We Don't Just Excel, We Axel

From my lesson today... Tammasaurus : Backwards outside 3 turns. Me : Sure. I've never taken the time to detail in my blog what these are, but, essentially, they're your bog standard 3 turns done backwards instead of forwards - the post I linked to mentions them towards the end as there was a time when I thought of backwards 3 turns in horror... In truth, I'm still mostly terrified of them. The key difference to the backwards version is that instead of using the front part of the blade (the rocker) to do the turn then you have to use the considerably spicier  heel section of the blade. Much like the rocker, the heel part of the blade minimises the amount of blade contact with the ice so that rotating your foot is easier. The spicy part comes in that you have to sort of lean back into the turn, put all your weight in your heel (with its deliciously minuscule amount of blade contact) and just hope you don't go over backwards onto all manner of delicate body part...

Disclaimer:  I've written a small disclaimer for these articles on jumping  over on this link . Reading it isn't obligatory, but it does cover a lot of ugliness that I don't want to type every time I write one of these, so if you're about to pick me up on the finer points of jump execution then please read that first! The Salchow You have a beloved, imaginary friend called Lorenzo. Lorenzo is a human-sized teddy bear with the classic posture of a sitting teddy bear: both arms and legs open in a welcoming embrace. He's accompanied you through many of the big occasions in your life: first day at school; first relationship; first drunken escapade when you stole a traffic cone; your wedding/civil ceremony of choice; your first kid; etc. etc. However, Lorenzo's a  needy , imaginary friend, he wants to be hugged every so often, which would be simple enough, except he's only happy if you employ his preferred patented hug technique, which is a hug whilst swing...

Disclaimer:  I've written a small disclaimer for these articles on jumping over on this link . Reading it isn't obligatory, but it does cover a lot of ugliness that I don't want to type every time I write one of these, so if you're about to pick me up on the finer points of jump execution then please read that first! The Toe Loop You run a money laundering operation, I keep telling you not to, but that hasn't stopped you yet. It's a  typical day for you as a money launderer (whatever that looks like, you tell me) and you're just on your way out of the house to pick up some ill-gotten gains. You step your right leg forward and raise your left foot heel off the floor so just your toes are touching the ground. In this position, you suddenly realise you've forgotten your keys, you clutz! Still facing forwards, you push down through your left toes into the floor behind you, with the intention to pivot to the left on them so that you can reach your keys...

When I'm not skating, which is, to be fair, quite often, then I do one or two other hobbies, one of which is board gaming. I could write a lot about modern board gaming, but that's not what this blog's for, however while attending one of my usual board game groups then a joke was made we should all form a synchro skating team. I joked along with the rest of them, but, one bored night, I decided to look up what competitive synchro actually looks like... Reader, my life has been TRANSFORMED. Where has synchro skating been all my life?! Please enjoy the following (starts at 1:04): If the opening line sequence isn't satisfying enough then w atch out for the intersection starting at 2:25, followed almost immediately afterwards  with a  bizarre-looking spiral sequence; and it's all  set  to  a toe-tapping Canadian country rock song about mud! What's not to love?! Isn't it all just magnificent? I can only imagine how much practice goes into getting t...

That is all. But seriously, a while back , I wrote that "the first rule about my spins is that we don't talk about my spins", but I can't hide from them forever so it's time to write something about them. When I first started skating, I would watch the little girls practising their beautiful spins - so many dazzling rotations - and I would dream of one day being able to do the same. Alas, that day has still not come. With everything else I've learned in skating I've seen even the smallest amount of improvement almost week on week as long as I make sure I give it a go for even just a few minutes each time I go to practise. But spins? Nah. I've been at this a year and a half and my rate of progress has been sloooooooow . For the uninitiated, there're a ton of exercises to get you going on a basic upright spin (which is the most primitive of the spin variations), I know because I've had a million thrown at me in an attempt to ge...

I'm about to write a post about my transition to training on "patch" sessions at my rink, but for the uninformed then here's some info about what "patch"  is . The term 'patch' stems from the bygone age where skaters learned what were known as the "compulsory figures", which were used as part of competitions alongside the short and free programmes. People haven't stopped practising figures, but as they're no longer a component of the competitive schedule then the need to learn them (and thus their prevalence) has somewhat diminished. To put this a little more bluntly, figures are kind of what Latin is to modern languages: they represent a lot of the basic skills in application, but basically no one does them anymore. I've heard of some US adult skaters talk about doing them occasionally on their blogs, but that's basically pretty much the sum of my exposure to them. Their removal doesn't mean they're without meri...

I did a counselling course once where my tutor had to teach the fundamentals of three different theoretical models of counselling therapy: psychodynamic (mostly Freud), person-centred (mostly Carl Rogers) and cognitive behavioural therapy (known as CBT). My tutor hated CBT, he absolutely loathed it, it made him shake up with rage when he was forced to talk about it and he would rant about it at any opportunity. The mohawk turn is my CBT. I hate them. They're a nasty, horrible move designed to remind adults how inappropriate their ageing bodies are in the youth-centric sport of figure skating. If there was any move that made me wish I was an eight year old girl then it's the mohawk. Unfortunately my next HP post relies on me having a reference point for people that don't know what mohawks are so they can read up on them. So here I am, writing a reference post on my hated enemy, the mohawk turn. So what is this nonsense? The mohawk's actually devilishly simple in t...

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...

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)...

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...