the loop on the end of the lutz and with a very dodgy lutz landing. My coach says it's all in the head, and I'm sure she's right, but that doesn't help me. I'm meant to be competing in the middle of September but if I can't get things together, I may well withdraw. Has anyone else gone away and lost it when they got back from a holiday? It's strange because normally I skate better after a break. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Nick

[phoenix]

Flying Leap: Heh, well, I begged my coach go give me something new to work on, as I've been doing the same set of exercises all summer & I'm getting bored! He gave me a look of pure evil and said, "are you sure?" I sqeaked out a "yes".

He proceeded to give me 2 new step exercises that involve Insane Turns I've Never Done Before, followed by fast multiple 3 turns, followed by more insane turns......well, I did ask for it! (example: starting on FI edge, 4 consecutive rockers, step down onto other foot, 1 back crossover into back inside triple 3 turn, cross over front to left FI edge, repeat. Yah.) The other one has counters out of swing rolls into BI 3's........

But the flying part is I can actually do them! Not well, but cleanly, so I do have something new to work on, which when I get up some speed on them, will look very cool.

Crashing Falls: Dog broke my little pinky finger last night in agility class--decided he needed to go play w/ another dog & bolted out of the blue, ripping the leash out of my hand, & snapping the little bone at the very tip of the finger. Didn't go to the doctor because I can splint it myself (it's broken like this once before) and it will eventualy heal, but it hurts like he** and I have a partner tryout tomorrow!! So it will be something like, "hi, can't wait to skate with you, but please don't touch this hand!" :frus:

[phoenix]

Also, Nicki, I've found that while a week off sometimes can improve skating by "resetting" everything, a break longer than that will make you lose some ground & it will probably take a few days to a week to put it all back together again. But it will come back.

[Raye]

Phoenix - you got that right!!! There were two and a half weeks when there was no ice available anywhere within three hours drive this summer. More than a week off is a DISASTER! We just got the ice back last weekend. (ps hope your hand gets better fast!)

Flying leaps: I have been able to skate every afternoon for an hour and a half this week. The most people on the session was five on Wednesday, The rest of the week there were two or three of us. I even had the rink to myself for 35 minutes this afternoon. :D

Crashing falls: The flip and the loop - literally :giveup: :giveup: :giveup:
I have decided to take the pressure off myself by taking these two jumps out of my program for Peach and begin working on them again when I get home. :frus:

Jazzpants - have a great show tomorrow :bow: :bow: :bow:

[Thin-Ice]

For Jazzpants & Thin-Ice: When our rink was threatened with closure, they formed an action group (http://www.sisag.org.uk/), representing all the interested parties - figure skaters, dancers, hockey players.... and okay, we aren't out of the wood quite yet, but it is 90% certain a new rink will be up and running next door before the old rink is closed, and there will be continuity of skating.

Thanks for the encouragement -- but I really don't think the city of Berkeley cares about a few hockey players/speedskaters/figure skaters, etc. City officials there pride themselves on being SOOOO politically correct. And on the bright side, we can't really complain... we do have a dozen ice rinks in the San Francisco Bay area... so it's not like we will go without ice. We are VERY fortunate that way. We may have to drive a bit farther to get there. The saddest part about them thinking about closing that rink down is it is so historic, big, old but well kept, and the people who skate there are for the most part VERY nice. But as I said, no matter what happens, we will still have plenty of ice in the Bay Area. And if they shut it down, I shall take the politically correct action -- and BOYCOTT the entire city of Berkeley (although they do have a few wonderful fabric stores that I would miss).

[Skate@Delaware]

Thanks for the encouragement -- but I really don't think the city of Berkeley cares about a few hockey players/speedskaters/figure skaters, etc. City officials there pride themselves on being SOOOO politically correct. And on the bright side, we can't really complain... we do have a dozen ice rinks in the San Francisco Bay area... so it's not like we will go without ice. We are VERY fortunate that way. We may have to drive a bit farther to get there. The saddest part about them thinking about closing that rink down is it is so historic, big, old but well kept, and the people who skate there are for the most part VERY nice. But as I said, no matter what happens, we will still have plenty of ice in the Bay Area. And if they shut it down, I shall take the politically correct action -- and BOYCOTT the entire city of Berkeley (although they do have a few wonderful fabric stores that I would miss).
Where I live, there was no ice rink unless you wanted to drive 2 hours north or 2.5 hours west, so skating was never an option (except for pond skating in winter which I did 5-6 times as a kid; but it never gets cold enough anymore). When I moved back here a few years ago, imagine my surprise when they put one in-down on the farm (ok, on the fairgrounds but we are in the sticks). Unfortunately, it closes for the summer, so you either do without from April to September, or you drive.

When hubby retires, I'm hoping for a move to where there are at least 3 rinks within a 10 minute drive of each other, at least 2 must be figure skating friendly-not just hockey rinks (I try to tell him there is a big difference). And, it must be in a warm climate; no further north than where I am now (I can't take the cold!)

And, it must have several malls, and several fabric super stores!!!! I'm tired of shopping for fabric via mail-order-I gotta touch the stuff!

[sceptique]

Flying Leaps:

Spins are improving! They even feel different. Now it's more "step -> pause -> swoosh!" than "step -> turn -> crap!" :D

Worked on salchow entry and got a few nice tries with a "textbook" trace: long straight edge with a sharp bend at the end.

