Crossover Heaven!
Again, so much for going for a quiet session yesterday on my day off. Absolute havoc! It was like being in the middle of a speed skating track at times.
However, got some practice in with backwards skating, backwards one foot glide (still very hesitant about these) and edges.
And then . . . and then . . . I got chatting to a girl who I see quite often, and she encouraged me to try out forward crossovers. I have been really looking forward to learning these in class (which would be after Christmas) but was a little nervous about doing them.
I did a couple with her holding my hands, and then struck out on my own. And I LOVED doing them! I almost toepicked myself once, but realised that you really need to keep 'em out of the way. And when I got into the rhythm, I felt my inside leg was bent really well, and I could feel myself right on my edges which was great. I was trying to keep them very smooth and controlled - basically mimicking the experienced skaters that I see. She was very complimentary and said that they were really good considering they were a first attempt. It really has a been a very good skating week this week! And dare I say it, doing crossovers was the first thing that really made me feel like a figure skater!
5 comments:
What did I say? No problem doing forward crossovers!! As you have found out the key is keeping the inside knee well bent to prevent clashing blades!!
I wish I could say the same about my backward chasses - feeling really nervous about picking up my free leg and pointing it in front (not helped by the fact a girl fell back on her head at the class the week before!). However I have had a practice today and they are getting better. As with everything with iceskating it helps to bend the knees well. In fact at my last group lesson our coach spent a lot of time just making us skate backwards with really bent knees!!
Well done!!
It was when I learned backwards crossovers that I felt like a real figure skater for the first time. And they are so much more fun than the forwards version. However, instead of worrying about toepicking yourself, you will need to watch out for "the click of death". It's quick, it's painful, it's embarrasing.
Click of death? Is that when your blades bash together?
I've been told that backward crossovers are more fun, but still getting confident in normal backward skating, so will stick to the forward ones for the time being!
Yeah, it's when you slide the one foot over for the crossover but the heel of the blade on that foot hits the front of the blade on the other foot. You hear the "click" and down you go. You'll know it when it happens...trust me :)
Sounds scary! I am not very good at falling - still look like Worzel Gummidge on skates when it happens (ie. a demented scarecrow) :-)
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