Spins are centered!

My spins are back! They are consistently centered and although they aren't very fast, they are centered and solid and I am very very pleased. THis is the best they have been since before I stopped skating back in 2000. I'm so glad to be finally making progress again.

Today i skated for 45 minutes this morning, walked a mile this afternoon, did some off-ice training outside and then skated again for an hour this afternoon. I'm really very happy with how it went. I just feel more like myself on the ice lately and i'm sure that having my skate situation all figured out is helping as well. I'm just really happy with how i'm skating, even if i'm embarassed if other people see me. I still feel fat and akward on the ice, but at least i'm skating better.

Robin got new skates today. So there's more drama of course. But her coach said "I only give my skaters 15 minutes to break in new skates". Really? 15 minutes? Seriously? 15 minutes to break in a new pair of skates to the point that you can jump and spin properly? I don't think so. Seriously I think Janice is wackadoodle. And that might be putting it nicely.

Fewer 4 ams!

I'm going to be getting  up at 4am less now that the class session is starting! Kensie and I are splitting the early days. This is great!

Afternoons here at the rinka re a complete madhouse though...it's like rush hour hits here about 2 hours befoer it hits anywhere else. The ice is full of kids, and while 15 might not sound like  a lot of people when they are spinning and jumping and doing footwork it's a lot of traffic.

I only skated in the afternoon today, and noticed a difference in my energy level from my usual twice a day schedule. However, i'm really glad to have gotten to sleep late, so I'm definitely not complaining.

Robin however, is doing a lot of complaining and excuse making. While i'm sure a certain degree of her issue is her skates and her feet, I'm convinced that she is actually frightened of her double axel and the less she does it, the happier she is. Her inability to commit to her work really frustrates me, but the way her coach handles it frustrates me even more.  I just can't believe that yelling and throwing guilt at a kid is going to make them skate harder. It makes them resent their skating and resent their coaches.

3 hours?

I accidentally skated for 3 hours today. It's so easy to skate longer when you're skating with a buddy and you're both working on stuff-- even if it's not the same stuff. Kensie and I both had lessons with Karen today and since no one was here to use the ice, she and i both skated for most of the entire session. It was great! It was fun to skate with another person and to work on synchro stuff that i've been struggling with alone. My lesson also really went well, which was a blessing. I feel like I finally have grown comfortable in my new skates and have figured out how to lace them comfortably and everything. SO...yay! now just to get my spins centered again... and that's even coming along!

Ice Drama

So this morning when I arrived at the rink there was major ice drama. The dehumidifier had been off all night and the ice surface was a disaster. Besides the fact that it was foggy and littered with candy, hair ties, garbage and other such junk, there were also humidity stalagmites forming on a whole section of the ice. It was not a safe ice surface and so we had to switch rinks and then call the ice guy so he had a heads up. By the afternoon sessions it was solved, but it was drama i was not prepared for.

As far as my own skating, things are improving every day. My spins are much much better today. I'm starting to center them more consistently, however its only when i do it coming out of a right outside 3 turn and then pushing to my entrance. When I try to do my entrance out of cross overs i am off center every time. I need to figure out why this is exactly. Otherwise, they are getting "back to normal" to some extent.

Robin was a terror today. Janice wasn't here today, therefore she didn't feel she had to work or listen or do anything that Janice had told me to do with her. It was very annoying. But at the end of the day, i'm not the kid's coach and therefore i just can't care that much.

What makes a skater "good"?

Is it talent? Flexibility? Skill? Practice? Coaching? Work ethic?

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know that there are alot of skaters who are "good" skaters that aren't olympic level or elite in the least, and I also know some high level skaters that I do not respect nor do I consider "good" for the sport in general. It's hard to draw a firm line, but there are some definite characteristics that make a skater "good" in my book.

1. Dedication to the sport. A good skater is dedicated to skating. To me this means that they skate numerous times in a week and consistently show up to practice. They are also dedicated to the sport overall and cheer on their country's teams and know about all aspects of the sport, not just the things they are personally interested in.

2. Skill. Yes, a certain amount  of skill is necessary to be a "good" skater. But, for the most part, skill can be taught and learned. You can learn HOW to do the motions and while certain skills take longer to learn (axel), it's something that can be learned. However the degree to which those skills are practiced and executed is what separates a skater from a "good" skater and a "good" skater from a "great" one.

3. Natural abilty/grace/etc. There is an element of the sport that cannot be taught. Some skaters "have it" some don't. For some skaters, the skills come easily, for others they have to work much harder just to get the things that other skaters do instinctively. No amount of practice, teaching, and work will create a natural ability that just isn't there to begin with.

Is that all? I dont' know...but I do know these 3 elements are necessary for a skater to be a "good" skater by my defininition.