Group dance classes

So, my ballroom adventure is prematurely on hold. I was rear ended at a stoplight on Monday and have a fractured vertebrae (the transverse process of T1). There is probably no surgery needed, but I have to spend time in a cervical collar to let it heel. This means 1) I can’t drive, so I can’t get to class and 2) I can’t really hold my arm up well to hold a ballroom frame.  Thankfully the dance place let me put the remaining 3 lessons on hold, so at least I don’t lose the money, just the time.

But, I did take one group class last weekend and was really excited about it.  There is a dance studio in our town, but they had no groups this month, so I was going to their branch in a city about 30 minutes from here. They also didn’t have beginner classes this month but I was told to take the second level class. I’m glad, because this class is really basic that I can’t imagine how slow the beginner class is.

The class covers East Coast Swing, Cha-Cha, and Salsa.  In our 40 minute class we covered some swing and cha-cha.

For swing, which I’ve done before, we learned a left under arm turn.  Like I said- very basic.  For cha-cha, which I haven’t learned before we learned a step I can’t remember that opens up to the sides, and then a right under arm turn. Since I hadn’t really done cha-cha before, I also learned the basic step. I just pretended I already knew it, and followed along J

The groups were neat.  In this class there were the same number of men as women, so that was nice.  We learn the new steps in two lines facing each other (leads/follows) and then pair off. But rather than stay with your own partner, we would do the step once (sometimes with music) and then rotate to a new partner. I thought this was really nice because you got used to doing the steps with someone else’s style; but also if (for example with the cha-cha basic) I wasn’t real comfortable with the step, but the guy was also not comfortable with it; I rotated to a new partner, where the guy could help me out a bit, so by the time I got back to the first partner (there were only 3 guys) I could help him out; rather than us both fumbling through it.

I’m really looking forward to picking up classes once I’m cleared to have the brace off.  Even more I’m looking forward to sleeping again and for the pain (which isn’t too severe, but still sucks) to go away. But also dancing!

Adult Skaters are taking over...

This morning for the first half hour of freestyle, there were 6 adult skaters, 2 kid skaters and a coach (who is a competitive adult skater) on the ice. By the end of the freestyle there were 6 adult skaters, 5 kid skaters, and that same coach.

HAHAHA we outnumber them!  (Also, a lot of the kids were on spring break...and every adult came to ice this morning, but that is beside the point.  And we have a new adult- I think she is in college, a former competitor.)

I had a good, but lazy (I was exhausted from staying up too late last night) freestyle.  Did some work on change foot spins- I can totally do them, but I tuck my foot back on my ankle for the backspin.  Carson will not like that.  I tried some loops, and Taylor told me the problem is that I'm kicking my feet away from each other instead of closing tightly.  I was trying to lift my knee, but I need to lift my knee WHILE getting that position.  Hopefully the harness will be up next Wednesday. That might give me a better feel of what needs to happen.  


LTS was a dud.  The coach who substituted is an excellent coach, but I think he doesn't read the ability of the classes well. He is the same coach who had me and the Basic 7 girl doing power pulls to loops when she couldn't hold an edge...    Anyhow, I called it, and we started on crossovers.  He demands beautiful crossovers.  This isn't a bad thing, but we spent 10+minutes on right over left (our "good" ones) and less than 2 minutes on left over right...  Lots of talk about posture.  Why don't group coaches spend more time on the bad side.  Then came 15 minutes of pointless-  well, not pointless, just not appropriate.  He wanted us to do 3 swizzles, cross our feet on the ice, and do a double 3 with our leg crossed in backspin position.

The problem is, he never pointed out to us this was an exercise for loops.  The two other skaters were focusing on the double 3s (which we've never done in class)- and so they were opening their arms to have the proper pre-rotation for the three turns, which is the opposite of the checked/closed position the loop requires.  I DO NOT do a loop from crossovers, mostly because I get stuck in the ice and can't jump, but this excersise pointd out I cannot double three from that much speed.  The exercise was totally lost on us because we couldn't do the fundamental portion of it- three turning, in a non-pre-rotated position skating that fast.  If it is a valueable exercise, it needs to be built up- first working on whether we can double three at all, and then moving to the more complicated crossed leg position, and then doing it at speed.  In the end, it was over half the class wasted to frustration and annoyance (annoyance from the other gals because they didn't even understand why we were doing these, until I pointed out it was the loop entrance.)

Last, we did one pass across the short axis of power three turns.  He did point out to C. that she "goes spaghetti"- something she needs to hear. She is a good skater, but has no confidence on the ice.  He had her repeat it once more with a better body position.  Then we had time for a single sit spin. 

I KNOW I need work on them, but I hate spending class time on crossovers.  I spend my own time on them now.  There is just only so many times a coach can tell you "bend your knees, lift your chin" before it gets old...  (And I have darn fine crossovers in class.  The problem is I can't transfer them to my other skating.  Kind of like three turns- I can do them all on a certain path, but once that angle changes, even slightly, it all goes away- which is why the FS5 spiral sequence is a nightmare.)

UGH

So pre-test suckitude is normal right?

Because man was I utter crap tonight. Probably the ONLY thing I did well was toe loops. And I made okay attempts at loops. But otherwise- dreck.

My scratch spin has gone crazy. I blame my brace almost entirely. I took it off for 3 spins, and one was a bit wild, but the others were much better. With it on, I travel half-way across Iowa. But I can't risk fall on my wrist, so I have to wear it when I skate. Still, scratch spins are the thing I'm good at so this pisses me off.

Sit spins during LTS were great, Carson said I was getting lower now, and they were fast and centered. But then during my own practice AWFUL- I was high and falling to the inside in giant loops. Not cool.

Back spins- I don't know what to say. They aren't pretty.

Waltz jump toe loop works fine if I'm warmed up, cheated if it is the first jump out of the gate. I need to do some pivots first.

Salchow was okay. Carson had me do a new exercise where I 3 turn, then pivot, but all the pivot weight is on the outside foot, the toe pick is just lightly in the ice. Apparently it mimics the weight of the take off.

Loops. Well, I don't have a loop. But the 3-turn, hop, 3-turn I'm doing is getting better.


