HP #8 - Stopping, who needs it?
Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See my first HP post for the full notes on these.
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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. Maybe I just think stopping is important? Well, all the adults I'm learning with think it's important as well, but maybe we're all just too sensible?
Perhaps it's because you see so many of the hockey-booted skaters on public sessions tearing around and then slamming to a stop and spraying slush everywhere that gives the impression that stopping is important. It certainly looks cool in a teenage way and I'm always an advocate of acting at least half your age. I'm also sure I'm not the only one that's been concerned about careening into the back of an unsuspecting ice tourist while on a busy public skate session. I wanted to at least try to be a better role model on the ice, so, where was the stopping education?
I crashed into one of the younger, elite skating girls that had (foolishly) strayed onto a public skating session and put this exact quandary to her.
"To be honest, you don't really need to know how to stop," she said with a shrug. "you just get better at controlling your momentum. I just do a basic T-stop after exercises," (I could, roughly, do one of these) "and when it comes to other people then you just get better at going round them," she continued.
Sage advice, also explained why Ashley didn't really mind about my stops, because it seems you mostly don't really need them as you get better. A certain amount of stopping power is useful though so I kept working on my T-stop but I worried less about it. Besides, falling is another great way of killing momentum and I'd got that down to a fine art.
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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. Maybe I just think stopping is important? Well, all the adults I'm learning with think it's important as well, but maybe we're all just too sensible?
Perhaps it's because you see so many of the hockey-booted skaters on public sessions tearing around and then slamming to a stop and spraying slush everywhere that gives the impression that stopping is important. It certainly looks cool in a teenage way and I'm always an advocate of acting at least half your age. I'm also sure I'm not the only one that's been concerned about careening into the back of an unsuspecting ice tourist while on a busy public skate session. I wanted to at least try to be a better role model on the ice, so, where was the stopping education?
I crashed into one of the younger, elite skating girls that had (foolishly) strayed onto a public skating session and put this exact quandary to her.
"To be honest, you don't really need to know how to stop," she said with a shrug. "you just get better at controlling your momentum. I just do a basic T-stop after exercises," (I could, roughly, do one of these) "and when it comes to other people then you just get better at going round them," she continued.
Sage advice, also explained why Ashley didn't really mind about my stops, because it seems you mostly don't really need them as you get better. A certain amount of stopping power is useful though so I kept working on my T-stop but I worried less about it. Besides, falling is another great way of killing momentum and I'd got that down to a fine art.
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