Unorthodox breakthroughs
Upright spin. The most basic and trivial of spin techniques, yet one I stubbornly continue to struggle with a year and a half into my skating career. It seems so odd that I can be practising to do the hardest single jump and yet still completely floundering on the basics of spinning, but hey ho.
Lately, the Tammasaurus has been pulling all sorts of tricks out of her playbook in order to get me to make some semblance of progress at spins - I strongly smell the air of desperation, though more from myself than her. She remains as professional as ever, despite my string of floundering attempts at spinning.
Something I've noticed with learning spins is that every time we try a new method then I immediately do it fairly well first time round. Fantastic. Of course, I am then completely incapable of repeating my beautiful first execution ever again. It's almost as if the thrill of the new drives me forward and then my body has a taste and is like "we've done that now, gimme something else?"
About two months back, we started using a method in which instead of holding both arms outstretched during the entry, we switched to having the left arm bent at the elbow and held across in front of my body. For a while I felt this was working, but then nothing seemed to improve and I was right back where I was. I tried to suggest I just needed to practise it more in my spare time, but the Tammasaurus - having watched my latest attempt - cocked her head and said,
"No, I'm not sure about this technique anymore."
Not one to criticise without an alternative, she immediately followed up with,
"Let's try something completely unorthodox. No one does this. It's madness to even consider it... Could you try holding your right arm outstretched in front of you and your left arm out to the side?"
My upright spin instantly improved. Just like that. Not only in the immediate attempts after either, but permanently.
When the Tammasaurus becomes a world-renowned coach (she's actually well on the way to reaching the top level of UK certification) then I hope that this technique is recorded in exquisite detail in her best-selling coaching guide. In an ideal world, the section concerned will feature a picture of my distraught face (before) and smiling face (after) - Tammasaurus, I absolutely volunteer for this to be the case if you decide to become an author. The text will explain that ailing adult skaters can potentially be rescued by this one, totally unorthodox, adjustment.
Fear not, Tammasaurus, you can breathe a sigh of relief. A corner we may be turning! Rotational based puns not intended...
Lately, the Tammasaurus has been pulling all sorts of tricks out of her playbook in order to get me to make some semblance of progress at spins - I strongly smell the air of desperation, though more from myself than her. She remains as professional as ever, despite my string of floundering attempts at spinning.
Something I've noticed with learning spins is that every time we try a new method then I immediately do it fairly well first time round. Fantastic. Of course, I am then completely incapable of repeating my beautiful first execution ever again. It's almost as if the thrill of the new drives me forward and then my body has a taste and is like "we've done that now, gimme something else?"
About two months back, we started using a method in which instead of holding both arms outstretched during the entry, we switched to having the left arm bent at the elbow and held across in front of my body. For a while I felt this was working, but then nothing seemed to improve and I was right back where I was. I tried to suggest I just needed to practise it more in my spare time, but the Tammasaurus - having watched my latest attempt - cocked her head and said,
"No, I'm not sure about this technique anymore."
Not one to criticise without an alternative, she immediately followed up with,
"Let's try something completely unorthodox. No one does this. It's madness to even consider it... Could you try holding your right arm outstretched in front of you and your left arm out to the side?"
My upright spin instantly improved. Just like that. Not only in the immediate attempts after either, but permanently.
When the Tammasaurus becomes a world-renowned coach (she's actually well on the way to reaching the top level of UK certification) then I hope that this technique is recorded in exquisite detail in her best-selling coaching guide. In an ideal world, the section concerned will feature a picture of my distraught face (before) and smiling face (after) - Tammasaurus, I absolutely volunteer for this to be the case if you decide to become an author. The text will explain that ailing adult skaters can potentially be rescued by this one, totally unorthodox, adjustment.
Fear not, Tammasaurus, you can breathe a sigh of relief. A corner we may be turning! Rotational based puns not intended...
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| The internal relief I anticipate the Tammasaurus experiencing - I know I am! |
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