My instructor told me about a local skating competition, so I decided to check it out.
I watched the junior ladies short program and the Adult level skaters (all were women). It was interesting to see the difference. The ladies short program had lots of double jumps, and their spirals were really good. One of the skaters had an absolutely effortless spiral and had her leg straight up in the air (think Sasha Cohen). Talk about flexible!!! And these girls looked like they had been skating their whole lives.
Watching the adults (2 gold, 2 bronze), I could tell they hadn't been skating since the age of 2, and some were a bit unsteady. But their programs were really good! Even if their elements were not perfect, I could tell that each and every one of them loved what they were doing. And everyone looked so elegant. It was nice to see a range of ages, and I even heard one kid yell "yay mom!!" after one skater had finished skating. I hope that could be me some day.
I observed some of the skaters and coaches, and I could sense some tension in the air. Not much different than when I competed in speech and debate in high school. Overall, the crowd was very supportive of the skaters, and I didn't see any backbiting like I had expected. I know this sport can be cutthroat at times!
I'm hooked, I'm sold, I'm starting lessons. Calling my soon-to-be coach this week. :)
Practicing:
3-turns (FO3s): I really like these, but I seem to be relying on my arms to make the turn. It almost looks like some karate chop martial arts move. Must use the lower body too!
BXO's: getting more comfortable with these, and can even alternate them down the rink. My instructor pointed out that I am not using my hips as much. yay! no more low back pain or ugly looking BXOs!
FXO's: these have relapsed. I can't seem to get my weight where it needs to be. I'm hesitating on that outside edge, which throws off the weight transfer.
Mohawks: R to L are scratchy, but happening. :)
FXOs-Mohawk-BXOs: learned this from my instructor and another skater at the rink. You do 3 FXOs, and immediate mohawk, and then 3 BXOs. I get too much speed with the crossovers and hesitate with the mohawk! I'm much better with mohawks at a slower speed.
Spins: finally used to the newly sharpened blades and spins are mostly back. I tried a one foot spin and can get one or two revs out of it. I thought it would be cool to try at put my head back like in a layback spin and WOW I got dizzy and disoriented.
I'm trying to teach myself a waltz jump, but I'm afraid of landing wrong and breaking my ankle! I can do a waltz jump off ice, and sorta do one on ice with out the jumping part. For my readers...how did you learn to do jumps???
Hopefully I'll start private lessons by next week!
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4 comments:
i actually taught myself the waltz jump. I learned it before the bunny hop actually. I was in ISI Gamma limbo (couldn't pass it due to the blasted 3 turns) and was itching to try something new. I didn't like lunges, so I said, I'll try the waltz jump. I spied some Freestyle 1 skaters trying it, and practiced off ice on my feet. Then i got brave and practiced on ice holding on to the railings...take off on the left LBO edge and land on the RBO edge. Then I dared myself to try it away from the railing, kinda just doing more of a step forward/mini hop kind of thing then bringing my free leg back. I did this every public skate until I became more confident, until I could actually do it from a glide forward.
So you can imagine my coach's surprise when I actually got to FS1, and I already had a waltz jump of sorts. I think it's that initial fear of falling flat on your face that we adults have to get over. From then, it is concentrating on height and speed (the more you bend before take off, the higher and more powerful the jump is). Good luck =)
Please wait on doing waltz jump until your coach can show you how! I'm positive you can do it, but, I'd hate for you to hurt yourself because you don't have proper instruction!
Regarding FO3s - I learned to do these by swinging my shoulders to initiate the turn, and it has hounded me ever since. You should be able to initate the turn with NO upper body movement. My coach sometimes has me do them with the body turned the wrong way altogether, to teach me to do them with just my lower body. Which is a long way of saying - do try to control the upper body, because this is a very bad habbit that will haunt you for years, if it become ingrained in muscle memory! Believe me, I speak from bitter experience!
3turn
I'm curious...how are your arms when you do the FO's? When they were teaching it to us, they had us have the same arm in front...so for a FFO3, we had the left arm in front and the right arm back. And before initiating the turn, they have us "check" and switch the arms, so lowering the left arm and raising the right arm. I guess this makes it easier when you are first starting out, not sure how though.... because the upper body doesn't really turn as anonymous describe, you still have to have your lower body initiate the turn for it to happen.
And as advanced, we moved away from that, and we now just do it with the opposite arm infront right away, and initiating the turn with the skating leg...
Welcome to my blog niuiceprincess! I will post up a link to your blog.
As for the waltz jump, I'll wait for a bit of instruction, but I'll definitely keep the tips in mind!!
FO3s: She taught me to put the same arm in the front, then switch arms (which I think helps to rotate the body), then bend the knee and do the 3-turn. I think this is called "pre-rotating" the 3-turn, or "checking." It helps me right now, but my instructor also emphasized that when I'm proficient at it, I won't even need the specific arm placements.
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