guitarist

He saw me putting them on and immediately went "yeah, they're too big." I'm actually only going a half size down. The issue was at the heel. There was a lot of space there. Even with the extra padding from the superfeet sole I can still feel my heel moving up, which sometimes causes me to lean forward (but this has improved as I've gained control). While I was trying on different models/sizes, he put his finger on the heel area, with the tongue still open, presumably to see how much space would be left once the skate was actually on. The heel moving is a problem, but if it's not too much perhaps there's a way to add padding. My coach says she did something similar before she started wearing custom skates. How do they feel on the ice? Are they causing problems you didn't have with rentals? $55/30 min and $90/50 min. It is so expensive I can't even feel outraged about the cost, though, since I know coaches struggle so hard to make it. Skating isn't kind on anyone's wallets...

I haven't exactly gotten them fixed. Still waiting on the new skates, so I'm still on the Artiste. The tech added a superfeet sole on my old ones in the meantime. Since the skates were so big he literally had to put them on top of the Jackson sole, just to add some padding. I've been tightening the skates a lot more, too, as he suggested. It helped, but it's still a problem for the right foot (it's especially a problem when landing my sad Waltz jumps). I'd say it's a 60-70% improvement. It'll be easier once I get the new skates because they'll be mounting the blade properly. I'll let you know what happens when I get them

Maybe he just got some inspiration from this:

I will once I manage to get it on camera, I just fail whenever I try to record Though to be fair most attempts are still failing because I'm still too scared, and even the "successful" attempts are more hops than jumps haha. Can't be more terrible than my practice session this morning, tripped while trying to lean more into my forward crossovers and landed on my knees I'm sure you'll be fine

Thank you! Yeah, I'm so excited!!! I'll definitely do that, it's very encouraging to see the progress, and sometimes I really need the reminder. Hopefully I can get it stable enough in time for the competition. If not, it's not a big deal, since I'm doing the artistic one anyway, but it'd be a nice touch.

Yeah, I've been trying to do that. I'm about to leave for the rink, and I'm determined to get it this morning! I just have to force myself. Easier said that done Oh, no! Hopefully that doesn't happen to me! Though I'm probably not going to wear a dress, since I'm skating to Queen haha. That's probably the competition I'm entering! It's an ISI competition. I think it happens once a year. EDIT: I got it!!! Well. Sort of. From a standstill... It's a work in progress. But it's something!

I started on Waltz jumps today! By which I mean, my coach is finally teaching them to me, but I'm much too scared to actually try I'll try again tomorrow. I know I can do it, I'm just scared, for completely irrational reasons. We're going to work on a program for a small competition in June It's just for fun, and I'm only in the Adult Freestyle 1 category (which is why she's making me learn the Waltz), but I'm really excited! I already picked the music: I Want To Break Free. Because... Freddie Mercury

Yeah, my coach said that too. She says she wishes those existed when she was a kid because she still has scars from breaking in skates. Not exactly encouraging Good to hear! I'm super excited about the blades! The blades on the Artiste are so flat, so I'm hoping these will make learning spins easier. Ahhh, so excited!

I'm at a skate shop, and yes, my skates were completely wrong for me We're going with the Riedell Bronze Star with Coronation Ace blades. Apparently, my ankles are much too thin for Edea and Jackson. My wallet is not happy. Though this is admittedly much, much cheaper than the guitar I'm getting soon, so I shouldn't complain... Should get the skates next week (they didn't have the right width in stock)

As long as he stays far away from this year's 4CC monstrosity

Totally NOT the reason most of my skating clothes are UA.

You're not a beginner, though. Probably not a good idea to give those to someone on day one. A lot of people at the rink have them, many of them adults doing singles and doubles, so it's probably not that big a deal. I'd get them, but eh, I spend way too much money on skating already, and I actually am a beginner

I don't think it's bad advice at all. I think for adults it's hard to actually overboot unless you have a very low pain tolerance. What might be more of a problem is the blade, since a blade that is too advanced might go too fast for a beginner to control.

Honestly, you could probably start with the Freestyles. Just today I heard a coach say that to an adult beginner who was on her first lesson. People talk a lot about overbooting, but this is more applicable to children than adults because they're likely to outgrow them before they even break them in. And adults need more support anyway, since on average we weigh more than children. Overbooting might've been an issue if you'd started with a boot rated for triples, but the Freestyle is only up to an Axel, so you should be fine. A lot of the beginner skaters I know use them, and they're doing just fine. The one problem with getting your first pair, though, is that you won't know what they should feel like. This happened to me. The tech guy wasn't great, and he just asked me if I was comfortable, which resulted in me getting a boot that was too big, and not suited for my feet shape. And now I have all sorts of issues because my heel keeps going up and the ankle isn't offering enough support, causing me to pronate (my right foot is especially bad). I just realized that this week, and it's why my outside edge was basically impossible to get. I need to show my coach, now that I know the specific issues, but I'm pretty sure she'll agree to me buying new boots, which I'll probably do tomorrow... Hopefully you can get a good tech person so you can avoid all of this... And ask a coach, but don't let the tech person convince you to get a lower level boot. A lot of them do that. Say that you want something that'll last up to an Axel.