I hate to be negative, but there is no way this test will be anything but a practice test. At least I get to skate my program. I mean, it only costs as much as the Christmas show :)

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Time	Event
8:31a	Passed Freestyle 3! Tuesday was a fantastic day- I FINALLY passed Freestyle 3! I was pity passed by Burton before Andy even started teaching the group lessons (maybe December? I think it might have even been before then, but I can't find the date) Either way, I didn't have a backspin with a crossed foot, and my inside 3s only worked sometimes. Now my inside 3s always work when that's all I'm doing (on the silver move pattern is another story) and I can cross my backspin MOST of the time- during our test I crossed it on 5 backspins in a row, and got 3-5 revolutions on all but one of them. So I can now be stuck in Freestyle 4 for the rest of my life- since it has a loop in it :( Andy tested us, since I think he's getting pretty tired of Freestyle 3 things- even though we don't generally only work on level elements. So two of us are in Freestyle 4, and two are in Freestyle 3. (Except the other girl in FS 4 with me has an axel and a double sal, but she hasn't done all the moves elements.) After we did the test, we worked on sit spins. I did some- until my knee started hurting, but apparently that's not a good indicator of when I need to stop, because the next day, they hurt really badly. Anyhow- none were good, I ended up on my butt after every one of them, but that's an improvement over my "what do you mean I'm not sitting" spin, where I'm not even close enough to the ice to fall. Andy is having me support my weight by putting my hand on my knee, which does make it easier to sit, but seems to mess with my balance a bit. I really want to get this, but I also don't want to wreck my knees. After my knees were done I worked on backspins, and was able to get a good enough position that I started working on the exit- I can either get the "down" or the "kick" but not "down and kick", so I'm still stuck in a backspin with no exit edge. I'm still super happy though because the backspins were fantastic. After the lesson I put my pads on and worked on jumps. The novice level skater who occasionally skates at our rink, was practicing, so didn't I feel silly wearing pads for waltz jumps while he was working on triples, but it's the only way I'm going to get these jumps to move! (And he was the one who first suggested I wear pads.) Anyhow- I really feel like the waltz jumps are going further across the ice. Maybe they actually aren't, but they feel better. The young girl I always skate with suggested I "stop putting my foot down to land so soon". I'll work on that :) My salchows didn't go well though. I tried a few flips, and I think I need more height on the half flip, because I can't get the full rotation. Then I did some half lutzes, and while I'm sure they don't really leave the ice either- they FEEL the highest. Now the bad news- although skating was fine, when I took my boots off I was in so much pain I could barely walk. I had done something to my achilles tendon (pull? strain? what's the right word) and it hurt so badly that I didn't sleep almost at all Tuesday night, because I kept waking myself up. Today (thursday) it still hurts walking downstairs, and a bit while I'm walking, but I'm going to try to skate. I can't figure out what would have caused this, except that I switched my ankle pads. I lost a pad last wednesday, and got Bunga pads instead of Silipos (that I previously had) as a replacement because lots of people say they are better, and Jenskates had them for the cheapest padding price. Well they are a little bit thicker, and I think that messed up the feel of the boots. When I took the pads off I had bruises around the edges of the pads, plus this achilles tendon problem. It's the only thing I can think that was different. So Wednesday I went to synchro off ice, and walked through the program (even though THAT hurt too, I tried not to twist on the foot to make it worse). We learned a bit of easy new footwork to add to the circle, so I could have picked that up next week, but practice is so much better when everyone is there. Then I watched the first 30 minutes of on ice, while they worked on a traveling straightline pinwheel, I tried to listen to what the coach was saying about how to travel, and caught some of it from the sides of the rink! I'm glad I didn't skate because my tendon still hurts today, but I hate paying for ice time I don't use. I need to decide soon whether or not I should cancel my lesson tonight. I made a new dress this weekend- a mock up of our synchro outfit for this year. I'm still having trouble with bunching at the waist, but overall it's a pretty dress. I need to hem the sleeves (they are about 6 inches too long) and add the snaps. Then I'll post pictures. Making dresses is fun! (2 Comments | Comment on this)
9:06p	Pro Shop Plug Just wanted to post a little plug about www.jenskates.com I ordered my maxiflex from them, and my new bunga pads. While I HATE the actual pads, I have to say that the customer service at Jen Skates is fantastic. I sent them an email, just with my complaints about the pads- saying I understood they were non returnable, and within an hour I had recieved a reply and an apology and store credit. Their shipping is also lightening fast, and prices are cheaper then most online. So if you are looking for a pro shop to buy odds and ends- give them a look. (Also- on the maxi-flex. It's a pretty good stretcher, and I use it often. I haven't noticed a huge difference though because it doesn't strength train. However, as a little extra, if you just need the motivation to stretch, I'd recommend it. Stretching biellmans on it hurts my standing knee though...)

December 1, 2006

7:03a oops
I just realized I never posted about skating group lessons this tuesday and I said I always would.

Here's the run down-
Mazurkas are hard.
Spins didn't work.
7 step (8?) mohawk pattern went well on the CW side, and if I do it on a tiny circle well on the CCW size. I don't know if I have to use the hockey circle to test it. If I do, I can't do the mohawk- my hips don't open that way.

My blades are also needing to be sharpened AGAIN. I don't get this at all, it seems way to soon, but I nearly busted my ass on a crossover, from a slip on the edge, and the instructor said it appeared a couple of my spins were slipped out of.

Seems like "good" (as compared to the ones from LL Bean) blades should last a little longer.

November 22, 2006

5:06p Of spinning and picking a coach.
Skating last night was wonderful. I had an 8:00 lesson, and was so exhausted at 6:00, I went to sleep and told my husband to wake me up at 6:30 so I could get to the session by 7:00- I ended up leaving the house at like 6:40 because I figured I would go to target before hoping on the rink. But, I was wondering if it would be better just to stay home and sleep. This did not look good.

I got to the rink at about 6:45, and there were a good number of people, mostly freestyle skaters- not public, on the ice. Was there a session that took the place of LTS? Turns out they just started Family Skate half an hour early since LTS was canceled. Bummer... I missed 20 minutes of ice. Anyhow, i get my skates on and am on the ice by 6:50. I start with just some laps stroking, trying real hard to glide as long as I can (4 strokes per long axis. hah) and to do crossovers at the end holding my edges for as long as I can. I did a few circles of forward crossovers in each direction. (Since I learned backwards ones my forward crossovers have suffered.) Then I decide to spin. The hockey glide into the spin is working really well. I just want to give Lisa a hug. With that "entrance" I can get 4-8 revolutions consistently. I did quite a few of these because they made me so happy. A few times I spun on my toepick- something I hadn't done before and not a habit I want to pick up! When I first started attempting spins I could barely get into them- "frick" being the word of the night when they didn't work out. Gleeful squealing when they did. The people around me must have thought I was nuts.

