Summer Week 1 & 2

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in a month. Since school got out for summer I’ve basically lived at the rink. Between skating and working, I am here at least 40 hours every week. It’s been great, but I’m in bed most nights by 8 or 9pm. I get up early to prepare for skating or work and on non-skating days I work then head to physical therapy.

My moves are definitely improving and my coaches can see it, Coach T recommended I test in July, so in just a few weeks I will be testing my pre-bronze moves. I’m obviously hoping for a pass, but if I don’t, I can retake it in August. I am most worried about my left foot outside 3 turn in my waltz 8 and the second spiral in the pattern. Everything else is passable - barely. I’ve only been skating for about 6 months, so I know I’m ahead of the norm.

I have printed goal sheets in two week increments this summer, but I have already attained most of the goals from week 1 so right now I am just working harder on those moves. My summer goals? What a joke! Those included being fearless when learning the salchow and half-flip (done), improving on my crossovers (in the process of), less hammering/pre-rotating on the toe loop (done), learn a scratch spin from backwards crossovers (done), and back 3’s. The one thing on my list that I haven’t yet attempted are the back 3’s. But realistically, I need some new goals. Unfortunately, I don’t even know what’s up next on my “things to learn” because my coaches both don’t go in order of the USFS curriculum guides. So I wait. And wait. And wait some more, until they introduce me to some new skills.

I already find myself bored during my open skate practices, I want something new to really challenge me. I want one of my coaches to introduce it so that I don’t practice it incorrectly over and over. Hopefully, I’ll have something more interesting as week 3 rolls around. For now, happy skating!

Waltz Jump-Toe Loop? How? ... I Need New Summer Goals

There’s a good chance I am going to have to re-write my summer goals...I haven’t yet published them to the blog but it’s clear that I am going to achieve them considering that in the last two lessons I have learned two of the skills on my list. There’s always room for improvement in this sport, I don’t think perfection can ever be achieved, I just want to learn as many new skills as I can this summer because I won’t have as much skating time during the year.

I attended my last learn to skate lesson today at the other rink, it was a makeup class so I didn’t know the group that I was skating with. The coach asked me what I was working on, but I didn’t want to be a bother so I asked what the other skaters were working on, I figured I could work with one of the groups. Fortunately there were several levels of skaters so I could choose if I wanted to work on mediocre skills that need improvement (like the dreaded crossovers) or I could work with the youngest skater on more difficult skills like spirals, jumps, and spins. I chose the latter.

Though my basic skills need improvement, I have found that they look much better now that I’ve learned more challenging skills. For example my three turns have become consistent because I use them for my jumps. Consecutive edges have helped me skate deeper into my edges for power pulls and swing rolls. I decided to work with the young girl because I wanted to be challenged, and sure enough I was challenged. She was working on freestyle 2 and I am more comfortable in freestyle 1 (but I have learned a few of the skills in 2).

We began working on spirals then moved on to backwards consecutive edges. Since it was test day I asked the coach to test me on my edges, they are on my pre-bronze test and I needed the “pressure” for practice. She passed both my insides and outsides, which was shocking because my insides totally suck. I think the pressure helped, haha! Next we did spins, she said that I spun really quickly but needed to pull my arms in at the same time for even more speed and control. Finally we worked on jumps. I showed her my waltz from backwards crossovers, the half-flip (which I haven’t actually worked on with a coach yet), and my toe loop. I was surprised when she told me the half flip was correct (I need to end on an inside edge instead of an outside edge), my coach showed me this one time at the end of practice and I’ve just made myself practice it so that it isn’t miserable when I am working on it with her.

We still had a couple minutes left of class and the younger girl needed to do a watlz jump-toe loop. Coach asked if I had done it yet and I said I hadn’t so she told me to give it a try. Hmmm…. I don’t know how I feel about that. I thought I’d be doing a combination jump by the end of summer not the beginning of summer! I tried it anyways and once I again I made (what seemed like) the impossible, possible. I got it on the second try, the first one was a fluke after I couldn’t even land the waltz properly.

So, sure enough my goal to land a combination jump before the end of summer skating happened before summer officially began. I need new goals. Crazier, more difficult goals. My updated summer goals will be posted later this week. Summer skating officially begins on June 20th, can this next week just fly by so I can live at the rink?

Hello there Sal!

I can’t believe that I worked on the Salchow today! I briefly mentioned to my coach that I had given it a try at practice on Monday and she was shocked, “Gina, you were so scared to jump at first, I’m so proud of you for trying.” I showed her what I had tried on the ground before getting my skates on and she said it was pretty close.

