FS group lesson nr. 1: Okay, now let's do the axel.
Yesterday, I set out early, because I had no idea how long it’s going to take me to get to the Aeroport metro station - the Moscow metro is a little unpredictable sometimes, in the sense that distances that seem approximately the same in the scheme are different in reality, so I couldn’t even estimate. I didn’t want to be late for the skating class. I know that stations outside of the “circle” are further apart and that it takes longer to go there. Besides, I did not even know where the sports center was. All in all, I left almost 2 hours before the beginning of the class, just to be sure.
I found CSKA very easily - I was lucky and got out of the metro on the correct side of the street. When I arrived at CSKA, though, there were crowds of people streaming towards the ice arena... Apparently, there was some ice hockey match taking place, Russia vs. Finland. I tried to get past the guards at the gate, explaining that I don’t want to go to the hockey match, that I just want to go to the figure skating group. But I wasn’t sure if it would be taking place, didn’t know where to call, so they sent me away.
I decided to try again a little later - as I was very early - and went to have fruit tea at Coffee Bean nearby. I realized that the number is probably saved in my phone under recently dialed numbers, so I gave it a try, but nobody picked up.
At about 8pm, I went there again and I happened to walk in right after the girl who later turned out to be coaching us. She told the guards where she was going and when they asked about a “propusk”, she told them that she’s the coach and explained that they don’t give anyone any passes. They let her in, then I told them that I’m headed to the practice rink, they made me open my bag, probably saw the skates inside, and let me go. I followed the coach and arrived at the practice rink successfully.
I found out that they sell tickets for 4, 8, 12 sessions, or even just for 1 lesson. I didn’t ask about the price for a single lesson and bought 4; they have to be used up within 30 days. The guy told me where the lockers were and that after that I should go upstairs to the gym where they’d tell me the rest.
I changed and went upstairs. I asked a few girls standing around where to go when I’m here for the first time. They sent me to a gym with already a few people in; they were just starting, running around in a circle. The coach was standing by the mirror-wall, fixing her make-up. (?) I approached her, told her that it’s my first time... she didn’t even let me finish, just waved her hand, indicating me to join the group. (I think it was the same lady I talked to on the phone.) She’s young, like in her early twenties.
The gym practice consisted of... well. Lots of hopping around, jumping around, some running (sprinting) and crawling. It reminded me a little bit of what soccer players sometimes do. Then, after the general running & hopping, she made us jump - just one rotation, take-off & landing on both feet, one at first, then several in a row. When she noticed that I rotate clockwise, she told me that no, I need to do it towards the left, not the right. I tried and I could do the simple stuff that way, but what’s the point of practicing counterclockwise off ice when I know that the only way I can jump on ice is clockwise, right? So, when she corrected me the second time, I told her that I always jump and spin in this direction, to which she shrugged and let me do as I pleased.
We also did an exercise that went like - jump-up, jump-up, land on one foot correctly. Then she made us jump waltz-jumps across benches. I realized that I’d been jumping incorrectly all this time - I tend to put my free leg behind, when it has to be crossed in front of the other leg. I tried to think of it and consciously do it the correct way.
After that, we did waltz+one more rotation after the landing. Then we did waltz+loop. (You jump the waltz over the bench, then take off directly of your landing leg into the loop.)
Then, when my legs felt a bit like they’re about to fall off (j/k, it wasn’t that bad), the coach grins at us and goes: okay, now the axel.
*gulp*
We removed the benches and started practicing axels on the ground. I’ll have you know - I only attempted the axel off ice like twice or three times in my life and they always took so much effort. Last night, I did like 8 of them in 10 minutes. But, surprisingly, they weren’t as impossible as I remember them being - it was probably because all my muscles were all warmed up and I was sort of on an endorphin rush. I will not claim that I can do a fully rotated axel, because I can’t, but I think I did fairly well, considering that it was my first time!
Then she made us spin (or maybe that was before the whole jumping thing) - some people had brought soup spoons without the handles to spin on, like she’d told them. The rest of us just spun on the ground. I didn’t do too well on that, I never managed more than one or two rotations, plus I struggled with where to put my free leg and the way you have to move your arms.
In the end, she made us do some spiral-like moves (what’s “lastochka” in English?) and then told us to get in our skates.