After about 30 minutes I took a break to take my skates off and massage my feet. Stupid skates. After 5 minutes I got back on the ice. Worked on mohawks (i hate mohawks), worked on all 4 of my 3 turns, did some edges on the line. Forward are okay, backward I get really turned around about which foot strokes and which arm should go where.

After about 30 minutes my feet were hurting again, so I took another skate off break. By now it was almost time for my lesson, so I didn't want to go into that with my feet killing me.

At 8:00 I joined B. for my lesson. We started by spending 10 minutes at the board, where he explained his coaching style very quickly, told me I had to bring a notebook to each lesson and would be fined a quarter if I forgot it, and then started drawing some diagrams and explaining terms. Long axis, short axis, diagonal axis (why is this not actually the diagonal of the rink?). Then we talked about the position of the body, open, closed, and square positions. He demonstrated and had me do each position. Very hands on about getting me exactly where I was supposed to be. From a ballet background this is something I'm used to and like. It's a good thing.

Then he changed the stereo from the peppy pop music he had put on to some nice soft classicalish music. Apparently, from experience he has seen that during public sessions crowds are much more rowdy when the music is peppy. He was right. The ice instantly became a much slower going, easier to get around place! Interesting. The one who controls the music really mind controls the crowd.

I don't remember the exact order of the lesson or really everything we did. Instead of half an hour, we ended up doing a full hour with the zamboni kicking us off at the end of the session. When we finished we started talking about the last thing we were working on and it seemed as though he wasn't going to ask me to pay for the extended lesson. (Afterall, he didn't stop teaching) but I said "I think I owe you for an extra half hour of your time" and he told me he appreciated that. Paying people for services is just good karma.

Anyhow the lesson was overall good. We started with turns because he told me he had seen me practice them and noticed I was going CW. Have I tried CCW? That's the normal direction. I assured him I have, at this point it will not happen, and if it absolutely needs to happen for him to coach me, I'll give it a try, but maybe that's not the right coach for me. He told me a few coaches at the rink will not let their students skate CCW, but he's a judge, and the manual says skaters can go either way, and as long as I've tried "normal" then we can go with CW if it is really better. He asked to see my spin, and I told him that the only successful entrance I can do is with a hockey glide into it. So I did that. He told me that I can definitely spin around, so now that I have that I have to start doing the correct entrance, and adding an exit to it! The exit I've got down... the entrance.... UGH. So we did the same T entrance I had done with the other coach but instead of the emphasis on a deep edge, there was more emphasis on the kicking of my leg. I did a few with him actually holding my hands and helping to whip me around, and kicking was still difficult, which leads me to believe that strength is part of the issue. I just can't yet pick that skate boot up high enough to go into the spin. The other problem is that I suck. He taught me an easy exercise to do at the wall to help work on spins and "kicking" into them. I'll work on that. I really want to be able to spin.

We also worked on edges, like in delta. My forward edges are not bad, but still need work. I don't have a ton of control over them, which is very apparent when going slowly. We worked a lot on exact body position, which is good. My backward edges are not terrible if I can do them. I get very confused over which foot should be doing the stroking and which arm should be where. But the actual edges are not horrible. The backward outside edges are better than the inside ones.

We worked on mohawk on a circle, forward and backward, inside and outside. Mohawks are hard. And i get really confused when doing all the different kinds in combinations. My feet just don't know where to go. I don't like mohawks.

We also worked on 3 turns. They didn't go as well as I normally think, partly because the size of the lobes was predetermined by a marker, and I actually had to stay on it. My 3 turns are usually quite small, so this was a good thing- but hard. We only did forward ones... thank goodness.

Lastly we worked on arabesque (which is apparently and attitude) and then eventually to spiral. My spiral on the wall is better than my spiral moving on the ice. (duh... it's because I'm not worried about falling flat on my face) My leg height suffers if I am trying to keep my weight on my heel. Due to the fact that I don't want to fall flat on my face, the leg height is just going to suffer. I was told if I can't see my foot over the top of my head in the mirror than it is unacceptable. Considering my leg is just above hip height on both legs right now, and slightly higher on the right side, I think it's somewhat acceptable. We'll work on it. He also had me do a backwards spiral (flat thank goodness) while holding onto his hands. I've never done a backwards spiral, but other than OMG going too fast! my main thought was this was an excellent exercise in not looking down. Looking down while being held onto puts your eyes in a spot that you don't want them for someone you've just met. We ended with forward spirals on edges, which I've also never done. Then the zamboni chased us off the ice. It was a great lesson.

Starting in January I am no longer going to do the LTS classes, just because the age of the kids and the group atmosphere isn't working as well for me. I feel like a lot is glossed over in interest of having things passable instead of good. I haven't had a bad instructor yet, so that's not the issue, just the nature of group lessons. I talked with B. and he is giving me a reduced rate if I can commit to a once a week lesson. It's only about 30% more expensive than the group lessons, but I'll have to start paying for ice time- which is a bummer. If I can pass out of Basic 8, I might ask the skate director if I can interview for a group lesson teaching position. I think I'm a good enough skater that I can teach snowplow sam or basic 1-4ish. Having ice time paid for would be wonderful.

It only gets more difficult from here, But I'm real excited about the prospective of having an actual "coach"

November 14, 2006

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006

Time Event
8:05p Ice Skating- with clothes on.
(I skate with my clothes on. But if it interests you google "japanese ice skating nude" and you can find a lovely video. Topic of discussion on skatingforums today)

Today in group lessons we only did 3 things. Ballet jumps, mohawks and one foot spins.

Ballet jumps went fine. Mine don't go high, my free leg doesn't do much- but it is straight and I am technically jumping up.

My right to left mohawks are pathetic and nonexistant. My left to right are okay at slow speeds. We started working on the Basic 8 mohawk combination and its on my good side, and bad on my bad side. The problem is with 2 crossovers I'm already going a lot faster than my standard from stopping mohawk. Lisa suggested I do it from one crossover just so I don't have as much speed.

