Coffee Club

I managed to get out of work for a long lunch today to attend the Coffee Club at Gateway. Coffee Club is Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:45 to 1:15, and costs $8; it includes a half-hour lesson and free skating at the afternoon public session. I didn't get there until right at 11:45, but fortunately I suppose they decided to resurface the ice right then because it was in bad shape. So I had plenty of time to get my skates on and meet some folks. The only person there that I knew was Nikki who I met back in May -- she remembered me and waved Hi, which was very nice. Altogether there were probably 15 people or so. The best part is that it's reserved for adults, so no hockey boys and no little kids to trip over. It appeared that everyone there was a figure skater, I don't think I saw a single pair of hockey skates.

After the Z-break I warmed up a bit and then asked Nikki about the lesson -- she took me down and introduced me to the instructor, Linda, who'd already started. I had seen her but thought she was giving a private lesson. Anyway, Linda, the instructor, sized me up and announced (not surprisingly) that the other skater and I were in two different worlds (she was much more advanced than I). She took me aside and I told her briefly where I was at and what I've been working on. She asked me to show her my one-foot glide and stroking. After a demonstration (not a good one) she suggested I come to the glide from a two-foot glide with my knees together -- something Glenn had had me doing -- and not from a stroke. This resulted in probably one of the best and longest glides I've done. She also worked with me on my two-foot turn and emphasized arm position and keeping my "box" straight. Her parting advice for me was that I really need to work on bending my knees more and getting that position improved. All in all she told me a lot of the same things Glenn has been telling me, but in a different way.

After the lesson I had about a half an hour to work on what she'd told me. I tried to work as much as I could. The two big accomplishments for today were that I tried a couple of clockwise turns (finally!). They weren't good, but it's a start. Also, I'm rather proud that I taught myself the one element for Basic 2 that I'd not been exposed to yet, namely the "Fwd alternating 1/2 swizzle pumps, in a straight line (slalom-like pattern)". After all the time that Glenn has had me working on the forward 1/2 swizzle pumps on a circle, this was really pretty easy. I'm really pleased that I'm only halfway through the semester and I've at least touched on everything. This means I have a month to perfect the two elements I'm most concerned with, the one-foot glide and the backward two-foot glide.

Coffee Club was a good experience -- not crowded, good ice, nice people. The people were friendly. They were about half retirees and the rest mostly a bit older than me. There was one woman who seemed quite good that I'd not met before -- I was told her name is Gail. Also a man who looks about my age who is really quite good -- I saw him do a split jump! And the prize for "most inspirational" goes to a man I was talking to at the end of the session, who owns a very nice sit spin. In talking to him, I found he is about 50 (!) and started skating when he was 43! So there really IS hope for me. He's got an axel, too.

I'm hoping I can attend CC at least on Fridays, but I imagine with my work schedule it may be problematic. Still, I think I definitely got more accomplished in an hour and 15 minutes than I would have at a Saturday afternoon or Friday night (horrors!) public session.

More entries to come, as I am going skating tonight and having a makeup lesson tomorrow also.