Author Topic: What did you do in today's lesson?  (Read 354137 times)

WednesdayMarch

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3421 on: December 22, 2019, 10:47:49 pm »
As for the salchow jump, well, I am still trying to understand mentally where I am supposed to jump! In classes two weeks ago, the coach was trying to break it down for me in separate bits, and when it came to doing the last part, I stepped, rather than jumped. For some reason, my brain finds it really hard to understand when to actually command my foot to jump!

That is really common in adults.  Children are absolutely fine with flinging themselves around and jumping like beans, but adults have had years more programming to enable them to recognise when things are likely to cause injury and their brains tend to take evasive action.  Try practicing the sequence off ice as well as on and you should start to override the brain's natural caution and begin to jump.

It may also help to remember that the worst injuries rarely come from ridiculous things like jumping, as before you've even taken off you've mentally prepared for impending doom.  It's the things that take you by surprise when you're just skating forwards or practicing those pesky crossovers...  ;)
Returned to the ice in Sept 2017 after a major leg injury in 1999. Skating in Jackson Elite Pro & MK Vision Syncro. Still scary after all these years.

Leif

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3422 on: December 23, 2019, 01:07:34 pm »
That is really common in adults.  Children are absolutely fine with flinging themselves around and jumping like beans, but adults have had years more programming to enable them to recognise when things are likely to cause injury and their brains tend to take evasive action.  Try practicing the sequence off ice as well as on and you should start to override the brain's natural caution and begin to jump.

It may also help to remember that the worst injuries rarely come from ridiculous things like jumping, as before you've even taken off you've mentally prepared for impending doom.  It's the things that take you by surprise when you're just skating forwards or practicing those pesky crossovers...  ;)

My coach said the same thing, young children have no fear and they do tend to be less susceptible to damage, maybe because they are less tense, and lighter. Being tense makes you more likely to suffer an injury which of course is why drunk people often get away without injury after falling downstairs etc. I remember when I first tried the forwards to backwards transition, I was terrified and yet today I think nothing of it. I think some adults have less fear, I'm not in that group.

FootsieDAX

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3423 on: December 23, 2019, 10:46:01 pm »
Thank you both, yes, it is definitely fear of falling -- my excuse is that children, when they fall, they do so from closer to the ice than adults  ;D -- and it's also the fact that I do not really understand the technique (like, how do I push with my toe? like in bunny hops?). I never had one-on-one lessons, I only ever did group lessons (and watched videos), so I finally decided I will take some one-on-one lessons to be able to pester the coach with questions  :)

Leif

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3424 on: December 24, 2019, 12:21:06 am »
I’ve only done one on one skating lessons. I’ve done one on one and small group hockey lessons, and in some ways a small group, 3-4 people, is better as you get some personal instruction and time to practice the move. I don’t like larger groups except perhaps as a beginner, due to the lack of feedback, which IMO is essential. Otherwise you reinforce mistakes.

FootsieDAX

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3425 on: December 24, 2019, 07:49:02 pm »
My group lessons usually have about 8-10 people so not a lot of time for individual feedback, this is why I decided I'll take some one-on-one lessons. Hopefully they will start in February, fingers crossed.

josydavinia

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3426 on: January 09, 2020, 08:42:50 am »
Today I worked on all the basics as my coach has been away for a bit. Continuous edges, forwards crossovers, a little bit of 3 turns and a little taster of everything from levels 1-4. I'm hoping that the week after next I can see about signing off on my level 5 Skate UK, or at least signing off a couple more elements!

VisuallyImpairedOnIce

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3427 on: January 09, 2020, 03:14:34 pm »
Not done it yet but am probably going to make my coach cry in Sunday's lesson.
I'm very lucky, through various arrangements I work with a coach at a bigger rink on some aspects of inclusive skating - mostly free dance, but she likes her dancers to compete in compulsory dance at the big yearly championships. She also happens to be my coach's coach :)
She wants me to ask my coach to teach me the steps and beat for the rhythm blues and fiesta tango. Last year's run throughs of the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango nearly broke both of us, but my brief experience of these next two dances has been enjoyable. I only see dance coach for a short period of time each year due to distance and holiday allowances at work (we work on lunchtime patch sessions for safety) so if I can get the basics down, she can stretch the dances to fit a full rink and tidy them up.
Inclusive Skater :)
IS Masters FD World Champion 2021 🥇
IS Pairs Level 2 World Champion 2021 🥇
IS Free Skate Level 3 Bronze Medalist 2021 🥉