Then we did one footed spins. First from a 2 footed spin, then from a hockey glide. Overall they weren't good, but the best I've ever done. I got 4 revolutions on one and at least 2 on most! Afterwards I asked Lisa if I could hug her, like an excited 10 year old. It has never clicked before. This is the second thing she has done for me that has manged to get me over a block.

November 8, 2006

4:10p of pivots and waltz jumps
Skating last night was fine. There is one girl in my class who is driving me mad. She skates way to close to me. I'm not sure if she skates way to close to everyone or just me. Another girl also kind of "clings" to me, and always comes to me to either show off or because "I can't do it!"(both girls do this) but when we actually skate she keeps her space. Usually, it doesn't bother me, but last night we were doing a lot of backwards stuff and pivots. When someone moves in closer than leg distance to you, while you are doing pivots it either results in a real quick abort (often resulting in me falling) or kicking her. I was tempted to "not see her" but of course, each time I did. Finally when I was working on ballet jumps in place (the teacher drew us each a box- I was clearly in my box) and she ran into me saying "watch out" I said to her "I am very careful to watch where you are skating, but YOU need to not skate so close to me." She gave me a dirty look, but I think she must have forgotten, because later she was just as clingy telling me why she hated pivots.

Anyway, the skating. We worked on holding the landing position in a circle. This is tough because we essentially use an extended goal line circle- which is very small and there are 6 of us, including one very tiny, young girl, who doesn't move fast. My legs are much longer and I seem to move faster, so I am often aborting what I am doing so as to not run into or hit someone. I also skate CW and everyone else is CCW. I practiced the landing edges CCW on the circle, and then just moved aside and ran through it a few times CW- where it is, thankfully, much stronger.

Then we worked on waltz jumps. A few of the girls said they could "do" them- and everyone one who could did it opposite the rotational direction they should have. I think that's interesting. Anyway, I of course do go the opposite way, which I think confuses the kids, so I try not to point it out. (For example, when we walk through it, I either try to stand behind everyone else, or if for some reason I can't I walk through it "wrong" because the girls will often try to follow my arms, since it is "harder" to mirror the instructor. But of course, my arms- if I am doing them "right" are opposite everyone else's) Luckily, so far, I have had no issue with just switching the direction- and for jumps and spins, if the instructor says right, I do left, and vice versus. My waltz jumps were complimented, although they are not worthy of it. They are slowly leaving the ice more than a step. But I wouldn't yet call it a jump. While doing independent practice I threw in a few toe-loops too, but I noticed today i more toe-waltzed them. This jump is easier to make leave the ice.

We also spent a lot of time working on pivots. My backwards pivots with the right foot in the ice are awesome, if I do say so. I got heaps of praise for them, which made me feel good. My forward pivots with my left foot in the ice are generally good, with the right foot in the ice are okay, and backwards with the left foot in the ice, not so good. I like doing pivots. I've also noticed that if I go around more than 3 or 4 times I am starting to dig a hole into the ice with my toepick. It used to barely leave a mark. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it might have something to do with why I can get around so many times on one push now.

Then we worked on mohawks. My left foot to right foot mohawk isn't horrible. She wants me to extend the right leg instead of tucking it, which makes it more difficult. My right foot to left foot mohawk is pretty awful. I have so much problem with remembering which direction to go, I have to take off from the line as if doing consecutive edges to make sure I am going the right way. My edges are good, so I don't understand this at all. Never the less, I did one or two, which is better than normal.

It was not a good boot night. I thought after last week my boot troubles were over, at least for half hour skating- but last night my feet hurt pretty badly. I am starting to lace tighter since I am jumping, so that might be part of it.

Overall, I'm not sure I want to continue group lessons. I probably will, at least one more session- but I'm not really feeling like they are the best setting for me. Of course with public ice going up 75 cents a session if they don't raise the price of group lessons again (they shouldn't since they just did) maybe it is worth it.

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.

October 24, 2006

7:07p A way better lesson than Saturday
Tonight's lesson was with Lisa and she was wonderful.

We started with pivots and I can do forward inside pivots on both sides. I got my 1.5 revolutions easily. We started doing CCW, and I was switching between the sides -because I like to try everything both ways- and Lisa asked me if I was left handed because it was better on that side. Nope, my CW turning is just ruining my ability to synchro skate. I can do 2 good pivots counterclockwise and 3 clockwise on one push. Just goofing off I did some back ones. Going counterclockwise is bust, but going clockwise I can do 3 with one push.

Then we practiced out landing positions. I need to look up. My leg doesn't like to stay up, but the edge is good. Then we did a mohawk out of the landing position into a waltz jump. No ones jump is great yet, but mine is more a waltz -that was a jump?- although both blades do leave the ice. :) And I land on the right edge.

We also did ballet jumps. We started just by bending and then rising onto the toe pick. Not bad. Then we tried jumping. BAD. Then we tried jumping, stepping and gliding- not bad. I think I got one okay beginner ballet jump in there.

Lisa was really great.

October 17, 2006

7:06p No lesson tonight
I got to my group lessons, Basic 7-8 (YAY were doing USFSA now!) and it was mostly the same girls, with 2 new ones- one who looked about 6- the rest are probably 9ish.

S., our instructor from last session comes over and tells us she is teaching our class because our instructor is at an open house. She then tells me that she is 3 instructors down tonight. She goes over to another coach, combines a class. Then she comes back, gets us started on a landing position glide and says she's not sure what she's going to do with the last class- a single, beginning adult. I told her- insurance won't like it, but if she really is a complete beginner, I could teach her tonight.

So that's what I ended up doing. The girl had never skated before, but was actually moving really well. She had her feet very leaned toward the inside edges, so we talked a little about being "flat". Then we practiced falling- and I told her to make sure to curl her hands into fists so fingers can't get cut over- something I remember from my very first lesson when I was like 8- but am not sure if that's "official" teaching. Then we did forward marching, concentrating on keeping our hands on our "table top" and bending our knees. Since she could already skate okay, we didn't march for long, just long enough to talk about "middle to back of the blade" for her weight distribution. Then we did a little forward stroking- trying to keep her off her toepicks, and pushing to the sides, introduced a snowplow stop. All of this and there were still 10 minutes left!! These lessons go so fast when you are taking them. So we did a lap around the rink, and I asked her if she wanted to practice this more or learn somethin new- which of course she did, so we did fwd swizzles, which she did pretty well, and then put them into a combo- 3 swizzles, 3 strokes, 2 footed glide to the blue line.

