April 2007
Friday April 4, 2008
A Little Bit Off
We all have those off days. Even champion skaters. There is no apparent reason for it; though plenty can be fabricated. When I stepped on the ice, I noticed it felt softer than usual. Maybe my blades need to be sharpened. This is the best excuse. No one can argue with it. In any case, I was a little bit off.
I did not feel comfortable on the ice. I could not depend on my usual easy connection between body, blade, and underlying surface. I took some awkward balance checks. They might not have been visible to the casual observer, but I sensed slight misplacements of weight over my skates. The ice felt slippery. Isn’t that a stupid statement coming from a somewhat competent ice skater? My spins traveled more than usual, though my jumps stayed about the same, not that they have been remarkable lately anyhow.
Most distressing is the difficulty I have been having with opposite direction skills. The ankle I broke a couple of summers ago has healed well. I can function normally and limp only after physical exertion and only after the joint has stiffened. However, certain aspects of my skating have not returned. After years of working to improve my on-ice ambidexterity, I have lost much of it. Some of the problem is physical. I suffered ligament damage with that broken ankle injury. I must warm up for twenty to thirty minutes before attaining acceptable flexibility. I despise the sound of my right toe pick scratching the ice during a back crossover understroke. Fortunately, I can work that out with sufficient warm-up. I struggle with forward clockwise crossovers because my ankle does not firmly support the understroke. Sometimes, I feel pain during the lean and ankle action. My forward clockwise power circles do not quite get up to speed and lack the effortlessness of the counterclockwise version. This is extremely discouraging, but I continue to work on it, hoping it might improve.
I left the rink not especially pleased with my practice. Hopefully, next time will be better.
Early April 2008
Students Who Cry
Every skating instructor has dealt with crying students. Many parents start their children in lessons at three years old. I have worked with many three-year-olds. Most of them cried. Three is a questionable age for beginning skaters. Some kids are ready to skate, others are not. This may be a lack of physical coordination that has not developed yet, but most commonly the child is just not emotionally prepared. They do not want to be away from mommy or daddy even if the parent is watching rink-side. One child has been coming to group tot lessons all season. Every time that child appears red-faced with tears, although his father dons skates and stays with him. Some children are afraid of the ice in much the same way a kid who cannot swim is afraid of the water. I had a walk-in private lesson with a child who started crying hysterically the moment she saw the rink. The parent cancelled the lesson and took the kid home.
Not only tots and young children cry. Older kids cry too. However, the reason behind it is different. I am currently working with a girl who is about nine years old. She cried during the test session for her Basic Three class. The girl was not ready to pass that level, and apparently she knew it. She became very nervous and started crying. She had repeated the level already and would have to repeat again. I talked to the parent after class. The child is determined to learn to skate and is frustrated by her lack of progress. This may be the first challenge the kid has undertaken that has not immediately gone in her favor. At nine years old she is dealing with the fundamental reality that not everything is easy, nor will she be good at everything. I took the girl, who I shall call Amy***, on as a private student.
Amy has developed bad habits from a lot of public skating without lessons. However, her habits are extremely common, and I see them in more children than not. Amy toe-pushes. Amy cannot bring her feet close together between strokes or during glides. She skates with her feet wide apart, transforming her lower body and limbs into a triangle. A triangle has a stable base and won’t tip over, but it is not an aesthetically pleasing form; nor does it allow a skater to transfer body weight from one foot to the other for stroking, one-foot glides, and other basic maneuvers. Amy cannot pass her levels because she cannot lift her free foot out of the triangle posture to achieve balance on one foot. Her mother and I stood together watching Amy skate. Everything I said made sense to Mom.
I taught Amy various on-ice exercises to get her feet together. She is struggling. She may be afraid to fall. However, she has improved slightly. Bad habits die hard and only with a lot of effort. I recently gave Amy another lesson. She had missed the previous week and admitted she had not practiced. She says she is too busy with school and other activities. School, fine. Poor Amy could not get her wayward feet together between pushes. Her eyes began to glisten with moisture. A moment later a fat tear appeared on her cheek. I made her smile, I made her laugh, I gave her every encouragement I could without sounding like a complete idiot. I just did not want this girl to start crying. I felt sorry for her. If she really wants to improve, she has to practice. Practice is not an option, and it cannot come at the bottom of the list of other activities.
