Tuesday Evening
Well, M passed his tests, so that’s good. Not that I doubted he would, but he did admit that it was nerve wracking. Now Mark’s steering him towards level 1 and 2 field moves - level 1 should be fine, but level 2 is altogether tougher. And only another 19 tests to go until he catches up with me! (I’ve actually only done about 12, but they’ve added in quite a few extra ones below me over the years, so I’m credited with 21 of the 24 that I need for that elusive full level 6.)
The ice was pretty busy, and it wasn’t just the invading hordes of students who were feeling end-of-term-ish. My boots don’t really hurt any more, but sometimes I feel less secure on them than others, and this was an insecure night. But Lana thinks that if I persist with them, I’ll probably get used to them being too big, so I tried some jumping regardless. I wouldn’t fancy trying them in a programme just yet, but my loops had exit edges that ran, and about two flip attempts in ten actually got all the way round. So the only thing I really haven’t managed to do since the switch is a triple twizzle - and those were always sporadic at the best of times. Played with spins as well - Mark’s hands behind back approach is still helping with centering, but not so much as it was with keeping my weight off the front of the blade. Lana’s pivot into backspin remains as evil as ever.
Mark’s away this week and next, so P took over organisation of the dance intervals, and surprised everyone by giving us two. Had a minor brainstorm on the Rhythm Blues, which we have to do for the charity hockey match on Sunday, and tried to turn it into a Dutch Waltz instead - I’d better not do that on the day. (Although would the hockey fans notice?) And to finish up, we tried a few more waltz-hold spins. Provided we keep the approach down to a minimum, we are getting better at getting closer together, although the only way we seem to be able to stay facing each other is by turning our feet out and opening our hips as far as possible - and surely it must be feasible to do this spin with feet pointing forwards? Must watch someone who can do it properly some time.
The ice was pretty busy, and it wasn’t just the invading hordes of students who were feeling end-of-term-ish. My boots don’t really hurt any more, but sometimes I feel less secure on them than others, and this was an insecure night. But Lana thinks that if I persist with them, I’ll probably get used to them being too big, so I tried some jumping regardless. I wouldn’t fancy trying them in a programme just yet, but my loops had exit edges that ran, and about two flip attempts in ten actually got all the way round. So the only thing I really haven’t managed to do since the switch is a triple twizzle - and those were always sporadic at the best of times. Played with spins as well - Mark’s hands behind back approach is still helping with centering, but not so much as it was with keeping my weight off the front of the blade. Lana’s pivot into backspin remains as evil as ever.
Mark’s away this week and next, so P took over organisation of the dance intervals, and surprised everyone by giving us two. Had a minor brainstorm on the Rhythm Blues, which we have to do for the charity hockey match on Sunday, and tried to turn it into a Dutch Waltz instead - I’d better not do that on the day. (Although would the hockey fans notice?) And to finish up, we tried a few more waltz-hold spins. Provided we keep the approach down to a minimum, we are getting better at getting closer together, although the only way we seem to be able to stay facing each other is by turning our feet out and opening our hips as far as possible - and surely it must be feasible to do this spin with feet pointing forwards? Must watch someone who can do it properly some time.