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June 19, 2001
I love it now that school is out! But my mom
still wants me to study for SAT's...in October! 
Anyway, I'll go when I can...maybe stay the whole day on
Tuesday and Thursday (my lesson day).
Anyway, I'm getting blisters on the inside of my ankles due to the
half-lutz practice (I'm bending my knees more than I usually am and the lace
hooks are digging in more than usual) but I'm surviving. Slapped some Band-Aids
on and hoped for the best - at least it hasn't popped or anything. My old
instructor told me to use a corn cushion so it wouldn't get hurt, so I'll try
that later on...
My half-lutz is flutzing less (and I'm getting around!), but it's
still kinda hard to tell, since they all feel basically flutzed to me, LOL.
Whenever I don't feel like flutzed at all, my shoulders get screwed up...argh! I
watched tapes of Todd Eldredge (and some of Michelle, although I know that her
lutz isn't the most technically perfect..) and he doesn't cross his picking foot
under the skating foot, though it's really behind. Michelle's foot is a tad more
to the side, but I'll work on getting the picking foot behind, as long as I
don't stab myself anymore, LOL..
I tried a new exercise with mohawks - FI mohawks to BO mohawks,
then crossover - going both ways, and they do feel a lot better! Just bored, LOL.
Waltz jumps travel a greater distance, though I still have to work
on getting the free leg straight and the arms to actually work...oh well...
But back crossovers were much improved! The rink wasn't totally
empty, but it wasn't crowded either, so I could practice going round the rink
backwards, LOL. It's feeling pretty good (cross under, cross under..),
though going CW is difficult since all of the hockey skaters are going the other
way!
Wanted to practice spinning some more, though something is going on
with my sinuses and I get dizzy just flipping my head over to brush my hair, LOL,
so that was scrapped for the session, though last time I was able to get 3
pretty centered two-foot spins out of the 10 or so I tried, LOL...One-foot has
not been the same since I got sick about a week ago. I cough a lot, so it must
scare some people - "Why is she out here and not wearing a sweatshirt when
she's hacking like that?" - but honestly, I feel perfectly fine; it's just
my throat that's messed up, LOL..
By the end of the session, I wanted to try something new, so I
attempted backward outside three-turns. Well, I turn on the rocker, but I'm not
able to keep the exit edge. Will work on it later, though I realized that I was
holding my shoulders absolutely wrong during it, LOL...
Also dabbled in the single toe-loop today, and did get all the way
around...I think. Well, I'm sure I don't cheat on the landing, LOL, but who
knows about the entrance? It's hard to tell. My landings are at a standstill,
but I mustered out a bit of runout but shifting to an outside edge and pressing
on the heel, LOL. I'm trying to pick in more forcefully, but still...baby steps!
Not bad for a first day of actually working on it. 
I fell on it twice; did hurt, though it was funny: I'm still more scared about
the half-lutz than the toe loop! Must be that darned outside edge! I still
refuse to flutz, though, LOL...
Anita
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June 15, 2001
My half-lutz is finally coming along! Yay!
The fear has gone down a lot, even when I stabbed myself in the boot with the
end of the other blade, LOL! It was like, "Yowch! What
was
that?" and then I realized what happened, LOL...I'm getting around quite
easily now, but the only problem is that I'm flutzing!
Just got to get that timing right...does the foot pick in behind the skating
foot a lot? (that's probably how I stabbed my skate, LOL..) I'm worried about
that, but maybe I'll grab some skating tapes and see what the elite do, LOL,
that's how I learn most of the time...The funny thing is, I
know
when I flutz - you can really feel the weight transfer. In the jump backs, I
don't flutz at all, but I guess I try too hard to put the rotation in. Oh well.
I can only do so much in one day, I suppose...It's kinda sad...I look at the
young'uns doing lutzes, and
all
of them are flutzed one way or another..
My last group instructor is weird, LOL, her lutzes are huge (and they're
actually lutzes!
) but her axel is tiny!
Actually all of her other jumps are huge, it's just the axel that's tiny, LOL...
Anyways, I worked on waltz jumps a lot too (now that I
love
that inside mohawk going into it, LOL!) and I still need to work on
"stepping up" into it, but at least I'm kicking through....kinda...it's
still fun though!
Tried to pivot two times around, and sometimes it worked, sometimes
it didn't, but my thighs got a really good workout!
