Skating Report
Jul. 20th, 2010 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkIn the last couple of weeks I've finally started to see some progress in my figure skating! My back still hurts on the right side after every skating session, but in a pesky way, not a disabling one.
My Right Forward Outside 3-turns are looking (and feeling) pretty good now. I can make the turn almost every time, and at least half the time I manage to check the right shoulder and get my right arm back. I'm still not comfortable on that right back inside edge and get off of it as fast as I can, but most of the time I don't actually FALL onto my Left Back Outside edge. Better yet, I am finally holding the LBO edge for a couple of seconds and stepping forward semi-gracefully. I have a hard time with that move on that side.
Both my Mohawks are pretty good now. The R2L one is a little sloppy (more of an open mohawk than a closed one), but I think I'm finally getting my right foot off the ice quickly enough to pass. Somewhat ironically, the pain on my right side has encouraged me to start favoring my left leg instead of my right leg, leading to much better balance on the left.
The LFO 3-turn is not quite there yet, but getting closer. At my last two skating lessons I managed to make several turns on my left foot without putting my right foot down to stabilize myself! I can't do it every time and I still come out of the turn awkwardly, but I think I've finally gotten around that mental block that was making it impossible to turn on one foot. There's only one more week of class before Testing. If I can get in a couple of practice sessions I may get this turn in shape to pass the test for Gamma level. If I can just get past the swivel I'm home free. My position may be awkward on the LBI edge, but once I step down on the right foot I should be golden. If there's one thing I can do, it's step forward from a RBO edge (in fact, I can't seem to do anything else once I get on that edge, but that's a different problem).
The last move on the Gamma test that I couldn't do is the hockey stop. I think it's a very cool move, but I've never been able to do it. And figure skating instructors don't seem to care about it very much - we almost never work on it in class. I kept trying to do it to the right for some reason, but I finally realized that I should be doing it the other direction. Although I usually favor my right foot, for some reason the one stop I can do really well is the T-stop with left foot behind (it's the back foot that does all the work on the T-stop). It turns out I can fake the hockey stop by essentially doing a sharp left T-stop, shifting all of my weight off the right and at the last minute turning the right foot to parallel the left foot. I should be turning both feet at the same time and putting pressure on the inside edge of the right foot, but I'll have to work towards that. Considering how uninterested the instructors seem to be in this move, it will probably pass the test as is.
So... it all comes down to that pesky left 3 turn. I've been working on it for about TWO YEARS now with little to no improvement. Now that I've made a breakthrough, can I whip it into shape in the next two weeks and move on to the next level?
My Right Forward Outside 3-turns are looking (and feeling) pretty good now. I can make the turn almost every time, and at least half the time I manage to check the right shoulder and get my right arm back. I'm still not comfortable on that right back inside edge and get off of it as fast as I can, but most of the time I don't actually FALL onto my Left Back Outside edge. Better yet, I am finally holding the LBO edge for a couple of seconds and stepping forward semi-gracefully. I have a hard time with that move on that side.
Both my Mohawks are pretty good now. The R2L one is a little sloppy (more of an open mohawk than a closed one), but I think I'm finally getting my right foot off the ice quickly enough to pass. Somewhat ironically, the pain on my right side has encouraged me to start favoring my left leg instead of my right leg, leading to much better balance on the left.
The LFO 3-turn is not quite there yet, but getting closer. At my last two skating lessons I managed to make several turns on my left foot without putting my right foot down to stabilize myself! I can't do it every time and I still come out of the turn awkwardly, but I think I've finally gotten around that mental block that was making it impossible to turn on one foot. There's only one more week of class before Testing. If I can get in a couple of practice sessions I may get this turn in shape to pass the test for Gamma level. If I can just get past the swivel I'm home free. My position may be awkward on the LBI edge, but once I step down on the right foot I should be golden. If there's one thing I can do, it's step forward from a RBO edge (in fact, I can't seem to do anything else once I get on that edge, but that's a different problem).
The last move on the Gamma test that I couldn't do is the hockey stop. I think it's a very cool move, but I've never been able to do it. And figure skating instructors don't seem to care about it very much - we almost never work on it in class. I kept trying to do it to the right for some reason, but I finally realized that I should be doing it the other direction. Although I usually favor my right foot, for some reason the one stop I can do really well is the T-stop with left foot behind (it's the back foot that does all the work on the T-stop). It turns out I can fake the hockey stop by essentially doing a sharp left T-stop, shifting all of my weight off the right and at the last minute turning the right foot to parallel the left foot. I should be turning both feet at the same time and putting pressure on the inside edge of the right foot, but I'll have to work towards that. Considering how uninterested the instructors seem to be in this move, it will probably pass the test as is.
So... it all comes down to that pesky left 3 turn. I've been working on it for about TWO YEARS now with little to no improvement. Now that I've made a breakthrough, can I whip it into shape in the next two weeks and move on to the next level?