Amy’s technique issues are common among beginners. I believe they result from too much self-taught public skating. In fact, I have seen the wide-stance and toe pushing problems so often, I want to wrap bungee cords around all of the kids’ ankles and cover their toe picks with duct tape.
*** Not her real name.
Week of April 6, 2008
Tips from a Friend
Karen*** and I have not skated together all season. We finally had an opportunity to meet at the rink and catch up. I met Karen in 2004 during my first coaching escapade. She still teaches at that rink. However, I was not able to coach due to my ankle injury and another opening never materialized for me. So we have not worked together for a few years. Email has allowed us to continue our friendship along with occasional meetings for lunch.
My friend is a very graceful and composed skater. She focuses on posture and complete movement. She always includes arm positions with her skills, even the most basic three-turns. One of her most lovely skills is a forward outside pivot that curves around the rink eventually focusing on a final pose. She tried to teach me this skill once and I did not learn it. As usual, Karen hit a beautiful position and carried it to fill the arena. Now I want that element in my own repertoire. I can do the forward outside pivot in both directions, but feel more comfortable clockwise, as would be expected considering I am a clockwise skater. Counterclockwise, my toe pick skitters across the ice reducing my security. I plan to practice this move both ways so I can perform it competently and teach it to others.
I have been struggling with counterclockwise forward power circles since my injury. Power circles are a field move that demonstrate power and control during crossovers. Originating at the center of a circle from a standstill, the skater must begin slowly and gradually build up speed as the circle radiates outward. I have had trouble achieving a deep stable edge on the understroke which is held on my formerly damaged ankle. I demonstrated my situation for Karen. She suggested a stronger check which would allow increased lean into the circle. I am not pushing my shoulder back enough, maybe because leaning on that ankle makes me nervous. I took Karen’s advice and forced my shoulder back until it strained. My edges deepened, my security increased. Now I need to build speed.
“Karen” if you are reading this, thanks for your help. I hope we will skate together again soon.
*** Not her real name.
Week of April 13, 2008
Entitlement-ism
A group of instructors unlaced their skates in Ice Castle’s pro room. We had just completed a set of group lessons. A teenage girl who works as a helper complained that since she is not a PSA member she does not earn the same compensation as the rest of us. Apparently she is having trouble finding a sponsor. I like this girl and would be happy to sponsor her, but I do not meet the requirements. When I met Amy*** I assumed she was a high test skater. Then I saw her skating on lesson with her coach and was disappointed. Shame on me for stereotyping. Not every teenager is an advanced skater. And she assumed I was a high level coach who could sponsor her. I guess we are both guilty.
Sometimes I speak without thinking. My mouth opens and words tumble out as a reflex action. The stimulus terminates somewhere in my spine without ever reaching my brain. Amy is paid twenty dollars an hour as a helper during group lessons. She was complaining. “And where else could you earn that much money as a high school student?” I asked. I was not trying to be mean. The rhetorical question passed across my lips auomatically. Instead of making Amy think about how fortunate she was to have what she had, she argued: “But I work so few hours.” No fewer than me, I thought.
Instead, I told her I worked for minimum wage as a teenager. She admitted she had too and did not like it. Well, of course not. It would take her close to four hours to earn what she could in one as a coach’s helper. Amy did not really get this. I explained further that people my age work for what Amy earns. In fact, I have worked for her salary recently, before I started to establish myself as a coach. We needed the money, so I worked for what I could get. A lot of people work for a lot less money because they have a family to support and bills to pay. Amy wants to “go tanning”. One might argue that those people did not learn a trade or get an education. However, there are plenty of mature adults in the United States whose jobs have been eliminated and are now underemployed. I did not pontificate about any of this to Amy. She would not understand.