Spins were not really there...but spirals are definitely improving! Now if only
I could stay on an edge, LOL...
Anita
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June 12, 2001
Worked on half-lutz for about half an hour today,
and I'm still having that &^#%$^% mind block on it! Argh!
My leg gets around sometimes, but my shoulders don't cooperate with me! After a
while I got so fed up, I just wanted to get up into the air with a lutz entrance
and turn 180 degrees! (Forget about the neat left toepick and right inside edge
landing, LOL...) Tried that and it actually kind of worked. Landed clunky and
ugly on two feet, but at least hopefully I won't get so scared about getting
around. I wasn't even checking if I was picking in the right spot or not.
Oh well. Once I get less scared of it, then I'll worry about the details, LOL...
It was pretty crowded (and a couple of high schoolers who were
obviously beginning skaters were going waaaay too fast for their control
level...
) so I didn't really get to practice back crossovers or anything...my waltz
jump was icky at first since my skate laces kept on getting loose!
But it got better as I went along. I noticed that my mohawk going into it was
feeling better, LOL...
Paid more attention to how I was doing my half-flip, and it felt a
lot better. Spins were icky because of all the snow, but at least I'm getting
okay with the one-foot part. It was funny; today my one-foot spin went better
going CW instead of CCW...oh well.
Something irked the heck out of me, and it might have added to the
already bad mood I was in because of the half-lutz. There was this girl who I
thought was just a beginner, since her strokes didn't look refined at all (and
her arms were going all over the place...) but soon enough I discovered that she
could spin pretty well, and could do a single flip and loop, but
my God she could not stop toepushing! Every crossover, every stroke she did
was a toepush!
It drove me
insane!!!!
I think people like her are the reason why I always work on edges, stroking,
and crossovers...
Anita
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June 11, 2001
Anyway, skated for about 2 hours today, and the
first 40 minutes, the rink was so busy and I was thinking, "What the hey!
It's only 2 PM!" but it turned out to be some sort of a party for a couple
of little kids. LOL it was so quiet when they left...only three skaters left on
the ice, including me!
Since I had a lot of room when it was empty (yikes, what a
difference!) I practiced my back crossovers...CW is getting there, but there's
still something funny going on the CCW side. I think I'm toe-pushing a little
bit (scraping the ice with my toepicks) and I improved on that as the session
went on....my strokes aren't that big but when I tried to make them bigger, my
balance fell apart, LOL...
Spirals are feeling less scary, but it's frustrating since I do
them just fine off-ice, but when I'm on the ice, they look
. Oh well...
Spins are also feeling better, and I'm feeling more comfortable
with the one-foot part. I'm not getting any more revolutions on it (since I
always slow down) but at least it's feeling more comfortable.
As they were cleaning the ice (YAY!!) I saw my class instructor and
asked her for help on the half-lutz. As she was warming up, I practiced my edges
some more, and they're definitely getting there (backward inside is still
another story, LOL..
). She wanted to see my half-flip first, and told me basically what I knew
already (I pick too far to the side and not far back enough) but I guess when
someone else tells you what you're doing wrong, you try harder to fix it, LOL.
She had me walk through the half-lutz a couple of times, and it did feel better.
Just got to get the shoulders going, LOL, and everything else is okay...
She also told me about the half loop (
not
the falling leaf..) and was getting me to walk through that, but it didn't
exactly work...
I can do the loop off-ice, but there's something about a jump you haven't done
before on-ice that makes it scary...
So with the time I had left (I had to be somewhere else later..) I
tried to fix the half-flip and it was definitely feeling better. Waltz jump is
fun to land when the ice is clean! Whee!
My friend wants to sign up for skating lessons too (I'm
brainwashing everybody! Mwahahahahahaha!!
) and I invited her to skate with me on Saturday, so that should be fun!
Anita
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June 7, 2001
Well, just had a practice that went pretty
well...Backward inside edges are improving (just need a tad more control, LOL...)
and I got around 3 times on the one-foot spin! (Well, two-foot to one-foot..) My
tracings were more circular than corkscrew, but after I get dizzy, everything's
called off, LOL. We tried doing crossovers into two-foot spins, and um, I don't
fall over!
I was talking to this boy who's a level higher than me, and he says that he
hates holding that backward inside edge because he's a guy, LOL!
