Touchdown or Fumble - September 12th-18th

[sunshinepointe]

Okay, it's tuesday so I figured I'd start a new thread...and in the spirit of football...

Touchdown! I had a pretty good practice today! Despite being slightly sore from working out yesterday I landed all of my jumps at least once textbook - even the lutz. I had no problems with waltz, toe loop, salchow, loop, flip and I landed a few clean lutzes. Sweet! Spins were okay too - not as fast as they usually are, still a LITTLE travelly - sit spin was fine, camel spin was...well...my camel spin or lack thereof. Are you sure I can't do a camel spin with a bent leg? I also started working on a beillman, but I have a few questions about that.

Fumble! I fell hard on one flip though - my butt is very owie right now. My blades need to be sharpened desperately but my coach and his wife just had their baby so I decided to wait until they get settled before I make any skating requests. Sure did hurt slipping off that edge on the flip entrance though...

[mikawendy]

Touchdown--My toe loops are STILL cooperating, both solo and in combo, after MANY months of struggling to do the takeoff correctly!!

My program and Bronze moves have been improving my stamina, I think. I went running the other day, and I felt great, the least winded I've been in a long time.

Fumble--Flip is all wonky. That and loop loop and waltz loop. I'm having loads of trouble keeping my weight over my landing side, even though I'm doing this okay in the loop alone. Not surprisingly, my backspin has been ever so bad lately.

FI-BO choctaws are awful :evil:

[blisspix]

Touchdown! I attempted an axel for the first time in 4 years... cheated and icky but I did it! woooooo! Did a couple more just to be sure ;)

On tuesday I started working on the double loop again, got to about 1 1/2 which I was happy with.

Fumble! What is up with my spins? sheeeeeeshhh. Sit spin is the only one I can get on the right part of the blade for. And I still cant remember how to do a toe loop properly, or perhaps that's because I never did many of them in the first place!

[flo]

Fumble: Couldn't get together with partner last night for interp lesson/practice.

Touchdown: Took the lesson time for myself. The jumps were going well so we played on the harness. Did a triple salchow. Prep for the festival is going well.

[LoopLoop]

Touchdown: Finally getting back into a regular skating/lesson schedule. Made progress in re-working my flip technique.

Fumble: My secondary coach is crazy. We worked on spins this morning and I have two new things to work on. One is changing edge in a forward sit spin 8O . The second is a really weird variation of a flying back sit.

[Mrs Redboots]

Touchdown: Finally made it to the ice this morning - was supposed to skate last night (husband was On Duty at Figure Club) but developed a splitting headache during the afternoon & had to retire to bed. We worked on the new transition in our free dance, which still looks tentative, I'm afraid, and needs work. Then we had a ten-minute lesson, because we had been cut short on Sunday; ran through the dance to the music, and then ran through the Riverside Rhumba not to the music. Coach finally got the point about our not being totally together, free legs not quite matching, that sort of thing!

Husband then had to go to work, and I had my solo lesson; we worked on edges & extension a bit, then on the Level 3 Dance moves (I can get one length of half-decent cross-cuts now, no more - and I need a whole lap of very good ones, sigh!), and ended up playing with the Foxtrot for a few minutes.

Fumble: Husband forgot to give me the patch fee (ice time money) which we normally pay on Wednesdays, but luckily Coach is very understanding when that happens! Coach has decided that my closed chassés need attention, so I have that to look forward to, if he remembers. Must also work on Foxtrot Mohawk. Tried to work on Hickory Hoedown with Coach, but he couldn't remember the steps, and I'm none too sure of the man's steps in the end pattern.

[skatergirlva]

Loops-I can't wait to see the spins. Are you skating tonight? I'll be teaching and then skating.

Touch Down
Like Loops, I'm finally getting back into a normal pattern with skating, running, and the gym. I skated Monday night and Loops helped me "make-up" a program. It was the program that I barely learned last year before I found out I was pregnant. :) Thanks again Loops! Axels were 50/50 and jumps were pretty good overall.

Fumble
My layback, which was working really well a few weeks ago, seems to have gone on vacation. So is life. :)

[LoopLoop]

Skatergirl, Nick fixed my layback again this morning. Have him look at yours, I'm sure he'll figure it out.

I'm not skating tonight, I'll be home with my poor kitty who's having surgery today. :cry:

[flo]

loops - all the best to your kitty.

[LoopLoop]

loops - all the best to your kitty.
Thanks, flo.

[skatergirlva]

Loops-I hope Laslow is feeling better. Give him a kiss for me.

I'll have Nick look at my layback tomorrow and I will attempt to show him my program.

[2loop2loop]

Touchdown! Why is it that so often in skating you struggle and struggle with something when the answer to your problems is staring you in the face. As an example, the other day I was splatting on all my 2flip attempts. I was trying everything, checking the three, reaching for the pick...splat splat splat. I suddenly had the thought that a flip is pretty much like a salchow and my 2 sal is completely consistent so why not think about a 2sal as I am going into a 2flip. I do that and boom, I land a great 2flip, and another, and another...:) :) :)

Unlike my other jumps, on the 2flip I have never had any concept when in mid-air of whether it is going to work or not even though it has been really consistent at times. It doesn't feel wrong until I am on my butt on the ice, this has meant trying to pin down the cause of the falls has been problematic. Now I finally realise that for my 2flip to work the three has to feel just like the three approaching a 2sal (even if I haven't been aware of it in the past). Why have I never thought of that before :frus:


Fumble! Having been the only skater in my class at the British Adults for the past three years I decide against entering this year (a long story) and isn't it just typical that this time there is someone else in my class that I could have skated against!

