October 31, 2006

8:30p Great skating on halloween
Today I wore a costume to skating. I decided to be an ice skater for Halloween. I love skating in a skirt I think it makes me a better skater.

Anyhow. Being halloween, I was the only one in my group who showed up and got a private lesson. Sue told me Burton would be teaching me, but it ended being another girl whose name I did not get. I was hoping it would be Burton because I am considering him for private lessons, although at this point I think his price is too high for me. (As it should be, he's one of the best 'adult' skaters in the world). Anyhow the girl who taught me was hesitant at first and because a better coach towards the end of the half hour. She apparently has just started coaching in January and does not enjoy the fact that she generally teaches Basic 1.

We started by working on moving 3 turns on a circle. Didn't go so well, but I have stuff to practice now. Then we moved to waltz jumps. I have the idea, and can "do" it- I just need to work on my posture, bringing my arms in, not looking at the ice, and traveling. So in short, the jump.

I am very hesitant in most of the things I do when I skate, unfortunately, I also look down way too much.

Then we moved to backwards crossovers and they rock on one side and suck on the other. I got good tips about pushing with more power and was told my upper body posture was "perfect" but I need to bend my knees.

We then spun. My two footed spin is getting good. I also managed, from a two footed spin to do 2 revolutions on one foot. I am more inclined to doing a backspin, but neither spin can be called "good" or even "acceptable"

Then we moved on to something else, and it turned out since the coach "didn't like 3 turns" that she wanted to teach me another jump. Another jump? Um my waltz jump is questionable at best. But we did a toe loop from a LFO 3-turn. Once I got the idea of not over rotating on my 3 turn and getting my pick deep into the ice it went well. I got told that this was much better than my waltz jump, though neither can probably be classified as good, even for a beginner.

Afterwards I debated staying to practice at the near empty rink, but there is work to do. Too bad. My lacing strategy (I took the laces out of the 2nd to bottom hole) has worked on my left foot, and the boot now fits nicely, but only lessened the pain on the right- still not perfect fit. The instructor I worked with was impressed with my skates, which I thought was funny.

I have a trial lesson with Brianna on Nov. 12. I'm a bit nervous about working with her, since I kind of have prior knowledge of her through Courtney. I'm weird about people. We'll see how it goes. If I like her, I don't know if I should also have a trial with Burton to see if that fit is better.

All I know is I will definetly progress better with private lessons. Tonight was much more productive than any other lesson I've had.