I ended up going skating on Friday in Stillwater and Sunday here at River Falls. I will undoubtably be updating this journal more now that the ice is on at Hunt arena. My Friday skate isn't really worth bringing up, though my skate yesterday was quite good. I wish I could put in the words the feeling I had walking into the arena. There is just something about Hunt arena that I just love...I love skating there more than any other place I've been to. It's partly how laid back and friendly everyone is. The staff is collge students, as are most of the recreational skaters. The crowd always includes a few lower level figure skaters, some hockey kids, and parents teaching their kids to skate. The open skate isn't mass chaos like many rinks I've been to. But perhaps the best thing about the rink is how cozy it is. The most aesthetically pleasing rink I have ever been to, for sure. The bleachers and ceiling are wooden, like a gymnasium, not metal like most rinks. They also have their concessions and benches set up very nicely. I'll be sure to include a picture before I graduate.
As far as my skate went, my scratch spin has been so-so lately, but I was able to get a couple fast & centered ones in. I practiced backspins, which were ok, and sit spins, which are definitly suffering from lack of practice! I can't get down nearly as far as I could this summer. My camel spins ARE improving, and I am very excited about this. I have always thought camel spins were among the prettiest of the spins, and I can't wait till mine looks like a genuine spin. :) I worked a little bit on flips, which I can always seem to do just fine, and loop jumps, which aren't as good as I would like them to be. I can land them, but I just can't seem to get enough height, and I have a tendancy to "crouch" a bit in the air instead of being strait. One overall thing that I did observe was that I tend to practice the same things over and over. With the exception of my camel spin, sit spin, and the loop, spending an hour working on things I can already do isn't the most productive way to spend my time. For my next skate, I would like to work on change-foot spins, entering the loop from back crossovers, lutzes, and entering the toe loop from the flip enterence. (I think this might be a toe wally, where you switch your feet to pick, but I dont' know.) Anyways, I just need to make sure I dont' spend too much time working on what I can already do, so I can focus on pracing some new things.
Well I finally have a free minute, so I want to give a brief synopsis of how my summer skating went. I feel as though my jumps through the flip are pretty solid for a begginer, so now I need to work on making them bigger and stronger. I have landed the lutz a few times, though this jump still needs work. As far as spins go, I ended the summer with a good scratch spin (when I'm "on", anyways) and a really good sit spin. My back spin still needs work staying on the right edge, and my camel spin is still in it's infancy. I also learned some new "tricks" in my power class including consecutive mohawks and split and stag jumps. My coach started me on axel walk-throughs during the last lesson, though I really don't think I'll be ready to try an axel for quite a while yet.
I managed to have my boyfriend videotape my last skate, and I decided that I was neither as good as I hoped, nor as bad as I feared. One thing I really need to work on is my arm position during spins, my arms have a tendancy to want to go high and get unlevel, and it looks really wierd. I also have to work on my freeleg position in my scratch and back spin. My sit spin looks pretty good, except again, my arms want to get to high. I also found that I need to make sure I stretch and extend my legs in the camel spin, as the spin looks lousy when the skating leg is bent. As far as jumps go, I really have to make sure I'm not getting ahead with my arms in my jumps, particularly the loop jump. Also, the entrance I had been doing into the flip looks kinda wierd, so I need to so something that looks a little more graceful. In the tape, I wasn't really skating with much power or speed, though I do feel that those qualities have improved over the summer.
As far as my life now, I just started my last semester of school, and so far so good. After spending the last 4 years taking hardcore science courses, this semester is quite a refresher. I am thrilled to be taking ballet, which is bound to help my skating. My instructor teaches the Russian method of classic ballet, and owns a ballet school in the twin cities, so I am sure he is going to make sure we really known our stuff. I also have my glass studio class, and I am excited to have the time to work more with stained glass and fusing. I have already started drawing ideas in my sketchbook. Open skate starts here at the end of the month, and I am trying to make it home as frequently as possible to keep skating at my rink at home. I am hoping that I will be able to pick up where I left off, as it's only been about two weeks since I've skated.
I know I've said this before, but I am going to try and scan some pictures of my pets, artwork, and maybe more skating photos in the near future. Keep and eye out for those, as well as more skating updates in the near future!