If you're sure you're going to stick with it, get your own as soon as possible. Rental skates are always inconsistent in quality, they're usually not very firm, and the blades aren't sharpened as often as they should be. If you can't get your own for now, see if you can at least make sure you always get the same pair of rentals (ask the rink staff if they can do this). This way your feet won't have to readjust to every pair you try.

The glides that veer to the left, are those on your right foot? If so, what you're probably doing is leaning a little bit into your inside edge. It's a bit hard to tell what you're doing wrong without more details, but a few things come to mind: - How are you starting the glide? From stroking? If so, have you tried doing [swizzles -> two foot glide -> lift one foot] instead? Sometimes stroking makes it a little harder for beginners because if you don't do a strong push, there's not enough force/speed to actually glide. - When you're gliding on two feet, bring them closer together. I see a lot of beginners doing two foot glides with their feet too far apart, forming a slight /\ with their legs, so when they lift one foot from the ice, they can't balance because the skating foot is not in line with their center of gravity. I think right now the best thing you can do is just practice a lot, work on the swizzles and stroking so you can get enough speed for the glide. I'm quite far from mastering a one foot skating, though This is the kind of thing that is measured in progress. Like, every week I can hold my edges a little bit longer, or, I'll learn a new kind of turn. But to answer your question, to get beginner level one-foot glides (on a flat, and for short distances), maybe 2-3 weeks. They weren't particularly great, though, my posture was awful. Now it's less awful. But the gliding improved haha.

They probably did mean major events because we all know he will never win SC

Today at the ice rink I overheard a coach (from what I gathered she visited TCC at some point or something, and I think she knows Tracy) telling a story about how she knows all of Yuzu's fans are starved for pictures, so she asked Yuzu if she could take a picture with him, just to see how many likes she'd get. Apparently he agreed She says it got thousands of likes and shares in a day. I think the discussion going on right now proves her point

Well, joke or not, I fully expect something to happen to prevent Yuzu from winning

I'm not the biggest fan of PChiddy, but that's hilarious Poor Yuzu

It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be! All you need is a healthy dose of Complete Lack of Common Sense! And yeah, butterfly pose helps with turnout. I saw this in a ballet YouTube video. It's harder if you're laying on your back, and you have to make sure your back isn't arching. Namely, it has to be as flat as possible. This makes it harder for your knees to touch the floor. I can't quite do it. There's this 40-50 year-old guy at the rink who rehearses his free program every morning (I think he's going to Adult Nationals next week), and he has a really good outside spread eagle, and I'm so jealous

Also, speaking of silly tricks, well, I tried. It's a work in progress. Mostly I should work in, well, not looking so freaking awkward. But that's partly genetic, so not much I can do about it I welcome you all to laugh with me. I'll make it look cool, someday!

I'm still a beginner (though admittedly more advanced, we're talking maybe halfway through what group lessons teach, plus a few silly tricks I do for fun), but mostly I do splits, squats, and yoga poses that help flexibility. If you don't have a lot of natural turnout, try the butterfly pose often until your legs are touching the floor. I should work out core, I really should, but there's only so much time in the day Eventually, when you start learning spins, get an off-ice spinner, it'll help you find your center of balance. ...and don't do what I did and practice splits only on one side I can now raise my left leg into a sad-looking adult Y-spiral (off-ice, I don't want to kill myself...), and pull my right leg back into a Chinese spiral, but I can't do it the other way around Go me...

Honestly, if you're past the very basic stuff, I would say whenever you can afford it. I can't join the group lessons because of my insane guitar lesson schedule (story for another time), so I started with private lessons. In a way, I'm making slower progress than the people at the group lessons, since I only get a shorter lesson every other week, but my coach corrects all mistakes and posture issues. I've noticed a few of the skaters from the group lessons do some basic things wrong (like, put their foot down on an outside edge after crossing on a forward crossovers) that didn't get noticed because the coaches at the group lessons didn't have time for it. One of my friends just recently started with a coach, and she's spent the past few sessions with him correcting basic technique issues. Obviously, this isn't the norm, but it happens, and it's better to learn proper technique from the start. If you're concerned about the money, maybe instead of regular lessons you could book time with a coach when there's something specific you want to work on? Like, a 30-min session dedicated to spins or something.

Yeah, the books really do make it seem so black and white What I meant is that Slytherin is, on average, going to create more Dark Lord's because it's rather self-selecting, not because the qualities of the house are intrinsically evil.