Skativersary
Fifteen years ago today, I first set foot on the ice. Wow! To quote the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it's been...
Fifteen years ago, I started off with learn to skate classes at the Ice-O-Plex in Tucson. I had never been on the ice until the day of my first lesson -- in retrospect it seems odd, but that's really the way my mind works. I want to learn the right way right off the bat.
In Tucson I took my first private lessons (with Anna Berry, now Anna Fritz). I skated a lot and made good progress.
When I left Tucson and moved to Portland, I took a few lessons with a coach at Valley (Lucy), but after she left, I changed rinks to Sherwood Ice Arena and took on Sonya Bedient as my coach. In some ways I regard this as the "golden age" of my skating. Sonya was a perfect coach for me. In this time I also started working with Kelli Clark on moves, and later I bought patch skates and starting working on figures. I passed my Adult Pre-Bronze Moves test, and did my first competition (2008 Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals).
It's hard to believe that actually, now, the bulk of my skating has been here in Phoenix, where I moved in late 2009. I started taking lessons with J.J. Barksdale, and worked with Lynne Petta on figures. I passed my Adult Pre-Bronze Free Skate and began competing on a regular basis, both in freestyle and in figures. More recently, after JJ stopped coaching I took on Holly Harrington as my freestyle coach (I had worked with her for quite some time as my power coach).
That's the positive.
For the negative... I've had a broken (R) wrist, a broken left foot, and a broken left ankle. I've had several serious (as in off the ice for several weeks) soft tissue injuries.
I took the Bronze Moves test, but did not pass (I averaged .2 - .3 under on most moves).
Most frustrating, I feel like I'm stagnant. I've been skating for 15 years, but my spins are at best quite short, and more often almost unrecognizable. I have a waltz jump, a salchow that is sometimes a bit questionable, and a cheated toe loop. I'm slow, and I look down at the ice way too much.
On the figures side, my FO8 and FI8 are pretty solid, but my waltz-8 (after something like 10 years!) remains weak and probably not passable for the Preliminary test.
When I started skating (at age 39) I hoped to have an axel by the time I was 50. I'm well past that, and I have no real hope of landing an axel. I would really like to have all the other single jumps, at least, but that seems out of reach with every passing year. I've always come in last in my free skates, often to skaters who are competing for the first time and later move up to Bronze while I'm still APB.
I'm frustrated. I am a slow learner, and I often lately feel like time is running out for me.
I don't expect an answer, and in some ways I am just venting to express those thoughts I don't often share. I do, surprisingly, still have some hope -- I've been working on spins again with Holly and feel like the approach we are using now might bear fruit. I am skating at least a little faster than I was, and most importantly, I do still enjoy skating.
So there it is. A mixed bag, but that's the way life is sometimes. Happy skativersary to me!
Fifteen years ago, I started off with learn to skate classes at the Ice-O-Plex in Tucson. I had never been on the ice until the day of my first lesson -- in retrospect it seems odd, but that's really the way my mind works. I want to learn the right way right off the bat.
In Tucson I took my first private lessons (with Anna Berry, now Anna Fritz). I skated a lot and made good progress.
When I left Tucson and moved to Portland, I took a few lessons with a coach at Valley (Lucy), but after she left, I changed rinks to Sherwood Ice Arena and took on Sonya Bedient as my coach. In some ways I regard this as the "golden age" of my skating. Sonya was a perfect coach for me. In this time I also started working with Kelli Clark on moves, and later I bought patch skates and starting working on figures. I passed my Adult Pre-Bronze Moves test, and did my first competition (2008 Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals).
It's hard to believe that actually, now, the bulk of my skating has been here in Phoenix, where I moved in late 2009. I started taking lessons with J.J. Barksdale, and worked with Lynne Petta on figures. I passed my Adult Pre-Bronze Free Skate and began competing on a regular basis, both in freestyle and in figures. More recently, after JJ stopped coaching I took on Holly Harrington as my freestyle coach (I had worked with her for quite some time as my power coach).
That's the positive.
For the negative... I've had a broken (R) wrist, a broken left foot, and a broken left ankle. I've had several serious (as in off the ice for several weeks) soft tissue injuries.
I took the Bronze Moves test, but did not pass (I averaged .2 - .3 under on most moves).
Most frustrating, I feel like I'm stagnant. I've been skating for 15 years, but my spins are at best quite short, and more often almost unrecognizable. I have a waltz jump, a salchow that is sometimes a bit questionable, and a cheated toe loop. I'm slow, and I look down at the ice way too much.
On the figures side, my FO8 and FI8 are pretty solid, but my waltz-8 (after something like 10 years!) remains weak and probably not passable for the Preliminary test.
When I started skating (at age 39) I hoped to have an axel by the time I was 50. I'm well past that, and I have no real hope of landing an axel. I would really like to have all the other single jumps, at least, but that seems out of reach with every passing year. I've always come in last in my free skates, often to skaters who are competing for the first time and later move up to Bronze while I'm still APB.
I'm frustrated. I am a slow learner, and I often lately feel like time is running out for me.
I don't expect an answer, and in some ways I am just venting to express those thoughts I don't often share. I do, surprisingly, still have some hope -- I've been working on spins again with Holly and feel like the approach we are using now might bear fruit. I am skating at least a little faster than I was, and most importantly, I do still enjoy skating.
So there it is. A mixed bag, but that's the way life is sometimes. Happy skativersary to me!
posted by Gordon @ 11:40 PM
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