Working up to a 3-turn
I went to the public session down at the little rink today. I was originally going to wait until tomrrow, but then realised that Dancing On Ice starts tonight, and chances are that public sessions will become somewhat over-run when the population of Britain realise what a fantastic thing skating is! Mind you, it was still fairly busy with little 'uns.
Unfortunately the ice was pretty horrible today. I think either the Zamboni is about to shuffle off its mortal coil, or there is a newbie operating it. I am guessing the latter, as you could see patches that had been missed out completely in the middle of the ice. I am sure that the ice at this rink can't be doing any good for my blades at all!
I worked almost exclusively on forward outside 3-turns today, on the right side. I tried very hard to remember tips I have read or been given. So far, these are:
- Lift the hip of the free leg up
- Rotate from the ribcage, not just the shoulders
- Don't look down
- Keep your body pulled up and held strongly
- Pulling stomach muscles in as you turn
It's quite a lot to remember, but I did these constantly around the rink (although I am still not brave enough to do these away from the barrier), and they are slowly falling into place. I can see the faults that I have - namely, one of my arms is flapping around a bit after the turn, and more importantly, I am not getting the weight over my skating leg after the turn, so I end up leaning on the barrier. I did start getting better at these as the session went on, but they still need lots of work. But that's fine. I might brave the (probably extra busy) session tomorrow as well, and also Monday and Wednesday evening.
Didn't do much else otherwise. Mostly just played around with my edges. It's strange that I had so much trouble with my RFO's a couple of months ago, they feel so easy now!
And of course, I am looking forward to Dancing On Ice tonight. Of course they have had the advantage of not having to contend with little trolls in hockey skates, or dodgy, unkempt ice . . . . !
2 comments:
My coach always has a great way of teaching everything in steps which really seems to help for me.
With Outside 3s, he started with Edge, Foot, Shoulder, Hip. Push off onto the outside edge, tuck the free foot behind, bring the shoulder around then follow with the hip. My problem for a long while was bringing my shoulder around way too soon, leaving myself with no "oomph" to make the turn.
That's interesting to read - I tend to twist into it with my shoulders almost immediately. Sounds like I need to hold back a bit more!
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