Oh my. Well. That explains THAT.

[dreamshark]

I think I've figured out why my cute teenage skating instructor turned out to be so unexpectedly good at teaching.

I had no idea, really. I suppose I should have suspected something when we kept having substitute teachers because Alex was out of town competing in something or other. I guess next week he'll be here.

And the first week that he missed a class he must have been here.

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

My. He's a spinning fool, and oh, so graceful on the ice, too.

Jumps don't appear to be his friend, but, wow, he and his choreographer certainly understand the lines of his body and how to use both them and footwork to his advantage.

The fact that he's a good teacher as well as such a fine skater is an added bonus prize -- and a very useful one at that.

Neat!

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Actually, his jumps are spectacular. Even Olympic skaters take falls, especially on those multiple triple jumps. I had no idea who he was until I described him to a couple of my ice-skating buddies at open skate tonight. Their eyes went wide and they chorused, "You're taking lessons from Alex Johnson??? He's our hero! He's famous! He's a national champion, and he's headed for the Olympics in 2012 for sure!"

Yikes.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm used to seeing spectacular skaters fall. My comment was based on his jumps in the videos you linked to -- not the fall so much, but the landings looked like the weakest part of those performances. (To my relatively uniformed eye.)

I'll take your word for it, though. You've seen a lot more than I have.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I don't have a particularly informed eye, actually. I don't even know the names of any of the moves. I was just reading the commentary. :-)

There are actually 3 different links in my entry, if you look close. The first one is his best performance, the one where he took the bronze at Nationals that qualified him for all those international competitions. I've watched that one about 5 times now - it's beautiful! The first time through it looked totally flawless to me and I couldn't imagine how anybody could beat it. By the 5th time I could see a few glitches, and I think they all were in landings from jumps. If you caught that the first time through you are much better watcher than I am. Apparently his camel spin is considered one of his best moves, if you know what that is.

Or you may have been looking at the last link, which seemed to be kind of an off night for him: the one where he took the big fall right near the beginning. It must be so disheartening to fall right at the start.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Ah, I was thinking you might have seen some of his jumps in person. :-)

I watched all three of the videos, though only once each. All of his spins look remarkable to me. Yes, his body lines in his camel spin are pure grace and (again, to my eye) perfect. They're much better than the skater's positions in the camel spin photos shown in the explanation I found on About.com.

I especially like how Alex can spin and spin and spin and spin, then come out of the spins and return to regular skating without wobbling or otherwise looking like he needs to regain his orientation or recover from dizziness. The main reason I'm tempted to watch all of the videos again is that I want to count the rotations on his spins.

I agree -- he's a beautiful skater! I'm glad he's an excellent teacher, too. Enjoy!

[buttonlass.livejournal.com]

So funny. I'll now be rooting for him whenever I watch skating.:)

[hakatrip.livejournal.com]

Cool! He is cute.

I think it's funny that they have a TV in our roller rink, and no one really ever watches it, UNLESS figure skating is on. Then a small crowd can gather. :)

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

So now you all know to root for Alex Johnson!

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, that's rather cool!

I'm "used to" watching Olympic finals and not much lower than that, so if I were an expert at this I might well legitimately think "This guy taking bronze in the nationals has real promise". However, it's much more likely that I'm just not qualified to judge this stuff (in fact, it's certain). My immediate reaction was about the same as Gerri's.

But my FIRST reaction, to your text, was that being able to perform at this level doesn't especially predict ability to teach beginners. And being young and spending all your time around serious skaters (you don't get that good without committing all your free time, so far as I know) can easily leave you missing the point that people differ a huge amount.

None of which makes it less cool, and knowing that he IS a good teacher for beginners makes me think more highly of him.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I think both you and Geri are more sophisticated at watching skating than I am. I had to watch the video 5 or 6 times and read some commentary to come to about the same conclusions you both did. However, no matter how many times I watch that bronze performance it looks Olympic quality to me, so what do I know? Apparently there were two other performances at that final that were even better. But there seems to be a consensus in the figure skating community that this is a skater with Olympic potential. I guess we'll know in a few years whether he is able to move up those last few levels or not.

True, being very good at something doesn't necessarily make you good at teaching it. Lots of very good young skaters have a hard time analyzing something that comes so naturally for them. But I think being good on Alex's level does require the ability to analyze moves very carefully and devise exercises to work on each individual component of the move. That's what they learn from their elite coaches.

On the other hand, it's entirely possible to have all those skills and still be an arrogant jerk. Part of what makes Alex such a good teacher for lower end skaters is that he's just so NICE. Even though he's working with skaters who are having trouble doing moves that come as easily as breathing to him, he's totally engaged and encouraging and respectful of each student, whether it's an awkward middle-aged woman or a 5-year-old beginning skater. Watching him do three triple jump spin things in a row and glide out into a perfect spiral it's hard to believe how excited he got when I finally did a halfway decent 3-turn for him. What a sweetheart.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It's true that to get that good, he must have HAD very good teachers, which means there's been a chance for it to rub off on him. He should at least have some clue what good teaching looks like.

Yeah, sounds like a real sweetheart, nice kid, good skater. Go him!

[carbonel]

Very impressive! Also that he's able to translate those skills into teaching, which doesn't always happen. Looks like he's doing a good job of making the transition from junior to senior levels.

There used to be a lot more figure skating on TV, but there's hardly any the past few years, though there are ways to watch it on the Internet. I miss seeing all the parts of the Grand Prix, and Europeans, and U.S. Nationals, and Worlds...

Though my interest has waned some since they instituted the Code of Points scoring system -- all the routines look way too similar.

Cute!

[eileenlufkin.livejournal.com]

He reminds me of Jamie, our old karate teacher.

Re: Cute!

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kinda. Only not so much of a drunk. :-)