When Coach Doesn't Show Up....

Teach class? Sure! At my last group lesson we didn’t have a coach for the first five to ten minutes of class. So, we all decided to start off with stroking and crossovers on the ends like we usually do. We did a few laps and then I asked the group if they were ready to switch sides. By this time, we finally had a coach show up. Side note: I love this rink, I like the staff, the coaches, but most importantly I love the ice. So, the fact that Coach B couldn’t make it today is one thing, but then she couldn’t find a sub so they were looking for someone to fill her spot at the last second and this played a big part in how the lesson followed.

In all of the adult classes that I have attended I have always had an adult coach who was able to accurately describe exactly how to do certain moves and how to fix my many mistakes. For this session we had an oh so young coach who didn’t know what our levels were and clearly didn’t have a ton of experience coaching. So naturally (I am a teacher in my other life) I decided to kind of take over...without overstepping of course!

I come to my lessons knowing what I need to work on. I no longer rely on the coaches at group lessons to come up with something new for me to learn because outside of class I am learning moves and jumps in freestyle (the usuals at the rink tell me I’ve outgrown group lessons, but I am trying to keep them up as long as I can because they are cheap compared to contract ice). For this reason, when asked, I told the coach that I needed to work on my consecutive edges. The others were about to start working on their crossovers (again, ugh don’t they get sick of these?), but when they heard I was going to work on edges a few of them followed me. Coach drew a line for us on the ground (that intersected with the circle - that became a problem because there were two others in class learning fxo’s there argh, but I digress). I started off with my backwards edges because they are weaker than my forward edges. One of the girls hadn’t yet been introduced to forward consecutive edges, but she wanted to try so I showed her how to do them and the other women followed suit. At this point the coach was still working with the beginner in the class so I decided it was time to work on my next skill that needed work, consecutive 3’s.

The other women who were practicing on the line continued with edges until they saw that I was doing something different. They asked me what I was working on and I said they were consecutive 3 turns down the line. I told them I had just learned them and didn’t know if what I was doing was correct, but they wanted to see what they looked like so I showed them and they followed suit again.

Next we did a few lines of power 3’s which they pretty much had a handle on, me not so much haha. While they continued working on those I headed to center circle to work on my one foot spin. This is the point in class when I noticed how little coaching experience she had. When sub coach finished working with the other student I asked her if she could help me count my rotations. I normally get between 1 and 2 rotations, if it’s a really good spin I get between 3 and 4 rotations (but that rarely happens!). Sub Coach said I got 3 rotations on the second try, I barely got one and a half in. I don’t know why she would say I got it when I know I didn’t. Either I can’t count or I am way too hard on myself.

Even though I didn’t fix a lot of skills today, it was a great class. I initially signed up for Wednesday nights so that I could just get some extra ice time and that’s exactly what I got today. I even got to run my program a few times before the Zamboni came on the ice. More than that however I got a little feel of what it would be like to coach. During the lesson one of the other adults asked the coach how to do a change of edge on a line and she didn’t explain it very well, so instead she asked to see how I did it and I explained it to the best of my ability. Then substitute asked me to do it again so that she and the others could see (this obviously makes me feel pretty great about what I’ve learned and how far I’ve come especially with the change of edge on a line. I’ve been working on getting that skill for a couple weeks now and during that lesson I was able to do it successfully several times in a row without stepping down).

I am starting to seriously consider coaching in the lower levels of learn to skate. Coach T says I am capable and my Coach C says I will be soon. I still don’t have a summer job, so I would really like to do it. How fun would it be to be at the rink and get paid to teach someone to skate? It’s not great money, but it should at least get me by this summer.

Ice Time is Precious

Today I made the decision to sign up for another Learn to Skate class in addition to my Friday private lessons. After spending more than  20 hours on the ice last week (4 of which were lesson hours) , I can’t help but think that an hour lesson per week is not sufficient. Every moment I have on the ice is precious.

Since I was considering the edge program, I had the opportunity to warm up with them. I basically went to show the adult instructor my practice book, but she had me put it down so that she could see where I was, haha! Too bad forward crossovers are my worst enemy. I am so glad I didn’t make a fool of myself. Had I not skated earlier in the day, I would have failed miserably.  They started with forward crossovers, turn on an outside 3, backwards crossovers, step forward, then forward crossovers in the other direction to backwards crossovers. I definitely got a little workout from it, they go fast! Finally they did a couple lunges and headed to their separate classes.

The big decision came moments later, I needed to decide between the edge program or the adult evening class. After speaking with the new adult instructor I decided to go with the adult class for a couple reasons. For one, I really don’t know how I feel about learning to skate with children. Also, the adult class doesn’t have as many students and two others are at approximately the same level as me so I can get stuff done.

Unfortunately, after the adult class I realized that it’s really just going to be an opportunity for me to practice skills I know. Group sessions have become expensive practice sessions for me. I am not quite sure how long I’ll afford this, but for now it’s okay since I work most days and cannot make it to public ice.

I didn’t learn anything new today, but my skills got better! We started off with stroking and crossovers on the ends, then we did forward and backwards crossovers. While doing the forward crossovers I learned that in order to keep my body in control I need to be looking in the center of the circle. Then for backwards crossovers, in order to keep my arm and shoulders in control I need to be looking back. This was new for me, so I do feel like the class was helpful. Next we worked on power 3’s which I desperately needed to practice and finally I suggested we work on mohawk crosses. After showing them to Coach D, she told me that my mohawks were wrong, I was making them to curvy and big. Once I made them smaller, they were a lot easier to control down the line.

Overall, I think it was a really great idea to add the Wednesday evening class. I think if my Friday private lessons were the only ones I would die a little inside...and on the ice. My Friday lessons don’t have practice ice before so I am fresh when working with my coach and for me that means inconsistency. It is definitely difficult to work on new skills a minute after stepping on the ice, but I digress. I’ll get through this session. Summer is almost here and then I will hopefully be able to skate my little heart out everyday.