I mentioned in another thread that I have psychological issues with the 2toe. I can do it, quite easily in fact, but can't convince myself of the fact. I either pop it or do the double and my brain goes into overdrive, convinced I am going to fall, so I prepare to fall which makes me fall :evil: Anyway, a couple of days ago one of the younger skaters came up to me and said "hey your jumps are looking good today, can you show me a double toe" (she had just started working on it). I totally wimped out with some lame mumbled excuse about not liking double toes much, then about 10 minutes later I got a grip of myself and thought "what can be so hard about this stupid jump, just do it". So I tried a few, fell a few times, upon which said girl comes over and says "oh yeah, I can see why you don't like it". Uhhh, thanks! So after that I'm feeling really pumped up and I go around again and nail one, look up to see that the damn kid wasn't even watching. :evil:

John

[sk8pics]

Touchdown First lesson with my spin coach since my boots came back, and it went well! Debbie, I don't know how, but I did 4 more really good spins today for him. He was appropriately shocked and happy, LOL! :roll: (I mean, the happy is good but it's not so good if your coach is shocked when you do something well!) We did some other things too and my boots are starting to feel pretty normal again. This is just in time for getting new blades, so we'll see what happens on Friday.

No Fumbles today, it's all good!

Happy skating,

and Loops, I hope your cat is okay.

Pat

[luna_skater]

Fumble: First freeskate practice in two weeks....lots of stuff sucked! I did manage to land one of each single, and squeaked out a couple of combos. But nothing has the height or flow that it did before I went on vacation. :(

Touchdown: Spins! Pleasantly surprised that my forward spin has stayed consistent, and even improved today. I can get it centered probably 8 times out of 10. Also managed a few good change-foot spins...was worried about losing those, but they are at about the same place I left them.

Amusing anecdote of the day....Today was the first session I've skated at the University of Calgary. The two ice surfaces are in the middle of the speed skating oval (Olympic Oval). During the figure skating session, there is also public skating on the oval. Today there was a HUGE group of Japanese exchange students skating, many for the first time. Many of them couldn't figure out how to lace up their rental speed skates, so I ended up giving a bunch of them a lesson in skate lacing :lol:....the whole time thinking, "These guys are going to kill themselves." I can't imagine my first time on skates being in speed skates!

[Terri C]

Fumble:
Could not for whatever reason, step on the RFO edge from back crossovers on the power three turn pattern. Will get it back!
Secondary coach had me do the freeskate program even though Peach is over and I will not be competing again until February. Blew the sitspin and had the 40 something senile moment on footwork! Was asked to do it again with the comment "don't f___ this one up!" :lol:
Cannot keep free leg back on camel!


Touchdown:
Before lesson with secondary coach, did a nice fast, centered sit. Primary coach happened to catch it and was oohing and ahhing over the centering of the spin!
While working on camel, did something that could, somewhere down the road be a spin combo- camel to attitude, to backscratch.

Overall, a fairly good day on the ice!
Loops, Muffin and I send our wishes for a speedy recovery to your cat.

[jazzpants]

Fumble:

Secondary coach is sick with another rash of flu that's making its way thru the rink... and I didn't bother to look at my message again before leaving for the rink... GRRRR!!! :evil:

Touchdown:

Had a relatively decent moves runthru... was half asleep doing them though, so I wasn't as fast as I could be. (I was in the "Let's get this over and done with so I could get on with my life!" mood this morning.) They are decent enough, thankfully.

(Sending healing vibes over to Loops' cat...)

[Skate@Delaware]

Fumble: New coach might be asking me to put HC on back-burner for now; her recommendation is some ISI comps to warm up on and step up to HC next year as Pre-Bronze with a strong arsenal of tricks. Especially since we don't have much time for a decent routine. I'm not too torqued about it. However, she will listen to my music and see how it is.

Also, when I demoed my spins-they were the absolutely worst I've ever done (all I could think of was Stewart on MadTV "hey watch what I can do".....AGH! (and I was nervous so of course I babbled and had a hard time shutting up....) So we are breaking down my spin and working on it piece-by-piece. I had it before the rink closed before summer, then lost it over the summer at the "host" rink and it's barely made a re-appearance. I'm to work on the long glide before turning the 3.....a really long glide......almost a full circle long...... :frus:

Touchdown: New coach!!! Had me run through most everything (thankfully excepting 3-turns) and for the most part the biggest thing: POINT YOUR TOE! She did complement me on my speed!!! It takes me 3-4 crossovers to go around the hockey circle. I have 2 pages in my journal of things to work on today on everything from stroking, crossovers, spirals, waltz jump and even my scratch spin..... She had me to my waltz then she had me do it from a faster speed! Several times! Wow! Never did that before....told her I was always afraid I'd splat a little kid... Then we did salchow (my nemesis jump) walk-throughs-but we won't jump it yet until she feels I'm ready. Oh, and she gave me stuff to help get rid of the scratchy on my back crossovers!

I'm really psyched! I like her-she's quiet (where I'm loud) and she explains things so I can understand them. Friday I have my group lesson and can't wait for that either! I think this will really be a good year for me and my skills.

