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| Skating Journal 2001-2002 My First Year Part Three |
| The Making of a Skating Program - or Two or Three With Christmas and Nutcracker on Ice over, it was time to start seriously focusing on the challenges the Spring would hold. I was intending to compete in the local competition as well as, and in my mind, more importantly, I was planning to take the Pre-Bronze and Bronze USFSA Adult Freestyle tests. So, I needed some programs. Since I did not want to take on too much, I decided that I would only plan on competing in the freestyle competition rather than attempting an artistic program as well. But, just in case, I thought I would choose a song for the artistic event. With CD's in tote, I went to Lori's house to use her computer to cut some music for me. As a child skater I never got to choose my own music. My first competition was a medley of night time drama tunes, it began with the St. Elsewhere theme and ended with Knot's Landing. I was excited to finally chose my own skating music. I didn't have too much time to deliberate over all possible music out there, so I decided to limit it to my current musical library. I ended up chosing some music from one of my favorite movies/books, "Anne of Green Gables." For my possible artistic music I chose "Calypso" by John Denver. I love John Denver, even if I might have only been in grade school when he was at his height of popularity. For whatever reason I wanted a seperate program to use as a test, but I didn't feel like cutting anymore music, so when my husband got the "A River Runs Through It" soundtrack, I looked on the back and found a piece that was 1:41 (1:36 really), so that was it. That was my music nomatter what it sounded like. Luckily, it was nice. It was far from perfect and almost painstakingly slow, but I was determined to make it work. Now for the choreography. One of the advanced members of the club that trains in Salt Lake was home for the holidays and helped me choreograph. A friend of mine gave her my music before I could talk to her and when I got to the rink she was already working on the Artistic number, I didn't have the heart to tell her I wanted to do the Freestyle program, so I just went with it. It took a couple of weeks, but she chorographed a beautiful program for me. Her artistry is fabulous and I worked hard to do her choreography justice. As for the other two, the freestlye program was not choreographed for another month and then I had a one hour choreography session with one of the coaches and went from there. I had to tweak it and rework parts. It was a challenge at times, but I think the end result was nice. The music is so fast in the beginning and the end that it took a considerable amount of work. The test program I choreographed myself. I didn't do too bad of a job considering my lack of experience, but the music was so slow and short, it was not too difficult. Dedication and...the Backspin Instead of skating my usual 3 or 4 days a week, I started skating everyday. Saturdays even became a part of my schedule, which typically was an off day. My co-workers began to think I was crazy when I spent every lunch hour at the rink. I would have spent even more time at the rink if they offered ice in the evening. I was realizing how quickly the test session and competition were coming. There was one element that I began losing sleep over - the backspin. This was the element of my test program that I did not learn as a child skater and consequently became the thorn in my side. I became to inderstand that I was not the only skater that struggled with this spin. I tried every approach to this spin and finally my coach decided it worked best for me to try the backspin right out of a forward spin - a "change foot". So, I worked on this diligently and improvement was made, but only marginal. I have never worked on something that frustrated me so much before. I am still determined to have a killer back spin someday, but for now, it is really quite pathetic. My coach can't seem to come up with much better advise other than to practice. I wish there was a piece of miracle advise that would transform my spin. Hard Work I think I am making improvemts in my skating. My husband had not seen me skate in some time and recently he went to an open session with me and was amazed to see how I had progressed. This made me feel fabulous; all of my hard work was paying off. I was certainly a more confident skater and my dedication was not lost on another club member who trains out of town. She also commented on how I had improved. The best compliment all year came from my coach. I wasn't really doing anything, just skating around while we discussed the lesson that day. Out of the blue he just said, "You love skating, don't you?" I was so happy that my love for this sport radiated through me so that others could see my passion for skating. No matter how I skate, it doesn't matter as long as I love it and it shows. If I start to look like I hate it - I am done. Olympic Experience I got to go to the Olympics! This will be as close as I ever get to skating in it, that's for sure. I was one of the lucky few in the world to see, in person, Sarah Hughes win the gold medal. I will never, as long as I live forget that fabulous day. To be there and hear the cheering for the underdog and the collective gasp of thousands when Michelle fell is an experience that will be difficult to top. My wonderful husband surprised me with tickets. We drove the 5 hours to Salt Lake and had an exciting few days. |