Hopefully she thought her lesson good. Afterwards Sue told me to let her know if I ran out of patch coupons, but of course I barely use the ice I'm given for lack of time. She was so grateful... it was kind of nice, but really no big deal (except maybe if something happened, and then I'm not a teacher... S. told me it was officially "her" lesson, so I guess that's the semantics that gets around that.)

I get to take a make up lesson Saturday morning.

I also really need to talk to someone about getting my boots punched out, but I'm so intimidated by Sergei and I think he might be the only one who knows anything about that... but I can only go 30 minutes in them before my toes hurt like crazy.

October 3, 2006

7:00p Oops, that goes in the skating, not personal journal.
Another lesson today. It was fine.

I need to decide if I want to sign up for group lessons. They are $90 for 8 30 minute lessons (and 8 public session admissions- but my schedule is such that I usually only get 30 minutes practice on Sunday). I find the lessons with kids to be much less productive than with adults, so I don't know how much it is worth it.

I think it might be my only choice, because I don't think I can afford privates right now, and they wouldn't be cost effective based on what I'm working on.

I have to get my blades sharpened this week, or my LFO edge won't pass. Problem is, I'll have to test on haven't been skated on yet blades. Luckily there are no stops on the test, but that still makes me worry a bit about the 3 turns and such.

September 26, 2006

8:04p :( Kevin
Well todays lesson was good. I think I will pass delta. I have my edges (except that outside one I'm falling off of, but I used to have it) I have an okay lunge. I can do the three turns okay, just not great.

I also have back outside edges fairly well. And I can spin! On two feet. My one foot spin has a revolution though. We practiced stepping out of them and gliding on the back outside edge. I got the glide part- all the other girls could spin but not glide.

I can do bunny hops on both sides now :)

Kevin met me at the rink to go to dinner afterwards. He was there for half my lesson. I asked what he thought. He said "I didn't really watch. I was too tired to look up" Instead he read my basic skills book. :(

I need to work on crossovers. My forward ones aren't that good anymore, and my backward CCWs are terrible! Backward CW are good

September 12, 2006

7:11p well, it was bound to happen.
Today I caught my toepick while working on edges. I think I skidded about 3 feet on the ice. Great fun.

It turns out that Sue will be our permanent instructor. This makes me very very happy. She is great. Today we started with stroking, and man, I'm slow. I do think I'm using the blade correctly though. Then we went to three turns and my inside ones are better than my outside ones. Which is weird. I used to be able to do outside ones. Repeating "forward on the middle of the blade, backward on the front of the blade" greatly increases my chance of actually turning. I think I am scrapping the very front of the toe pick on the ice though, which isn't good.

My backward edges are sort of coming along, which is nice. My backward crossovers need work, A LOT of work going CCW.

My lunge is apparently not horrible, but my shoot the duck is. Which is okay, since STD (heh) is optional. I don't want a STD anyway. Of course when I get to a sit spin (HAHAHA!) maybe I will.

My bunny hops were looking really good until I realized there was a problem. I was jumping with the right foot picking into the ice. Because I spin CW, my left foot needs to go in the ice. Now the bunny hops are really really bad. I knew this would happen. I am very right dominant. I have no idea how I am going to make my left side work. I really wish I could spin CCW, but I really tried to learn to, and it didn't work.

My forward edges were good and my arms more fluid.

We didn't get a chance to work on spins, which was a little disappointing.

I might have to give up my practice time- so I will just have the 30 minute lesson once a week. A great work opportunity presented itself, and I might be working 60+ hour weeks until November. But hopefully it will be worth it, because at least then I can afford ice.

My entire left side (which took the brunt of the fall) hurts. Especially my hip and lower arm.

September 6th, 2006

6:30a Ice Skating Lesson
Lessons always seem to go better than practice. Maybe it's because I am comparing myself to a bunch of 8 year olds who can do one footed spins, but can't hold an edge, rather than to myself.

Anyway, last nights class was taught by Sue, the program director, instead of our regular teacher. I think her years of experiene really added to the control of the class. The girls still goofed off quite a bit, but they didn't talk as much, so it didn't really bother me.

We started off working on the arms you hold for semi-circle edges. We had the option of doing the semi-circles on two feet, but I went ahead and practiced edges. They aren't terrible, but aren't deep- and the outsides need a lot of work. My arms lack any flow. The idea was to be changing the arm as you rounded the end of each semi circle. You'd think with dance that wouldn't be tough, but man am I stiff on the ice.

Then we worked on actual edges and I was complimented on mine. I think it was a compliment because I was the only one who had noticeable edges, not because they were good though.

Then we worked on 3 turns. I don't know if ISI teaches them different, or if I just didn't understand them, but they seem so much different. It might just be because I don't hold the backwards edge long enough to see a 3, but in my USFSA classes we made a very short, distinct 3, and here we make a curve as long as our bodies (I think it should be in proportion to your blade length, not your height. I've got tiny feet!) and then turn, and then I guess the idea is to keep that, but no one in my level does. Anyhow I worked on inside and outside, and oddly enough did better on the outside ones. Then we did consecutive 3 turns, not twizzles, but step do it again ones in a circle, and that got me good and dizzy.

I don't know if my lunge looks and better, but I feel like it's better. I need someone to take a picture, I'm sure I'm not close to the ice, but I've figured out how to get the back foot to drag, as well as how to rise and dip with my body straight. I can't get my back knee to the ground, but I was told that was optional.

We worked on bunny hops again and I think they are so much fun. I might not be doing them right though. I know I don't start with my picking foot behind me, so that "swing" is wrong. Logic tells me that swinging my legs around on the ice is a bad idea. Go away logic, go away.

Then we did this exercise where we swizzled in a circle and held out back outside landing edge, as if we had jumped- to show us how important jumps were. My outside edge always turned to an inside edge. Then I realized something. If I turn CW, I have to jump CW, and we were basing this on being CCW. So I asked her if I should be going the other way, and after the shock of me not being a lefty, just being incapable of going CCW, she told me yes. And guess what. Not only are my backcrossover stronger going that way, but I can hold the "landing edge" on that side too. Guess I am a CW skater. This is bad news for synchro, and I WILL have to learn the other edge, but I'm excited to at least know I'm balanced on the one side.

Anyhow- lesson=good, practice=bad. I kind of hope Sue teaches us again.