[luna_skater]

Touchdown: Started axel prep (waltz jump straight into backspin on the landing). I think I looked terrified at first, but I'm getting the hang of it! Worked on pushing up and extending through the hip on take-offs...made a big difference in heigh on the waltz and salchow. Change-foot spin improving. Landed a flip-loop-loop.

Fumble: Flip deserted me today. I thought I was past this stage, but I guess not! Got frustrated and kept at it longer than I probably should have. Finally had a really awkward fall and gave up on it for the day. Didn't bother working on the lutz; if the flip goes, the lutz is impossible. Will give it a fresh go on Monday.

[sunshinepointe]

Touchdown!

Good good good skating day today - I warmed up with a bunch of moves patterns someone pointed me to on the internet. I can see where some things need work, but I have some fairly advanced moves under my belt like back power 3's - wheeeee they're fun.

I did a cool sit spin with an arm variation that was perfectly centered and everyone told me looked great. I couldn't duplicate it as exact, but it felt cool.

My lesson tonight was productive - we ran through all my jumps...my loop is still...well not 100% but it's still pretty good. I think I just over analyze it at times. My flip was awesome except I kept checking out late so I'd end up in a weird backspin thing. My coach then had me do lutzes and informed me that I was getting close to the axel and said I should think about investing in crash pads soon for when we work on it. 8O Way to freak me out coach....but I'm still very excited. He just wants me to get my loop a little more under control and my lutz to be a tad smoother on the landing.

Bonus - I did a GREAT flip right in front of my group coach who had no idea what level I was jumping at since we only work on moves in class and he looked thoroughly impressed. I just winked at him.

Fumble!
I was playing around with biellmanns again today and he told me the correct position I had to be in and then made me try it for him. :oops: It wasn't that great but he said we're definitely going to add that to the list of stuff to work on.

He started me on backspins tonight too and I just don't get it. My right arm always ends up WAY behind me and I'm leaning too far back. I suppose its just a matter of practice but it's extremely awkward. At this point I hate it more than the camel spin. At least I understand the camel spin, I just can't DO it. It's strange though because I used to be able to do a good 3-4 rev camel, now I'm stuck at 1, maybe 2 revs but from what I hear my body position is better. I can't win with these stupid spins. Can't I just jump? And do moves?

I also did a couple of not-so-good laybacks. I was only fooling around, but then I did one and it MUST have been close to being right because it scared the crap out of me. A girl there told me that when a layback is RIGHT it's not scary because the force keeps you up, but when you're not QUITE there it's scary. I have visions of falling backwards on my head. But I've always dreamed of having a beautiful layback, so I'm determined to keep working on it.

[jazzpants]

Touchdown:
Went thru a runthrough for my test with my primary coach, as well as started a "warmup program" for the 5 minutes I get for warmup. He wants to make sure this time that my warmup is well spent and organized. The runthru went well enough, though when I went thru each move individually (i.e. I had a chance to catch my breath...) that I did much better on the moves...

He says that he thinks with the change in the USFSA requirements and the improvements this year that I have a good chance of passing this time around. (I hope so...) Two weeks and one day to go (assuming my test forms are getting processed now...) :twisted:

Fumble:
Oh, dear! I'm really in bad shape cardio-wise. :oops: I'm breathing hard and my legs were wobbly by the fourth move... Maybe I need to consider taking a LOT of water (or better oxygen tank) breaks between moves during the test... :twisted: :P

[Thin-Ice]

Touchdown:
Went thru a runthrough for my test with my primary coach, as well as started a "warmup program" for the 5 minutes I get for warmup. He wants to make sure this time that my warmup is well spent and organized. The runthru went well enough, though when I went thru each move individually (i.e. I had a chance to catch my breath...) that I did much better on the moves...

Hey Jazzpants...

You are certainly entitled to take a few moments (ok, 10 seconds or so to go to the boards, get a drink of water, use a kleenex, etc.) between moves.. and I know from standing on the other side of the boards, the judges would APPRECIATE having enough time to write down comments. Usually skaters are so anxious to just get through the test, they almost connect the moves together, leaving the judges very little time to jot down notes. You can also go stand in your starting spot for the next move, take a couple of breaths and look at the judge-in-charge and wait for him/her to say 'go ahead' or nod or wave at you before you start. Your test chair may not be thrilled with the idea, but you paid for the time so you can show the best you can do on your test... it's not a race to see who can finish a test the fastest!

[sk8pics]

Touchdown Last practice and lessons before getting my new blades today. Actually I skated pretty well! My moves lesson was good and then my lesson with my primary coach was good. We ran through all my jumps and things were as good as or better than they were before I got the new tongues on my skates. I even did a run through of my free program, the first time in probably more than a month, and it was actually pretty good! The salchow I did in the program was better than the ones I did to warm up, which is par for me. And the spin at the end was good, too, prompting my coach to laugh because it's become a joke between us now that I should never practice the spin with him but just do it in the program and it works! So I'm leaning towards doing the Halloween Classic, but we'll see how the new blades go today.

Oh, the other cool thing was that I'm now ahead of the music in my new interpretive program which is good because it means I'm getting more comfortable with the choreography but bad because there are pieces of choreography that really need to be done at the right point. My coach was all, now I have to add more things to it! We'll see.

