September 2001
Week of September 3, 2001
What I Did Over Summer Vacation
Unfortunately, I achieved precious little over the summer months. Skating an average of four hours per week, less than half of my usual schedule, I was barely able to fit most of my basic skills into practice sessions. Due to overcrowded rinks, I avoided more difficult jumps that I considered dangerous (and embarrassing) under
Overall, I probably improved more on my inline skates. Of course, I had plenty of room for improvement, having started with absolutely nothing last year. I can now do sad little waltz jumps, beginnerish salchows from a mohawk, half flips, and an absolutely laughable one-foot spin. My forward edges are stronger and my forward three-turns show vague signs of promise. With ice more readily available in autumn, I might not do much more inline skating until next summer.
Because I was away most of this week, I only managed to ice skate once, a new record low, except for weeks spent entirely on vacation far from the nearest skating facility. Driving to my home rink, which I have not visited since June, I became nervous worrying that no one would show this early in the season and the unpleasant staff would cancel the session sending lonesome me to skate with the triple jumpers and competitive ice dancers. This was a terrible problem last spring when adult interest started to wane and the rink essentially decided to not hold our session but never made an official announcement of its cancellation. Every day was a grab bag. Sometimes we got our ice, other days we were shooed into the training arena to dodge more advanced skaters. I became so sick of this treatment, that I welcomed summer vacation away from these mismanagers.
Only one other person appeared for the session, though another showed up an hour later. Starting off the season on a positive note, no one bothered us. The lights were on in the rink and we skated on well-groomed fast hockey ice. I did not realize how much I missed that quality skating surface until my blades skimmed across it contributing speed to my moves patterns. With only a couple of other people on the ice, I skated more freely than I had in months, testing my limited conditioning. Although I practiced as much as possible and supplemented my summer ice time with distance quad roller skating, my cardiovascular fitness had decreased. Over the next couple of weeks, I have to regain my endurance to take full advantage of the wonderful fall and winter skating sessions.
Week of September 10, 2001
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their friends and families.
Week of September 17, 2001
Ice and Old Glory
First, let me state that no one I personally know was affected by the catastrophe of September 11th. I was actually in the grocery store when it happened. Catching bits and pieces of comments and conversations around me, I knew something horrible, something ungodly, was afoot. Pushing a wheeled cornucopia to my car, I thought of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Pearl Harbor. A song began to play in my consciousness that appeared on the popular scene after the music of my own youth was relegated to classic rock, oldies or disco revival stations. I did not even know the name of the group who recorded “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”. Now I realize REM is responsible for that tune. I turned on the radio and cried all the way home.
On Wednesday, the rink filled with bewildered adult skaters. All looked pallid and shell-shocked. All had clearly been weeping for hours. At various times during my life, I have come to an ice rink to ease emotional pain and to clear my head. I did not expect to forget, nor did I want to forget. For a couple of hours, I only hoped not to see the heinous imagery that plagued my thoughts. I wanted to find strength within myself to continue living and to treasure a moment of sacred peace.
We dispersed onto the ice and began to practice. Disengaging my mind, my body began to move on its most beloved element. I never contemplated lifting my shoulder or extending my free leg. My muscles knew how to perform these tasks. I tried nothing uncertain, namely jumps that could result in disappointment and negativity. Whether I actually skated better last week than at any other time in my life cannot be proved. Did I land a clean double salchow? No, but that was not my objective. Maybe I believe I skated well because I needed to skate. Since then I have learned two new spins, the famous Lucinda Ruh “pancake” and a bounce spin (a variation on sequential illusions from a backward camel).
On a day when I could not get to the rink, I took a walk around my neighborhood, which is one of my usual supplementary exercises. I enjoy admiring the manicured flower gardens that adorn the front yards of many homes. This time, I admired the flags that flew from every house and most every automobile. They were healing and beautiful. I urge every skater, and indeed any person in need of inspiration, to walk though his neighborhood. The spirit of freedom is there, flying in front of every house.
On a separate occasion, while driving up the steepest hill in the area, I witnessed a woman jogging. She wore a red, white and blue running suit and proudly carried Old Glory. It was a magnificent and thought provoking sight, one that could have appeared as a glossy photograph in Life magazine. Slowly the visions of destruction are being replaced with images of bravery, selflessness and patriotism.
Kay's recommended (non-skating) Internet surfing:
Visit Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Homepage to view inspirational illustrations of
the heroic New York firefighters and police officers.
Week of September 24, 2001
Backspin Paradox
Adult skaters notoriously have trouble with the basic backward spin. Grinding out three revolutions in this position can forestall testing USFSA Adult Bronze. While spinning backward is not as natural as forward spinning, it is considered an elementary skill and is often the second spin introduced to beginners. In addition to providing groundwork for all backward spins, the basic backspin position is key to successful multi-revolution jumps. Many adults perform perfectly acceptable forward camels, sit, and scratch spins (women will also master the layback) but struggle with the fundamental backspin.
