Wow, is it really over a year since my last post?
Well, since then I have passed Level 1 Field moves, placed 2nd out of 7 in a competition, landed loop (sort of), still not fixed my step into spin, and become champion harrasser for the Christmas show.
I shall try and provide an actual post in the next week or so. But it might be a list of things I need from people for the show...
Thursday 27 September 2012
Tuesday 2 August 2011
babies on ice
Tiny little girls in skating dress as the smallest skates you've ever seen. Cute right?
Well, they make me cringe a little. I've seen the littlest kids doing "jumps" when they can't do three turns and spins when they can't do crossovers. Skating in competitions and shows to routines they can't remember without coach shouting the steps to them.
They get the biggest cheers, and I'm all for that, because those little babies need all the help they can get! It's like five year olds doing a-levels, it's too much too soon. They're gonna burn out before they hit double digits. And boy, will those parents and coaches be disappointed then!
I don't think anyone (whether they're 3, 13 or 30) should be taught to jump if they can't do the steps leading into the jump. I don't mean well and at speed and with a good jump after them, I mean at all. One of my friends did her first competition aged 7 and cried when she got lost halfway through and fell at the end. And I'm no child pychologist, but there's a big difference between pre-schoolers and 7 year olds.
My advice to those parents of the babies on ice is to let the kids play on the ice. There's plenty of time for lessons and competitions when they're out of nappies.
Well, they make me cringe a little. I've seen the littlest kids doing "jumps" when they can't do three turns and spins when they can't do crossovers. Skating in competitions and shows to routines they can't remember without coach shouting the steps to them.
They get the biggest cheers, and I'm all for that, because those little babies need all the help they can get! It's like five year olds doing a-levels, it's too much too soon. They're gonna burn out before they hit double digits. And boy, will those parents and coaches be disappointed then!
I don't think anyone (whether they're 3, 13 or 30) should be taught to jump if they can't do the steps leading into the jump. I don't mean well and at speed and with a good jump after them, I mean at all. One of my friends did her first competition aged 7 and cried when she got lost halfway through and fell at the end. And I'm no child pychologist, but there's a big difference between pre-schoolers and 7 year olds.
My advice to those parents of the babies on ice is to let the kids play on the ice. There's plenty of time for lessons and competitions when they're out of nappies.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Fresh Eyes
A few weeks ago I had a lesson with a coach I'd never had before. It was a one off lesson, just to focus on basic skating. I was thrilled that he was happy with my basics, said I skated as if I'd skated as a child and restarted as an adult (instead of starting at the old age of 23!) because I had fixed most of the hard mistakes to fix but still made the easy-to-fix ones, and that he could tell I'd had good coaches.
Having a coach who doesn't know you look at your skating is a great chance to break it down, and see what is good about it and what is bad. They will have a slightly different focus to your regular coach (all coaches do), and don't know what you're capable of until you show them, so they have no pre-conceived expectations about you or your skating.
Your regular coach knows you. They know that you struggled for months to get forward crossovers at all, or that you have an irrational fear of hitting the barrier on backwards edges, or that you do funny arm positions in spins. And because they know you, maybe they concentrate on improving the speed of your crossovers rather than worry about the toe pushing right now, or getting you to do backwards edges at all, or getting rid of the stop before your spin. They notice the other things but they're not their priority to fix right now.
A fresh pair of eyes notices all these things and has an impulse to fix them! Doesn't even have to be someone who doesn't know you! I had my first coach for nine months. When I visited her about six months after she stopped coaching me, she said that she couldn't look at my mohawks every day because they were so scrappy! My regular coach by then was concentrating on getting me to do them at any kind of speed, but a while later I got told they need to be neater (and months later, I'm still getting told this...).
Normally, the only time skaters get to see what someone new thinks of their skating is in a test or a competition, so having a one off lesson with another coach is a great opportunity to get another perspective without the drama of pass or fail, win or lose.
P.S. don't have a lesson with anyone without your coach's approval
Having a coach who doesn't know you look at your skating is a great chance to break it down, and see what is good about it and what is bad. They will have a slightly different focus to your regular coach (all coaches do), and don't know what you're capable of until you show them, so they have no pre-conceived expectations about you or your skating.
