Skating on the Planet

[yuzuangel]

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place to put this but does anyone actually skate themselves? I've started learning about a year ago, but only the last 3 months have been going every day (before it was on average once a week or two weeks, now it's 5 times a week although recently I'm slacking off ;_;) 

 

Just wondering how you guys are progressing, when you started, what can you do? 

 

As for me, I've been just doing basics like toe loop, waltz jump, salchow, loop, and some one-foot upright spins. It takes a lot longer than I expected and I still skate soooo sloowwww haha.

 

[moni]

22 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place to put this but does anyone actually skate themselves? I've started learning about a year ago, but only the last 3 months have been going every day (before it was on average once a week or two weeks, now it's 5 times a week although recently I'm slacking off ;_;) 

 

Just wondering how you guys are progressing, when you started, what can you do? 

 

As for me, I've been just doing basics like toe loop, waltz jump, salchow, loop, and some one-foot upright spins. It takes a lot longer than I expected and I still skate soooo sloowwww haha.

 

Hello, it's great to see other adult skater here  

 

I started skating after Sochi 2014 (Yuzu inspired me ). At first I just tried to learn some basics by myself but I found out that a club in our city organizes lessons for adults, so I enrolled. Usually I have 4 lessons per week with a coach and 1-2 times I practice by myself at public skating.

 

The most difficult thing I can do is 2T and 2S but my success rate is like 10%  and they are quite ugly. All other jumps including axel only as singles but here I have much higher success rate  My next goal is double loop, but I havn't attempted it yet, and I'm not sure if it will be posible, but I want to try it.

About spins: in forward direction I do all 3 basic positions (upright, sit, camel) and I'm working on layback. My coach suggested me off ice spinner to practice it... and in backward direction I can only do upright and sit.

And about steps: mohawks, crossrolls, toe steps, hops + other easy steps (I don't know English terms for them), 3turns, brackets, rocker, counter... I think that's all.

 

Ususally when I practice without a coach, I try to do similar things like Yuzu during his warm-ups or cool-downs: e.g. crossovers-mohawk-crossovers-mohawk in circle, or those inside 3turn-mohawk-cross-3turn or spirals...it looks easy when he does it but it's not that easy

It's amazing that you can do all those things only after 3 months of intense practice  I remember it took me ages to learn to spin on 1 foot. I agree that it's hard when you start as adult but when you practice (almost) every day, you will see quick progress. And for me, the turning point was when I stopped fearing of falling.

 

*sorry for my bad English*

[raebia]

I have great admiration for both of you!,

[yuzuangel]

@moni

Oh wow, doubles in 3 years? That's really amazing and gives me hope, haha. I admire your dedication. My wish is to land some doubles one day and to develop decent skating skills that I can improvise to music and stuff. I'd be totally satisfied with that!! 2S and 2T would be sooo perfect, my dream, lol. Loop and lutz are my favorite jumps watching FS but I probably won't get to the loop and will definitely not get to the lutz. But hey  one can dream. 

 

I've been struggling mostly with speed. It seems like everyone is faster than me, but going faster is scary. Especially since I've had falls going at full speed and they were really painful. Actually, I had a bad fall about a month ago and my elbows still hurt when I place them on the table.

 

One-foot spins ARE killer!! I've been working on upright spin since the first month of skating so over a year ago and I STILL cannot do them consistently. One day I can do them and the next day I can't!  But the feeling of being in a centered, fast spin is so nice. 

 

BTW, before I started skating every day, I skated with this other coach for about 6 months (but back then I didn't skate all that much) who didn't really correct some of my bad technique on waltz jump and toe loop. I was doing a toe-waltz jump apparently (not picking across the other foot, and not opening the hips when picking, prerotating a LOT on the ice) and had to relearn that. I also had to relearn waltz jump which took a lot of time but I think I have the hang of it now. Relearning jumps is not fun and I'm just doing waltz jumps/singles. I'd be amazed if people doing triples and quads would be able to...

 

Anyway, you give me hope that one day I might land doubles. So excited 

 

P.S. BTW, I totally understand Yuzu when he just wants to jump all day. Jumping is fun (so is spinning). Working on skating skills... meh 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

On 17/05/2017 at 8:16 PM, raebia said:

I have great admiration for both of you!,

 

So do I   

Please do keep us updated on your progress and experiences, yuzuangel and moni!    

Sorry if this is a little off-topic but ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition starts on 22nd May 2017 in Oberstdorf Germany. Anyone planning to watch it? 
Here is some information:

Entries/Results
Livestream 

 

 

 

[moni]

@yuzuangel
Yes, those easier doubles are doable for adults  Just don't give up and don't be scared! 

How quickly will you learn it... it depends how much you train and how much you want it, haha. It took me about 8 months to land my first axel. I just couldn't get the rotation on the ice because I was scared and I popped it every single time. I tried it from different enties: standstill, standstill with a little push, backward crossovers but I was just scared to cross my legs and stay in that position... it was like my body was saying: NO WAY! That forward approach is just SO SCARY. But then I got it somehow and once I could rotate it, it took me only some more weeks to land it cleanly. After that, I started learning 2S and I got it quickly because it was similar to axel in some ways (left foot take-off and swing with the right foot) plus I wasn't scared of rotations anymore. At the begining I was landing them forwards with 1.5 rotations and once I felt comfortable with it, I jumped a bit higher and got 2 rotations... and same with 2T. I think my biggest problem was just fear and once I overcame it, progress came quickly. Well, I still can't do them with great speed and I need a long preparation but I'm grateful even for that. A year ago I was still struggling with axel...

