Dealing With My Problem Foot

My problem child is my right FI Mohawk.

My coach and I have spent the last two lessons working on it. We both know what's wrong with it; I can't externally rotate my left free leg so that I bring the heel of the left foot to the arch of right foot without falling backwards on my skating foot.

And why has this simple element been such a problem? You're not going to believe this, but I have misaligned hips and I'm in the sport where good hip alignment is necessary. This reminds me of when I used to fly airplanes (SEL) until some flight surgeon told me I have no depth perception.  Really? Is there any sport I can be any good at?

So we've developed a way to resolve the regular  RFI Mohawk. I have to hold my free leg in line behind the skating foot: then as I bring the free foot forward, there's this two to three inch space where I can externally rotate that free foot and execute a half decent mohawk.

If I miss that 2-3 inch space where I should rotate my left foot--all hell breaks loose.

But now that I've made so much progress on my bad side regular mohawks,  my coach, Miss Bianca has decided to make me do swing mohawks--on my bad side....

When My Coach Tells Me...

'This Will Be Fun And Easy'

Tonight in Group it was "Introduction to Loops"--figure Loops, not the loop jump. Harder than it looks, and  has some underlying deceptive rhythm that I can't get.

The Horrors of Learning to Spin

When my coach makes me do spins 32 times in a row

Spin 33

 

When my coach tells me to do my 34th spin

My Coach

I'm up to 4 rotations in two foots spins (both ways) but

multi-rotation one foot spins?

Do The Opposite, Part Duex

Remember a few posts ago where I decided to stop spinning in my 'natural' direction (the left) because I couldn't pick up my free foot, and start spinning in my unnatural direction? I thought maybe I might be able to do that better; but OMG did it feel creepy spinning the 'wrong way'.

....every time I spin....

Well, I got to a point where I could do a one foot spin for 1 1/2 rotation in my unnatural direction. That's 1 1/2 times the one foot spin I could do in my natural direction.

Then I got bored in group this week, and I switched back to spinning the natural way.To my total surprise, I could now pickup my free foot in the natural direction spin.

And, now I can do  one foot spins in both directions.

They are BOTH.EQUALLY.LOUSY.

But, hey! One foot spins--both ways!

And did anyone in the rest of group notice?

So here's my lesson from "Do the Opposite." I don't know why, but sometimes doing the opposite may help fix what I'm doing wrong.

Too true. Too true.

Three Turn Checking (Yet Again!)

Once my coach heard I was doing alternating 3 turns across the rink, she craftily decided to work on my three turn checking.

Evil Three Turn Checking Plan Face

She started with working on my arm position. I tend to just let my arms hang out there with no guidance, and hence my forward three turns end up looking shaped like a clip art heart.

Sadly,  if I get my arms in the right position, something else goes wrong, and I'm not making any progress. Apparently, I'm only able to remember one thing at a time. Arms okay--leg position goes haywire. You know how it goes.

Finally my coach, Miss Bianca says, "You're still not checking the turn. I want you to do the turn and from the very beginning, I want you to keep 'the girls' pointed at the center of the circle."

"The center of the circle is where you usually draw 'Craig'." I say. "So you want me to point my boobs at Craig?"

This is 'Craig'

Miss Bianca snickers (in a very professional coach and lady-like way, I assure you), "Yes," she says.

So, when all I have to do is think about my boobs, my back loses its hunch, my arms assume the correct position, and since I'm not thinking about my arms, I have enough brain cells to manage my legs! Also, I finally felt the 'twist in the waist' my coach was talking about. It's a lot, lot more than I realized.

Then when I got home I practiced my three turn checking by using my figure trimmer. 

Today, when I woke up, my shoulders and waist ached like I'd been weight lifting. 

Maybe I'm finally on the way to checking those darn turns!

Anyway, I've learned one important thing. If a coach wants me to do something in a turn, tell me where to point my boobs! (How I'm going to tell this to a male coach, no idea.)

 

The Dress for a Test

You order a dress for a test...

Off of Ebay

From a seller you've never used before

But someone on a forum said they had good luck with the seller

Who ships from China

And it doesn't come,

And doesn't come some more.

Then the day before the test, 

a bubble pack, extra large envelope arrives. 

You take out the dress, and try it on.

It has the right amount of sparkle,

The color makes you look 20 years younger

And the fit......

the fit......

perfection.

Time to go buy some lottery tickets!

Yin and Yang of Figure Skating

The Yin of Figure Skating

When I'm on Public Skate and an Ice Tourist 

calls out "HOW DO YOU DO THAT!" to me.

The Yang of Figure Skating

When I'm on Freestyle in the middle of a Pattern with all the 10 year olds with doubles watching.