Your regular coach knows you. They know that you struggled for months to get forward crossovers at all, or that you have an irrational fear of hitting the barrier on backwards edges, or that you do funny arm positions in spins. And because they know you, maybe they concentrate on improving the speed of your crossovers rather than worry about the toe pushing right now, or getting you to do backwards edges at all, or getting rid of the stop before your spin. They notice the other things but they're not their priority to fix right now.
A fresh pair of eyes notices all these things and has an impulse to fix them! Doesn't even have to be someone who doesn't know you! I had my first coach for nine months. When I visited her about six months after she stopped coaching me, she said that she couldn't look at my mohawks every day because they were so scrappy! My regular coach by then was concentrating on getting me to do them at any kind of speed, but a while later I got told they need to be neater (and months later, I'm still getting told this...).
Normally, the only time skaters get to see what someone new thinks of their skating is in a test or a competition, so having a one off lesson with another coach is a great opportunity to get another perspective without the drama of pass or fail, win or lose.
P.S. don't have a lesson with anyone without your coach's approval
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to my coach.
I promise to show up on time for all my lessons, ready to skate and willing to learn.
I promise to remember that coaching is your income, and to pay all my bills promptly.
I promise to practice in between my lessons to develop the skills you've taught me.
If I don't practice, I promise not to whine if I don't make progress.
I promise to trust your decision on whether I'm ready for a test or competition.
If I disagree with your decision, I will discuss it with you, not the gossip brigade.
Equally, if I have any issue with you at all, I will speak to you first.
I promise never to badmouth you to anyone, I will only say good things.
I promise to represent you well by being courteous to all other ice users
Even if they're not always courteous in return.
I promise to always try my best, even (especially) when it's hard.
I promise that if my best isn't good enough right now, I won't blame you and I will try not to kick the ice.
I promise that you are my coach and I am your skater.
I pledge allegiance to my coach.
I promise to show up on time for all my lessons, ready to skate and willing to learn.
I promise to remember that coaching is your income, and to pay all my bills promptly.
I promise to practice in between my lessons to develop the skills you've taught me.
If I don't practice, I promise not to whine if I don't make progress.
I promise to trust your decision on whether I'm ready for a test or competition.
If I disagree with your decision, I will discuss it with you, not the gossip brigade.
Equally, if I have any issue with you at all, I will speak to you first.
I promise never to badmouth you to anyone, I will only say good things.
I promise to represent you well by being courteous to all other ice users
Even if they're not always courteous in return.
I promise to always try my best, even (especially) when it's hard.
I promise that if my best isn't good enough right now, I won't blame you and I will try not to kick the ice.
I promise that you are my coach and I am your skater.
I pledge allegiance to my coach.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Smart goal setting
Goals are good. They give you something to aim for and work towards, and then a sense of achievement when you suceed. If I don't succeed in my goals, I don't feel like I failed, I just know I have to keep working on them.
Office speak has a thing about "SMART" objectives. This stands for Specific Measurable Agreed Relevant Time-bound. For more info, see wikipedia. For skating examples, see below.
Specific - don't say "improve crossovers", say "stop toe pushing on crossovers" or "use correct edges on crossovers"
Measurable - to hold a spiral with foot above hip for 10 seconds or to get five rotations on sit spin
Agreed - the skater needs to be on board with the goals, they can't be dictated. I don't mean that coaches need to agree every single short term goal, but there should be medium-long term goals agreed with coach, such as work towards a test.
Relevant - if you're having issues with field moves, working on jumps isn't going to help that
Time-bound - how long will depend on the skater and the goal, but you need a time limit. Its only skating, if you don't meet it, then you can always extend it. You could set a goal for one practice session, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.
I set monthly goals without discussing it with my coach. But if coach takes me in another direction that month, it doesn't matter. If I've set goals around jumps and spins, but coach wants me to work on field moves and footwork, I'm gonna with with what coach says and ammend my goals. For younger skaters, goal setting involving the coach may be useful, but I generally know from my lessons what needs improving.
I also set medium-long term goals with my coach. We've been inching me towards my level 1 field moves since last summer. When I entered my second competition, we discussed what we wanted to improve on from the first comp (there was two months between them) and decided to work on making the transitions smoother, cleaner and faster. Then after this comp, coach decided we need to work on my footwork and basic skating skills, which I am 100% in agreement with.