I told him that most of the male skaters on TV don't bother with that; they
just three-turn into it. So now I think he's going to try that, LOL...
I'm feeling more secure in the half-flip, but half-lutz is another
story, LOL..tried to get my old instructor to show me how to do one, and she
said to kinda fling the shoulders around so you'll ensure a rotation. But when
she did one, it was really really flutzed, LOL....or maybe it was because we
were tight on space and she got freaked; I've seen her do single lutzes that
were good. I'll work on them when I have more space, LOL...
Anita
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June 1, 2001
Had my group lesson yesterday (perfect timing,
too, since yesterday was so HOT!!!) and we worked on edges, mostly. I'd say that
I'm pretty secure in them, except for the backward inside ones, LOL, gotta work
on them more...
Then it was waltz jump, and they definitely feel
"bigger," except I'm not using my arms a lot, and that's what the
instructor was trying to get me to do, LOL. She told me to hold my left arm in
front a little bit more on the landing, which confused me a little bit, cause
all the skaters on TV check their landings all right without doing that. But I
figured that as long as I pulled back the right shoulder, everything should be
okay, LOL...
In the practice afterwards, I tried to work on half-flip, although
my right ankle caved in all the time. I don't know whether to blame the boot or
my ankle, but hopefully it's not the boot, LOL...maybe I'm not picking in
straight, argh it...
Crossovers are feeling a ton better, and yesterday was one of those
days where I actually felt pretty fast! Or maybe it was everybody else on the
ice going slower than usual because it was crowded, LOL...
Anita
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May 27, 2001
The rink was surprisingly empty even though the
mall was pretty busy...everyone must've been shopping!
I decided to put my toe loop on hiatus for the moment, since I
looked at the FS elements and toe loop is in FS3 and I'm supposed to get the
half-lutz before then! Oops!
Try not to get too ahead of myself there. So I worked on half-lutz, and I think
the entrance is still scary, but I do get some semblance of height. However,
when I tried to put in that half-revolution, I never seemed to be rotating
enough and I had to swing my picking leg behind so I could land it facing
forwards. (Sounds stupid for a half-revolution jump, but I do a lot better just
going straight up and straight down. With something like the toe loop or flip,
it's a lot easier to rotate..
) I probably wasn't pulling in enough with the picking foot, but after a few
scary ones, I decided that it was enough for the day, LOL...I might wait until
we're actually doing it in the class so I can see what else I'm doing wrong. It
just feels really weird. I don't think I'm flutzing, although it's hard to tell
since the ice is pretty hard.
Tried to improve my spins, and I got about 2 revolutions on one
foot (did a two-foot spin and picked one foot up) so that's doing better. I'm
not finding my center
at all
, since all of my tracings looks like little corkscrews on the ice. LOL and I
did a lot of spins, so one side of the ice had little corkscrews all over it!
Attempted to do that little exit thing, but I'm so dizzy afterwards that my
outside edge doesn't "edge" at all, LOL. Also attempted a backspin,
but I got around one time before I fell over.
At least I think I'm on the right part of the blade; I just can't keep my
balance. The backspin goes on the outside edge, right? Maybe that's what I've
been doing wrong...these little things always confuse me!
I was trying all these new elements today...did a backward outside
pivot-ish thing..
but it was hard for me to put the toepick behind me in the right place, so
after doing a semi-good one, I thought, "Okay, that's enough..
" Fooled around with backward outside three-turns, and failed miserably,
LOL...I'm definitely getting on the right part of the blade on the right foot,
but I can't check out at all, and don't even ask me what the left foot's doing
wrong...goes on the toepick every time, and once I fell over pretty hard (the
left knee is now officially two times more swollen than the right...
). Then I started to wonder whether I was holding the shoulders wrong, so I
stopped and decided to wait until I actually learned it in class.
Worked on spirals some more, and they're getting less scary. It's
funny, since off-ice I feel much more comfortable doing spirals on my left leg
(plus my leg goes higher), but on the ice, they feel a lot better on my right
leg!
I think that's because the edges are still better on my right foot, but really,
I don't know...Whenever I did them, though, they always went onto the inside
edge. Tried to do it on the outside edge once, and I fell over again!
Must work on that..
Worked on half-flip, and wondered whether or not I was picking in
too much to the side rather than the back. It's funny, though, since people do
them differently: Michelle picks in more from the back and some other skaters
pick in more to the side...I think Yagudin does, among others. I've heard that
it's more "right" picking from the back, so I tried that, but
sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.
