YOWZA /OWZA Lessons & Practices 9/7 - 9/13

[Cinderella on Ice]

YOWZA / OWZA Lessons & Practices 9/7 - 9/13

It's not just back-to-school time, it's time to get back-to-skating and show us what you can do.

Tell us about your great (YOWZA) practices and lessons and those that are not-so-great (OWZA). And no matter what, have fun out there!

 

[luenatic]

YOWZA: Nothing really a YOWZA for me this week. I managed to do double 3s on both feet. I guess that's a yowza for me?

OWZA: Still trying to center my 1 foot spin. I guess I finally get the idea but I need some time to practice it. I mean, lots of time. I think I didn't straighten up my knee fast enough after the 3 turn.

The Inside spread eagle into Salchow is still a hit and miss. I don't have a lot of flow coming out of it. Need to work on it more.

Question for fellow ISI skaters: Can you do combination jumps for ISI FS3 program? Like Salchow-toeloop, or Waltz-toeloop, toeloop-toeloop, etc? I guess I'll ask my coach tomorrow night.


Happy skating everyone.

 

[starshinexavier]

Yowza: Met my new coach, and I LOVE HER!!! She's awesome!!! She loved my interpretive too! I think this season will rock. I can still do 2 sals, even though they're super tight. I squeaked out a few loop/2 loops, even though they were a tinge cheated. Went to the varsity meeting today, and things seem pretty good.

Owza: I fell on my hip warming up the loop/2 loops, and it still smarts and I finished skating over 2 hours ago. My friends laughed at me when I got home. I'll just get them to come skating with me tomorrow, and make them all look bad. He he he!!

That's it for me, Happy Skating!

 

[Yazmeen]

shine: GOOD FOR YOU!!! Sounds like you and coach are a great fit!

lune: My coach mentioned today that even though I'm technically right now in Freestyle 2, if I progress enough to do 3, she usually puts a Sal-waltz-Toe combo in her FS 3 programs, so I think that combos are allowed.

OWZA: Just my muscles--Two hours on the ice today and I have stretching class in an hour--oooch!!!!

YOWZA: More jumps today. Waltz, Toe and Sal are solid now, as are Sal-Waltz and Waltz-Toe out of the harness. Coach says she already sees a difference in my lift with my arms since I started back in strength training at the gym--Huzzah! Tried Sal-Waltz-Toe out of harness, but I was wiped and "Raggedy Anned" out of the waltz and never made the toe. Next time!!

THEN--spent about 75 minutes just doing stroking, edges and spirals. Tiring, but a good session.

Off ice until next Tuesday as I have business travel coming up, but I can use the break from work. Happy skating, y'all!

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

YOWZA - This has been an especially fun day for me. The person who has the skating lesson after mine had to cancel, so my coach spent extra time with me. Plus, there were only 1 or 2 other kids on the ice during the whole practice session, so I was able to work extra hard. She focused primarily on jumps today and gave me a great run through of all the singles, and then combos of everything, including salchow/loop, lutz/toe loop, lutz/loop. Then she reworked some of them to put some smooth moves between them which made me feel like a "real" skater. She was impressed with the "new, bigger" axel that I can do now, and then the most exciting thing of all happened--she gave me instruction on the first 3/4 of a DOUBLE SALCHOW. Woo hoo, we worked on my take-off timing and she told me not to worry yet about the full rotation and landing. So it's a very odd-looking thing, because I get all set up for the jump, hold and check my back take-off edge, execute the take-off, do at least 1-1/4 turn in the air and then ... sort of nothing. I just land on two feet for now until I get this timing down pat. She doesn't want me to try the full thing yet. Ha ha ha, it looks very funny, with this very smooth take-off and this incredibly cloddy finish. I'm sure it will create amusement for all the moms who sit on the sidelines. After that, we finished up with polishing up my one footwork piece, and then she gave me some tips for practicing the 2sal off-ice next week while I'm traveling for business. All in all, it was a very fun (and tiring!) lesson, since it was about 50 minutes of straight jumping.

Luenatic - someone else will have to answer your ISI question because I'm currently doing USFSA, but in this line of testing, it doesn't matter if the jump is put out there alone or whether it's part of a combo--it still counts. For example, if a requirement is a flip, you're allowed to do a flip/loop without penalty and have it count as the flip. But definitely ask your coach. And if going double 3s on both feet isn't a YOWZA, I don't know what is. Congrats!