 

17 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

One day I can do them and the next day I can't!  

I can fully relate to this, haha. It's just so frustrating! And not only with spins but everything.... sometimes I feel like I forgot everything over the night. 

 

About speed: don't worry about it, really. It's better to be careful and learn everything properly and once you feel more comfortable with it, you can always add some speed. My coach told me that it's better to do it slowly and cleanly and pay attention to have correct head/arm/shoulder/hip position than going fast and make mistakes. When you practice some movement regularly, it will gradually become natural for you. You won't have to think about every detail so much anymore and then you can slowly speed up.  

 

When I started learning toeloop I was prerotating it,too and I was even doing waltz jumps from inside edge  but my coach was correcting me right from the beginning so it didn't become my habit. Now I just can't imagine I'd have to relearn any of my jumps again... it's something like instinct. I admire everyone who was able to do it. 

[moni]

15 hours ago, turquoiseblue said:

Sorry if this is a little off-topic but ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition starts on 22nd May 2017 in Oberstdorf Germany. Anyone planning to watch it? 
Here is some information:

Entries/Results
Livestream 

 for links. I have to admit I didn't watch adult skating at all before but now I have links so maybe I will check it.

[Xen]

I've moved over here too...so another adult skater chiming in. =)

 

Currently no coaches yet. Figure skating is such a small minority sport in China, and just my city alone (despite being probably no 8 in size and population) probably only has about 10-12 figure skating coaches in the entire city. Maybe only half of whom can train you up to an Axel...and last I heard, a lot of them don't demand that much out of adult skaters. Not a pretty picture. 

 

Just keep up the work on those loops and edge controls, will really help with all the jumps later on. =)

[Alissa]

I'm adult skater too 

I started pracitising with a coach last September. Unfortunatly only once a week because the ice rink is pretty far from my town.

I'm also working on basics like single Toe, Sal and Loop. I can do one foot upright spin and my next challenge is sit spin.

I admire all of you, especially when I hear about doing doubles. For me it's only a dream now but in the future... who knows 

[yuzuangel]

I've been practicing my sit spin for a couple of days and...well, even though it looks so damn hard when you think of how hard it is to do an upright spin (seriously, it's just standing in place!! ), but it's actually not that bad. It feels different than an upright spin, like the centripetal force is stronger(?), so in a way it's more fun 

 

Anyway, me on some days -> I love skating!  I wish I could skate all day! 

Me on other days ->  Why can't I do this thing I've been trying to do for so long I will never improve 

[SparkleSalad]

I thought I'd share with you all a bit of inspiration I found. It's not skating related but it just goes to show that age isn't everything. 

 

This is an old TV spot about a computer animator from London who saw a Peking Opera performance and was so inspired that, at age 32 and with no Mandarin, went to train as a performer in Beijing for 10 years. (Most start before they're 10!) His flexibility is insane for someone I assume spent most of their time in a chair. 

 

 

[Floria]

Do you skate as a hobby?

 

I started skating when I was a kid, but I never took it seriously. When I was in my early teens,  my country underwent great political and economic changes, nobody really cared about skating anymore and my rink was closed. And I forgot about skating for more than 20 years.

Until in February of 2014 I turned on my TV to watch some figure skating just out of curiosity because it was Olympics.  And then I saw that boy in a blue shirt... My jaw dropped and I remember saying to myself: "Figure skating had changed a lot in 20 years!". Eventually I started to follow figure skating again and here I am . There was a moment around Worlds 2016 when I thought I should try to return to skating. Guess who inspired me!     

 

I guess there are other hobby skaters besides me on the Planet. Please come to this thread and let's discuss our personal progress in the sport of Figure Skating.

 

 

[Puniyo]

In my case, unfortunately, the only rink available in my area is an extremely small one. The ice is quite uneven, there are pools of water in all the corners and I always feel pity for the kids who go there just for fun because there are always boys goofing around without looking at people and they sometimes knock kids and we know how a bad fall can really hurt. 

 

I go there normally during weekdays (maybe one a month) and early morning (so I can have the rink for myself only ). I just skate in circles and such... LOL. And the rink is quite expensive so I can't afford to deplete my wallet there.

[yuzuangel]

i do i wish it was easier, but there are SO few rinks around me that it's really hard to go skating often unless you dedicate a lot of time, or money, or both to it. especially if you don't drive... 

[robin]

There's only one skating rink in my city and unfortunately it closes in the summer. Haven't been skating since March now and I really miss it. I used to go once a week (during the weekly student discount hours which means the rink was always packed. Regular hours are too expensive )

 

I don't really have the resources to take classes so I just ask the people at the rink to teach me stuff or correct my technique LOL

 

I started skating regularily in January so I only skated 3 months in total. I barely managed to learn backwards crossovers but towards the end of the season I started learning some turns and tricks. But just doing some crossovers is so much fun especially getting really fast (and potentially landing on my bum lol) is one of the best feelings ever. Can't wait til it's October so I can start skating again