No fumbles today!

Good luck with your test prep, Jazzpants!

Happy skating,
Pat

[Mrs Redboots]

Fumble: Didn't make Dance Club last night; went to the rink as planned, but was very tired. I assumed I'd get my second wind once I'd warmed up, but this just didn't happen, so I sadly went home.....

Touchdown: Today, however, was fine, and I skated hard for my hour and a half. Most of the elite dancers were away, so there were actually very few skaters on the ice, which was nice. One couple who will also be at the British Adults was there - their free dance is getting rather horribly good, since we have to compete against it!

Worked with the husband for 45 minutes, we ran through our compulsory dances and then worked on the transition in our free dance. It's beginning to happen now..... it needs to do a bit more than "begin" by 1 October!

Solo, I ran through the compulsory dances I'm planning to compete solo at Oxford, and through the Level 3 Dance Moves. Then, because I still had a few minutes, I polished my halo by working on my BO and BI edges! Felt most virtuous when I got off.

And, even better, as it was chilly this morning I wore leggings to and from the rink - so did my various toning exercises when I got in. I now have sore abs - I must do them more regularly.

[Melzorina]

Touchdown: I decided to take advantage of the fact that I go to college near the rink, and went for a patch session last night. I got quite a few revolutions on my parallel spin, and my salchow was quite nice. It's officially my favourite jump, I never work on anything else! Must work on my loop though, and stop being afraid of my toe pick!

[Debbie S]

Hey sk8pics, glad to hear your lesson went well yesterday. Good luck with the new blades!

Touchdown:
Had a good moves lesson yesterday. My coach thinks I'll be ready to test soon. I need to work on my forward crossovers though, b/c my technique is a little wonky, and I was raising my leg too high (and too much to the side) - got a little carried away with extension - lol. I also need to work on getting more push from my BI edges in the power 3's and back perim stroking - and not rush the back crossover.

Also did some good back spins. The ice wasn't the best, b/c they didn't do a cut before the session like they usually do. I actually think my blades need a sharpening. Has anyone in the D.C area gone to Wings of Steel in Laurel? How are they? I used to go to Skater's Paradise but I don't feel like driving all the way down to Waldorf.

Fumbles:
Loop disappeared again - well, it made a brief appearance at the end of the session. And I wish I could stop traveling on my spins - grrr.

I left my top layer (long sleeve V-neck pullover) at the rink for the second time in 3 weeks. I got halfway home and realized it so had to turn around. Ugh - I used to be so responsible! :roll:

[mikawendy]

Touchdown--
I had a great lesson and edge class yesterday! I went home sweaty (and probably smelly) and utterly spent but feeling great!

Flip--I had an "inverse coach moment" in my lesson. I was trying to show him how I was having trouble getting the weight over the landing side, but I did it fine for him, lol!

Program is going nicely. It's a lot of fun to work on it! When I get back from vacation, I have to get into gear about getting my dress together.

Fumble--
No skating while I'm on vacation, unless I'm nuts and pack my old skates in my luggage (I've done that before).

[TwirlGirl10]

Fumble: Todays practice sucked! One of my coaches keeps adding jumps to my program and my competition is friday!!!! On Wednesday my primary coach added an axel, which is ok I guess becuase I land it most of the time but then today, my second coach added an axel-toe! Im stating to get really stressed. Not that my axel is not cosistent but when im nervous, I have a harder time than usual landing it and this is my first competition!!! I wanted to cry today!!!! Oh well.
Touch Down: Well I did 1 clean run through of my program, landing both my axel and axel-toe.
I hope everything goes well friday!! Wich me luck!

[Raye]

Good Luck TwirlGirl 8-)

Relax and enjoy yourself, you will do fine :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Twirlgirl, how did you get on? Longing to hear all about it!

Fumble: Couldn't get the Husband out of bed this morning, and as friends were taking my skates to be sharpened, I had to get off the ice when they did, so had barely 45 minutes to skate. But we got quite a lot done, regardless. Husband is still spinning at every available opportunity, as I gather he wants to enter the Hop, Step & Jump competition..... little things please little minds (or could it be that I'm jealous because although his spin isn't very good, it is improving & mine isn't?).

In our free dance, Husband kept rushing the step sequence, to the point where I said "I think you're being Ukranian, if not Russian, this morning!" which made him groan, as it was meant to, but at least he stopped rushing! And then we were going to put on the music to the Riverside Rhumba, as at least two other couples were working on it, but made a complete nonsense of it and kept giving way to others.... sheesh....

Touchdown: The transition in our free dance is improving, although I'm a bit dubious about it still. However, it is better than what we were doing before, which is something!

In the Riverside Rhumba, I noticed that I was not straightening my free leg properly in the first rondé, the one where I might kick him if I did. So we did lap after lap of them, and noticed our free leg didn't match. So I decided that instead of counting "1, 2, 3, 4", I'd say "Back, back, side, front" and see if that helped. We had a quick consultation with the coach, who wasn't doing anything much this morning (two of his star pupils are going off to university this week, alas), and he reckoned it was better to go "Back, back...." than "Back, side, side, front", as it would make us stay back longer. I think it is helping!

