May 2004
Saturday May 1, 2004
The Bracket Girls
Last week while teaching my higher level class to do a three-turn, the kids automatically stumbled upon the two-foot bracket turn. This came naturally to them instead of the simpler two-footed version of the three-turn. I promised them a cake if either managed to actually do a legitimate one-foot bracket turn. Neither of them did, so I was spared a baking chore. However, this week we worked on the same skill; and, as expected, the girls both favored a bracket-like turn rather than a basic three-turn. While practicing two-footed training exercises, the students learned to turn into the circle rather than outside. I was delighted that they had begun to understand the motion of the three-turn, a required skill at this level.
I have impressed upon my students a sense of self-amazement that has motivated them to fully explore their turning potential. I drew tracings of three-turns and brackets on the ice, encouraging them to follow each and differentiate between the motions. The kids each completed a beginner version of a one-foot forward outside three-turn. Then they asked me to show them a real bracket. One girl stepped right up and executed her first bracket. The other followed suit. They both stumbled upon forward inside threes, doing them with great ease. They also discovered backward outside threes (on one foot!) and backward brackets, though these have only been completed as two-footers. I sincerely hope no one asks me to demonstrate a back outside bracket. I never could do those things.
Now I owe my students a cake. They want chocolate with vanilla frosting. Upon contemplating the messiness factor, I have decided to make cupcakes. They can pig out with their friends and families after class next Saturday. On my way into the office, I found my two little prodigies bragging to their former teachers about their brackets and about the cake they had earned. One of the instructors (a high school student who skates at about the adult bronze level) admitted that she did not even know what a bracket was. I could actually see the two little girls’ heads swelling with pride. On the ice, they had also showed off their newly unveiled skills to Donna, the skating director, who was duly impressed. Of course, that little recital made me look like coach of the year.
Off to the store to buy cupcake papers and a suitable baking pan!
Week of May 2, 2004
Working on Something
I have not consciously worked on anything with the specific purpose of improvement since last season. Of course, I would like to develop every skill in my arsenal, but I simply have not had time this year to make improvement a priority when maintenance is a more serious concern. Unfortunately, I have not maintained my level of proficiency with every element. Most noticeably, my jumps are not as big or secure as they used to be when I could skate more frequently.
Deterioration has obviously effected my lutz. The lutz was never my best jump, but it reached a pinnacle when it would not be classified as embarrassingly bad. The jump is currently in the process of regressing to a minima. Instead of ignoring the problem in favor of things I have time to fix, I spend a few minutes on it during each rink visit. This week, I played with a couple of different techniques to reduce flutzing (an exaggerated change of edge from backward outside to an incorrect backward inside). The most common exercise involves gliding backward on the opposite foot, crossing in front to step onto the proper backward outside edge to initiate the jump. This diminished my flutz immediately.
My second effort required approaching the miserable lutz from a forward inside bracket turn. I am reasonably competent with brackets, and the forward inside variant leaves the skater on a backward outside edge, the necessary entrance for the problematic lutz jump. This eliminated flutzing completely. Now I face the challenge of increasing speed above a snail’s pace. If perfected, a lutz out of a bracket will look especially impressive.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the skill that shows the most dramatic lack of improvement is the stag half-lutz. I have always enjoyed this jump and have frequently vowed to work toward achieving greater height and distance. Like my basic split jump, this element suffers from a low trailing leg position. I realize the problem results from an inability to push with the vaulting foot, thereby lifting into the air and creating enough hang time to kick the trailing leg into an attractive elevated pose. Convinced that I absolutely must devote some effort to this deficiency, I spent at least ten minutes hopping around the rink, jabbing my toe pick into the ice and pushing myself into the air. I probably could have been mistaken for a retarded kangaroo. None of these drills looked pretty, but I could feel the difference between pushing upward and merely tapping and turning.
Possibly I will manage to become a better skater in spite of my schedule.
Saturday May 15, 2004
Out of the Clear Blue Sky
This morning, I exhumed my knee support from the dresser drawer and pulled it over my calf. I suspected this might be the day that I try the double that has been threatening for the past couple of weeks. Upon first inspection, this seemed unusually foolish considering I had not skated earlier in the week. I had called the skating director to tell her I got stuck working late and could not make it to the rink on time. In addition to this conflict, I had had an unpleasant encounter with a superior, a woman who has a reputation for being both a bitch and an idiot. Neither charge exaggerates the facts. Since I was in a particularly foul mood, rushing to the rink to claim my last couple of classes did not make sense. I would be better served by simply going home and enjoying a peaceful evening of relaxation.
So on Saturday, I warmed up with stroking exercises and a few basic moves in the field patterns before centering a layback spin. Following a couple more spins, I began to jump. I warmed up for a double salchow first by practicing the basic jump to get the feel of the entrance. Then I popped the thing as high into the air as possible. Next, I did salchow-loop and salchow-loop-loop combinations. I pushed upward in the salchow until the jump over-rotated and the loop happened as an afterthought. A friend saw one of these exercises and mistook it for a double. I told her I was preparing for the double and should probably have my head examined by a professional.
After taking a contemplative sip from my water bottle, I knew I was ready. I did a salchow-back spin then began backward crossovers. Stepping forward, I turned the three and lifted upward. Over two years have passed since I last attempted (or landed) a double salchow or a double of any sort. However, my body apparently remembered what to do. Unencumbered by recent failure or fearful preconceptions, instinct guided my muscles placing my limbs exactly where they belonged. I felt the pick push off into rotation, knee stepping high into the air. I spun easily and my landing blade connected with the ice. Simple. I completed a double salchow without incident on the first try.
“I saw that!” my friend called giving me a big smiling thumbs-up.
I even had a witness.