Waltz jump is about the same, though there's nothing more thrilling
than going into it faster than you're accustomed to (which isn't fast for me at
all, LOL..) and just whooshing on the landing! Whee!
Anita
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May 22, 2001
LOL the first thing I did when I went onto the
ice was lose my balance and slam buttfirst into the ice...
Well, I usually tie my skates haphazardly before I go onto the ice, go around
one lap and retie them so they're tight (it's practically the only way they stay
somewhat tight, LOL, and even then, I'm retying them every half-hour or so..)
and I guess this time I tied them a little
too
haphazardly, LOL. Waltz jump was kinda there, but after a while, my ankle
started to feel tired so I practiced spinning for a while. I don't have to twist
my arms around as much, since I was like, "Hey! I don't have to try as hard
and I still get around!"
Practiced spinning the other way, and it was fun, though I got really really
dizzy. Would like to improve on this, since I get dizzy quite easily and it
ain't helping me one bit...
Even though the ice wasn't totally nice today (softer than
yesterday, at least..) I thought that I might as well try a toe loop or a
salchow. For some reason the sal seemed safer to me, but after I fell on it two
times in a row (went waaaay off axis), I decided that maybe going after the toe
loop was more realistic.
By the end of the session, I was landing some! Well, probably mega-cheated and
with nonexistent height, but I picked in, got off the ice and landed on one
blade facing the original direction!
I was trying to pick in a little faster, since I could feel my picking foot
rotating on the ice and the blade going onto the rocker as I went
around...that's a scary feeling! But at least I felt a lot less apprehensive of
it by that time. The salchow, well, I worked on it some more, and it's even more
cheated than the toe loop and it doesn't feel nearly as safe, but I stood up on
it, LOL. Come to think of it, I'm hard-pressed to come up with anyone in my rink
who can do a single salchow without about a half-revolution done first on the
ice...
The thing that surprises me though is that I'm not scared of
falling on them as I thought I would be, since I was trying them on open ice.
When I was working on the waltz jump for the first time, it was really scary and
I would hold on to the boards for dear life. But now I try to stay away from the
boards as much as I can LOL...I've had lots of experience with jammed fingers...
I think my love for skating has grown so much that I'm seriously thinking of
finding a college where they have a rink nearby (or preferably on campus, LOL
::glances at Princeton::) Can't live without it now! I think it's just the
feeling of effortless movement - you push off with your foot just the slightest,
and you're skating!
Anita
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May 21, 2001
Argh! Why does the rink have
to have snowy ice when
I
get there?
Oh well...still worked on a couple things...my edges were surprisingly good,
since the ice looked like it would not cooperate, though the backward edges were
a little bit of a struggle. The forward outsides were easier than they'd ever
been, LOL...
My crossovers were okay, I guess, didn't trip on any this time...
though I did fall on something (totally forgot what it was...I think I leaned
too far on my heel for the spiral..) and slid a bit, but it didn't hurt so
badly. The big bruise on my left knee got reinjured, LOL, that thing's never
gonna heal...
Worked on my half-flip, and I think I'm getting better height and a
full half-rotation, LOL. One time my takeoff went funny and the back of my
skating blade hit my picking boot and made a pretty good dent in the boot. I
totally understand now how Todd cut his toe on the lutz at Japan Open...if I
made that big of a dent on a half-flip, I hate to think what Todd's supersharp-bladed,
speedy triple lutz would've done..
I worked on half-toe loops later on and my half-flip fell apart afterwards.
Maybe when the ice is nice I'll go for a single toe or salchow..but only when
the ice is nice...might be a while...
Waltz jumps didn't feel too good, but I got several that sailed,
whee!
At least they felt as if they sailed, LOL, I know that what I feel is not
nearly as realistic as it really is. (I
feel
fast, but then...) My two-foot spins are coming and going. I got one where it
was like, "Whoaaaaaaa...." and it felt really good. And there were
others that felt as if I flew around on the toepick and got knocked off my
center. (If I ever had one to begin with..) Argh...
I've decided to wait until maybe school is out to work with a
coach, since then I can try to find a job to help out (gosh, I can't believe I'm
saying this, LOL...) I'm going to Australia later in the summer, plus my sister
went to Europe, PLUS we just got the kitchen remodeled, (not to mention the
energy rate hike...