Leif

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3428 on: January 11, 2020, 03:13:23 pm »
I had a good lesson this morning, even though I feel awful thanks to flu which I’ve had for over a week. I did crossovers, forwards and backwards, much better. I really can see progress, given that it has been such a long slow process. Then two foot slalom forwards, nice and easy, and one foot slalom, forwards, with cones, not easy. But a bit better than last time. She tried to get me to do backwards one foot slalom with the rear foot on a puck. I told her she was mad. She ignored me. She does that. And she always proves me wrong. This will take a long time to learn. She has a young hockey player who has learnt to do it. I might not be so capable.  :)  I did forwards inside 3 turns for the first time, and managed them on each leg. Badly. Very badly. But I did it and we were both surprised. I did forwards outside 3 turns on a goal crease, she wants me to turn without scraping the blade which I tend to do. I didn’t do too badly. And I did a simple outside edge drill followed by an inside edge drill which I hadn’t done for a few months. I did it quite well, and massively better than previously. So a good lesson. A long way to go, but it’s nice to see real improvements compared to a few months ago. It’s odd how skating seems to improve in steps: no improvement, then a leap, then no improvement, then a leap.Hi ho.  :)

WednesdayMarch

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3429 on: January 11, 2020, 09:40:32 pm »
Yeah, skating goes like that.  It's what I call the P Sequence:- Practice, Progress, Plateau, Practice, Progress, Peak, Practice, Plummet, Practice, Progress, Plank... Ad infinitum.  ::)

You are making great progress, Leif, and should be really pleased with yourself.

I keep meaning to try the exercises like power pulls (slaloms) with a toe on a hockey puck.  It looks like a fun challenge.

And serious kudos to you for doing the FI three turns!  On hockey skates that's really something.  They are enough of a struggle for most people on figure blades!  The key to doing any three turns without scraping is the down-up-down motion.  Knee bend/down on the edge in, rise up in the knee to release the turn (rather than scraping round) and knee bend/down after the turn to check the movement and keep you from catching a toe pick or (on hockeys) just pitching over forwards.

Returned to the ice in Sept 2017 after a major leg injury in 1999. Skating in Jackson Elite Pro & MK Vision Syncro. Still scary after all these years.

VisuallyImpairedOnIce

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3430 on: January 13, 2020, 01:16:15 pm »
Yesterday's lesson was interesting. Half an hour private, then half hour group edge/step/whatever coach fancies lesson.


Mentioned dance stuff, coach's face looked very sad, but he's agreed, if I temporarily take on another lesson after Blackpool so we can get everything done to a decent standard.


My lesson we did:
Spins, then a funky chocktaw/back crossover exercise to get the step into the spin better. Spin is still 2 rotations but getting closer to 3 again.
Jumps, focusing on height for 3 jump, making sure my foot is properly pointed down on toe loop. Then salchow. Oh, salchow how I dislike you. I can do the nice entry, but then struggle to jump. Or a messy entry, with my free foot going down, but then a jump off the proper edge. Ugh. Got a few bits to work on for that.


Group we did:
Backspins - ugh, I can't do an attempt, then finish with my feet crossed like coach wants
An exercise to help with positions in 3 jump
Spreadeagles - coach, my hips don't go that way! He  has similar hip structure to me, and wants to be able to do one by the end of the year. I currently have a baby inside spread :) A friend in the group can do an Ina Bauer, when I asked how on earth that was possible, I got told once my spread works nicely, I'll be taught how. Oh dear...
We all also had to do coach's evil stamina exercise that I've posted about before. Not fun on a busy session, kept seeing people in my (limited) peripheral vision and freaking out during the jump portion of the exercise. Had my nice bright vest on though, so people had fair warning I wouldn't see them!
Inclusive Skater :)
IS Masters FD World Champion 2021 🥇
IS Pairs Level 2 World Champion 2021 🥇
IS Free Skate Level 3 Bronze Medalist 2021 🥉

josydavinia

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Re: What did you do in today's lesson?
« Reply #3431 on: January 22, 2020, 08:40:09 am »
Standard Skate UK bits today! The first proper element (other than the warm up of stroking, lemons and slaloms) was fwds crossovers. Oh my, what a disaster! I fell on one as I stuck the toepick of my crossover foot in the ice - how, you may ask? God knows! I got up well though and we gave the other way a go to see if it was just me being funny. It was - and after that I was fine! Weirdly, my fall actually gave me a lot of confidence and I felt happy doing the crossovers on the circle by myself after the lesson, which I haven't felt happy doing in ages :)

My backwards crossovers are improving and I feel confident with those on the circle independently now too! My stroking has also improved as well as my continuous edges, all of which we practised today. I'm working on outside 3-turns and my LFO are a little sketchy but the RFO ones are fine and so I just want to keep practising those. My goal is to get my Skate UK finished this year and start passport - here's hoping I can nail those 3-turns and backwards edges and get my level 5 signed off by the end of Feb!



 

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