Backwards Day

For today's lesson we started out with spins. They were not doing too bad, but Anna asked me to hold the pivot until I bring the other foot in to the center, then release. This results in a faster and better-balanced spin. We worked on doing the exit to the landing position. I can get a good pump with the left foot, but I'm not following through to take the left foot up and behind, and I'm not getting onto an RBO; right now it's more like a flat.

From there we went to work on backward edges down the line. These are showing some actual improvement, even the RBO. Anna is pushing to get the rotation on that foot, but it's not quite there yet. We also worked plain backward stroking; the RB edge is still weaker and I'm still tending to drop the free hip about 50% of the time (or maybe 75%). Still, I know what it's supposed to be like so I should be able to work on it. Anna also pointed out that for the RB edges I'm sabotaging myself by trying to pick up the free foot when it's out to the side; for now I need to pick it up when it's right next to the skating foot.

We finished up with back crossovers. Emphasis here is to keep working on pressing the heel, especially on the back foot. Anna had me work on just doing the front pump and then hold the position to get my weight placement more secure over the back foot. This helped a bit and I was able to get much less scratchy crossovers.

As we were leaving, I had a "gentle correction" from Cecilia (the senior coach on staff) that I need to not stop in the middle of the ice during a freestyle session. To be honest, I wasn't really aware that I do this until she pointed it out; but she said that if I need to stop to think something through or want to watch someone else skate, I need to clear off to the boards. Of course she's right, but I felt pretty dorky at having to be told this. Oh well.