Crashing Falls:

Even falls were good today. I had a couple quite bad ones and both times landed on my back really softly, almost slid along the ice without hurting anything. If only all falls could be like that I would be much more adventurous on ice!!

[sunshinepointe]

Flying Leaps

1. My loop is coming back! I still need to work on it more, but I figured out what I was doing wrong and now it's just a matter of getting the height back along with better arms and flow out of the jump. Man, was that ever a struggle. The best part was that we didn't spend too much time working on it today either!

2. My coach is impressed with my basic sit spins so he's having me move onto variations, including tucking the head down between the arms. I haven't figured out how NOT to get dizzy on that spin and come up from it, but it sure does feel cool.

3. My flips were AMAZING today. Actually, ALL of my jumps were HUGE. I literally felt like I was flying through the air on some of them. My coach was amazed with the height I got, and people around me were gawking. That tells me something! I gotta get out that video camera to see what the fuss is all about, but I can feel that they're good. I smell doubles in another year or so.

4. I had a good group lesson today too. We had a sub coach because our regular one was "trapped" in his house by a downed tree from the hurricane. The sub coach gave me no corrections and complimented my speed and good line.

5. I've been trying to drop some weight, and I stepped on the scale this morning and I've lost 8 pounds. My coach noticed today too because he said I looked really really good. Sweet! Only 20 more to go!

Crashing Falls

1. The one time I actually fell was on the FIRST thing I did in my group lesson. The coach had us take ONE push and do a one foot glide from one side of the rink to the other. The good news is that I was the ONLY person in the class that could do it (assisted by a breaststroke swimming motion lol) but on my first attempt I took TOO hard of a push and went down. Ah well, it's good to get the first fall out of the way early. :oops:

2. I'm still having problems with the backspin. I decided to leave it alone until my coach can help me with it so I don't ingrain any bad habits. Maybe next week if his wife doesn't go into labor.

3. My camels just aren't right. I'm not dropping my chest low enough (stoopid ballet background) and my knees are bent. I had it consistently at 3-4 revolutions but somehow I've regressed back to 1 rev with good position, then 1 or 2 revs with really poor body position. Meh.

4. I went to do a toe loop and slipped off of the toe pick. Didn't fall, but it sure was funny. The next toe loop was one of my best :twisted:

5. I'm pitching forwards on my loop landings and not getting good arm position, but I'm pleased to just be jumping!

That's it from me for today. I'm sitting here using my foot spa then it's off to the showers. Woohoo!

[dbny]

Currently Freon is the only alternative, and since Freon will not be usable/legal after 2006 -- unless laws change-- a lot of other rinks are switching BACK to ammonia.

There are legal and efficient alternatives to freon (aka R-12), and if I could find my notes from the ISI Ice Arena Operations course I took two years ago, I could tell you what they are. Suffice it to say, that rinks built these days use safe and legal refrigerants. I haven't heard of any rinks switching to ammonia, although it does have some advantages. The very fact that it is noxious is an advantage, because it makes it very clear when there is a leak :lol:.

How Things Work has a pretty good write up on how ice rinks work (http://people.howstuffworks.com/ice-rink1.htm).

[cutiesk8r43]

Flying Leaps:
had a competition yesterday I skated a clean skate, landed the axel and got 6th place out of 10 people! :)
~cutie ;)

[mikawendy]

cutiesk8r43-- congrats! It sounds like you had a great skate!

Flying leaps--started working on my program today! So much fun!!!!! Also did a great sit spin when coach was watching. Thank goodness that "the coach effect" didn't show up for that one. :D

Crashing falls--literally me on the last move I did in the session today--waltz toe--I landed from the waltz and must have picked in strangely on the toe, because my blade slipped and I went down, mostly on my left arm. Luckily nothing's broken and I'm not that sore (yet, lol!)

Also, the choctaw in one part of my program and the swing-mohawk after I'm tearing around the ice at high speed (well high for me), is freaking me out. I need to go experiment with it tomorrow and just get over myself! :) We haven't even gotten to the really fast bit in my music where there's sure to be even harder footwork!

[Melzorina]

Flying Leaps: I started my programme! It's soooo cool, I love the music I chose for it. I'm totally excited about working on it some more next week! And also an advantage, I can put my music on a mindisc myself, instead of waiting for my coach to do it. :) I also learnt some new footwork, where you do a 3jump into backwards crossovers, then go onto your toepicks and turn around, and back into a crossover position.

Crashing Falls: Exactly. I fell over whilst learning some new footwork during my lesson and winded myself. :)

[Thin-Ice]

There are legal and efficient alternatives to freon (aka R-12), and if I could find my notes from the ISI Ice Arena Operations course I took two years ago, I could tell you what they are. Suffice it to say, that rinks built these days use safe and legal refrigerants. I haven't heard of any rinks switching to ammonia, although it does have some advantages. The very fact that it is noxious is an advantage, because it makes it very clear when there is a leak :lol:.

How Things Work has a pretty good write up on how ice rinks work (http://people.howstuffworks.com/ice-rink1.htm).

Thanks for the info.. I'll pass it along to our rink manager... although I'm sure he knows most of it, since he goes to all the ISI and other rink management seminars. I should have been clearer, from what I understand under California law there is no alternative to freon except ammonia. At least one of our other local rinks has already made the switch from freon back to ammonia for just the reason you state... the smell if there is a leak. Thanks for the info!