Jumps & Spins

Today's lesson was on the 6 p.m. FS, a make-up for last week. We have a lot to work on! Before my lesson I picked up my spinner from the pro shop, it finally came in... yay!

Today's lesson:

• Toe loop -- the good news is, I really like working on this jump. The bad news I still need to clean it up. We worked on bringing the feet together but not much success.
• Waltz-toe combo -- we went on to work on this because I'm going to need a jump combination for my program. Sonya's main correction was that for the combination I need to keep the L hand forward (like it would be in the toe loop entry), not straight out for a regular waltz jump landing. Once I managed that I did a couple of almost-okay waltz-toe combos -- a bit rough but okay. I was pretty happy with that!
• Flip & loop intro -- Sonya was on a bit of a tear and decided she wanted to give me some introduction to a different jump. She wanted loop, but I suggested flip instead since I feel more comfortable with toe jumps vs. edge jumps. So, we worked against the wall on the flip for a bit. Eeep! It's harder than it looks :-). We worked on these for a bit and then Sonya insisted I try the loop anyway. So I did and in some ways it IS easier than the flip. She asked me to keep working on them on the wall and/or off-ice and we will come back to them.
• Spins -- then it was on to spins. We worked on the one-foot spin for a bit, then Sonya had me try doing a two-foot spin from a hockey glide entrance (I've usually done them from a pivot) to get me over my left side more. Then we did some more one-foot spins and it did seem a bit better; I think I got one that was 2.5 revs. Then we went back to two-foot spins and Sonya suggested that I need to aim for 5 revs since I will need 3 for the test (better to overshoot). I did a very nice 4.5 rev one that Sonya claimed I could have gotten 6 revs from if I'd stuck with it. We did some more two-foot spins and then back briefly to one-foot spins and then we were out of time.

I have another lesson with Sonya on Thursday and my regular lesson with Kelli on Friday. Lots of lessons this week! I was really jazzed after this lesson, I'm feeling very optimistic and upbeat -- I think it was the waltz-toe combo and the good 2-foot spin that did it.

After my lesson I asked Kelli if she could show me how to use the spinner, but she kind of shrugged and asked Karly if she would demonstrate; so Karly did (thanks Karly!). I think I get the idea... I'm going to try it out tomorrow :-)

After that I spent some time talking to a friend and then when Sonya was done teaching power I talked to her about a bunch of stuff for the competition and other stuff. I bought my tickets to Phoenix today. Yay! There's a lot to do and not much time but I'm feeling a bit more confident in it. I should have music next week or so.