August 29, 2006

Skating Lesson deux
So the first thing I find out is that the rink will soon be switching to USFSA. I'm happy about this. But now that I've wasted a whole session in Delta, I'll be starting probably basic 5. (Maybe I can get to Basic 6) but if I don't get to basic 6, I'm considering this a waste, since I passed Basic 4 quite awhile ago, and passed Adult 2, which covers a lot of 5.

Anyhow, the classes with kids thing is not to my liking. It worked really well for ballet. I don't like it for ice skating. I have been kicked multiple times. Run into multiple times. It's annoying. They don't pay attention to what they are doing. They spend half the class saying "I can't believe your 24" and ignoring the teacher.

Anyhow, I love/hate my new skates. Love them because I can finally spin. I got about 6 revolutions (including a bit of a bending/recovering oopsie) on a 2 footed spin. Bad news is that it was going clockwise. I just cannot go counter clockwise. Hate them because I no longer have 3 turns.

My edges were better. Inside edges are great. Outside edges are there, but I keep slipping on the top of the curve on the right outside, the instructor said my blades are probably dull, but they have less than an hour of skate time since they were sharpened. And Sergei was the one I was recommended to have them sharpened by.

The lesson was okay. We started out with shoot the duck. My dip isn't good. You can image what my shoot the duck looks like. Besides the fact that I'm not close to the ice, I think I have too much forward lean, but I am gliding with my foot in front of me. That counts? No, it doesn't? Aww, you're no fun.

Then we did spirals. I can't do these as well as in my old skates. I miss my old skates.

Then we did outside edges, and I got a "great job" but I think it was just a great job in comparision with the straight lines the other girls were skating. I think learning these on a circle, rather than making half circles might be a big factor.

Then we did outside edges. Another great job. But these were pretty good.

Then we did bunny hops. I think I did this better here than I did in Troy. I think it's because I have a toe pick now :) I still don't have much attack, but it went okay.

Then came 2 footed spins. YAY. I like spinning. One of the girls told me "you spin fast even though you look like a robot" hehe.

The instructor had to leave 5 minutes early (are you kidding? That's 1/6 of the lesson) so we had practice time. I practiced backwards crossovers- even the bad side. The good side is getting back to good. The bad side, I can't hold the edge of the "still" foot. It just won't go there. I also practiced forward crossovers. On the new skates, those aren't too great. Kind of weird.

One of the moms was not pleased about the instructor leaving early, so I think the director is going to cover the last 5 minutes. Good idea, seeing as how I was the only one practicing still. The other girls were just goofing off. But they are 8, that's what they do.

My feet were completely numb when I finished, and in a lot of pain when I took the boots off, but they don't hurt while I skate. So I can get about 30 minutes now. I really hope that number goes up.

Well, 6 more to go.

August 22, 2006

First skating lesson in Iowa
YAY! Skating lessons. I am a Delta- which I was kind of nervous about- the new skates have rendered me PreAlpha :) I was also nervous everyone would be four years old. I was close. The closest to my age is 9. Well that's not true. She's 22- our instructor.

I'm okay with an instructor younger than me, because she's been skating 10 years longer than me. That's the number that matters.

First my skates- they still aren't great. I didn't get to skate again before today, so it's only my 3rd skate in them (4th?). They are still quite tight, and I have a few pressure points, but they aren't painful. By the end of the half hour, I couldn't feel my right foot, but it never went through a "holy moly pain" stage. I still can't stop on them, but am slowly getting things back. My 3 turns are rudimentary, my backwards crossovers those of someone who has learned them but can't do them. So neither is where it was, but I am confident it will get there.

I'm not sure how much I will get from the lessons, but I am sure I will be able to pull something. I forgot how much of lessons with kids is run before we walk. We did some 3 turns and she saw that the kids had no control of their edges at all. So we practiced edges (YAY me- except the RFO which was a little wonky, I still have all my forward edges)- during which all the kids would do 1 footed turns on the tip of their semicircle. Impressive, but almost none of them could hold the edge.

Then we did a combo- 4 fwd strokes, lunge, spiral. For the most part the rest of the class did, push off from the wall, really good lunge, eh spiral. I've never done a lunge before, so I didn't get that- but I got the fwd stroking. In my opinion a perfect lunge isn't going to get you anywhere if you can't stroke and push off your toepicks.

The other reason I'm not sure how much I will get is because, as an adult, I listen when the instructor is speaking or demonstrating. Most of the girls just either goof off, or practice what she is demonstrating, without really listening. So I am skating signifigantly less during that 30 minutes. But I think it will be more beneficial to listen, so I know what to practice on my own time.

This is going to be very different from my very analytical adult lessons- but we'll see how it goes :)
I definetly am glad I did not join the adult class. Stephanie told me last session they could barely get them off the walls. This class will take patience to go to, but it is at my level.

The best part is, even though they raised the price, 8 30 minute lessons, 8 public skate session admissions (usually $5.25), and 3 (probably go unused) guest passes are all only $90. That's a pretty good price to me.

July 6, 2006

July 3 lesson recap
Not sure if I ever wrote a report of the last lesson I had at Troy.
Well first, we earned the patches for Adult 2 (earned them the first lesson) and they actually gave us the patch! I feel like such a dork but I wish I had gotten them from Kettering instead of the certificate. I wonder if there is anyway to just get the patches I’ve passed (I’ve officially passed Basic 3 and 4. I’ve unofficially –in a private lesson real quick- passed Basic 1 and 2, and kind of Adult 1 also). But the patch is really pretty... I wonder if I’ll get ISI patches. I still need to figure out which level I will be, I have a huge mix of skills for what they teach.

So anyhow- lesson. We started off getting on the ice 15 minutes early because they didn’t cut new ice. That gave me time to practice stroking around the rink, do 3 turns, a couple mohawks, some spirals. It was all great fun. The best part is that I wore a skating skirt. Skating in a tiny little skirt, beige tights and white skates really makes you feel like a skater. It was amazing. I probably looked stupid but I am sold on skating skirts.

Anyhow our coach was 10 minutes late so by the time he got in we had been skating for 25 minutes. Then he asked us to start a quick warm up. What have we been doing for the past 25 minutes? Anyhow the warm up was straight skating with crossovers on the corners for the half rink. I decided to actually do proper stroking and it’s amazing the kind of speed you get. A few other people did that too, but it amazed me that the majority of the class just kind of skated around. We are in lessons, and it’s been covered that this is the “right” way to skate forward- why would you continue to push off your toepicks like a public session skater? Anyhow while we were skating the instructor came up to me and went “oooh she’s in a skating skirt” which really annoyed me. He was a great coach, but didn’t strike me as a very nice person. I was probably just being too touchy because I couldn’t seem to do anything good enough to get a compliment the entire session.