We went back to the lockers, put on our skates, and went on ice. It was warm there - it was probably the warmest rink I’ve ever been to. I joined the “beginner” group that I did the gym-practice with, because I wasn’t sure where to go or what level the others had. They started with forwards and backwards crossovers, just doing them in circles. The coach criticized my back x-overs, showing me that I move my hips too much when they have to stay steady - she kinda parodied the move to show me what I’m doing wrong. But she never really stopped to explain and that’s basically how the whole lesson went.
Honestly, I was not 100% satisfied with the on-ice part. We did crossovers in pairs, like in pair-skating, I got paired up with this really tall boy. Then she tried to make us do some combination of turns - right inside three turn, crossover, back three turn (what edge I do not know), mohawk??? I didn’t really understand how to do it properly, some of them could already do it, to some she showed just a simpler version without the backwards three turn.
After this, she made us do a back x-overs, mohawk, something else that I don’t know the name of combination, which was quite simple. And then she moved on to jumps. First she made us do waltz jumps with a salchow-like entrance. It took me a while to get a hang of that, because I’d never done that before and I had to turn it around in my head into clockwise. Some of the girls in our group (approx. 8 people in the on ice part) could already do it, so she told them to do this “salchow”-waltz+toe-loop, three turn, toe-loop sequence. To the rest of us, she started explaining toe-loops, but the only thing she really told us is that it’s a three turn and then you turn with the use of your toe-pick.
She had us show the moves, one after another. I tried the “salchow”-waltz-toe combo, she didn’t really give any feedback to me, just mimicked something that I think meant that my shoulders were hunched and I looked down on the ice - not even to ME, but to the rest of the people. That, in my opinion, is not what a coach is supposed to do - maybe that’s the Russian approach to group lessons, to make you feel like you suck so you’re driven to get better? I didn’t get too frustrated, though, I tried to practice the moves a bit more and improve them.
Then she’s like okay, let’s practice the flip entrance. I never really understood how it’s done correctly.
I felt a bit wobbly on my skates, actually, because we didn’t really have the time to get warmed up on ice.
Then we did spins, everybody but one girl in the group already knew how to do at least a basic one-foot spin. I tried with some minor success, but well, I didn’t really learn anything new. The coach tried to show us how you enter such a spin correctly, how you’re on the front of your blade first, then you move on to the middle... I don’t know. It was confusing. The only thing she pointed out to me is to cross my free leg in front of the one I was standing on.
I noticed that the group in the middle was doing slaloms and such, then they practiced spins and even had a few clockwise spinners.
After the session, the girl (the one who was even weaker than me) asked if they always jump all the time in this group - I told her that I don’t know, that it’s my first time.
So, to conclude - the gym-part was a good work-out, the on-ice part was not so useful. :( I will try going on another day, Sunday, maybe, because they have different people on different days and probably also do different things.
I mean, jumping is cool and I want to learn that, BUT you have to have the basics in order to jump correctly, which they don’t seem to be working on that much in this group on Thursday. I was a bit baffled, because some of those people still struggle pretty much on crossovers and their three-turns are far from nice and steady - and they’re already doing jumps like this? Also, I’m not going to learn how to jump correctly without proper explanations, so... yeah. Not happy with this coach. She seems kinda (very) bitchy and I had the impression that she didn’t like the fact that I’m not Russian.
However, I still have 3 more sessions that I already paid for, so I’ll use them in the following few weeks.
Lena just talked to an acquaintance of hers who is a coach - a very lovely one, she says - and she’d give me individual lessons for 500rubles/hour. That’s a great price, I think, even though it still is a lot of money. Plus the price for the rink, of course - that’s at least 200/hour, but Lena says that it’s possible to get some discount card if you skate often. This coach, Yulia, speaks English in addition to Russian, she loves foreigners (or so Lena says), and is very nice. I think I’d really learn much more this way than from those group lessons.
My back feels really stiff today, as it did yesterday - we didn’t do any stretching or anything and the whole training was very... leg-centered. I have aerobics later today, though, so I’ll get some stretching there. :) My legs don’t exactly hurt (wow, I’m in a better shape than I expected!); my left side/hip feels a bit tender for some reason - it’s my landing leg. Also, surprisingly, the ball of my right foot is a bit hurty - from what, I do not know, possibly from the toe-picking?