Friends who have teenage children described the phenomenon of “entitlement-ism” to me long before I observed it myself. Many American children feel entitled to certain things, money being one of them. They expect to be paid a decent wage although they generally lack skills and experience. Amy lives in an upscale community. She has never done without, nor would anyone want her to. She wants extras like tanning and more skating lessons. I do not begrudge her those things. I cannot even say I am surprised by her spoiled outburst. But I responded to it. I could not help myself. Someone had to tell her something realistic. Maybe she absorbed it; most likely she did not.
*** Not her real name.
Week of April 20, 2008
Spring makes me want to get off my lazy duff and go outside. The cold really got into my bones this year. With the high cost of home heating fuel, we kept the thermostat down. Wherever I went I felt cold. I would leave teaching in a cold ice rink, step out into frigid weather, and drive home to a chilly house. The cold never bothered me before, but I was always able to get away from it. I felt like a pioneer girl warming my hands in front of the fireplace.
We set up my trampoline in the backyard this week, a sure sign of spring. This must be the fourth year I have had that trampoline. The weather has been sunny, warm and beautiful. I have been taking walks and even jogging a little. I have resolved to do some type of exercise every day to shed winter excess. Getting on the trampoline was a treat. I maintain that doing aerobics on a trampoline is an excellent form of exercise. It reduces impact tremendously from floor aerobics. You can go for high-intensity without worrying about high impact.
My typical workout consists of a warm up period of stepping and bouncing. Then I move into jumping jacks and other more aggressive movements. The trampoline allows me to train flexibility and strength at the same time. I do split jumps of various types and stag leaps. Lifting against gravity and achieving the split position quickly in the air could be beneficial to performing the same skills on the ice. So far, I have not been able to attain sufficient height on the ice to put this into practice. But I will keep trying.
It’s good to feel the sun on my face and build up a sweat from effort. I can feel myself getting into better shape with every workout.
Mid to Late April 2008
I finally, finally saw my way clear to resign from Elite (Insane) Arena. I hung in there because I got a semi-private lesson and was making a decent buck for my trouble. The lesson came from another coach; not from the nasty skating director who hogged all of the incoming students for herself and her outrageous fees. A parent could even ask for a less expensive coach, and Marilyn would say no one is available and she is the best anyway. Of course, this information is second hand, but I absolutely believe it based on my experiences over a season with Marilyn. It is very unfortunate, because I really liked her when we met and thought we would become friends. Seems she enticed me into her web then began to suck my blood. I know someone who taught group lessons at Elite for four years and never received a referral for a private. Other coaches are surprised I lasted as long as I did at Elite. Most of the other “older” pros bailed out a long time ago. Virtually everyone I know in this business has had experiences (unpleasant ones) with Elite and its staff of selfish incompetents.
My private students dropped out to play softball. No sense in waiting for them to come back, if they ever do. They weren’t bad skaters and I would happily move them to Ice Castle if they want lessons again. The season is dying a painful death at Elite. Marilyn cut back my hours and everyone else’s except for those few people she apparently likes. It is no longer worth my time and gas money to bother with Elite. When I was done, I knew it. Better to leave of my own accord before she could lay me off.
I emailed a resignation letter to Marilyn. The day I went there to work and wanted to talk to her, she was away. I left a voice message and sent another email. Marilyn has plenty of kids working in that rink who have nothing to do. Maybe one of them could take over my classes so I could bow out before completing two-weeks notice. By this time, I had had enough and just wanted escape that rat hole. When I finally heard back from Marilyn, she asked me to come one more day to finish off this set of classes and provide continuity to my students. When the hell did that matter before? On my last day at Elite, I had kids in my class who I had never seen previously. There was never any continuity before. For the first half of the season, I was bounced around like a rubber ball. In twenty minutes, Marilyn might reassign me four times. People quit because they hated the way Elite’s program was run without even a hint of reason. And that does not take the humiliation into account. Marilyn had a habit of embarrassing coaches in front of their students. She always made corrections, interrupted, yelled, etc. I just could not take it anymore. Not for the lousy money I was making at the end.
So I gave Marilyn her continuity and left without saying a word. I won’t be back.
The content of this site is copyright by K. J. N., 1999 - 2008
Trampoline Aerobics
I Quit!