) so money's not something that we can throw around now...I might as well keep
up with the group lessons, since the coaches work independently of the rink and
I wouldn't be able to get in free at the public sessions if I only had a private
coach. Now the only question is, which coach to get....
Anita
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May 16, 2001
Skated again today! Figured
that I needed a rest after that AP Bio Exam..
The rink was sooo empty (
) but the ice was sooo crappy! (
) Oh well, I guess you can't have it all...so my edges were kinda icky but by
the end of the session the ice got so bad that I was slipping slightly on
crossovers. Not to mention that a couple of hockey guys found it fun to go
around the entire rink doing nothing but hockey stops!
LOL I started working on my half-flips just as revenge
but I don't think my toepick holes are nearly big enough to be annoying, LOL...
I noticed that whenever I cross my foot over on crossovers, the
blade makes a "clunk" sound...(it's hard to hear when the music's loud
and the kids are screaming) and I was trying to make it more quiet when I
tripped on a toepick, crashed on my knee and slid ten feet, LOL...Maybe I've
gotta work on that more..
My half-flip is getting better but I need to get more height on
it...the waltz jump was icky today since the ice was so hard but I'm feeling
that I'm actually kicking the free leg through. (Before I just kinda hopped off
the skating leg) Was bored so I tried that little piece of choreography almost
every skater does before going into a jump - LFI with right foot almost crossed
over, push off of right foot onto a LFO edge, LFO three-turn, jump - and I found
that it was easier to do a three-turn that way. "Oh, maybe that's why
everybody does it, LOL.." I also found that the half-flip was easier to do
if you bent your knee after the three-turn. What a revelation, I know..
Anita
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May 14, 2001
I'm so glad since I think I'm finally
getting
edges! Or maybe it's because I just got my skates sharpened and some of the
nicks/unevenness came off!
I love edges! (I must be a freak, I know...
) Worked on backward outside and backward inside edges, and they're coming
along nicely!
Waltz jump I
think
is improving. My forward takeoff edge feels a lot better, though sometimes I
still do something screwy and I wind up spinning all over the place, LOL...I
love doing them especially from back crossovers - it flies more on the landing!
Tried half-flip, and I'm doing more of a quarter-turn than a half
turn, but I think I'm not pulling in with the picking foot hard enough to get
more air time. Got better slowly as the session went along...more practice will
do the trick!
I hadn't done forward pivots in a long time, but since it says that
FS1 tests for them, I tried a couple. It "clicks" sometimes and
sometimes it doesn't. I don't know why. It helps to get a good starting position
I think. I could even do some going CW; that was pretty cool!
Practiced my "spirals," but I still approaching them
really slowly (heard some horror stories about terrible toepick tripping during
spirals) but my torso is getting lower. It's funny, cause I have no problem
getting my leg up, but it's the lowering of the upper body that I'm just not
willing to do, LOL...the head is closer to the ice that way!
My shoot-the-duck is getting more consistent; I used to slip off the heel all
the time and end up sliding on my butt..
Two-foot spin is improving, though I stopped counting revolutions a
looong time ago..I judge how good a spin is by how hard it is to pull in the
arms, LOL..
I like to spend the last 15 minutes of a session just stroking
around and practicing crossovers..and my good ones haven't left me yet!
Anita
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May 8, 2001
After not skating for a
week, I found it funny that my back crossovers have improved a lot! I guess
sometimes you just gotta let things sink in a bit, LOL...
It was really weird since yesterday I did a waltz jump (albeit a
small one, LOL..) at the beginning of the session, and I swear I didn't make a
sound when I landed! It was just the coolest feeling...Otherwise, nothing much
happened...still suck at spins, but my good crossovers are still with me (cross
fingers!
) I was feeling kind of daring so I went a couple of laps around the rink going
completely backwards. Sounds silly, but I had never done that before since I was
always scared I was going to crash into someone. Plus my crossovers sucked. Now
that my back crossovers were feeling a lot better, I decided to run that risk,
LOL. It's frustrating since it feels like I'm going fast, but I'm probably one
of the slowest of the serious skaters out there! It's so annoying! I try to be
faster (it seems to be working going forwards) but people still pass me!