Starshine - GREAT START to your new life!!! I'm drooling over your 2sals (see above, but watch out, I'm on the run!) and the loop/2loop. I took a MONGO spill today (among many) where my coach said that I looked like I was doing the most incredible arabian she's ever seen (unfortunately, I was actually doing an axel, but who's to know???!!! )

Yaz - Woo hoo, girl, I hand the jumping crown to you. You have made INCREDIBLE progress on those combos! Hope your business travel goes well and don't forget to strap on your sandals, put on your lab coat, and practice your jumps in the hotel hallways!!!

 

[starshinexavier]

WOO CINDY!!! I better watch out for you! Sounds like you'll be the 2 sal queen soon. LMAO about your botched axel. I can totally picture it!

Yes, I'm loving university. I have great friends, and we're all psycho, so it's great. I have an R.A. meeting in 15, so I've got to go.

Happy Skating!

 

[Lanie]

Congrats, all, you're doing great!

I have my lesson on Thursday but don't know how well it will go; I twisted my ankle in my evil Jacksons on Saturday at public session and running from class to class across campus daily isn't helping any, and ballet class isn't either (no more elevees for me, ouch)! My feet are killing me.

 

[singerskates]

Hi gang, you decide whether ysterday was a Yowza or an Owza.

I just got back on yesterday (Tuesday Sept. 9th, 2003). I'm the highest level skater on the Junior ice. My new coach and club has me prepping for an axel even though the prelim test doesn't need one. My freeskate is going to be choreographed by my coach's brother who does choreographing for competitive level ice dancers. So, my plans for my FS are out the window. I have to start fresh.

So far this new coach of mine, Coleen Matheson(sp), has me skating better than I was last year and I've only had one lesson with her so far. I can see it was wise of me to sign up for stroking class on top of FS. Boy do my Left forward and back crosscuts need work. Coleen kept talking about this V thing over and over. I'm starting to get it. Did some nice waltz jumps but if I were to be landing an axel, I would have been a zamboni because I was landing on the center of my blade instead of first on my toe pick. I also need to get checking harder and stop looking out of the circle when landing to get the axel.

During my lesson I couldn't spin worth beans. But then when I was just running through my program (last year's version), I was doing just fine. Maybe it's new coach nerves or more likely, it was because I was still frozen from my top teeth to my eyes including my nose from having my front teeth repaired at the dentist. For the first hour and a half, I still felt the freezing up to my eyebrowses. My dentist told me it would only take an hour and a half for the freezing to wear off. Yeah, right! I had the freezing shot at 2:30 pm and it didn't wear off until just after 10 pm. Certainly not an hour and half. ROTFLOL Try skating like that.

Club Tecumseh has to be the best club I've ever been at. All the
coaches like me and even better, they are all looking out for me on and off of the ice. Anybody heard of Vern Taylor? He's one of the coaches there. Anyway, it was Monday and I happened to be at the rink to pick up my ticket ice cards. He stopped to ask me how I was doing. I wasn't even skating that day! At this club, adult or not, you mention competition, or better yet, Canadians and they take you seriously. Skating is a serious thing here. Now I know I'll have my prelim passed for sure before the Adult Canadians deadline. I just have to get those sponsors.

Talking about sponsors, I left a note with my manager at work about how it would be great if Sobeys sponsored me. Wonder, if she'll get it going. I also have my ticket ice day arranged for every Wednesday with work. I'll be getting off from work at no later than 1:30 pm every Wednesday so I can skate my ticket ice at 2 pm to 3:10.

If anyone here would like to skate on my ticket ice, follow the
directions from Arenamaps at http://www.arenamaps.com/cgi-bin/arena- maps/view_arena.pl? position=0&arena_name=Tecumseh+Arena&city=Tecumseh&state=&zip=&=&id=1494&sport=0
You may have to copy and past to get the link to
work. or go to http://www.arenamaps.com and do a search for Tecumseh
Arena in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. This is where I skate now.

Brigitte

 

[blurrysarah]

Yowza: It wasn't the greatest session ever, spirals I suppose were the highlight. I have reached a point where my free leg is between 160 and 150 degrees. Not yet to my goal of a Sasha 180 spilt, but I'm happy with it. One thing that bothers me is that whenever I do it people look at me aghast and ask "how can you get that high!". Honestly, at the beginning of this year I had NO spiral whatsoever, couldn't even do the splits. So I made a decision to stretch everyday, holding a spiral position while watching tv or something. In about one and a half months, I had it past 90 degrees. I tell them this and they just shake their heads and say, "oh, you must be naturally flexible". Then they whine about their spiral position but don't even attempt to stretch it out! It's not rocket science, it's one of the easiest moves, just takes a little patience and a little determination.