[Skate@Delaware]

Fumble: Had a practice session on Thursday, to work on stuff learned from my new coach, and I just can't seem to get that "long entry into the 3 then flip it" thing :frus: although everything else was good. The rink was cold; I was cold & tired...
Touchdown: Tried hard since Wednesday night to "stretch up like a string is pulling you up" to my posture will improve....sure is hard when you are 40+++++ but everyone else is commenting "did you lose weight" or "you look different" so it must be working, but my muscles between my shoulder blades are achy and tired.
Friday's Group Lesson: My group lesson and that went well-basic run through of edges and she was very pleased with everyone (she commented positively on my posture); crossovers were really good, even in my anti-good direction (see, practice does pay off) getting me another good comment. Next week: back crossovers (gotta work on getting off the toepick-that's what my other coach is trying to do) and landing positions. My husband was in my group and he went well-another woman joined us and they were fairly matched skill-wise so he wasn't alone.
PS-I left my skates to be sharpened-hopefully they just need that and I will be able to hold that "long entry...thing" (and remember to bend the knee....) although I reviewed a video from last year's lessons on spinning and I still didn't bend deep into my spin. Maybe I should work on some lunges as a warmup, then do some edges with a deep knee????? I sometimes forget to bend deep on my waltz (when I remember-I get lots of air-it's cool!)

[sk8pics]

Well, got my new blades, and they're great! The difference visually in the rocker between the new and old is really clear. So, I got on the ice and everything seemed like a touchdown: crossovers, 3-turns, mohawks, forward edges, back edges. I had a little trouble initially skating straight on my left foot but then that improved, and I think it was due to the new tongues not the new blades, since they went exactly into the same spot the old blades were in.

Then, I tried to step from a left back outside edge to right forward outside edge to do a waltz jump. 8O 8O Major Fumble. I nearly killed myself and felt like my foot was slipping far under me. I stopped and considered it, and tried again with pretty much the same result. Stopped and pondered some more and realized that I have always tended to hit my left toepick to slow down and then push off of, and so now, of course, my toepick is further away so I have to reach further! :roll: But my body was not prepared for that, hence the whole nearly-killing-myself thing. I did a lot of these for the rest of my practice and it seems to be getting better, but I never did manage to do a waltz jump yesterday. :cry: Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Of course, my coach has always told me not to do that so I'm sure he will be happy with this turn of events! :giveup:

Happy skating,
Pat

[Terri C]

The last two days for me were all fumble:
Yesterday, couldn't get to the rink because of traffic tie ups and figured then that I'd have today to skate.
Arrived at rink today and Learn to Skate was going on, There was to be a ice cut then the freestyle session. Well, the skating director took one of her students on a lesson and when it was time for the ice to be cut, told rink management that the ice was fine and didn't need it! :evil: :roll: :frus:
The ice was horrible, as it was already chewed up from 2 hours of Learn to skate, plus those horrible consensation bumps in one corner. Most of the hard core freestylers that come were not that motivated to train and neither was I!
Needless to say, I only worked on spins and played around today. Even though the rink manangement added a extra half hour to the session, as s@##$ as the ice was, I refused to stay.
If this continues, I'll try to talk to the skating director- I've tried to voice concerns about ice conditions before, but she always "has a lesson going on". :frus:

[NoVa Sk8r]

I'm not skating tonight, I'll be home with my poor kitty who's having surgery today. :cry:Aw ... best to your poor kitty :( and I'm looking forward to seeing the new and improved flip. 8-)

[icedancer2]

Arrived at rink today and Learn to Skate was going on, There was to be a ice cut then the freestyle session. Well, the skating director took one of her students on a lesson and when it was time for the ice to be cut, told rink management that the ice was fine and didn't need it! :evil: :roll: :frus:
The ice was horrible, as it was already chewed up from 2 hours of Learn to skate, plus those horrible consensation bumps in one corner. Most of the hard core freestylers that come were not that motivated to train and neither was I!


This happens sometimes at some of the rinks I skate at -- it is very very frustrating!!

Other rinks have clear cut rules and management that are strong enough to overpower these people -- they say, "Nope, time for the ice-cut" and that is it!!

[Terri C]

Other rinks have clear cut rules and management that are strong enough to overpower these people -- they say, "Nope, time for the ice-cut" and that is it!!

Any advice on how to get that implemented?
Really, I was mad because the skating director was sooo concerned about getting her lesson done and leaving and was not considerate of the fact that there were several of us who came to skate the freestyle.
In addition to that this is the first month in years that the rink has had a Saturday freestyle session and while I want to support it to keep it going, I will not if the ice is not cut when needed, regardless of who's giving a lesson!

[Mrs Redboots]

Touchdown: My skates were brilliant, I barely noticed they'd been sharpened until the start of my lesson, when I caught my toe-rake, nearly went over, and then realised. But they were simply glorious - I think our sharpener thought we all had the competition tomorrow....

Lesson went fairly well; I just wish we hadn't become so aware of how many mistakes we make, since it feels like we're making no progress when, in fact, I think we do improve!

Fumble: Widestep in the Golden Skaters' Waltz. Then when we got the extension right, I felt we didn't push. Knees too straight. Was told I was "like a sack of potatoes" in our free dance lift. Spin too slow..... and so it goes..... and the British Adults is in less than a fortnight.

Oh well, I'm not too despondent - we're almost definitely going to be 4th out of 4 in our class, certainly in the compulsories (probably not in the free dance, actually), but we'll have great fun trying not to be. After all, we've nothing to lose!