How the heck do you get faster? I've heard that staying on the rocker all the
time is a secret to that, but it doesn't seem to be working with me...
Anita
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April 27, 2001
I went skating Tuesday, Wednesday, and today,
even though I wasn't expecting to go today...oh well!
I don't remember much from the last couple days, but I like going into the
waltz jump from back crossovers better than just throwing myself into it!
I get my free leg aligned correctly that way, I think. Tried a 0.5 flip, and
those hurt my ankles after a while so I stopped. Who needs heat-molding, LOL,
when you can walk around on a hot day with skates in your bag?
Made the ankles a little more floppy, though..
I think I'm understanding that weight-transfer thing with back
crossovers, but I still do them in a pretty small circle...maybe they'll get
better if I actually get some speed into them!
My forward crossovers have improved a lot, but maybe that's because I just got
my skates sharpened!
I tried doing an upright one-foot spin from back crossovers but
fell over pretty badly...maybe I should try a two-foot spin from crossovers
first...
For some reason, my skating foot goes backwards for a moment when I go into a
two-foot spin from a forward outside edge. What am I doing wrong?
Anyway, I saw that Emanuel Sandhu skate-alike today and actually
got up the nerve to ask him how long he had been skating, and he said,
"Four years."
Honestly, he looked like he had been skating twice that long! If you saw his
flow and ease of movement, you'd be convinced that he was capable of triples!
"Practice and hard work," he told me, "You'll get there!"
Anita
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April 20, 2001
Argh! The ice was so crowded today! Plus everyone
kept insisting on cutting through the middle, even when one of the coaches went
over the PA to ask them
not
to...I had a little kid crash right into me, plus some close calls...
Anyway, my CCW crossovers are working! My ankle's not falling in anymore! Yay!
My waltz jump is still really small, but I'm feeling that I'm getting off the
toepick at least.
Tried improving back crossovers, but it was hard with all the
little kids racing each other around the rink...It's so annoying when one side
is worse than the other! Going CW feels so much better, even when I almost never
practice it, LOL...I'm doing something funny going CCW, since my stroke isn't
very big at all. If I try to make a big stroke, my free foot goes onto the ice
on an inside edge, not outside. Must be holding my weight
differently...practiced them until my feet ached but still haven't gotten them.
What's even weirder is that going CCW on two-foot spins is easier for me but I
always get on the toepick! Going CW is more scary but I find the rocker on the
other foot almost immediately...how weird is that?
I think I might be spending waaay too much time at the rink, LOL...a
lot of skaters there remind of certain "famous" skaters. First there
was a guy who skated just like Emanuel Sandhu, LOL, and there's a coach who
reminds of Michelle. Might be the flow that she has....I like flow.
Hmmm....another skater reminds me of Sasha Cohen - she's really
"careful" in her presentation, I've noticed. And lastly, a coach in
perhaps in his late 40's always reminded me of someone, but I couldn't get a
finger on who it was until today: Todd Eldredge! It's so eerie - he jumps
(doubles! Eeek!
) the same direction as Todd, jumps like Todd, lands like Todd, even moves like
Todd!
Too bad he can't Toddspin, though he did do a forward flying sit spin and some
jump changes in a sitspin..
Scary!
On a similar note, a young skater was doing a (really extended...
) inside spiral, and I was thinking, "I wonder if she'll turn to the
outside edge.." and sure enough, she did!
Anita
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April 19, 2001
I wasn't at the last lesson,
so I had a heck of a time trying to register for the class today! The computer
was down! Ack! But I made it here! I swear there must be something wrong with my
left boot - my ankle feels loose and unstable even on crossovers...
Maybe I'm tying it funny.
Anyways, my first day at FS1 was a little rocky. Right when I got
onto the ice, we were doing waltz jumps! Ack! I don't usually start on them
until I warm up for at least 15 minutes! I surprised myself by actually landing
some, LOL. Our new instructor taught us how to do bunny hops in between waltz
jumps, in a sequence, and I surprised myself some more by landing some...They're
out-of-control at the moment, but I'm landing them! Backward outside edges were
pretty good considering I usually do them with the free leg behind, in a landing
position. Apparently you're supposed to do them with the free leg in front, so
that took a little getting used to. But I found it a lot easier to turn into the
edge if you looked the direction you were going. In the public session
afterward, I was playing around and I tried some pivots. I remember the first
time we were introduced to them, in Alpha/Beta, LOL! Sometimes I guess group
instructors teach you outrageously advanced things so you don't feel so
"beginner," since back then I remember just
not
getting them! But now they came pretty easily.
