I'm so pleased!
Today was my first ever skating test, and HOOOORAAAAYYY! I passed everything we covered!
We actually had a different coach today, and she was very thorough going over the basics, not rushing through the levels, which was really helpful.
Things passed today are:
- Sit / stand on the ice
- Moving forward (basic skating)
- Two-foot glide and dip
- Stepping around on the spot
- Moving backward - she spent some time going over this, and I feel much more confident going backwards now
- Snowplough - again, some time spent on this, learning how to "tickle" the ice. Very helpful, and I passed it, even with the troubles I have had with this recently!
- Forward skating
- Two-foot glide on a curve
- Forward one foot glide (straight line) - I got a "good" for this, and it felt like I could have gone on for ever when I did it
- Foward and backward sculling
Next week (the last week on this set of sessions) we should finish off testing level 3, with the two-foot jump and the one foot glide on an inside edge. I don't know if we will do any of the level 4 steps, but I will be very happy to have finished three levels in the first six weeks. It would be nice to get Level 5 done by Christmas but I am in no rush.
So all in all, I am very happy now. I was actually quite nervous today about it, but really enjoyed it in the end. Certainly no worse than karate grading after all!
Spent the end of the session mostly practicing my outside edges, and had a minor breakthrough. I don't think I have been much on my outside edge before, but was more "daring" today, and really felt a difference in the smoothness of the glide on the ice.
And now, I can go and drink my birthday Champagne too!
9 comments:
See, wasn't so bad now was it....Good job :)
Thank you very much! :)
No, it wasn't so bad . . .
Yay! Congratulations!
Oh and BTW, the 30's have been SO MUCH BETTER than the 20's! Turning 30 is a good thing!
3turn
Lots of people have told me that 30's are better.
At least I will have skating in my 30's, which I didn't have in my 20's!
Congratulations!
What is "stepping around on the spot"? It sounds so very British :-)
Literally that - marching on the spot, but turning round.
She didn't actually make us test the level 1 stuff - I think as we have started spins, edges and turns, that they assumed we should be able to do that already!
Amanda, I am so proud of you! Awesome job! That truly is reason to celebrate. Did you get mementos, like patches or certificates? Since I started skating, I've been amazed at how I've turned into a child again when it comes to such things... :-)
And it was really interesting to learn a bit about the "Skate UK" system. It sounds much like the USFSA Basic Eights or the ISI Learn-to-Skate programs.
Thank you Lisa!
No, we don't get badges or anything (I get a bit childish at times as well and wouldn't mind them though!). We do have a course booklet though so it gets filled in as we progress through the levels.
There are ten levels in the Skate UK course - it does look quite similar to the Basic Eights one.
After this, you go onto the Star(?) programme I think with Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Well done honey on your test last week and you will be fine tonight, you have put the practice in. You know what i'm like for reading blogs...hopeless, so the archive bit is great, its very good, well done. Thank you for looking after me the last couple of days, your great!!!
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