Lesson today and since we haven't looked at Gold Moves in a couple of months, that's what we did today. Although things are still pretty ugly, Christopher did say that they look better than the last time we worked on them so I know progress, albeit small, is being made.
Backward Circle 8 - We started with this at my request. We set up in one of the lutz corners and the ice was a disaster there but I can't blame ice quality entirely. I'm just weak on this move. I'm adding subcurves and weird pushes and I'm not always returning to center because of that. Christopher made a comment that he can tell I've worked on the outside circles more than the insides. I mean, yeah. He's not wrong. My strategy was to do just that. Perhaps that was a poor strategy and I should just work on the whole thing at once. Christopher said that, for now, putting a foot down or adding an additional push to get around is preferable to not working on it at all. So, there you have it. I need to work on this more. If it's anything like my forward circle 8 journey, it's going to take a lot of time.
Forward Double 3 Turns - The good news is that my turns are turning. The bad news is that I need to work a lot more with my upper body to get the turns to turn better. I need a stronger check coming out of the first turn and then I need to waaaiiiiit and reset for the second turn. This is a lesson in patience and a much needed one at that. I have a tendency to rush through everything (not just with skating but with life stuff too). However, I'm not doing myself any favors here by moving too fast. It looks rushed and sloppy. The judges know I can do the turns. What they will be looking for is that control.
Backward Double 3 Turns - Same issue with these but add in the fact that they need more flow. This move is different from the forward version in that it will require more speed. I have the opportunity to make this really pretty once I get it under control. The cool thing with both the forward and the backward double 3s is that the LBO isn't so much a problem anymore. Yay!
Forward Power Circles - I really only have two speeds: slow and moderate. I should have a third - quick. I also tend to reach a point in the snail when it stops being a snail and starts to just be the same circle over and over. So much more work needed on this, especially in my bad direction.
Backward Power Circles - These were better but could still use more work.
Brackets - Ahhhhh, these bastards! However, something cool happened today! When I've been working on these on my own, I was having a problem with the LFO bracket and the fear of attempting them away from the wall was keeping me from making progress. Today, I just did them! I didn't think about it too much and I just...did them! Yay! That means, I have all of my FO and FI brackets! Woot! We also worked on the BI brackets and I admitted that I've been too fearful to work on them. So we did some at the wall, we did some with me holding his hand, and I attempted some without an assist. That helps take some of the fear away and I was able to do some FO and BI brackets down the length of the rink without holding on to anything! That's a huge thing!
So, overall, it was a really productive lesson. I showed Christopher that although progress is slow, it is still happening and I was able to get over some small fears that I was still holding on to. I still have a lot more work to do. This time next year, I'm hoping these moves will be in pretty good shape.
No comments:
Post a Comment