Owza: Wherefore art thou Salchow? It just disappeared. Honestly thought I had this jump down pat, I mean I've been doing it for so long now, all I can think is that with the deterioration of my boots all my jumps are going with them. Hopefully coach will have my new boots on Sunday, albeit with dull factory ground blades, but at least I can get out of these old leather hellholes!

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Yesterday was my second day back on the ice. Since I'm going only once a week my progress will be slow.

Yowza-cross overs both ways, especially left, better then last week. Edges are more secure and I am holding that back outside left one better.
Tried waltz jump and did a very small one, but at least I did it without falling down! I did one nice scratch spin (but only one)

Owza-Rest of one foot spins were all over the place, couldn't get balanced in one spot. Tried camel spin but almost disaster face first! I'll save that spin for much later. My feet were hurting after an hour.

 

[icedream]

owza! there's this guy in my class who is in the same grade as me and everyone thinks i like him, lol. i also was very frustrated with my loop...

YOWZA!!!! I was feeling down because its been like 2.5 weeks since i started learning my loop and i still couldnt get it at all. my coach gave me some tips and everything, and now i can do it! And well! my flip has improved, and i can do my sitspin without falling! and i also had to race with people from freestyle 5 (even though I'm in four) and I won!!!! they were all the way at the other side when i got to the finish line! ohhh i had the best day today!

 

[luenatic]

Neither Yowza nor Owza. Just learned something new in the MITF class. Forward outside cross stroke and backward inside and outside cross strokes. The challenge for the forward outside cross stroke is not to use the toe pick to push. I like these cross stroke exercises. I think I really like the back outside cross strokes the most. Very pretty if done smoothly.

Also worked on the flip a little bit in the private lesson. The last time I tried was almost a month ago. But for some reason, my fear of the flip jump was not that bad anymore. I did several flips with 3/4 rotation and I'm a happy camper. I think I finally get the idea of how to pull myself up with enough height to finish the full rotation. Now I need more time to practice the flip so I won't forget it.

 

[Lanie]

I really didn't have much of a practice today. Me with my sprained ankle and coach with a Charlie horse! We just sat around with my music and talked about it. She was like, ehh, I don't know, at first but when I said I really like it she was like, you know, it might work. She was thinking lots of footwork, which is good because I need to work on my control and positions... I think it'll help a LOT.

 

[hlagirl25]

This is my first time posting here though I feel like I know you as I've been lurking around this board all summer. As introductions go I am 26, female, and working to pass my adult bronze MIF and Freeskate after skating for 2 years. The hardest combo I can do is sal/toe though I am currently working on learning the whole and half loop. In response to this week's practices, my coach called in sick but I still managed to do a couple of cheated half loops (at least I'm jumping) and wobbly back spins. My yowza moment is that I have finally mastered the RFO to RFI change of edge spiral. I can't wait to show my coach! Hopefully I will soon get over my fear and learn another single jump as I can't wait to put together my bronze freeskate.

 

[dlkksk8fan]

hlagirl25-
Welcome to the board and good luck with your skating.

Where do you skate?

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

Lanie - sorry to hear about your ankle, but glad your coach is warming to your music and will help you pull together a nice program.

hlagirl25 - welcome! We THOUGHT we saw someone lurking there in the shadows. Glad you've come out to join us. Good job on the outside/inside spiral. There are skaters at higher levels who struggle with it, so that's a great accomplishment. Sounds like you've made a lot of progress in two years, so keep on going on those half and single jumps! How are your spins? That is my weak point. I'm still trying to regain my centering skills.

YOWZA - Wednesday's skating session was just AWESOME for me. First, there were only two of us on the ice for the first 75 minutes, and then I was alone for the last 30! One of my goals for the session was to cover the ice better, and with no one to get in my way, I couldn't "cheat" and had to keep moving. Gosh, if thighs could spontaneously combust, you guys could've taken marshmallows and made s'mores! I worked hard on my first new (small) footwork sequence, trying to understand how it fits into my music and second to gain confidence with the RBI 3-turn/RFO bracket into a left back inner "loopy thing" into a twisty toe pick thing. My problem is that I can either get a GREAT speed going prior to these steps and then the evil bracket tries to SLAM me into the ice. Or I can slow the whole front end down and complete all of these moves ... and then find that I am about 1/3 down the ice of where I need to end so that I can do my 3 strong back crossovers into a lutz/RBO3/mohawk/salchow and still wind up in the opposite corner. Hmm ... speed v. control, control v. speed. I need BOTH!!! My jumps were "on" and I did a run-through of all the singles.