[sceptique]

Touchdown

Landed my loop and flip today! At least a half-dozen times each.

Slow, lopsided and ungraceful, but at least they took off and landed on the same foot and I managed to keep my free foot off the ice for long enough (now I just need to make sure my skating leg actually skates on exit, not just balances in place).

Also, I think I've uncovered another secret of a good upright spin - it's "pull your abs in!". Started working on a sit spin as well.

My coach No 2 told me today how he was very impressed by my progress. :oops: Something tells me he's going to make me try lutz next time..... 8O

Coach No 1 is sending out my application for Novice Moves Test - said I should be fine by the time it's scheduled. Scary!

We selected music for a programme - I really love the piece. She said it will show off my strenghths nicely (it's nice to know she thinks I have some strenghths to show off :lol: ).

Fumble

Ankle blisters. Finger blisters from lacing. Sore muscles. Couple of new bruises.

But the loop was worth it!!!!!!!

[sunshinepointe]

Touchdown Group coach is insane - he had us start on consecutive brackets...or at least thats what I think they're called. It was fun trying to learn them but I can't remember when to kick out with the free foot so right now I look slightly retarded. Definitely a cool move when I did get it though, which was more than a handful of times. I also got big complements when we were working on our spirals (despite having to be continually reminded to lock my knees, gah, you think I'd learn by now.)

Public session was good. I worked on flips from a mohawk entrance and found them to be quite easy. I was going to brave split jumps but the session was kind of crowded so I'll wait until Tuesday to try them. At one point a crowd gathered to do the limbo at one end of the rink so I worked on my lutz and I nailed a few of them, sweet! I adore that jump very much. It's so scary and fun all at the same time lol.

Spins were pretty good yesterday. The camel still eludes me, but I've been told that what I DO have camel-wise looks good. I also worked on the backspin and now that I'm a little less afraid of it I'm actually getting 4-5 slow rotations...not consistently, but thats better than the negative rotation I was getting on Thursday. I wasn't whipping into it like I was on Thursday and that helped a lot. I did a couple of very fast centered scratch spins and some nice centered sits. I'd like to get more rotation in my sit though, I feel like I end it too soon. I'm getting closer on the Bielman (again, sorry Denise) but I still can't grab with the left hand. Gotta practice off the ice and continue to improve flexibility a little more. I didn't work on the layback at all yesterday. I was pretty busy with what I was working on anyway - there just isn't enough time lol.

Fumble Loop....again...I did land some good ones, but I also landed some not so good ones. And on some of the good ones they weren't "great" because my free leg was doing something...strange, or at least it felt like it was, like I wasn't lifting and opening the hip, I was keeping everything tucked and closed in. This is definitely my nemesis jump and I know it's a timing issue. I'm wondering if jumping from a three turn pattern would help - maybe a couple of back power 3's into the jump...because as it stands right now I'm doing crossovers into it, setting, and jumping...but I'm either waiting too long to jump or taking off too fast it seems and slipping off my edge. I desperately need my skates sharpened but since I did manage to do a couple of good loops I don't think I can blame it on the skates. A girl I was working with said on my not so good ones that I was almost cheating it which tells me I'm rotating too much before take off...man, I hate this stupid jump - but at the same time when I do it well I love it.

I ran out of time today to work on stuff - I really need to start managing my time at the rink more effectively, or maybe I should just add an extra skating day? I dunno...all stuff to consider, especially now that I'm almost 100% committed to doing the show in December, which will ultimately take away from my individual practice time.

[Melzorina]

TOUCHDOWN: Yaaaay I'll have my program finished next week, I lurve it, my minidisc worked and everything, it's simply fabulous! YAAAY!

[samba]

TOUCHDOWN: Yaaaay I'll have my program finished next week, I lurve it, my minidisc worked and everything, it's simply fabulous! YAAAY!
Well done Mel, so do you know when you will be using it? Sorry if you have already said so. Did you go to see the auditions by the way?

Cheers
Grace

[Melzorina]

I don't think I'm actually going to use it, it's just so I can pass my passport, my instructor never mentioned using it anyway, I doubt I will.

The auditions are in 10 days time, and I can't go because I'm at college! Oh well, nevermind!

[jazzpants]

Fumble:

Weekend rink is getting crowd and I'm back at my pilates sessions, but only for a short time, which most definitely would cut into my skating time too!!!

Touchdown:

Went to watch Skate St. Moritz and...
ask8ngcat did well coming back after a bit of a break from skating with a Silver for her Silver FS. (YAAAAY!!!)
Thin-Ice came thru with a Bronze for her FS program. (YAAAAAY!!!!)
Other stuff...

Seeing Rudy and Laura (yes, that Rudy and Laura!) putting out a skater on the ice. (I didn't know they were coaching...well, Laura, yes, but I thought it was just Rudy.)
Watching primary coach turn a skater's hair from flat to glam (and competition ready) in 10-15 minutes... and NO HAIRSPRAY too!!! 8-) :bow:
Watching Rudy walk up the stairs from a distance, me going "OMG!!! That's Rudy Galindo!!!" ... and then watching my primary coach (who's sitting next to me at the stands) yell out "Hey, Rudy!!!" and Rudy waves back and smiles like they're old friends!!! :roll: (Okay! How does he know all these elite skaters? First MK, and now Rudy!)
Had a jazzpant moment -- primary coach and I watched a Sr. Ladies skater doing a short program with a pair of JAZZPANTS on.


