Coach Picky is moving sometime this month and I decided to go ahead and end the relationship. It's been hard for us to make our schedules mesh and as I'm preparing for multiple events in upcoming competitions, I wanted to make sure I was getting lessons on a regular basis without turning my life upside down. I told her in person at our last lesson. She completely understood and we went on to have a really good lesson.
We worked on the lutz, and she focused on getting me to stop leaning to the left on take off and to bring my right arm close to the body. I never completely got it, so those are things that I need to work on. But she did say that I'd made tremendous progress since I'd first started working on it. And she told me, "Not a single one of those had an edge change." I nearly flipped over that because I did a LOT of lutzes in that lesson!
The rest of the lesson was spent on spins, and she had me play around with different combinations. She confirmed that it's a good idea to put more difficult spins into program run-throughs, because you can always simplify them if they're not there come competition time. I've already been trying camel-sit and sit-back sit in my program, but she suggested even camel-sit-pancake or sit-pancake-back sit. I've thought about it, but honestly, the camel-sit is still inconsistent enough, that when I get a good spin going, I don't like to try the extra position and mess it up. Same for the sit-back sit.
I haven't had another lesson with my potential new coach yet, the one who wanted to start my axel in the harness. I'm hoping to get one this week. But in the meantime, I've been working that waltz-backspin and I've even tried salchow-backspin. Coach Picky mentioned that she was a big proponent of getting the axel rotated off-ice before trying them on-ice so I revisited the off-ice axel after a freestyle session recently. There was a skating friend who's a coach hanging around as well as the friendliest senior mens skater ever and they both gave me some pointers. That was so much better than practicing them at the gym where I don't get advice, I get strange looks! I so hope to get to try these on the harness soon!
It's a little more like a jump twizzle, but it's a start.
The waltz backspin is looking good! Make sure that your free leg is bent during the takeoff. Otherwise you will have a really hard time with the rotation. It needs to feel like you are trying to kick yourself in the rear. Then when you kick through, you will get the height you need for the full rotation. Keep it up! Can't wait to see and hear about how this jump is coming along!
ReplyDeleteI also had to end lessons with my coach because of schedules not meshing. It's tough. But you have to do what's right for you and your skating. I think good coaches understand that completely.
ReplyDeleteI think your waltz backspins look pretty good! To me, the axel is one of the most frustrating and rewarding jumps ever! Good luck!!
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