We Don't Just Excel, We Axel

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  I'd just set up my first one-on-one lesson with the Tammasaurus . Some called me insane, the others were taking bets on how long I'd survive... This is a rather long post, I apologise for that, but if you want a taste of what my first private lesson was like then I recommend consuming the whole thing in one sitting - that's right, the food metaphor has already begun - as my first lesson proved to be a similar feat of endurance. ------------------------- Sweat poured off my face, my hair was already soaked and I was beet red as I puffed for breath in the middle of the rink. I hoped, in that instance, that I could've been described as a "hot mess", but I've long suspected that my hair drenched in sweat doesn't look in any way as sexy as it can do on some people. Side note - At this point, I was going to illustrate ...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  Two months-ish into the 5-8 group , I'm enjoying the progress plus David and the group are nice, but... ------------------------- The time had come, I was ready to take another step on the rung towards becoming a real figure skating community member (not that I wasn't already but dramatic effect yo!) It was time to find my own coach. We'd been doing similar kinds of exercises for a few weeks in the 5-8 group class, but, despite David's fun stretch & reach goals , I had reviewed the Skate UK skill requirements and figured I was basically at the end of it all. Sure, I could probably refine the stuff we were doing over a long period of practice, but I'd noticed so far that continuing to do new stuff helped me approach old skills in new ways, so everything got a little easier as I progressed. Sadly, in terms of progressing, the...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background: Still around the month and a half mark in the 5-8 class by this point. ------------------------- "How about we give some choctaws a go?" David smiled broadly at his suggestion. David was a fan of implementing "stretch and reach" goals for our class; he didn't call them that, but that's what they were. "Stretch & Reach" was (probably still is) a policy used in some UK school education to help indicate to kids what they had to do in their work in order to be working at a higher grade of competency than they currently were, or to indicate how they could go beyond what was required of the expected standard at their level. Stretch and reach goals made sense in the 5-8 class as, broadly speaking, we'd all covered the 5-8 material even if we weren't doing it with any great skill, so, in the spirit of doi...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background: I'd been enjoying the 5-8 class for a month or so by this point. ------------------------- " That doesn't look so hard... " I thought to myself as I stood on the rink one morning. Do other adult skaters have this kind of thought a lot? I was watching another skater - the classic, young girl skater type - and her coach on the centre circle as the coach tried to get the girl to do what I'd later come to know as the 3 jump (waltz jump for those across the pond). For the uninitiated, it's a half-rotation jump that you start gliding forwards on one leg, and do, what is effectively, a hop onto the other leg. You do a half rotation in the air to land backwards. My hunger for new skating moves was always on the edge of my mind, nagging away at me when I got a bit bored of practising something I'd been doing for a few weeks. I...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background: Another departure from the usual HP format. Time to introduce a new cast member! Note: this post probably won't display well on mobile, apologies if you're reading via that medium! ------------------------- She tosses her lustrous, blonde locks over the shoulders of her gilet as she sets her coffee down on the rink barrier and steps out firmly onto the ice. Your eyes are immediately dazzled by the neon pink snow pants now emerging from behind the barrier as she strokes slowly around the ice, her eyes sweeping the rink as she surveys her realm. These snow pants are her crown jewels; a striking pink beacon on the ice that sets her apart amongst the sea of fast-moving black leggings and grey tops the other skaters are wearing. As you watch her skate, you start to appreciate her stance: precisely-balanced and graceful, her years of training clea...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  I'm about a month into the 5-8 group in this moment. ------------------------- Head Coach Jane was in charge of us this week as David was off sick. Some of us had enjoyed Jane's last foray into our lessons so having her again was met with an undercurrent of excitement by those of us from before, and the usual wariness of a new coach from the others that hadn't had her. One of the things that I like about Jane is her willingness to push the limits of skaters' comfort zones with new material. Adult classes can be a little wary of anything that sounds too insane but Jane doesn't shy away from pushing people as she knows that everyone is capable of doing what she suggests and there are always ways of simplifying anything that seems too difficult at first. We worked through a variety of exercises from basic stroking to warm up (e...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  I'm now up in the 5-8 class with David as the group coach. ------------------------- Following in the footsteps of his forebears, David was yet another enthusiastic and friendly coach - clearly these are the traits of UK, male coaches! Furthermore, for a sport so heavily populated by women then the coaching gender demographic at my rink is comparatively very balanced between the sexes. One of the funny things about moving up to the 5-8 class was that, while there was an extra layer of nuance on top of many of the skills I'd done before, Ashley and Jason had worked with us quite a bit on the 5-8 skills instead of moving us up sooner so we were reasonably able to keep up with the standard of the current 5-8 people. They were obviously still better than us, but many of the things we were struggling with (* cough * 3 turns and backward cros...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background: Quick departure from my usual HP style for some reflective thinking! ------------------------- I was now swimming with the bigger fish in the 5-8 group, the same group that I had once looked up at in wonder and awe as they sailed around with their advanced moves. It was strange now being in that class because, while I was a lot better than when I started learning, I still didn't feel like I had any "fancy moves" to show for my time in training. It's important to clarify at this point that I was (and still am) very much enjoying ice skating, but I was reflecting on the way my perception of what I'd learned had changed. When I'd looked up at the 5-8 class when I started then it had it all looked so impressive and complex. But now I was in that class and I still didn't feel that what I was learning was really that comple...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  Jason's now taken over the beginner group class following Ashley's departure. ------------------------- I didn't stay in Jason's group very long after he confirmed he would be taking over. Not because I didn't like him (in fact, I liked his teaching style a lot) and not because someone else replaced him (they didn't, at time of writing he's actually still teaching that class), it was for a much simpler reason. After about a month of lessons with him, Jason showed up with the register to check off our skills. "Hey up," he said, "some of you guys aren't on this list." He tapped around on the tablet for a bit. "Ohhhh, you guys are meant to be in the 5-8 class. Well, I'd be happy for you guys to stay here if you wanted, I like teaching you, but you're meant to be in the other class."...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  Ashley has now departed from the adult group lessons  so we're all unsure as to who's going to be taking the classes from here on... ------------------------- For about a month, the coaching of the adult classes sat in a holding pattern as the rink struggled to nail down a consistent coach for us. The upshot of this period meant that we had coaches Sue, Jane, David and Jason in weekly succession and each change meant they had to wind us back to the beginning of the skills to get a feel for where we were in our learning. That's not to say that this time wasn't without merit though, we did enjoy experiencing the different approaches each coach used and we all learned something different from each one that improved an aspect of our skating. For me, Jason's week had him demonstrate his method of 3 turns and it just instantly made ev...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  This was around mid-October 2016, I'd been learning to skate for about two and a half months and our group had already passed the criteria for levels 1-4 of the Skate UK course . ------------------------- Ashley announced that he wouldn't be working on Tuesdays anymore so another coach would be taking over both the Tuesday adult classes, he didn't know who and his facial impression implied the rink management had no idea either. We'd all really enjoyed being taught by him and we'd always felt he believed in us as adult learners (who can sometimes feel overlooked by rinks) so this news was met with some trepidation. An unprecedented meeting was called between the level 1-4 and level 5-8 group members. Hurried talks of arranging a group lesson with Ashley on a different day were discussed, but nothing was agreed and the groups eve...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. ------------------------- There was some stuff I didn't seem to be learning in my skating lessons. Some really fundamental stuff. Like, how to stop. In fact, I'd become notorious in my class for having plenty of speed and a decent handling of most of the skills we were learning, but my kryptonite was a complete lack of stopping ability. I actually felt kinda embarrassed about the whole thing in lessons. Any time we finished up an exercise with any speed involved (e.g. crossovers) then I was just left spiralling round and around Ashley as my momentum slowly died out while he explained the next exercise. How tragic I must've looked to him: poor Owen can't stop. But, thinking about it, Ashley honestly never really seemed that bothered about it, in fact he simply accepted my poor snowplow attempts without comment at our progression ticking-off session...