We started the private lesson with some stroking and forward crossovers on the ends and worked our way through the pre-bronze test. Coach says I am ready to test this summer so I am really excited about that. Every one of my practice sessions now starts with the test as my warm up.

Next she asked to see my waltz jump from backwards crossovers, she said it looked good (if you skate you know these comments are far and few in between so I was pleased with myself). Then we worked on the toe loop, which Coach T also said looked better after a few tries. And finally she asked me to see Mr. Sal. As I briefly stated before I had given this a try on my own during practice so I wasn’t exactly nervous to jump, more so just nervous to show my coach. I asked her to show it to me first, but she wouldn’t do it, she said she wanted to see what I thought it looked like first. So I gave it my best shot and looked up at her with a question mark on my face, was that it? “Sort of, not bad for doing it on your own.”

I was smiling my way throughout the entire session. When coach said we would be working on jumps I was so relieved. After working on my program for the last month I felt excited to finally be working on something new. My Salchow isn’t nearly a Salchow, it’s more like a half-Salchow, too bad that jump doesn’t exist. Nevertheless, it’s going to look much better by the end of the summer.

After my private lesson, I headed over to adult public skate. I skated my heart out, beginning with the pre-bronze test and on to jumps and swing rolls (forward and  backward). An hour later the session ended and I got off to give my feet a break before getting on the second session of open skate. I had an incredible skating morning thus far, why I couldn’t just head home after? I don’t know, but I was about to pay the price for my obsession. Just 10 minutes after being on the ice I fell on my left knee and could barely get up. After my friend begged me to get off the ice I got off and began to ice it thinking that I could just get back on after icing it for a bit. Twenty minutes later I could barely bend my leg, I knew then that it was time to head home.

After icing in 20 minute segments this entire afternoon and evening I feel much better. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I will feel even better. I am excited for skating this summer, though I know there will be more falls I also know I’ll just have to learn to get through it as I have in the past. I felt like the fall today almost broke me. For a half second, I actually second guessed continuing on with this sport. But it brings me too much joy to just quit because of a careless fall. A summer at the rink is so close I can taste it, just 10 more days!  

First Skating Competition

I cannot believe that I skated in my first competition today! A childhood dream come true. Though I didn’t nail every move, I tried my best and really enjoyed performing in front of the judges, my family, and friends. Going into this, I was so over competitions. I worked this program for about a month straight and didn’t learn many new things, just worked on perfecting what I’ve learned thus far in my journey...a perfectionist's’ dream come true, right? I am not a perfectionist. I want to learn new things and clean up my moves along the way. By the end of this last week I had reached a point of boredom. Ask me to do my program one more time. I dare you.

Nerves? What are those? Before the first day of school or a new job I rarely get any sleep, so I just assumed it would be the same before my first competition, but I happened to sleep like a baby last night. I woke up ready to go! I spent some of my morning stretching and warming up and then I went to get a relaxing manicure before heading home to get dressed. When I got to the rink I thought the nerves would kick in, but surprisingly nothing. I was calm as can be. My mom on the other hand... she was more nervous than I was! After seeing a skater my age fall on her knees, she got even more nervous!

It was my turn to warm up on the ice with the two other adult skaters, I had the opportunity to  skate my entire program and fix a couple elements, so I was confident when judging time came. I was first after warming up, lucky me! I got out there, smiled at the judges and made my way to the starting position. Though it wasn’t my best skating, it was my first competition and I am so happy with the results, after all I didn’t fall and make a fool of myself in front of family and friends #goals (I'll see if I can get a video up soon). Got myself a nice first place medal too, funny how that works when there’s no one competing in your level, haha! Hopefully next time I’ll have some actual competition.

Quick shout out to my readers: Thank you for supporting this blog and my skating endeavors, I wouldn’t keep this up if I didn’t have any readers so thank you for being one of them. You da best!

5 Month Skate-versary

I’ve been skating for five months, wahhhh???? Here’s what I’ve been working on:

