ISI Competition! Monday, April 28th, 2008

Time	Event
8:59a	Competition report: Day 2 Sorry this is so long. Here's the funny part for those who won't read on. My supportive husband and his friends brought signs to hold up for me for synchro and interp. A "go Jessi" sign so that I couldn't disown them and a giant "D" and a cutout of a picket fence- like you see at football games. Goofy, but I was so glad they came. 2nd day of the competition had some ups and downs. Downs: Compulsory program. The compulsory elements were salchow, change foot spin, toe loop. It did NOT go well. My jumps were alright (they are never really good), but the change foot spin was not. I wasn't spinning very well in warm up, but I was doing the spin. Well, in the compulsory program I did an okay forward spin, then about half of a backspin, bobbled a bit, set my foot down, completed a revolution on 2 feet, then went back into my forward spin. It was horrible. Burton told me it was the worst one he's seen me do since I figured out how to do them (I imagine my very first attempts were actually worse). The only small concession is it did get called as a change foot spin, rather than a missed element. I did enough of it that it was just a really bad one. I got 2nd place, since I was competing against another girl. I probably would have gotten lower against the book. The small victory- as I came off the ice "Coach Jenny" from Capital Ice Academy in Des Moines told me "You have beautiful extension in your landing position." Well I'm doing something right I guess. Latin Program: It actually wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't good. I didn't lean in enough on our traveling circle at the beginning (which wasn't traveling at all...) and got flipped around momentarily to be moving forward, I got back to backward quicker than I normally do in practice though. Then in our breakout traveling circles from the S pinwheel we broke out funky, and had to dodge the other circle. I thought we were clear and went to pump and Jen and I had our blades collide. It was a LOUD click and a huge jolt. Courtenay said she hung onto me because she thought I'd stay up, but I ended up falling and breaking our circle. It was a pretty good fall though, and I managed to kind of slide in a trajectory so that even though my circle kept moving I was mostly able to get back up in the right place (plus they didn't move too much). We got back together for the next pass through though, so it wasn't a horrible fall. Then at the end, this wasn't so much MY mistake, as the team apparently just got lost in our last pass through- I don't pass and am on the end of the line, so I didn't really know it was happening. We still got a first place though, the books at this competition were easy to beat. Ups: Thriller: Program went fantastic. I judged the event immediately afterwards and the judges told me that they really liked that program- it was a real fun synchro program and it looked great. Then they made snide comments about how I managed to stay on my feet. :) I actually really love the Thriller program, but I think most of the team doesn't like it so much. They are crazy. The circle footwork went pretty well too. For some reason with the smaller group we do the tap toe hops much better than the large group. I did however go the entire season without hitting a back lunge :( Apparently we not only beat the book here, we also got a perfect score. Mostly it was just a lot of fun. Kevin, Amanda, and Erin came and watched the program- and they brought signs. A "D" and a "fence" (like a cutout fence) like you'd bring to football games, because they are big dorks, and a Go Jessi sign, so that I couldn't claim to not know them. I just really appreciated the support, and at least a few of the synchro girls thought it was funny. Interpretive: When I said I wanted to do this on skatingforums, someone told me it was a horrible event. Essentially they said they just got nervous and only did crossovers and maybe a spin. I have horrible nerves, so I laughed it off and said- but that was my plan! I convinced Courtenay to do the event with me and we called it our official "arm off" - neither of us has too many tricks, but emoting on ice we can do! We went to the locker room and the monitor played us a super fast "are you kidding me" music. It turns out she played the wrong one!!! The actual music we were skating to was a Gloria Estafan song that I now can't remember the name of. (Courtenay was appalled I didn't know it. But I was only 4 when she remembers it from! I missed some of the 80s). Anyhow it was slow and the perfect song for emoting on ice. The warm up went well, I did my back 3 turns, I warmed up all my jumps just in case I found myself in the entrance to one of them while I was skating (I can never tell what I'm about to do! I had no plan). I did my spins, though the lean over one wasn't going too well. Made a promise to myself that I WAS NOT to attempt a camel or a backspin, which are the things I practice the most now. Warmed up my forward 3- outside 3-forward 3 extension thingy I've been wanting to do. Then went back to being sequestered while the first person skated. Then I was pulled out, gave Courtenay a big high 5 as she took the ice, and faced away while I listened to the music one last time. (I wish I could have seen her skate. I want to know what an inside slide chasse is, and she said she pulled off a jump!) Then it was my turn to take the ice. This was, without a doubt my FAVORITE event of the entire competition. I wish I had asked someone to tape me, because I have no recollection of what exactly I did. Lots of arms, that's for sure. I did a forward spiral to a backward spiral and Kevin told me they were both pretty high. I did a waltz jump toe tap, but then forgot to do the 2nd waltz jump. Kevin told me he could tell I was jumping. I did a good scratch spin (Kevin's comment when I asked if it was fast was diplomatic and nice: It was faster than I expected you to be able to spin.) I did a forward 3-backward 3 to an extension but didn't have the power to get the third one on there. I threw in a salchow when I realized I had only jumped once. I did another spin, but didn't center and traveled a ton- this was the one where I kept my leg out and tried to lean to the side. I only "learned" to do that Tuesday. Towards the very end, I kind of ran out of ideas, did a two foot spin and the music just ended (the song was repetitive and the cut odd, it was hard to tell when it stopped) and I managed to hit a pose maybe 1 or 2 counts late, so not too bad. But mostly I felt great, and Kevin said he didn't notice the 'deer in the headlights' moment I felt like I had towards the end when I ran out of things to do. It was an awesome awesome event. (And I placed first.) I'm so glad I did this- I wasn't nervous for it like my freeskate- and it actually turned out really well. It's my new favorite event. (Though the fast music might not have turned out quite so well- when we heard it I said "I can do it, but I'm gonna kill Burton." Thankfully it was for the high freestyle group, not the low one.) So I came home from the competition with all kinds of hardware: 4 first place medals and 2 second place medals. (Comment on this)
5:16p	This is my freeskate program from this weekend. The quality of the video isn't good, and I don't really know why. It's fine on the file I uploaded but looks bad on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N510cq8V94o I'm kicking myself for not asking someone to tape the interp.