I'm a self-professed falling zealot. At my rink, you'll know if I'm falling as it's almost always accompanied by a shrill cry as I topple to the floor and slide across the ice. A sudden "WOOOAAAHH!" has everyone's heads snapping round at the outburst and they go "Oh god, Owen's at it again!" I think I give more people heart attacks from my screeches than any damage I do to myself from falling. The thing is though, I've definitely come to believe that falling is learning. Ice skating is a lot about balance (of course!), understanding where the balance ends and the falling starts really helps guide our body's internal gyros as to what you can and can't get away with when you're trying things on the ice. You can train yourself to push those limits as you get more confident as a skater and you'll become stronger at holding your edges or positions longer. It's pretty much the definition of practice that you do things wr...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  This snapshot of the past follows pretty soon after my historical perspective post about learning to do crossovers. ------------------------- Ashley reported that our group had essentially covered the Skate UK 1-4 stuff by this point. We weren't doing it all gracefully or with great skill, but we were good enough to move up to the 5-8 class. We hadn't had anyone new join the 1-4 class for a while and, as Ashley also ran the 5-8 class, he told us that, in the interests of keeping the groups' experience levels at a similar place relative to each other, he was going to continue teaching us the 5-8 material but not actually move us up, so the other class wouldn't have to backtrack to our level. He'd reassess the situation when some new people joined our group as it wouldn't be practical for them or us at that point, so we all agr...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. ------------------------- Now and then, my family brave the ice rink with me. Their preferred physical activity is horse riding (predominantly dressage) and they've been doing that since 2008, so, relative to my ice skating ability, within their own sport, they're advanced riders and thus no strangers to a strong core, good balance and well-directed leg and arm movements. Every time we go skating, it's always the same story: "... how do we go backwards?" I took some friends from one of my board game clubs: "... how do we go backwards?" Strangers I overhear on public sessions: "... how do we go backwards?" What is it with the backwards skating, you crazies? Backwards skating is, charitably, a bit more dangerous than forwards (at least while you're learning it), and, uncharitably, WAY more dangerous. Particularly...

