Tuesday, February 28, 2012

ARGH!

So I forgot how to skate.  NOT COOL.

Something I did well tonight: toe loop
Something I did okay tonight: loop, backspin
Something that went so badly I wanted to stomp off the ice and throw a hissy fit: scratch spins.

Ever since I fell I have LOST my scratch spin.  It was my BEST element.  It was the most fun thing about skating.  Now it is SO horrible, I hit fewer than 1 out of 5, and those aren't even particularly centered anymore.  WTH happened?  I thought sharpening my blades would help, but it has NOT.

I do NOT have the margin of error to have a poor scratch spin.  That was supposed to be a gimmee! 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I enjoy reading your posts immensely and also like to catch your comments on others' blogs. Whenever I have trouble I go back to basics, meaning edges. And I do them slow, so I can feel my body position, so much so that I can even feel how a minute shift affects the movement. Every element in skating stems from them. Do figure 8's, backward and forward on both edges.

Hope this helps!

Anonymous said...

I know it's demoralizing when spins sudenly stop working. However, for your test the spin just needs to be passable not perfect. Calm down. You are going to do very well on your test, I can tell from your history. Do not obsess!!

Jessim said...

I did edges today, and if anything, I learned that my edges are better than they were before...

Anonymous said...

LOL! Now the next part is to break down the element you're having trouble on in terms of edges. For example, what edge do you need to be on when you enter the spin? Notice how long you hold it before entering the spin and feel what difference that length makes on the quality of the spin as opposed to a longer or shorter hold. It's such a sport of minute details, and the devil's in them, for sure! My coach makes me take my gloves off, drape them over my wrists, and then tells me to skate without letting them slide off. All this to drum home proper alignment. I so much as move my head out of proper position and literally, the gloves come off!

On a good note, better edges are a good thing! I'll take any improvement!