1. My Program: Most of my practice time has been spent working on the elements in my program and stringing them together more smoothly.
1. Emotion - I really like to look at the ice as most beginner skaters do and I look glum during my performance. I need to work on looking up more and showing the judges that I am excited for my performance.
2. Grand Arm Gestures - I have been working on arm movements and making them more grand (noticeable from afar). I can do this by breathing in with each movement  and lifting up my head instead of looking towards the ground.
3. Forward Crossovers - Taking a stronger push and holding the cross instead of flicking my foot (I joke and call it a “swish and flick” now, Harry Potter reference).
4. 3 Turns - Holding the turn in the beginning and end instead of doing it very quickly and barely making it back to the lines.
5. 1 Foot Turn - Remembering to check out after my one foot spin
2. Pre-Bronze Elements - This is the warm up to all my practices and lessons now. I don’t want to rush into the test because I do want to pass it on my first try. So, I have decided to just make it my warm up for the next two months, then I can perfect the moves slowly and not worry about rushing it.
3. Jumps
1. Bunny Hop - Right one is okay, I can do 4-5 in a row if I’m really into it. Left foot barely exists and I hate it with a passion, but I make myself do it because I need to get used to using my left toe pick for the half flip.
2. Waltz Jump - This one is getting fun! I have been doing it consistently from backwards crossovers, it’s higher now and I get more distance than before. I have also taught myself to do two in a row with a side toe hop in between.
3. Toe - Loop - I am not a chicken anymore! I think that this jump - though small and inconsistent has made the most progress in the last month mostly because I have let go of the fear. During learn to skate this last session one of the other adult skaters broke it down for me and it just clicked.
4. Swing Rolls - Since I told Coach T (who is primarily a dance coach) that I wanted to learn a couple dances in the fall, she has worked with me more on swing rolls. This month I learned how to do inside swing rolls and I just started backwards swing rolls as well.
5. Power pulls - These actually have some pull to them now, they began as swiggly lines and have evolved to swiggly lines with a few real pulls in between. While listening to She, by Zayn, one day during practice I began doing backwards power pulls without even realizing it. I showed them to Coach T and we began working on them more seriously.  
6. Cross rolls - Are non-existent, a couple months ago I asked Coach T to show me these a because I saw some figure skaters doing them and thought they were really pretty. She started me off with a grapevine exercise where I weave my skates in and out of crosses, it was practically impossible, but I started practicing the exercise a couple weeks ago and was capable of doing it (It’s crazy how a time elapse will make a skill easier without actually working on it). A few practices later I began doing “cross rolls”, basically alternating crossovers without the push in between - this is apparently NOT  a cross roll. So naturally coach had me doing the right ones, while I held onto her with my life. So, I know the correct way, but can’t do it on my own...yet!
7. Mohawk Crosses - I do mohawk crosses down the line, these have gotten smaller and a little more controlled with less toe-scratching.
8. Consecutive 3 Turns - Insides are very controlled and “pretty” (I still miss a LI3 here and there). Outside consecutive 3’s need work, I can do the 3 turns, but I don’t step forward properly because I am not doing a strong check - which I need to do to make them look better!
9. Spins
1. Two Foot Spin - I am slowly starting to lose this spin, most people say once you get used to spinning on one foot you have a hard time doing it on two feet. I can get up to five rotations on a really good spin.
2. One Foot Spin - This has gotten much better in the last month! When I am sick, it’s hard (I’ve been sick the last week and my competition is in a week, yikes!). On a good push I can get myself to do 4-5 rotations, but usually I just barely get 3. I still have not started crossing my legs during the spin, right now it’s just lifted up. I have been working on lifting my leg higher.

I am still working on some other skills like stroking and crossovers, but these are the skills that I have really been focusing on this last month. I am really looking forward to this summer, the next report I will post will likely be at the end of the summer, by then I hope I have learned a couple new jumps, some step sequences, and maybe even a combination jump! I will post my summer 2016 goals in a couple weeks once the school year is over and then I can “live” at the rink!

Competition Is In Just 3 Days! AHHHH!

I can’t believe it’s already June! This (school) year has flown by and I have officially been skating for 5 months! My first competition is coming up this weekend, can you believe I am competing after such a short time on the ice? I don’t believe it and I am clearly unprepared for what’s ahead.

This past month has been program work month, I’ve hardly had a chance to learn new skills. I’m frustrated because I had made leaps and bounds of progress in the first 4 months of skating and then month five was a quick halt. Like hold the phone, we need to actually make these skills look decent all strung together in a program. Program logic: Take everything you’ve learned in the last four months and cram it into a minute and a half with music and choreography. That’s a nice joke.

While working through this program my coach mentioned that I could take my pre-bronze test after I compete, the first available testing date is in mid June, but I am not quite sure I want to take it on just yet. I’ve spent a month working on my program, so spending another month working on just moves might kill me. I want to learn new skills! Coach T showed me the half flip and Salchow in the last couple minutes of a private lesson about a month ago, she said they would be the next two jumps that I’d learn, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work on them because I’ve been working on my program.

I now understand why most adults just don’t do the whole competing and testing thing! They want to spend their time learning and practicing the skills they enjoy. I think I still want to test and compete, I just think that I should be more strategic about my timing. For example, I shouldn’t have scheduled my first competition during the school year when it’s difficult to find time to practice around my work schedule.

Since it’s the first of the month and I should be blogging my monthly progress I am going to do to it in a separate post, though I feel like I really haven’t learned much, argh!