Note: this post probably won't display well on mobile, apologies if you're reading via that medium! Edges! I'm talking about them, other skaters talk about them, they're insanely important to most disciplines of ice skating and you want to know more! Or you don't and are just reading every entry on my blog because you love me, thank you! Experienced skaters can simply skip this post, move right on by, it's nothing new, but there is a nifty little picture or two. This post is mainly for anytime I reference edges elsewhere on the blog and need an explanation link back for those less familiar with this sport. Most forms of ice skating are basically all about them edges. In fact, the technical criteria that differentiates two similar seeming jumps (the Flip and the Lutz) is based entirely on which edge of the blade you're on for takeoff. So let's begin. Non-skaters tend to imagine that the flat of an ice skating blade (the bit that goes on the ice)...

I meant to post this earlier in my post schedule, but it didn't quite fit into my HP format so here it is, late, my "origins" story behind getting into ice skating. ------------------------- I first encountered an ice rink the way most people do. You're 12, your parents take you, a little girl half your age cuts you up and promptly falls over right in front of you. Your blades are heading for her head; you have no idea how blunt rental skates are, but 12 year old you assumes you're going to give her a lot more than just a close shave. In a panic, you're forced to half-jump, half-fall over her and, incredibly, no one's injured in the end. Girl skates off like nothing happened and you start a blog 15 years later to commemorate the occasion (absolutely not why I started). I don't actually remember the experience of skating that time though, just the seemingly dramatic incident, so I'm going to pretend my first time was two years after that event...

For any future posts that reference my own skating progress within the UK's learning system(s) then this post is going to cover the UK's learning structure for overseas readers. You can find a summary of the structure at the bottom of this post and it's all correct as far as I know. I've read quite a bit about the American learning structure from the American skating bloggers so I hope this is useful info even if only as a reference tool. As with most ice skating education, you can learn in groups (particularly the early stuff) or hire a coach for private lessons. Who runs this show? At the highest level, ice skating teaching, testing and national/international competition arrangements is handled by the National Ice Skating Association (NISA). They seem an okay bunch but, at this stage in my skating career, I've not really had much to do with them and the learning course they designed seems fine to me but what do I know? Other people, like coaches and professio...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background: As per my  last HP , I've just bought my first pair of skates. ------------------------- I strutted into the rink with my new skate bag - black with (what I thought was) a tasteful, embroidered logo of a figure skate on the back, see picture - slung over one shoulder. My ego was momentarily put in check as I remembered that the bag's design had someone more than half my age in mind (it had a Velcro strap for goodness' sake), but you have to own these things so my strut returned. I plonked myself down in the locker room and a heavenly chorus erupted from the bag opening as I drew forth my new skates. One of the ladies in my skating class looked over. "Ah, you've bought some skates?" she noted with curiosity. "Oh, I have? I hadn't noticed... Now you mention it... Well would you look at that? They certainly look...

Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See  my first HP post  for the full notes on these. Background:  This snapshot of the past comes about four or five weeks into my skating career. ------------------------- "Those blades sound blunt," Ashley stated as I shuffled around on my rental skates. "Well, they're from the rink's hire bunch, not much I can do," I said defensively. "Well... Don't get those ones again," he replied. I interpreted this as a sign that I should probably just get my own skates. I didn't want to be accused of blunt blades anymore even if it wasn't my fault. "I've been thinking about getting my own..." I began. I was really hoping that Ashley would shower me with wisdom and offer some suggestions on what to get because the world of ice skate purchasing seemed big and scary. He cautioned against spending too much at first, because you could learn a lot just us...