Like most skaters, I learned the backspin shortly after demonstrating competence with the forward spin, during my first year on the ice. However, my version rotated almost entirely on an inside edge. I struggled with this deficiency for several years, amazing onlookers with what appeared to be a fast well-centered backspin. Lacking correct edging, the spin would never blur, a realization that bothered me though I felt entirely helpless to rectify my problem.
Over the years, I learned more complicated backward spins including the camel, illusion and flying camel. I finally mastered the challenging backward sit spin but still had little hope of pulling hard enough on a back scratch to extend my arms above my head. These skills improved my backspin such that it revolved on the flat of the blade, occasionally straying to the desired outside edge but just as often falling to the inside. Inside edge rotation seems to be a common obstacle among adults trying to conquer the backspin.
Last week my coach discovered the error in my technique. While completing the left forward inside three-turn (CW rotation) leading into the backspin, my free leg moves forward, prematurely forcing rotation. This results in a drop to the inside edge before the spin even has an opportunity to edge properly. He suggested I approach the backspin as though I plan to enter a backward camel. Instead of lifting into the camel after hitting the three-turn, the free leg should immediately snap forward as the body rises into an upright posture. This week I experimented with the new method, achieving excellent results. Hitting the toe pick, the subsequent revolutions anchored directly on top of the initiating three-turn, as is necessary for speed and centering in any spin.
A major problem for adults overcoming backspin difficulties may lie in the order in which these skills are taught. The USFSA Adult Bronze test, which requires completion of a basic backspin, does not include a camel, much less a backward camel. Even if a pre-bronze skater learns the camel along with the backspin, only few adults at this level might also be attempting backward camels, which are considered more difficult. Therefore, the skater trying to do a backspin lacks a critical element for success. He cannot do a backward camel. He cannot initiate a backward spin with his free leg held behind his body.
Supposedly the upright backward spin provides the foundation upon which other backward spinning variations are built. However, the movements and body positions involved in the backward camel may be essential to performing a correct backspin. Therein lies the paradox. The supposedly more advanced spin may be a prerequisite for the simpler one.
Week of September 24, 2001; Part Two
Small Victories
Few skating skills start as fully formed displays of perfection. I did not instantly have a camel the first time I tried. The camel grew gradually, adding a revolution at a time. Its position slowly developed, and speed came with improved technique and confidence. I first attempted the camel spin over seven years ago and can finally say I have good camel. The evolution of all of my figure skating skills may be similarly traced through periods of nucleation, growth and refinement. Skating consists of a series of small victories rather than dramatic step discontinuities. A quality axel rarely appears to fill the void of its prior absence.
This week I enjoyed three small victories. The first I wrote about previously. It involved unlocking the mystery of the backspin, a skill that I could perform well but never to my complete satisfaction. From a plateau of marginal acceptability, the ascent to excellence has begun.
My second triumph came from the outside spread eagle, a gliding maneuver that I have invested a few patient minutes during every skating session to improve. I especially wanted to conquer this element because it fills the entire rink with glorious beauty; unlike a small, strangled beginner axel confined to a corner. A good spread eagle can make an intermediate adult skater look like a seasoned professional. For the first time, I rode a true outside edge, a convex curve tracing the correct arc of travel. Snow did not spray as the flat of my blade fought to return to its comfortably familiar inside edge. This eagle was not flawless, but it was better than it had been previously. Someday I will lean back creating a huge circle in this most coveted of gliding positions.
Turning out the inner thighs, literally rotating the legs at the hip joints, is the secret to the spread eagle. I discovered this by using my imagination while experimenting with my usual grinding eagle that never quite found the desired edge. My method for entering an outside spread eagle begins with clockwise backward crossovers. After gliding for a moment on the LBO edge, I place the RFO edge on the ice while concentrating on turning the unfortunately fleshy part of my inner thighs outward. This prevents potentially damaging twisting of the knees and ankles, while allowing the hips to open. The torso should face forward while the skater allows his arms to extend to the sides or overhead, if possible.
I experienced my third victory with backward power three-turns, from the juvenile moves in the field test. Although I have been able to perform clockwise backward power threes for several years, the notion of attempting them in the opposite direction seemed impossible. Months of working on other three-turn patterns have developed the foundation skills to make ambidextrous backward power threes possible. I have been tentatively doing the counterclockwise variants for a couple of months, never in sequences consisting of more a few turns. This week, I completed a full circuit around the central hockey circle. While the anti-clockwise component has not yet matured to match my more natural direction, I am ready to assemble the parts into a figure eight.
There is nothing more inspiring than a glimmer of promise.
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The lovely American flag graphics were downloaded from:
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