Me: "I thought that was just for the adults."PC: "The rules have changed recently and they can wear pants too.
Me: "Oh, good! That's means I'll compete in my jazzpants outfit at our next competition.
PC: "Errr... NO!!!" :twisted: (So much for the jazzpants persona at competition...) :roll: :P

[mikawendy]

I don't think I'm actually going to use it, it's just so I can pass my passport, my instructor never mentioned using it anyway, I doubt I will.

The auditions are in 10 days time, and I can't go because I'm at college! Oh well, nevermind!

Does the skating club at your rink have exhibitions or skating shows for its members to skate in? Perhaps you could skate your program then? (Even if you're not a member, perhaps you could skate it as a guest?) My club and also flo's club often have guest skaters in their shows.

[Melzorina]

You have to be a member in the skating club to skate in their show. :( And I can't join, due to lack of money and the expensiveness.
:(:(:(:(

[Debbie S]

Watching primary coach turn a skater's hair from flat to glam (and competition ready) in 10-15 minutes... and NO HAIRSPRAY too!!! 8-) :bow:
Wow, your coach does hair? Too bad you guys aren't on the east coast! But if I get to AN..... :)


Sk8pics, glad to hear things are going well with the new blades! I'm sure your waltz jump will be back in no time.

[Terri C]

Watching primary coach turn a skater's hair from flat to glam (and competition ready) in 10-15 minutes... and NO HAIRSPRAY too!!! 8-) :bow:


Does your coach realize that he could make extra money at AN just doin other skater's hair?

[sk8pics]

Touchdown: Great practice today and good lesson, too, although it was cut short by 5 minutes because the zamboni driver was late because he thought it was a good idea to give some other people "a few extra minutes because they were late getting on the ice." WTF? :frus: :frus: I guess it doesn't matter that I lost 5 minutes of my lesson. But, I digress. My jumps came back, and in fact, my salchow was better and easier than before. My primary coach saw one while he was teaching someone else and thought to himself, oh good, that's better with the new blades! He was mightily disappointed in my lesson when they were only very good and not quite as excellent as the one he'd glimpsed before. :roll: I was happy about it, though! Waltz jumps were still a little scary but doable. Toe loop was as close as it's ever been to being really correct.

Fumble Only the aforementioned late ice cut... and I'm tired now, but it's a good tired.

Guess I will be doing the Halloween Classic after all! (Debbie, are you doing it, too?) Have to decide on exactly which events, but I have until Friday!

Happy skating everyone,
Pat

[LoopLoop]

Aw ... best to your poor kitty :( and I'm looking forward to seeing the new and improved flip. 8-)
Are you back? Or posting from vacation?

Fumble: The kitty has a big bandage on his leg and is not a happy boy these days.

Touchdown: Careygram was down for a visit this weekend and we had a fun skate this afternoon. I managed one of my coach's crazy spin ideas and even had her as a witness... I did a forward sitspin and changed to the outside edge! and kept the speed of the spin up too.

[NoVa Sk8r]

Yup, I'm back from vacation, and I think I gained at least 20 lbs 8-) ...
am not looking forward to skating, but the Halloween event is coming up! :?? Are you back? Or posting from vacation?

[crayonskater]

Fumble.

Ice rink ain't letting us have our morning sessions till October.

[jazzpants]

Yup, I'm back from vacation, and I think I gained at least 20 lbs 8-) ... Yeah, right!!! Probably 20 lbs of MUSCLES knowing how long you work out at the gym!!! :roll: :twisted: :P (Welcome back, BTW.)

Fumble:

Weekend rink was really crowded with b-day parties when I got there.
Had to miss the Adult Artistic event at St. Moritz today. But I got a good reason...
Touchdown:
I got to my weekend rink just before the last ice cut of the public session... I was only planning on skating for a little while, get off and drive back to St. Moritz to see the Adult Artistic. All was going to plan. The the crowd started disappearing around 10 minutes before I was planning to leave and started getting into the groove. Next thing I know, it was at least a half hour AFTER the Adult Artistic event started... 8O

I hope my friends at St. Moritz will understand how bad AOSS can be... :oops: I really didn't want to miss their skating. Besides, I was practicing my Bronze moves... and I wanted LOTS of "blade confidence" before I go in and test.

[NoVa Sk8r]

Yeah, right!!! Probably 20 lbs of MUSCLES knowing how long you work out at the gym!!! :roll: :twisted: :P (Welcome back, BTW.)
Not quite ... but it's time to get back in shape and back to the rink and fasten my belt ... well, I hope to be able to do that at the end of this week. 8-)

And a Happy Birthday to Loops today! :)

[Skate@Delaware]

My daughter & I went to public session yesterday (after my off-ice conditioning class-how smart was that? my legs were still shaky) on my newly sharpened skates...and was able to pull of about 2-3 of the longer entry edges for the spin. It's still going to be a long journey, lots of bad habits to unlearn (note to self-get a coach for over-summer skating). I'm going to warm up on these by doing lunges-getting these knees to bend enough has been a tough one (they bend but I skate like the zombie queen)

There were also 4 birthday parties going on, so the ice was a bit crowded with the little ones zinging all over. For a while it cleared while they "celebrated"... so I could work on back crossovers (sitting back, getting off those toepicks).