Either way, I had fun. I now wish I hadn’t bought the 4 sessions, but then again, a single one would have been twice as expensive, I bet, and maybe it will get better. If not... well, at least the gym is good. They also do choreography in the gym on some days, so that might be interesting, too. :)
I found CSKA very easily - I was lucky and got out of the metro on the correct side of the street. When I arrived at CSKA, though, there were crowds of people streaming towards the ice arena... Apparently, there was some ice hockey match taking place, Russia vs. Finland. I tried to get past the guards at the gate, explaining that I don’t want to go to the hockey match, that I just want to go to the figure skating group. But I wasn’t sure if it would be taking place, didn’t know where to call, so they sent me away.
I decided to try again a little later - as I was very early - and went to have fruit tea at Coffee Bean nearby. I realized that the number is probably saved in my phone under recently dialed numbers, so I gave it a try, but nobody picked up.
At about 8pm, I went there again and I happened to walk in right after the girl who later turned out to be coaching us. She told the guards where she was going and when they asked about a “propusk”, she told them that she’s the coach and explained that they don’t give anyone any passes. They let her in, then I told them that I’m headed to the practice rink, they made me open my bag, probably saw the skates inside, and let me go. I followed the coach and arrived at the practice rink successfully.
I found out that they sell tickets for 4, 8, 12 sessions, or even just for 1 lesson. I didn’t ask about the price for a single lesson and bought 4; they have to be used up within 30 days. The guy told me where the lockers were and that after that I should go upstairs to the gym where they’d tell me the rest.
I changed and went upstairs. I asked a few girls standing around where to go when I’m here for the first time. They sent me to a gym with already a few people in; they were just starting, running around in a circle. The coach was standing by the mirror-wall, fixing her make-up. (?) I approached her, told her that it’s my first time... she didn’t even let me finish, just waved her hand, indicating me to join the group. (I think it was the same lady I talked to on the phone.) She’s young, like in her early twenties.
The gym practice consisted of... well. Lots of hopping around, jumping around, some running (sprinting) and crawling. It reminded me a little bit of what soccer players sometimes do. Then, after the general running & hopping, she made us jump - just one rotation, take-off & landing on both feet, one at first, then several in a row. When she noticed that I rotate clockwise, she told me that no, I need to do it towards the left, not the right. I tried and I could do the simple stuff that way, but what’s the point of practicing counterclockwise off ice when I know that the only way I can jump on ice is clockwise, right? So, when she corrected me the second time, I told her that I always jump and spin in this direction, to which she shrugged and let me do as I pleased.
We also did an exercise that went like - jump-up, jump-up, land on one foot correctly. Then she made us jump waltz-jumps across benches. I realized that I’d been jumping incorrectly all this time - I tend to put my free leg behind, when it has to be crossed in front of the other leg. I tried to think of it and consciously do it the correct way.
After that, we did waltz+one more rotation after the landing. Then we did waltz+loop. (You jump the waltz over the bench, then take off directly of your landing leg into the loop.)
Then, when my legs felt a bit like they’re about to fall off (j/k, it wasn’t that bad), the coach grins at us and goes: okay, now the axel.
*gulp*
We removed the benches and started practicing axels on the ground. I’ll have you know - I only attempted the axel off ice like twice or three times in my life and they always took so much effort. Last night, I did like 8 of them in 10 minutes. But, surprisingly, they weren’t as impossible as I remember them being - it was probably because all my muscles were all warmed up and I was sort of on an endorphin rush. I will not claim that I can do a fully rotated axel, because I can’t, but I think I did fairly well, considering that it was my first time!
Then she made us spin (or maybe that was before the whole jumping thing) - some people had brought soup spoons without the handles to spin on, like she’d told them. The rest of us just spun on the ground. I didn’t do too well on that, I never managed more than one or two rotations, plus I struggled with where to put my free leg and the way you have to move your arms.
In the end, she made us do some spiral-like moves (what’s “lastochka” in English?) and then told us to get in our skates.
We went back to the lockers, put on our skates, and went on ice. It was warm there - it was probably the warmest rink I’ve ever been to. I joined the “beginner” group that I did the gym-practice with, because I wasn’t sure where to go or what level the others had. They started with forwards and backwards crossovers, just doing them in circles. The coach criticized my back x-overs, showing me that I move my hips too much when they have to stay steady - she kinda parodied the move to show me what I’m doing wrong. But she never really stopped to explain and that’s basically how the whole lesson went.
