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| Skating Journal 2001-2002 My First Year Part 1 |
| Planning the Season Skating Camp ended in August and there was no ice in our small town arena again until mid-October. I was aggrivated. Skating camp was just enough to get me hooked on skating again and now I would not even be able to practice what I had just learned for another month and a half. I was also afraid of having to endure the pain of my flat feet. Too long off the ice and I would have to "break in" my feet again. I volunteered for the fall skating registration day. There was a poor turnout and I was reminded of the need to work on the publicity of the club as well as my own skating. So, I had plenty of time that morning to study the fall program offerings and decide how to plan the season. There was little that an adult could take advantage of. There was a lunch-time adult class, but I learned that it was only for beginning, "learn to skate" adults. So, I decided on a fun filled Sunday of skating. It would start with a half hour of off-ice training, and then a half hour group ice dance lesson followed by a half hour dance/moves practice and finally an hour of freestyle. Phew! Since the club did not offer practice ice throughout the week I had to buy ice time directly from the rink in the form of a public session season pass. This was offered during the lunch hour, this was perfect since I worked only about 4 blocks from the rink. Open ice and freestyle sessions were offered by the rink and were only available in the day. There was nothing available at night. So, there it was set. Lunch time practice during the week and then a whole day on Sunday. Saturdays off! Setting Goals I had heard that one of the coaches had been giving his skaters, "homework". He was having them write down their personal skating goals for the season. I thought that this sounded like a positive exercise, so I set down to write my goals, they are as follows: 2001-2002 Season Goals Perform a Camel Spin; Perform a Backspin; Land an Axel; Take Adult Pre-Bronze Test; Take Adult Bronze Test; Compete in Jackson Hole Invitational. Ice Dancing I have come to understand than many adult figure skaters love to ice dance. I think it must be the social aspect of it as well as the fact the discipline does not require you to leave the ice surface. So, I decided that even though I did not ice dance as a child, that since it seemed the thing to do as an adult skater, I would give it a try. I never even liked watching it on TV, so this was an experiment. I had taken Jazz and Ballet classes as a child, but my ballroom capabilites have never been honed, and I believe may be non-existent. My group ice dance class consisted of myself as well as an 8 and 12 year old who had at least been to enough classes to master the Dutch Waltz. With a quick review of the Dutch Waltz and hardly so much as an introduction to the sport of ice dance, we were off. I had no idea of even the fundamentals of this discipline. I found it immediately frustrating. I was not used to the need for such precision of pattern and I found ice dance to be constricting. However, in all fairness, it was a group lesson and I could not hold up the group. So, after three lessons, a demeaning remark from the 8 year old and the firm voice of the coach from across the rink pleading that I "listen to the music, " I called it quits on ice dance. I decided then and there that I was a freestyle skater and that is what I would concentrate my attention and finances on. I have since decided that I may try dance again sometime, only it will be in a private or VERY beginner adult group class. But for now I want to skate freestlye, perhaps when I am done jumping I will do some dance. Coach It was a month into the season already and I was still on my own. I had yet to commit to a coach and had only one private lesson so far. My private lesson was from the director of the summer skating camp and I found that having a private lesson felt very indulgent. We hardly had the money to spend on the luxury of a coach of his caliber. He lived in Salt Lake so there was no possibility of him becoming my full-time coach anyway. It was a nice treat and the lesson produced a couple of those wonderful, "ah-ha" moments you find in skating on a rare occasion. As a child skater, my coach was a notoriously strict European coach and I thought he was great. Of course I question some of his methods now that I have grown up, but at the time his discipline was what I needed. He was considered one of the best coaches in Minnesota and each time another of his students made it to Nationals, his price reflected it. I had basically 4 options of coaches in my new town. One married couple who specialized in dance and also taught some low-mid level freestyle. A senior level freestyle and pre-gold dance 16 year old female coach. And a mid-thirties junior level freestyle male coach. I don't know why, but I prefer male coaches. It could be that is what I am used to, but I also think they are more strict - I know that is a stereotype, but well, that is how I feel. I am a commited, hard working, disciplined skater and I wanted a coach that reflected those traits. I chose the male freestlye coach, or rather it just sort of happened. It turned out the beginning adult skating class had some drop outs, so it was decided to have an advanced adult class so that the other adult skater in the club and I could be a part of it. It turned out that this coach I liked was the instructor and so the class was essentially semi-private lessons with my skating buddy, Lori once per week. This was something that my checkbook could more easily afford and it was fun too. |