Had several little girls watching us spin in the center circle asking "wow, how do you do that?" we have learned to just smile at them and skate on...

Working on my sit spin "practice" and managed several of 2 revolutions. Only did a few waltz jumps because it was hairy with the kids zipping all over the place.... :giveup:

Anyway, I go tomorrow to the daytime session, which typically proves uncrowded.... so I should get lots of stuff done. Then I go back to the drop-in session for more and so my daughter can get her time in. I might eventually drop that session and just let my daughter skate-I don't want to get too tired!

[dbny]

Mr. DB and I went to a public session Friday and picked up older daughter on the way. She is 21 and hasn't had lessons for many years, and has only skated a few times since she quit. She never tested, but was working on her Axel. I was going to show her the ropes for teaching tots since she may get some work this season. Instead, I ended up giving her an hour long lesson in Pre-Prelim and Prelim moves! Her skating was amazingly good for the time she's been off the ice. When she got tired of moves and started jumping, she landed her loop right away. The really amazing thing, though, is that she took instruction from ME, her MOM! 8O She also showed perseverance in working on the boring moves, which is new to me. Ah, the wonders of growing up :lol: . We had a good time, even though I didn't get too much done for myself.

[Skate@Delaware]

Mr. DB and I went to a public session Friday and picked up older daughter on the way. She is 21 and hasn't had lessons for many years, and has only skated a few times since she quit. She never tested, but was working on her Axel. I was going to show her the ropes for teaching tots since she may get some work this season. Instead, I ended up giving her an hour long lesson in Pre-Prelim and Prelim moves! Her skating was amazingly good for the time she's been off the ice. When she got tired of moves and started jumping, she landed her loop right away. The really amazing thing, though, is that she took instruction from ME, her MOM! 8O She also showed perseverance in working on the boring moves, which is new to me. Ah, the wonders of growing up :lol: . We had a good time, even though I didn't get too much done for myself.
Sounds like you two had FUN! My daughter and I actually got along yesterday and she had no smarta** comments to make about my skating yesterday.... One day my daughter will grow up and I'm sure we will get along better.

[2loop2loop]

Yeah, right!!! Probably 20 lbs of MUSCLES knowing how long you work out at the gym!!! :roll: :twisted: :P (Welcome back, BTW.).

More like 20lbs of chocolate brownie sundae... :lol:

John

[NoVa Sk8r]

More like 20lbs of chocolate brownie sundae... :lol:

JohnThe 2 bottles of wine and pitcher of Pimm's Cup didn't help either! :halo: ;)

[mikawendy]

The 2 bottles of wine and pitcher of Pimm's Cup didn't help either! :halo: ;)

Mmmmmmmm. Pimm's. I had forgotten how yummy that stuff is. I once went to a wedding near London, and the wedding party pictures took a long time. While we waited, we were served a seemingly non-stop supply of Pimms...

[jazzpants]

More like 20lbs of chocolate brownie sundae... :lol:
The 2 bottles of wine and pitcher of Pimm's Cup didn't help either! :halo: ;)AHAAAAA!!!! And the worst sin is that you didn't send some over my way too!!! :twisted: (Psst to NoVa: Calories don't count during vacations...) ;)

Touchdown:
Not much, but I helped a young lady (one of my "nieces") to do her axel and double sal today. She only lands her jumps when she thinks of someone she HATES while she's kicking thru... I've been thinking of two new words lately when I'm doing my waltz and salchow and though the two words helped me to kick thru my jumps. Well, I told her those two words and told her to try it when she's kicking thru for her axel and double sal.

What are those two magic words? Take a look at Terri C's slogan for the answer!!! :twisted: :lol: And swear to God, Terri -- it also worked for her too!!! She started landing her axels and double sals easily!!! :mrgreen: Then she told another young friend about it and she tried it for her waltz jump! It worked for her too! :lol: (Hey! What are Aunties for? ;) )

Spins were great!!! I'm started to get an occasional camel or two now!!! WOO HOO!!! :mrgreen:

Fumble:
I ran late for skating tonight. Couldn't find any street parking so had to park a 1/4 mile away (about a good 10 minute walk from the rink!) I only got about an hour's worth of skating tonight!!! And the ice was crap by the time I got warmed up. GRRRR!!!! :frus:

Couldn't do jumps or moves today! Too crowded!!!

[Thin-Ice]

[b][u]Touchdown:
[list]
Went to watch Skate St. Moritz and...
ask8ngcat did well coming back after a bit of a break from skating with a Silver for her Silver FS. (YAAAAY!!!)
Thin-Ice came thru with a Bronze for her FS program. (YAAAAAY!!!!)

[/indent]


Thanks Jazzpants! And since there were no age divisions, it was nice that the older skaters (Bronze IV) came in 1st and 3rd, with the younger skaters taking 2nd, 4th and 5th.

It was a fun competition. I was just happy to be out there, since I couldn't do ANYTHING in my lesson on Wednesday, had to work late on Thursday and didn't skate, and then was involved in a small car collision on my way to Friday's lesson and banged up both knees.

Next competition, NO TWO-FOOTED jumps! (On the other hand, as I came off the ice my coach said (in a nice way) "You did better than I expected!".

And CONGRATULATIONS to ask8ngcat! Nice job!

Earlier in the day, and the following day, I also did my first competition judging. WHAT A BLAST!!!