Honestly, I was not 100% satisfied with the on-ice part. We did crossovers in pairs, like in pair-skating, I got paired up with this really tall boy. Then she tried to make us do some combination of turns - right inside three turn, crossover, back three turn (what edge I do not know), mohawk??? I didn’t really understand how to do it properly, some of them could already do it, to some she showed just a simpler version without the backwards three turn.
After this, she made us do a back x-overs, mohawk, something else that I don’t know the name of combination, which was quite simple. And then she moved on to jumps. First she made us do waltz jumps with a salchow-like entrance. It took me a while to get a hang of that, because I’d never done that before and I had to turn it around in my head into clockwise. Some of the girls in our group (approx. 8 people in the on ice part) could already do it, so she told them to do this “salchow”-waltz+toe-loop, three turn, toe-loop sequence. To the rest of us, she started explaining toe-loops, but the only thing she really told us is that it’s a three turn and then you turn with the use of your toe-pick.
She had us show the moves, one after another. I tried the “salchow”-waltz-toe combo, she didn’t really give any feedback to me, just mimicked something that I think meant that my shoulders were hunched and I looked down on the ice - not even to ME, but to the rest of the people. That, in my opinion, is not what a coach is supposed to do - maybe that’s the Russian approach to group lessons, to make you feel like you suck so you’re driven to get better? I didn’t get too frustrated, though, I tried to practice the moves a bit more and improve them.
Then she’s like okay, let’s practice the flip entrance. I never really understood how it’s done correctly.
I felt a bit wobbly on my skates, actually, because we didn’t really have the time to get warmed up on ice.
Then we did spins, everybody but one girl in the group already knew how to do at least a basic one-foot spin. I tried with some minor success, but well, I didn’t really learn anything new. The coach tried to show us how you enter such a spin correctly, how you’re on the front of your blade first, then you move on to the middle... I don’t know. It was confusing. The only thing she pointed out to me is to cross my free leg in front of the one I was standing on.
I noticed that the group in the middle was doing slaloms and such, then they practiced spins and even had a few clockwise spinners.
After the session, the girl (the one who was even weaker than me) asked if they always jump all the time in this group - I told her that I don’t know, that it’s my first time.
So, to conclude - the gym-part was a good work-out, the on-ice part was not so useful. :( I will try going on another day, Sunday, maybe, because they have different people on different days and probably also do different things.
I mean, jumping is cool and I want to learn that, BUT you have to have the basics in order to jump correctly, which they don’t seem to be working on that much in this group on Thursday. I was a bit baffled, because some of those people still struggle pretty much on crossovers and their three-turns are far from nice and steady - and they’re already doing jumps like this? Also, I’m not going to learn how to jump correctly without proper explanations, so... yeah. Not happy with this coach. She seems kinda (very) bitchy and I had the impression that she didn’t like the fact that I’m not Russian.
However, I still have 3 more sessions that I already paid for, so I’ll use them in the following few weeks.
Lena just talked to an acquaintance of hers who is a coach - a very lovely one, she says - and she’d give me individual lessons for 500rubles/hour. That’s a great price, I think, even though it still is a lot of money. Plus the price for the rink, of course - that’s at least 200/hour, but Lena says that it’s possible to get some discount card if you skate often. This coach, Yulia, speaks English in addition to Russian, she loves foreigners (or so Lena says), and is very nice. I think I’d really learn much more this way than from those group lessons.
My back feels really stiff today, as it did yesterday - we didn’t do any stretching or anything and the whole training was very... leg-centered. I have aerobics later today, though, so I’ll get some stretching there. :) My legs don’t exactly hurt (wow, I’m in a better shape than I expected!); my left side/hip feels a bit tender for some reason - it’s my landing leg. Also, surprisingly, the ball of my right foot is a bit hurty - from what, I do not know, possibly from the toe-picking?
Either way, I had fun. I now wish I hadn’t bought the 4 sessions, but then again, a single one would have been twice as expensive, I bet, and maybe it will get better. If not... well, at least the gym is good. They also do choreography in the gym on some days, so that might be interesting, too. :)