Trial Lesson With Stacy

I had my trial lesson with Stacy at the afternoon public session at Valley today:

• stroking -- I guess every trial lesson I'll ever have will start with stroking. She suggested that I needed to get down in my knees a little more to get more power, and to work on my extension and posture. Still she said in general it's pretty good.
• FXOs -- we worked for some time on these. Stacy critiqued my underpush (or lack thereof) and we worked on that. I think this is the most time I've ever spent working just on the underpush and it was very helpful. As usual, the amount of power I can generate on these when I work at it surprises (and scares) me.
• FO3s -- we actually spent quite a bit of time on these, trying to improve my check and keep the upper body quiet; made some good progress.

I really liked Stacy's attention to detail. She didn't just fluff over some of the common problems in my skating (like, no underpush on FXOs or weak check on 3s) and was willing to spend real time on them. She's also very positive and encouraging, and she worried that she pushed me too much (I reassured her she didn't). I did have a little trouble at times understanding her but not enough to be a concern.

I was concerned about her availability for lesson on morning freestyle, but she seemed to indicate that we might be able to work something out on that. I told her I have several other coaches to work with before I make up my mind, and I'll get back to her.