I don't always set myself SMART goals in skating. I do task myself with "improve three turns", but I'm trying to force myself to be more specific - one of my goals this month was "to hold edges longer in LFI3 turns" (my worst three turn!!!). I guess not measurable as I haven't said "to hold edges for three seconds" but it's at least targeting a specific bit of the three turn. Maybe next month it'll be "to check the backwards edge on three turns" or "make sure there's a distinct bend and rise". But the SMART principles are worth bearing in mind, even if you do pick and choose which ones to use.
Office speak has a thing about "SMART" objectives. This stands for Specific Measurable Agreed Relevant Time-bound. For more info, see wikipedia. For skating examples, see below.
Specific - don't say "improve crossovers", say "stop toe pushing on crossovers" or "use correct edges on crossovers"
Measurable - to hold a spiral with foot above hip for 10 seconds or to get five rotations on sit spin
Agreed - the skater needs to be on board with the goals, they can't be dictated. I don't mean that coaches need to agree every single short term goal, but there should be medium-long term goals agreed with coach, such as work towards a test.
Relevant - if you're having issues with field moves, working on jumps isn't going to help that
Time-bound - how long will depend on the skater and the goal, but you need a time limit. Its only skating, if you don't meet it, then you can always extend it. You could set a goal for one practice session, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.
I set monthly goals without discussing it with my coach. But if coach takes me in another direction that month, it doesn't matter. If I've set goals around jumps and spins, but coach wants me to work on field moves and footwork, I'm gonna with with what coach says and ammend my goals. For younger skaters, goal setting involving the coach may be useful, but I generally know from my lessons what needs improving.
I also set medium-long term goals with my coach. We've been inching me towards my level 1 field moves since last summer. When I entered my second competition, we discussed what we wanted to improve on from the first comp (there was two months between them) and decided to work on making the transitions smoother, cleaner and faster. Then after this comp, coach decided we need to work on my footwork and basic skating skills, which I am 100% in agreement with.
I don't always set myself SMART goals in skating. I do task myself with "improve three turns", but I'm trying to force myself to be more specific - one of my goals this month was "to hold edges longer in LFI3 turns" (my worst three turn!!!). I guess not measurable as I haven't said "to hold edges for three seconds" but it's at least targeting a specific bit of the three turn. Maybe next month it'll be "to check the backwards edge on three turns" or "make sure there's a distinct bend and rise". But the SMART principles are worth bearing in mind, even if you do pick and choose which ones to use.
Monday 16 May 2011
Falls
Falling is an inevitable part of skating.
If you don't fall you're not pushing yourself.
I believe in this. I see the kids falling on jumps all the time, and actually wish I could throw myself into my jumps enough to do that. I've been learning loop on and off since August, and fell on it for the first time last week. BUT I know that adult skaters in particular are very wary of falling. The fear of injury is very real, and the consequences of an injury are worse for adults than for kids.
The worst falls are the ones you don't expect.
If you've ever seen a kid fall twenty times on a double jump and pick themselves up and go again, then that same kid falls on field moves and gets off the ice crying, you know what I mean. If you are (or have been) that kid, then way to go! I think on hard jumps, you half expect to fall, and even if you don't, your body is preparing to land. You have momentum as well, so you tend to slide across the ice, rather than falling straight down. It's the straight down falls that hurt the most.
Get right back on the horse.
After a fall take a second. Are you hurt? Are you shocked? If yes, then get off the ice for a minute and have a drink and a breather and reassess. If not, then do whatever you fell on straight away. And keep doing it until you do it as well as you normally can. The longer you wait, the more fear has a chance to build up.
Getting over fear.
I've posted before about how scared I used to be. A bad fall can really shake you, no matter how old or young you are. The more you fall, the less likely it is that it will really throw you, but your first bad fall can be awful. Get used to falling. Do it from drags or teapots so it doesn't hurt. Play musical bumps (which did hurt after twenty bumps...)! The more scared you are, the more tense you'll be and the more likely you are to actually hurt yourself if you do fall. When you can't remember every fall anymore, it's a good sign.
If you don't fall you're not pushing yourself.
