What didnt you achieve this week all help welcome

[WednesdayMarch]

"Eighteen competencies"?!  What the H E Double Hockey Sticks do you have to do for Grade Five on Planet Ice?

Try not to get too downhearted.  You'll get there.  What are you not passing?  Can we help?

[WednesdayMarch]

Any chance you can change rinks to a sensible scheme? 

[Jo]

Grade 5 is mostly backwards in a circle. I just copied and pasted the competencies from the Planet Ice site. I passed 7&8, 13&14, and 18 (which I disagree with as I can't do mohawks at all):

1    Two Foot Changing Directions    Outside edge (orange) clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
2    Two Foot Changing Directions    Outside edge (orange) stamp downs clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
3    Two Foot Changing Directions    Outside edge (orange) changing direction in an S shape clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
4    Two Foot Changing Directions    Outside edge (orange) Spiralling circle clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
5    Glide In A Circle    Outside edge, (orange) with trunk rotation clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
6    Glide In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) with trunk rotation and head rotation clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
7    ˝ Star In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) ˝ Star lift leg to return back to glide (neutral). Clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)    
8    ˝ Star In A Circle    Inside edge (green) ˝ Star lift leg to return back to glide (neutral). Clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
9    ˝ Star In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) ˝ Star transfer to inside edge (green) on other leg clockwise anticlockwise & (L/R) (R/ L)       
10    ˝ Lemon In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) ˝ Lemons clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
11    Scoot    Outside edge (orange) and inside edge (green) Scoot (L/R) clockwise & anticlockwise       
12    Stepping Backwards To Forwards    Scoot to glide (orange ) trunk, head, hip, ankle rotation and step to forwards, Clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
13    Tightrope Position In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) and Inside edge (green) ˝ tightrope with leg forward clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
14    Tightrope Position In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) and Inside edge (green) ˝ tightrope with leg behind clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
15    Tightrope Position In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) Tightrope (L/R)       
16    Tightrope Position In A Circle    Outside edge (orange) Tightrope, orange tilt on back leg clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
17    Lemon Pivots    Inside edge (green) backward Lemon pivot clockwise & anticlockwise (L/R)       
18    Lemon Pivots    Beginners mohawk (vee circles) inside edges (green) clockwise & anticlockwise (R/L)

[Jo]

I'm just having a grump . I know it'll all come with practice and I'm not really in a rush to make it through all the grades. But I did think that the "certificate" they gave me today saying I had achieved 5 competencies at Grade 5 was just taking the p***. 

[WednesdayMarch]

I used to coach Learn to Skate classes but I have no clue what any of that means.  Seriously, if you can find a rink within a reasonable distance that does Skate UK, move to it.  Seems to me that system is designed for very young children who can't grasp the concept of inside and outside edges* as children - and their parents appreciate a certificate with some signs of progress/value for money...     I was chatting with my old coach at the rink where I used to teach and she said that she refused to teach LTS when Planet Ice took over the rink.  She now does one session a week.  Grudgingly.  I don't think I could.

*  In my experience, children often grasp the concept more quickly than adults.  I have one adult skater at the moment who is really struggling with it...

[transmissionoftheflame]

I think Skate Excellence is well intentioned but misses the mark.  It seems vastly overcomplicated to me.  I'm no great fan of Skate UK either and even that to me has too much in it.  I think in general beginners need to concentrate on just a few basic elements to help them feel their skates under them and really get down into the ice.  Without that feel you'll never skate well and having to remember long lists of rather esoteric elements can't help.
Inventing a whole new set of terminology also seems counterproductive as it hampers communication and learning from the wider world of resources.
That said, I still think that WHO teaches you and HOW they do it, and HOW you approach it, make much more difference than the system you're using.
I think Chris Conte and Nick Perna, who some may have seen on iCoachSkating.com, should be put in charge of how skating is taught to beginners and adults.  I fear current approaches put people off and leave them ill prepared so that they become discouraged and drift away.


What's number 11 - "Scoot"?

[RisingErin]

I've seemed to stop being able to do snow plough stops. I got my skates sharpened a few weeks ago and since then I haven't been able to stop. Holding the wall I can scrape my blades across the ice but when ever I try to do it from moving I just keep going. I turn my feet in but I can't get them to go out. Been told to bend my knees but that doesn't seem to help.

[transmissionoftheflame]

You could try doing a half snowplough stop - so keep one foot pointing ahead which you will skate on and the other one point the toe in and try to shave ice off the top of the rink surface.  At least that should stop it ending up like a lemon.  Experiment with how much pressure you can put on the stopping foot before the edge catches, and the angle of the blade to the ice, to develop a feel for how to initiative that ice shaving.

[Leif]

I've seemed to stop being able to do snow plough stops. I got my skates sharpened a few weeks ago and since then I haven't been able to stop. Holding the wall I can scrape my blades across the ice but when ever I try to do it from moving I just keep going. I turn my feet in but I can't get them to go out. Been told to bend my knees but that doesn't seem to help.

I’ve had that happen. A shop sharpened my blades, and at hockey training I was hopeless, I couldn’t hockey stop, I couldn’t do anything. Turns out the shop gave me too deep a hollow, maybe 7/16” rather than 5/8”, a huge difference. Such a deep hollow requires far more effort when stopping. I now skate with a 7/16” hollow by choice as my edge control is much better. It is also possible your edges are not level. My experience is that many sharpeners are inept, and even the good ones can make mistakes as happened with me.

[VisuallyImpairedOnIce]

Inside 3s. I can't do them - was signed off by a previous coach way before I should've been and now my lovely coach wants them sorting out.


I can rotate my head, arms etc but can't get the turn. I'm thinking I'm being too gentle - off for a practice tonight so I'll give them a bit of oomph and see how that goes.


I'd like to ignore them in the hope they'll go away, but I kinda want to work towards my Level 2 group coaching thing and that'll mean passing up to BIS level 3. Working on getting passport and level 1 done first do I can start with my level 1 assistant coaching, but that's the dream goal.

[transmissionoftheflame]

I presume you mean forward inside 3s?


I was blocked on those for a long time.


Now I find them much easier than FO 3s.  I think the turn bit is harder but the BO edge is easier to control than the BI edge from a FO3.


3s should never feel forced.  A lot of beginners seem to push into the edge and try to turn straight away.  I think this just contributes to a feeling of panic.  [/size]I would try to do a lot of work holding FI edges for ages so that you are stable on them and feel you can control them.[/font]


There's a leap of faith required, and once you take it and your body discovers that everything will be ok then you're fine.  Getting really comfortable on BO edges is a good preparation, because if you are not then you are hardly likely to commit to turning into them.