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Time

Event

8:50p

ISI Synchro Nationals Just got home from synchro nationals. It was a fantastic time! Although I get frustrated with my skating a lot, i'm so glad I joined the team. We got into St. Louis Friday night, and had a quick team meeting. We had to be at the rink at 7:00 for practice ice at 8:00. I barely slept at all, which made the day get off to a rough start. I was incredibly nervous on friday, and had to force myself to eat Saturday morning. But once we were on practice ice, the nerves went away- thankfully it was not a test session repeat- those nerves were horrible. The practice ice was wonderful. We have never skated so well. It was thrilling to be able to do the programs that well. Our compulsory program was first. It was pretty quick after practice ice, so we got new gloves to wear, put on some 80s pink eyeshadow and lipstick and some hair glitter. Then we took the ice. We skated SO well. It was a fantastic program. I was SO excited getting off the ice, it just felt wonderful to skate like that. On ice awards was kind of a silly thing, it was impossible to tell what the announcer was saying. Anyhow, we placed first! Out of one :) But beating the book felt fantastic, because we've never skated it that well. After on ice awards (10:00) we were released until 3:00. A few of us went to Jack in the Box, then we just hung out the rink and watched other teams skate. At that point it was mostly teen teams, which was fanastic. It was a bit reassuring to watch GOOD teams still have crooked lines, and then it was amazing to watch the incredible tricks they did. Back lunge cross throughs were very popular, as were traveling pinwheels (straightline and three spoke). The BEST thing I saw wasn't a whole team event, but 2 featured skaters- the team did footwork in a line while 2 skaters did outside spread eagles around the outside of the lines (from opposite sides) then met in the middle where they leaned on each other until they joined the team. WOW. At 3:00 we met to do off ice for the latin program. That's when we found out that my dress, which seemed too long, really is too long. The dresses bought this year are clearly dance length, while the others are freestyle. (Mine comes to mid calf, older dresses are mid-thigh, maybe to the knee on the shorter girls) We had to go outside and it was cold and kind of spitting rain. Reminded me a lot of high school drill team. Then we came in and got our skates on. The long program had 6 teams compete and we were up first. It didn't go well. There were no falls, but just little mistakes everywhere. I broke out of our straightline going completely the wrong direction. I've never done that before and have no idea why I did. I was so mad at myself. (I also turned the wrong way in the first block, but I always do that- so it wasn't as frustrating, though it's yet another thing I did that affected the team). Anyhow we watched the rest of the flight and there were 2 teams that were FAR out of our league (I would assume they mostly skated as kids) and then 2 teams who were about our level. Both skated much cleaner programs (and both teams had traveling circles that actually traveled), but one of the teams was clearly better, and another we weren't sure about- their program looked slightly easier than ours, and most of the team thought they looked slower (our coach said that was about how we skate- apparently it just FEELS fast). Anyhow on ice awards came and they called 5th place and it wasn't us. The gasp just made me laugh. We placed fourth. I wonder if we skated clean if we'd have been able to get 3rd, but we definetly just beat ourselves for that one. The medal doesn't really make a difference, but it was frustrating to know that we didn't do as well as we could have. (Then again, we started this program in January- and I started it 6 weeks ago b/c of my injury) But the competition was tons of fun and I can't wait to do it again.

October 10th, 2006

7:43p I passed Delta with a note to work on my inside 3 turns.

Onto Basic 7/8 :)

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.