That double jump felt so wonderful, I became greedy for another, but decided not to press my luck. Instead, I savored that sweet moment of success and expertise, landing a double out of the clear blue sky when no one in that particular rink had ever seen me even play with an advanced jump before. I don’t know when I will feel so daring again, but I have been doing axels in my living room.
Week of May 16, 2004
Personal Day
I took a much needed day off from work this week and spent the morning at the ice arena. I practiced moves in the field and dances for over an hour before progressing to spins and jumps, the “fun stuff”. My attitude about what constitutes “fun” on the ice has changed since I started skating over ten years ago. While I used to only enjoy playing around with rotational tricks, now I value the discipline of strokes, glides, turns and edgework because it creates the context into which quality spins and jumps must be placed. Without good basics, even the best highlight element appears disjointed and awkward. My power backward three-turns have improved significantly in my wrong direction. If I were so inclined, I might be about ready to think about testing this move. My eight-step mohawk is also developing nicely.
Rebuilding the magnitude of my jumps shares scant practice time with basic skating skills. I have not lost any of the single-rotation fundamentals, but they have diminished in size. The flip used to be one of my biggest, most impressive aerial skills. Recently, I decided to work on making my entrance three-turn flatter and more rocker-like. My flip was never overly curved, but could be straighter. A rocker-like three-turn preparation is commonly employed by advanced skaters. Approaching the initiating turn, the athlete glides forward and pushes onto an outside edge with a smooth toe-assist. Instead of leaving the free leg behind throughout the turn, the skater reaches the free leg forward and pulls the three-turn. This motion actually becomes a three-turn / rocker hybrid due to its flatness. Upon exiting the turn, the blade may achieve an outside edge before switching back to an inner for the vault and jump.
Although I have been intrigued by this advanced flip technique, I either lacked the dedication, time, or indefinable knack to make it a reality. This week, it clicked without prior warning. With a carefree kick, my free leg swung out in front of my body inviting the rocker-three. Examination of my tracings revealed an inspiring increase in jump distance. Combining this with a strong upward push from the tapping pick, the jump can also grow in amplitude.
Enthusiastic about my progress, I sprung more forcefully in the loop, and pushed off with more vigor in the waltz. I over rotated a couple of waltz-loop combinations and contemplated trying an axel. Reason prevailed and I left the daunting task for another day.
Week of May 23, 2004
Low Enrollment
This spring I had the opportunity to turn professional and teach group lessons, an opportunity I never thought I would enjoy due to my inability to master the axel. In spite of intermittent success, I certainly could not perform it in the context of a skating test. When I reached this unfortunate conclusion, I essentially abandoned testing as an exercise in futility. I get nervous during skating tests and cannot skate at a fraction of the caliber I am capable of attaining on practice ice. Lacking the Adult Gold test, I assumed I would never be qualified to teach anyone anything on blades, especially not for a paycheck. All of that being said, I was overjoyed to be asked to teach at the new rink near my home. I love teaching group lessons; and, although I cannot earn a fulltime living as a skating instructor, it is a great pleasure for me, one I would like to continue indefinitely. And the extra money doesn’t hurt either.
Overall class enrollment has been low for the last couple of six-week sessions. Donna, the skating director, says this is because children participate in other sports during springtime. However, she and the group lesson coordinator, who just happens to be Donna’s daughter-in-law, have started an “elite” program in an effort to build a skating school at this new facility. None of the kids in the “elite” program are advanced skaters. They are all group lesson material. “Elite” simply means they take group classes during the freestyle sessions. Enrollment in these classes is not low. In fact, these “elite” classes are gobbling up all of the kids who should be in the group lessons.
A few weeks ago, Donna asked me to write “elite” on the graduation slip for two students in one of my basic skills classes. While these kids were both sweet little children, neither of them showed promise that I would consider “elite”. However, Donna told me she is selecting kids to sign up for the “elite” program to develop her skating school. I nodded my head and signed the form. As I drove home, I felt a sense of loss. I had cultivated a positive relationship with those students. They both liked me, and I enjoyed teaching them. Now that they were labeled “elite” I most likely would never instruct them again. Donna and her daughter-in-law take all of the “elite” classes. I am not an idiot; I could see this coming.
Donna is a middle-aged woman who skated competitively in the days of figures. She has spent her career as a skating coach. Still physically fit, she demonstrates movements and skates with her students. Donna’s daughter-in-law, Marcia**, is another story. In her mid-twenties, Marcia is the typical adult skater. She can do most of the jumps and is working on her axel. Her spinning ability is seriously limited and none of her footwork or gliding movements would impress a knowledgeable observer. Long story short, I could kick Marcia’s ass in a skating contest. However, Marcia intends to make coaching her career; and, with a relative in the business, she has opportunities the average adult participant would never receive. Donna and Marcia fill their days with as many lessons as possible. Donna hires people like me to take classes she and her daughter-in-law physically cannot handle because they cannot be in two or three places at once. I may not have excellent coaching credentials, but I am no less qualified than Marcia.
Please forgive me if this sounds petty. I do not want Donna or Marcia’s job. I simply want to continue to teach skating a couple of days per week because I love it. When I get a new class list with only one name on it, I feel dissatisfied. I am still teaching and the student is getting very cheap private lessons. A parent approached me bursting with delight about the quality of his son’s supposed group class. The downside of this situation occurs when the solitary student fails to appear for class. I am left with no pupil and have to go home early. Of course, I do not get paid for classes I do not teach. When this happens, I feel terribly disappointed. Since I plan to spend most of the summer traveling, I have told Donna I cannot coach after the end of June. She said enrollment will be low anyway, and I can resume in the fall. I hope they still need me in September.
**Not her real name.
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