I believe in this. I see the kids falling on jumps all the time, and actually wish I could throw myself into my jumps enough to do that. I've been learning loop on and off since August, and fell on it for the first time last week. BUT I know that adult skaters in particular are very wary of falling. The fear of injury is very real, and the consequences of an injury are worse for adults than for kids.
The worst falls are the ones you don't expect.
If you've ever seen a kid fall twenty times on a double jump and pick themselves up and go again, then that same kid falls on field moves and gets off the ice crying, you know what I mean. If you are (or have been) that kid, then way to go! I think on hard jumps, you half expect to fall, and even if you don't, your body is preparing to land. You have momentum as well, so you tend to slide across the ice, rather than falling straight down. It's the straight down falls that hurt the most.
Get right back on the horse.
After a fall take a second. Are you hurt? Are you shocked? If yes, then get off the ice for a minute and have a drink and a breather and reassess. If not, then do whatever you fell on straight away. And keep doing it until you do it as well as you normally can. The longer you wait, the more fear has a chance to build up.
Getting over fear.
I've posted before about how scared I used to be. A bad fall can really shake you, no matter how old or young you are. The more you fall, the less likely it is that it will really throw you, but your first bad fall can be awful. Get used to falling. Do it from drags or teapots so it doesn't hurt. Play musical bumps (which did hurt after twenty bumps...)! The more scared you are, the more tense you'll be and the more likely you are to actually hurt yourself if you do fall. When you can't remember every fall anymore, it's a good sign.
Sunday 15 May 2011
Skating Basics
I've witnessed some online arguments lately about the "basics" of skating. Firstly, I do not mean to sound derogatory by calling them basics, or imply that they're easy or beneath me because I can already do them.
The basics are the stepping stones to everything you'll ever do on the ice. And for as long as you skate, you'll keep working on them. They include:
You can always improve your basics. To take forward crossovers as an example again: At skate uk level 5, you pretty much just need to be crossing your feet and moving forward on a circle. At level 10 you need to be using your edges, be able to get up some speed. Level 1 field moves you can't toe push, you have to have good posture and not stomp. Level 3 elements requires more speed and control again.
What if you can't get past that first step? The crossing your feet and moving forward on a circle bit? To be honest, all you can really do it practice practice practice. Have private lessons and get your coach to drill you on it. Spend twice as long on your bad side as your good side. Work out what you're doing differently on the bad side. But the skills I listed above aren't things you can skip. Not if you wanna move onto the next thing and the one after that.
Then, once you have them, you can learn whole new steps and twists on them. Like once you can do mohawks, you can learn barrell rolls. If you can do forward three turns, why not try backward three turns?
But you can always always improve on them. You know how your coach or that high level skater can do a three turn like its effortless? And how they don't look like they're concentrating on every inch of the curve, terrified of the turn, and putting their foot down as soon as they're backwards? They didn't just settle for being able to do something, they pushed it and worked it until it was effortless.
The basics are the stepping stones to everything you'll ever do on the ice. And for as long as you skate, you'll keep working on them. They include:
- forward and backward stroking
- stopping
- forward and backward crossovers
- three turns
- mohawks
You can always improve your basics. To take forward crossovers as an example again: At skate uk level 5, you pretty much just need to be crossing your feet and moving forward on a circle. At level 10 you need to be using your edges, be able to get up some speed. Level 1 field moves you can't toe push, you have to have good posture and not stomp. Level 3 elements requires more speed and control again.
What if you can't get past that first step? The crossing your feet and moving forward on a circle bit? To be honest, all you can really do it practice practice practice. Have private lessons and get your coach to drill you on it. Spend twice as long on your bad side as your good side. Work out what you're doing differently on the bad side. But the skills I listed above aren't things you can skip. Not if you wanna move onto the next thing and the one after that.
Then, once you have them, you can learn whole new steps and twists on them. Like once you can do mohawks, you can learn barrell rolls. If you can do forward three turns, why not try backward three turns?
But you can always always improve on them. You know how your coach or that high level skater can do a three turn like its effortless? And how they don't look like they're concentrating on every inch of the curve, terrified of the turn, and putting their foot down as soon as they're backwards? They didn't just settle for being able to do something, they pushed it and worked it until it was effortless.
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