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.)