So then we worked on all the things we had done before, waltz jumps, stroking, backwards snowplows, pivots, two foot spins. Everything is getting stronger- nothing is good yet. We also learned t-stops which was different than I expected. I thought you set your foot down and stopped- no skid. I had so so so much trouble being on my outside edge. I only even tried the right side and eventually did it once or twice.

Then we moved on to mohawks. My left to right is consistent and occasionally actually pretty. My right to left is just not good. That was actually the first thing I was complimented on the whole session, which is crazy because it’s BAD. I place my foot behind me and worst of all, if I’m not doing it from a standstill I get confused which way I’m supposed to be going. We did these for about 15 minutes, and I alternated them with FO3s because that many mohawks in a row when they are either working well, or just not working gets old. But I was successful on my bad side a few times.

I talked to one of the instructors about arranging a private lesson to go over the ISI skills in Beta that I don’t know so I can start in Gamma, but summer ice is expensive so it would be way too much plus the time off work and the drive. I don’t have my new skates yet, so I decided it wasn’t going to be worth it. I called Rainbo and the skates got there last Thursday, but they still hadn’t processed the exchange yesterday. If they haven’t been shipped by tomorrow evening I’m going to call and ask them to hold them until I move. I cannot believe I am moving in less than a week- or that I have the good fortune of being walking distance to a rink.

June 20, 2006

3:58p

I can crossover- backwards! I have never ever had such an awesome time skating. It started off looking not so good. There is a pee-wee hockey class, and then a hockey power class on the rink before the learn to skate session, and the ice was torn up big time- but for some reason, unlike last week, they didn’t cut new ice. EEK! We did, however, get to be on the ice 20 minutes early. So I spent those 20 minutes doing some stroking, a couple pivots and working on 3 turns. Then a woman called us together, explained that our instructor from last week was not there and she would be teaching. She was very soft spoken and hard to hear. She lined us at the wall and had us stroke the width of the rink, so she could see where we are at. It’s tough to stroke the width of the rink and have good extension. I got maybe 4 strokes in before I was at the end. After doing that, we worked on the circle- all 8 of us on one circle- my goodness it was a HUGE traffic jam. The class is pretty mixed level so I felt like I couldn’t move at all. We did forward crossovers, which I can do well on my right side and okay on my left side, but I still need to practice, and then did forward pumps. The pumps were especially hard because they get me moving fast, but the people in front of me weren’t moving fast. Oh well, got to share the space. Then we moved onto backwards things. We started by trying to hold back edges. Eek. We set up by doing 3 swizzles, a 2 foot glide and then hold the outside edge, then we repeated for inside. Back outside edges appear to be easier than back inside edges, and the opposite true for forward. I wonder if that’s true for other people. While I can generally hold my forward edges for a long time, I had trouble holding these for more than a few seconds at a time, I certainly couldn’t hold them consistently enough to glide around the circle. Then we went to the wall and talked about how to be on the proper edges for backwards crossovers, and got paired into partners. Our partners held our arm while we did back crossovers to steady us. I was scrapping my toe pick a bit, and really watching the ice (and watching for blades on the ice behind me to some extent, but I wasn’t looking over my shoulder- oops) but I picked these up pretty quickly. Then I helped my partner. I loved doing backwards crossovers. They almost immediately came together for me. The left side was not as smooth as the right but I had anticipated so much trouble with these because of the trouble I had adjusting to swizzling to my toe instead of my heel- but apparently that prep worked. With just 10 minutes left in the class the instructor wanted to teach us something fun. She had a young adult skater demonstrate a spiral and then told us we could do this, first by just lifting our foot to calf height behind us and getting used to gliding on one foot. Then she etched out the ‘banana’ position with her foot on the ice and told us a bit about how our body should be and left us to practice. Psssh. I’ve glided on one foot before. So since she set us to practice on our own I went ahead to a waist high arabesque, gliding on a flat- obviously. I’m proud to say my (flat) spiral on ice is as good as my arabesque in ballet. Unfortunately that doesn’t say much. But the instructor did give me a little clap and say “you must have done this before” Nope- and I’m surprised I didn’t fall on my butt. So I did more of these, and now because a spiral is so much fun I’m really going to have to work on my flexibility. I tried to practice a few times gliding on my left foot, but I can’t get my leg as high on that side so it’s not as much fun, but my left foot is my weaker skating foot, so I need to make sure to give it equal practice time. Then we had 20 more minutes to practice on our own. I tried forward pivots (closer to doing one than last week), more spirals (weeee!), forward crossovers, forward outside 3 turns (these are still very small but I rarely put my foot down anymore) and more crossovers. We had another instructor ask us if we had any questions and I asked her if I was doing the crossovers correctly before I kept practicing wrong. She looked at them, corrected my arm and shoulder position (so now I physically can’t look at the ice if my shoulders are correct) and told me I looked great. Then she helped other people while I practice (having them step one foot over the other at the wall) when they moved back to the circle, I moved to the outside of the circle so I wouldn’t hit anyone- problem with crossovers is I get going really fast- and my only backwards stop is a snowplow which I can’t do very efficiently at speed, so once I get going really fast I wobble and then I have to figure out how to stop. The instructor came back over to me and said I was ready to learn the next part of crossovers, so she explained to me how the second foot pushed (we had just been pushing with the first foot) and how to pull the blade of the other foot. So I did that, and wow adding that push some how makes you center your feet correctly so you don’t drag your toe pick. Anyway I left the rink feeling like a star. I’m so so so proud of myself. (3 Comments | Comment on this)

