Miss Cheerleader

Every rink needs a Miss Cheerleader. This is the person who smiles when they see you and offers encouraging words--even when you don't ask for them.

A few weeks ago a Silver ice dance/freestyle/moves skater I know saw me after freestyle and said, "Geeze, you're doing great! You and Dance Coach were really zipping along in waltz hold and your posture was great and you had super edges!" Let's call her Miss Cheerleader.

"Was my butt sticking out?" I ask. If I'm in 'ice dance posture' I feel a crick in my lower back. I honestly can't tell if that's because my shoulders are in the right place or because my butt is in the wrong place.

"No, no! Absolutely not!" Miss Cheerleader gives me a smile that lights up the lobby.

Give me a an Edge! Give me a Stroke!
Keep on skating! Go for Broke!

This is one of the times 'pass it on' really comes to the fore. Even if you're low freestyle, below you is someone in LTS who looks up to you.

There's the adult who struggles on public, who would be overjoyed if you said, "Hey, you're really making progress!"

It only takes a moment to make the rink a place of encouragement and joy.

You can be a Miss Cheerleader too!

Jan 14 Lesson: I Discover Fire!

I'm going to embed an important skating point in this post. Unfortunately, there's a lot of rambling before hand.

When I was learning to skate somethings were easy, some were hard. I learned things out of sequence of the learn to skate curriculum. My skating guru, the Big Guy, told me that it was normal. He learned mohawks in an afternoon, and took a summer to learn FO3. He was the one who inculcated in my the spirit of "Learn to Skate is not a race."

But since the broken ankle I had to relearn everything: proper stroking, proper crossovers, three turns, mohawks. For some reason, I couldn't do FI3. I tried at the boards, I tried in the center with coach providing assistance. Many times if I hadn't had something to hold me up, I would have fallen and hit my head.  I finally found a coach at Lake Placid who forced me to center my mass by keeping my legs together,  head up, and arms spread to balance me.  She also had this ankle action in the turn, I can't possibly describe. She got me doing FI3, but I didn't like being far from the boards. I still had a tendency  to fall off the back edge but it was 1 in 4 rather that 1 in 1. It was progress.

But my problem wasn't physical, it was also in my head. I'd developed this mental blank spot with FI3.

Over the last couple of months, I worked every session I skated on the FI3. I gradually worked my way away from the boards. I used behavior modification to desensitize myself to the fear I felt from falling. Then in Saturday lesson, Dance Coach said, "Let's try forward inside 3."

I popped one out. It was a proper FI3, with arms, body and legs in the right position. Dance Coach was delighted, "I never thought you'd get it!" Me, I thought I'd go to my grave without it. But in that moment, I felt like I had invented fire. I had got over my skating block.

I have Forward Inside Threes!

What did I do?

1. I practiced what I could every session. Even though they scared me.

2. I watched videos and tried what suggestions were presented

3. I followed the coaching advice I was given

4. I got over bad habits (looking down, hunching, not being centered). In fact I forced myself to get over bad habits.

5. I desensitized myself to my fear by slowly increasing the distance to the boards when I practiced. 

6. I KEPT ON TRYING.

And now I have FI3, something so easy that most people learn it in a lesson. Learning to Skate isn't a race, it's a journey.

Don't.Quit!

One day after Dance Coach had been beating me up and down the rink, demanding more power, better edges, get the steps in the dances right, do this, don't do that, I stopped. My breathing was deep and hard, my legs were shaking and before my mind could engage, I blurted out "I this wasn't so much fun, I'd quit."

Coach had a belly laugh. "Yes is like that, isn't it."

But sometimes it's not fun anymore.  If it's not fun for you, here's some thoughts,

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, (Man is the zam broke again?)
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, (The ice is heaving too?!)
When the funds are low and the debts are high, (Typical)
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, (Smile in program, no matter what)
When care is pressing you down a bit, (Stupid double sal)
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, (Stupid Choctaw)
As every one of us sometimes learns, ($25 an hour for coaching, I'd better learn)
And many a failure turns about, (Stupid Back 3s)
When he might have won had he stuck it out; (One more round of power threes)
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–(Must improve my edge pulls)
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than, (One more pattern and I'll be finished)
It seems to a faint and faltering man, (That fall on the axel is killing me)
Often the struggler has given up, (No.No.No.More.Skating.I.Quit)
When he might have captured the victor’s cup, (SHE won! I'm better than her!)
And he learned too late when the night slipped down, (I could have won that comp!)
How close he was to the golden crown. (But I quit)