I went to the public skating session today at Steiner's to practice my backwards skating and forward pivot. There were a few other adult skaters on the ice, and then...dum da dum dum....came 20 very enegertic tykes on hockey skates, all under the age of 8. Yikes!!! They were skating and falling in every different direction and I almost tripped over a couple of them. I guess the rules of skating in a CCW direction around the perimeter did not apply. It was absolute chaos. LOL!!! Then things got scary because their advisors/chaperones/18-year olds in charge brought out two hockey pucks and were kicking them around across the rink with their skates!!! Now I had to make sure I didn't faceplant by tripping over a puck, and that I didn't severely lacerate a kid's head with my blades as i'm practicing leg extension on one-foot glides. It was short lived (I only put up with it for 20 minutes), and looking back, the chaos on the rink was just hillarious. Let's hope this was an isolated incident! Lesson learned from this: Always be aware of your surroundings when you skate!
Lesson today in Adult 2-3 was working more with the forward pivot and crossovers (CCW). I can now do three revolutions on a forward pivot, bring my leg in for a two-foot spin (wobbily!), and exit on a LBO edge, then skate forwards. It was glorious because I felt like I was putting more than one move together, and it was like a super-short program! yay! My instructor also told me to practice my spins a lot and that I'm already doing more advanced spinning. She encouraged me to keep it up and keep progressing. :)
Next week is our Adult 2 TEST. EEK!!! Just the word "test" raises my blood pressure. My instructor assured us that we've passed and that the test is more of a formality. She also pointed out that we have already completed part of Adult 3, so there are no problems with passing Adult 2. phew!
Oh! My edges are looking much better - thank you to all those who have helped me on and off the ice with this!
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6 comments:
Hi Kim
Found your blog though the link from Amanda's blog.
I too am an adult learning to skate - a bit older than you though at 41. Still I'll give anything a go. I'm currently on our level 5 although I am doing stuff from level 6 as I have just to pass my backward one foot glide on level 5.
Have a lot of trouble with the backward skating on one foot, i'm OK if its on two. Think is probably age and fear factor!
I shall be interested to see how we all get on. Incidentally I'm doing this because my 10 year old daughter persuaded me although she is way ahead of me now on level Silver. Kids pick thinks up so quick don't they.
Glad the tip helped with your outside edges!
I wouldn't worry about your test - if it is anything like the tests in the Skate UK Learn to Skate, it will be just like a normal lesson, only your teacher will tick off what you have done successfully. And like she says - you have already passed in all but name!
I never liked the USFSA adult curriculum (which it looks like Kim is under). It seems to assume that all adults want to do dance -- there are no jumps nor spins, and it doesn't seem to naturally flow into the standard Basic 8 curriculum.
Actually, following on from Gordon's comment, it would be interesting for me to see a copy or link to the curriculum for your course? I'm not very familiar with the programs "over the pond"!
I've posted the cirriculum in the sidebar to the left. There is also a like to the rink's website with the rest of the classes. Snowplow/Basic classes are for kids, and Freeskate is for all ages.
It's also posted here.
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