OWZA - I really was not liking my camel spin, whether alone or with a sit or camel/sit/back sit. I attempted my pathetic attitude spins, which look like a dog marking his territory. I DON'T think that's the look the judges are going for this year!

YOWZA - Today's practice was definitely a 10. Hubby came to videotape me, and I was able to nip some dog/hydrant/peeing attitude spins in the bud by watching the replay and then figuring out a better way to get my leg back there. I'm still riding up on the toe, but I think practice will make perfect. I practiced my 2sal take-offs (I'm supposed to "abort" the jump in mid-air), but on one of them I almost landed it and on another I SWEAR that I landed it (albeit cheated at least 1/4 turn) and it got me so excited that I couldn't calm down enough to do them again!!! We were on the big ice today, so I again worked at covering more ice with more speed. When everyone else plays their program music, it's all slow and ballet-like and flowy, and I come out there all dramatic and crashy and fast. My goal is to look as strong as my music sounds. My camel spins came to visit me today, and I was pleased with the camel/sit. The back sit still causes me trouble. My rump comes up in the air and my shoulders hunch over. Did anyone see Shrek? You know when the donkey (?) sings "I like big butts and I cannot lie" and shakes his butt around? Yep, that's it ... that's the look!

OWZA - nothing bad about the practice, but I leave for a business trip Monday which means that I have 9 days off the ice. Bummer. I'm going to practice off-ice jumping and work on my flexibility while I'm away.

I don't know if I'll be able to check in much, so I wish everyone fabulous skating for next week.

 

[singerskates]

I found out that all these years I was picking with my free leg wrong. No wonder, I was hurting myself all these years. Colleen busted me for picking in wrong. I was placing my free leg into the ice with my toe pointing inward instead of outward and I was not bending my skating leg enough and not drawing my skating leg to my picking/free leg. Oh, what a difference. My toe loop is a happening jump again but better than ever before.

Also, my Samba Pa Ti freeskate is getting scrapped totally. Now I have to get my computer fixed and search for faster stuff to which to skate. I found Samba Pa Ti fast but I guess Silver isn't enough for Club Tecumseh. They want Gold.

Also found out that I was taking way to long to snap into my spins. Colleen wants me as soon as I hit my left outside edge to lean more left right away to hook the spin. I was taking too long to get the spin started. Not there yet but I can see it will come soon. speaking of almost, I was mostly jumping into toe loops and loops but one time forgot to jump and got a nice 1 and half revs on my backspin before I got out.

Oh, I almost did an old Jennifer Robinson. That is I almost hit the boards jumping. But it wasn't that I waited until I was practically on top of the boards, but that I did 7 jumps in a row/combo and the last one was super sloppy and got me very close to the boards. I was just a bit dizzy after that 7th jump in my combo. ROTFLOL

I was put into the fastest and more advanced stroking group. Stroking at Club Tecumseh is not just stroking but footwork, turns, presentation and moves. I was doing ok until we got to this pattern that had RFO3 and LFI3. It's weird, I can do the RFO3's when I a double RBI3 but any other way. No way. Plus, my LBx are horrible compared to my RBx which are smooth and powerful. Lots of work needed in everything left handed/clockwise.

Well, I'm just a little tired. Did work till 2pm, came home, did email, went to the rink and did stroking (see above) and then freeskating, then threw McD's down my throat, then 2 hours Youth Group, drove kids home and then watched movie with hubby and then came on the internet. I'm just a bit toasted now.

Nighty, night.

Brigitte

 

[Lanie]

Today I just did lots of stroking. A little spinning, but mostly I worked on the edges and some turns and played with footwork ideas until my feet and ankle hurt. We're going to the Pickwick Arena in Los Angeles next weekend to check out how much new skates will cost. Anyway, it was uneventful and, honestly, boring, but I was proud of myself I didn't jump or spin too much because I'm too nervous about hurting myself!

On a totally different note, here is one of my senior portraits.

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Lanie-nice senior portrait. My son is a senior this year too. He'll be taking his senior pictures in a few weeks.

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

Lanie - LOVE your pic. It's great to be able to put a face with your name. You're smart to take the skating slow, especially with your ankle and all. It's very important to get your solid stroking and edges in place--it will make everything easier when you start working on more of the elements. We can't wait to hear about your excursion next week to the Pickwick. Do you have some particular skates in mind?