Ready, Steady, Got! Or Not...

At times figure skating can be enormously frustrating. Kids sometimes lose their jumps as they grow. One day an adult can do a skill, and the next day not. Yeah, one day skating is ready, you're steady, you gots... and the next day....nots.

I've had that for the last few weeks with my three turns. I used to have nice ones. Not great, but consistent and I could do them with any foot, leg or arm position.

Today I saw Dance Coach leaning on the boards while he waited for Miss Cheerleader to warm up for their Gold Moves lesson. "How is your return to skating coming?" he was kind enough to ask.

"The knee and the hip," I waved my hands in frustration, "I'm going nowhere fast."

That was a hard statement to make. I must have looked really down. Dance Coach smiled sadly and said, "Skate safe."  What else could he say?

Five minutes later, I fell off my back edge in a 3 turn. I almost walked off the ice. What was I doing? This constant stream over the weeks of choppy three turns, no improvement,...

But I'd paid for the ice, so I skated to the other end of the rink to get away from the 'falling spot.'  'Falling spots' carry bad juju for a few minutes so it's best to skate away, just so it doesn't reach out and zap you. Yeah, I'm a doofus.

Other end of the rink, I do a FO3, and just as I'm about to do the turn I squeeze my thighs together. Bam! Perfect three turn with about 10 feet of glide, steady as a rock.

Rest of the session I'm doing outside threes with any foot, leg or arm position, either direction equally well. As long as I bring that free leg in so the thighs touch, I'm golden.

No idea what's going on, but...

Back in love with skating!

Forward Figure 8

Since I  choke on dance tests, and my coach has no freestyle time available to practice partnered dance with me anyway, I've been looking at Moves in the Field.

I look at the list of skills for pre-Bronze and Bronze adult Moves, and as I go through I check off, Doable. Doable. Doable. Until I get to Foward Figure 8.

My dream of passing moves comes to a screeching halt. I started out wanting to do figures, but I've never been able to do a forward 8 to save my life without getting a toepick boost about 2/3 of the way around the first loop, OR cheating by getting introductory steps.

Until this week.

I saw some open ice, eyed the crowd and took my opening.  I stood at the point where I was going to start my strike.

And then a funny thing happened. It just popped into my head that I should hold my shoulders a different way.  So I set my shoulders, drew down my lats, and took a strike.

It was a good outside edge, a good glide. I switched my arms at the 2/3 point and moved my free foot forward immediately after. I was a smooth mover. No jerky moves. Slow and steady.

I made it all the way around the first circle! Then I took the second strike and made it all away around the second circle!

This is the first time I've successfully done a forward outside 8 from a standing start. Just in case it wasn't a fluke, I did it again. And again. Then once more. By this time, the public was building up and I had to move. But I was excited. I'd been working on these for years!

What made the difference? Unlikely to be the blades. I'd just had them sharpened so they didn't have good glide characteristics. Was I a more powerful skater? Yes, but that doesn't always count in figures. In figures, technique rules as much as power. For now I'm going to credit to the upper body changes.  I was finally doing what my old figures coach had told me to do.

Forward INSIDE 8?

Nada.

Well, not yet. All I need is some blades that weren't sharpened THE DAY BEFORE! and I think I'd have it.

Moves in the Field, here I come.