The Special Place Where The Obsessed Skaters Go

What is an 'obsessed Skater'?

You know when you're obsessed with skating when you want to know how to paint your skates, or decorate your blades, or even cover the entire sole of your skates with Swarovski crystal.

You know you're obsessed when you complain that there's no way to rent blades for a month so you can compare Gold Seal with Coronation Ace.

You know you're obsessed when you can recognized the manufacturer and model of blade by only seeing the toepick--and you really, really want to share this geeky little skill with other people, and then maybe set up an online test just to see who else can do it.

You know you're obsessed when you get in a polite but fierce discussion on Radius of Hollow.

You know you're obsessed when you really, really, really know 30 tricks to modify your boot fit and can't wait to share.

You know you're obsessed when you have a favorite size, cut, and color of decorative crystal

Ditto when you're out there wanting to know the best glue and gluing techniques so you can spend a three day weekend stoning a costume for a Basic Skills competition.

You're way over the top obsessed when you have a friggin' skating blog!!! That you have spent years working on!

And where do these obsessed people go?

www.skatingforums.com

Show up for the public posts, then get an account for the private forums. Almost no fan posts, it's all about you and your skating.  Access to some amazingly technical posts on skating, costumes, music, equipment,  sharpening and testing. Members from around the world from ISI, USFS, NISA and possibly other skating organizations: Members from Brazil, UK, UAE, S.Korea, Japan, Australia, and several other countries.

Come one come all. Ask your questions, Provide your knowledge, we can't wait to hear from you.

Santa Behaves Like a Figure Skater After the Last Holiday Show

"Ahhhh......."

Have Fun with Next Year's Shows!!!

Keeping Sit Spin Fit When You can't Get to the Rink

Two Words : One leg squats.

OKAY! That's Three Words.

Here's my technique. I do one legged squats in the moving elevator, in a pencil skirt, in flat shoes.

Yes, I DO IT ALONE!!

I found that pencil skirts worked really well in forcing me to keep from waving my free leg around to keep my balance. Instead, I'm forced to tighten up my gut and my lower calf to keep my legs in the correct position. It worked. Honestly, without that skirt forcing me to keep my legs together I couldn't have advanced as quick as I did because I would have given up and gone with an easy sloppy position. Within a week, I was doing solid sit positions down AND UP on one leg.

Why mess with a moving elevator? It introduces enough vibration to give you instability going down and up. I found I had to really work on my technique. Also the vibration makes me work harder, so I only need to do one on each ride.

I now go down on one leg with my free leg wrapped in the correct sit spin position to half way between floors, then rise up to an exit position as I reach the next floor.  About half the time I rise up to the exit position (unwrap the free leg and extend it behind me as I rise) and hold the extended leg position through the elevator going through its stop.  Holding an extended leg through the elevator stop really forces good balance and squeezing the calf as I rise.

I know what you're thinking: This girl is waaay too obsessed with figure skating.

Well, all I can say is, "I'm sixty-six doing one leg squats.  Not bad."

Coach Gossip

When You're Inside the Coach Circle of Trust

And then you realize they talk about you too.

(Fortunately, they have nothing to gossip about me about! Mwha-ha-ha!)

What Adult Figure Skaters Understand #1

Family Comes First

I dropped out of the Christmas show. There's just no way.

Tonight I'm pulling together insurance papers to pass a verbal grilling by the insurance company tomorrow afternoon.

I may have limited skating for a few weeks, but the blog is not dead.