LOL, my friend who's also in the same class I'm in was having
trouble getting some "jump" in her waltz jump. She jumps like she's
slipping off the outside edge, but she really isn't, LOL. So our instructor was
trying to tell her to get some muscle in those skinny litle legs of hers so she
could get some power, LOL. She wanted us to feel her lower thigh muscle right
above the knee to understand was she was talking about...yikes!
That's some real leg muscle skaters have to have! I still have a ways to go,
LOL - I can only hold the sit spin position (off-ice
with the thigh parallel to the floor ) for about five seconds before my leg
gives out. It's funny because my friend can do her shoot-the-duck for quite a
long time on the ice, but she gets
all
the way down, like Todd does on his sitspins. Whenever I try that I always end
up on my heel and sliding down to the ice, LOL. Gotta work on that balance...
There's a young new girl in our FS1 class, and she was going around
doing waltz jumps on rental skates! Gosh I wish I could do that! She looked like
she had some talent. The sad part was, as good as she was, she looked so unhappy
doing everything, never smiling once. Sigh. Well, as compared to me, who laughs
a mile a minute and goes, "Eeeyaah!" every time I almost fall!
I was in a pretty good mood today.
Anita
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April 10, 2001
I can only get on the ice
once this week, since I'll be busy with other things...can't make it to this
week's lesson, so I'm not sure how I'll sign up for the next session....oh well,
I'll figure it out next week, LOL...
Went to the rink Monday. The ice was absolute crap (snow
everywhere...
) but the upside was that it was totally totally empty, LOL, just me and three
other skaters, LOL...Couldn't do much because of the snow (besides improving
twofold on hockey stops, LOL...those are fun on crappy ice!
), but since I had a lot of room I figured I might as well work on forward and
back crossovers...they're getting there....
Must remember, cross under and have both skates on the ice as long as
possible...that isn't clicking with me much. But at least it's improving.
Anita
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March 29, 2001
My waltz jump is not "jumping" but I
think I'm getting fairly good runout on it...
Tried inside three-turns until I was sick of them, but still was not
quite
feeling them...maybe next time...
Spins have improved; I'm really feeling that inertia trying to pull my arms
out. Good thing, I guess....
Anita
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March 16, 2001
Had skating lessons today, but my mom nearly forgot so I got there halfway
through!
Ah well. I recently put heel liners in my boots since the heels were moving
around, but I didn't expect that they'd throw off my skating, since they moved
my foot up unexpectedly in the boot so the toepicks were closer to my foot than
before. LOL the first few minutes on the ice I spent trying not to trip over my
toepicks!
After a while I got used to them, though, so that was good...
Didn't do much, but my waltz jump (rather, my
pathetic
attempts at them) have improved, and I've found that trying to hit a good
landing position is fun! Whee! Discovered that it helped me keep the landing
edge if I concentrated on bending the landing knee and keeping the head up.
Guess before I thought way too much about the landing edge and was messing up
because of it. Still can't get too high or far, but more practice will do the
trick, I think... Anita
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January 11, 2001
Ooh, I actually got the year right on that one! This is going to take me a
while, LOL...I'm finally beginning to get my three-turns (have yet to hold the
beginning and ending edges for long, but I'll need more practice at that) and
more semblance of edges! Yay! It was funny since my left foot has worse edge
control than my right, and I always thought that it was because of the blade
alignment. Yesterday I was feeling funky and I put little pieces of foam in my
left boot, by the inner heel, and my outside edges have improved already! Why
didn't I think of this before?! ::conk head:: Oh well.
Thinking of edges, I wish that
judges/federations/coaches/parents/skaters/everyone would put more emphasis on
edge quality than jumps and tricks. Call me a figure skating purist if you want.