7:31p

Nervous about new skates Well, I ordered skates and now I am having second thoughts: First off, I ordered size 3W Riedell 300 Gold Medallion skates with a Club 2000 blade (stock blade). It cost $250, plus $20 shipping and they threw the sharpening in for me. That’s what I planned to spend on the Competitor but the blade it came with is a slightly better stock blade. So now my issues that are making me worry I made the wrong choice (and something to refute them, because I am probably worrying needlessly): -I didn’t try them on ahead of time. (There is no where in southern Ohio that seems to stock my size anyway, so I would have had to guess at a store too) -None of the Reidells I tried on in the store were comfortable. (They weren’t the right size, of course they weren’t comfortable) -I really wanted the Jackson Competitor because it was a better deal. (But the price was the same. Get over it. Reidell is a great brand) -The people at sports plus didn’t think I was a wide. (The people at sports plus generally proved to be idiots) -I might have measured my foot wrong so the woman at rainbo might be wrong about me being a wide (uh....) Now the reason I didn’t get the Jackson Competitor is that the 3.5 wide is not in stock at Rainbo or the Jackson warehouse in Canada. But I’m not really sure I needed the wide. The 3.5 I tried on in Cincinnati fit well, but maybe I just thought it did? Is it possible to be wrong about things fitting well? It’s hard to tell if skates fit well because they are supposed to fit tight. Because if I could have gotten that skate, I’m going to cry. It was $250 for the boot and a protégé blade. The blade normally sells for $150 and the boot for $200. That was a great deal. Why didn’t I buy the freaking skate. I didn’t buy it because I thought I should wear the 3. But rainbo sports suggested the 3.5. So if I was right about the 3, then the boot I just bought is also going to be too big. So now I’m worried the skate I just spent a ton of money on (but not compared to quad figure skates) is going to be too wide, too stiff, or too big. If the boot doesn’t fit, I can always return it- but that costs $20 shipping both ways. Maybe if I exchange it I don’t have to pay postage to get it back again. Still, double shipping though. Why is this so stressful?

June 15, 2006

4:56p

So good to be on the ice again
I started lessons at Hobart Arena in Troy this Monday. My instructor is Glen (I think) and he is quite a character. Very fun, and seems like a very good skater and teacher.

The session is just Adult LTS. They divided us into 3 groups: Never skated before, Learning to Skate, and Good Skater. I was in the middle group. We would be working on Adult 2, and he read a list of skills and asked if anyone had done them before. I raised my hand and told him I had passed everything but the chasses (which actually aren’t adult 2) and he asked me if I wanted to move up, and as the class above me took off into beautiful sit spins I told him that I’d be alright with a refresher to improve my basics.

There were 8 people in the class. One a former child skater who had been off the ice for years. She was surprisingly uncoordinated- but had new skates. I’ll assume that was why. There were two girls in denim skirts, tights, and the flimsyist skates I have ever seen. There was no structure to the leather and they had their laces tied around their ankles. I’m surprised the instructor didn’t have them retie- the skirts were an interesting choice for a sport where people often fall. Kathleen from Kettering lessons was there as well and it was great to see her, and some other people

We started with forward stroking. I still feel stupid holding my arms out because it seems like no one else does it. But maybe no one else wants to be a good skater? Or maybe they just don’t care. Either way, I feel stupid. My stroking goes well, and from the edge. I’m not twisting my torso, but I probably am bobbing up and down. I have terrible knee bend.

As we are stroking the Never Skated class took the ice. One man in hockey skates could barely go 2 feet without falling, getting up, falling. I felt badly for him. The instructor retied his skates and he was able to go a bit further- he said he had truly never been on ice before. By the end of the evening he was going across the width of the ice on his own.

After stroking we moved to backwards glides on one foot. I am SO happy with this one. I was able to glide well on both of my feet. I am still taking a bit of an edge on my left foot when I’ve glided for awhile, but not as badly as before. Glen had us hold our foot to our knee while gliding instead of to our heel. Maybe the ballet like position helped me keep my balance? During these I also practice back snowplow stops and did very well on the right side, and okay on the left side (which is interesting since I can’t do a left snowplow stop at all). Those are on the Adult 2 curriculum but as a class we never did them.

We then moved to the circles for forward crossovers. Before we went to the circles Glen had us walk sideways placing our foot over the other and then moving them back together. The exercise went well on my right side and a bit bumpy on the left. Then he showed us how to do a crossover- and then showed us how we would be doing them in the perfect imitation of someone learning crossovers and jolting between each step. My right crossovers are good, and my left ones are getting better. I still don’t have a deep cross. During the crossovers I was told I really need to work on my kneebend.

“You are too good of a skater to not bend your knees.” Oops.

That comment made me wonder how long he thought I had been skating. I have about 10 hours.

Then we worked on forward pivots. Those were miserable. I can do backwards ones for a few revolutions, but can’t get around forward at all. I just don’t get it. I have my pick into the ice, my hip turned out, then I swizzle my foot and STOP. I have got to work on these.

Then we went to 2 footed turns on a circle. He took the goal half-circle and drew an arrow for us to turn on. My counter clockwise one was good, but my feet weren’t perfectly together (are they supposed to be?) and I didn’t glide out of it as well as I would have liked. My clockwise one was probably the best I’ve done. Good kneebend, quick turn at speed, and then kept gliding exactly on the circle. Coaches response “Yeah, whatever” Everyone else had a lot of trouble with these, although most people did end up turned around someway or another.

We then went to backward ½ swizzle pumps on a circle. No problems here except I go too fast to share a circle with people just learning them. And it’s probably a bad thing, but I really am not too sure of how to make them much slower. I feel like writing this it sounds like I think I am some incredible skater who is better than everyone else, but really I don’t. I do, however, think that this particular class was review for me, and I was the best one in the class. I don’t think I was doing anything extremely well (especially not bending my knees).

Forward edges on a circle were great. I can hold all 4 edges for at least ½ of a rotation and can hold the clockwise edges ¾ of one!

The last thing we did was forward chasses. If anyone is still reading this entry and knows about dance, are chasses really just a stroke with one foot and then pick the other foot up? That seems way to simple. Anyway- those went without a hitch.

At the end of the class he told us we would be starting Adult 3 next week (yay, new stuff) and that all of us had passed Adult 2 because we all performed the required skills. This was my only qualm. Clearly no one in the class had perfected EVERYTHING. (Um, my pivot?) There were some people who struggled with everything we did. But now we are moving on. I’m sure he will review, but why call it passed? How about just- we are going to add new skills? But I guess that’s how LTS is.

I am ordering skates from Rainbo Sports soon, and Glen is the guy Troy SC recommends to mount and sharpen blades, so I’m glad he’s my instructor. I’m also going to try to get 1, maybe 2 private lessons in July so I can get backward crossovers and a bunny hop before moving.

I’m so glad to be on the ice again.