At my local rink, there's this guy who just reminds me incessantly of Canadian
skater Emanuel Sandhu. (If you haven't heard of him he's on my
"skaters-I-really-wish-could-just-hold-it-together-in-competition"
list, along with Takeshi Honda. He dances like no one I've ever seen. Ballet
training really shines through.) Fantastic line, wonderful edges, great
footwork, the list goes on. Not to mention he can do a Biellmann catch-foot
spiral a la Plushenko in the middle of a crowded public session and not crash
into anybody, LOL. I could watch him go around the rink forever just working on
footwork and stroking. I swear I have never seen him do anything else (saw him
land a jump once but caught him too late to see what kind of jump it was) but
darned it, I'd pay to watch him anyway. Meanwhile, my mom's looking at all the
little kids trying out jumps and spins, LOL. Well, that's pretty interesting
too, but if there are 4 skaters at every session doing jumps and spins, you get
used to it after a while. This guy was someone you didn't see every day. I wish
more skaters had the skills he had.
It would be more helpful for the skaters as well, since doing jumps at such a
young age is taking a toll on their bodies. Naomi Nari Nam has sat out most of
the season with a hip fracture, and Tara Lipinski (who was renowned for working
long hours at the rink just doing jumps) has had major hip surgery since
becoming pro. Very recently, Deanna Stellato had to pull out of Nationals due to
a hip flexor and Sasha Cohen announced a stress fracture in her lower back with
Nationals just a week away. Overtraining the jumps is obviously part of the
problem, and if we just put less emphasis on jumping, the skating quality would
be better and young skaters would be healthier. I hate to think what's going to happen long-term to the
quad-meisters of now. Evgeny Plushenko has been doing
quads since he was who-knows-how-young (13, I read once? God...); Alexei Yagudin
was successfully landing two triple axels in his long programs in competition at
15, landing quads in competition at 16/17. This multiple quad-craze is going to
take a toll as well. The original quad king himself Elvis Stojko has sat out
almost the entire season with tendonitis in the heel, a tightness in the groin,
and now a torn knee tendon (which was a result of physical therapy supposed to
help the tendonitis...). Is this the beginning of a dangerous trend?
As exciting as jumps are, the truth is they are harmful to the human body if
overtrained, and people will just have to be educated about the dangers. Or
maybe we're putting priorities on the wrong thing; focusing on multiple-rotation
jumps before good technique. Whatever happens, hopefully it'll be worth it to
give the skaters a break, and especially tell the skaters to give themselves a
break.
Anita
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October 26, 2000
I started skating myself a while ago, just to see if those moves I saw on TV would be possible to actually do,
LOL. I'm in a group Gamma/Delta class for now, though I feel that maybe it was a bad idea,
LOL, since I'm far below the other skaters in the class. Or else the other skaters should be in FS1 instead, but I still feel
blase. Oh well, I'm actually starting to get some semblance of edges. YAY! LOL I probably never felt so accomplished in a while, which is pretty surprising, but I guess that's the way I am. =^) I only practice once a week, on lesson day, for one hour. When I finally learn how to drive maybe I'll go more, but it's hard to find time to take driving classes. Argh why does everything have to be so complicated??
Anyway, skating (or attempting to do it, LOL) has made me more conscious of how truly difficult this sport is. In the rink that I practice at, little kids, maybe 11, are trying out single axels and double jumps. Today I saw some attempts at triples! (Plus an absolutely gorgeous Sasha Cohenesque layback!) It's so hard to believe, even with their talent, so few of them will ever make it to the top. At my high school, a fellow classmate will be competing at Pacific Sectionals in the men's junior level (I wish him luck, BTW!). It really made me think, what if at every school (or almost every school,
LOL) there's someone like that? Someone who works so hard and achieves a remarkably commendable level in competition. But only so few ever truly "make it." For every Michelle Kwan or Todd
Eldredge, there are hundreds more who didn't go as far. Those that do have a certain something extra special. What they do day after day is just so difficult.
I think this kind of mentality is starting to really take effect, LOL. Watching the Masters of Figure Skating on TNT last night, I was so amazed by a lot of the programs, especially the men's. The footwork, the edges, the precision, the body angles and changes - not to mention the triple jumps! - everything has to be so exact and they have to know exactly what their bodies are doing in order to not fall on their faces. I swear my mouth dropped open at Alexei Yagudin's frenetic footwork sequence at the beginning of the Gladiator program (The one that commentator Paul Wylie gushed on). Having the feet (not only the feet, but the skate blades have to work with the movement too, which is my problem,
LOL..) move so fast, with the unbelievably controlled arm flailing (now is that an oxymoron or what?) plus line and artistry...it boggles the mind how skaters do all of these things.
Just my musings/ramblings today...Anita
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