Learn to figure skate

i love watching rachael flatt. she’s amazing.

boy do i have a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go.
i want to b able to skate like caroline zhang or rachael flatt. they are freaking ah-MAZING!!!
right now i can skate pretty well. frontwards, and i’m okay at backwards. i think spins are beautifullllllllllllll and jumps are like… defying logic. i want to b able to do that thing where they spread their arms out and face the sky and close their eyes, and their skates are pointed out and they just glides there. it’s so beautiful.
i rlly would like to b able to skate like rachael flatt (she’s amazing!!!!!!!!!) or michelle kwan (dude!)and do spins like marai nagarasu and caroline zhang. it’s a lot to ask for but i think if i keep at it and practice A LOTT i can do it :D
tell me if u have any tips or where i should start etc.
thanx!!!! :D

Working on loop and flip jumps now (started 1-2 weeks ago), and axels off-ice. Still struggling with spins but I think I may have finally broken through on the one-foot. Goal is to get a program and compete within the year – my coach says she’s thinking Spanish dance music :) I’d also love to land an axel within the next year, plus master the sit and camel spins. And of course, improve my ‘footwork’ overall. I want to look like I’ve been doing it forever.

i am so bad right now, i always fall. but i really want to learn at least just to go fast.

bunny hops! First on the boards and then all of a sudden I could do them easily on my own, several in a row. I know this is a really basic move but it’s one step closer to being able to do jumps! And then this woman who always comes to adult skate, she’s older and really sweet, came up to me and asked me if those were bunny hops that I’d been practicing, and I said yes, and she said she’d learned them too but needed more practice and couldn’t do them as well as me yet! It felt good, the first near-compliment on my skating :)

I also worked a lot on backwards stuff, and the backwards one-foot glides and one-foot pumps on a circle have improved, but I still feel shaky. I wonder if I just keep practicing these things over and over again, if eventually I’ll be really confident. The woman who asked me about bunny hops said the backwards stuff was very difficult for her as well. Time will tell, I guess.

I also practiced forward crossovers. I eavesdropped on someone else’s lesson and just pretended like I was getting the advice! I think it really helped, the part where you push with the outside edge is much better now, and my actual crossing-over is much smoother and more distinct.

Just an hour and a half today, but backwards one-foot glides and backwards one-foot pumps, as well as general backwards stroking, have definitely improved. I need to start picking my foot up after the swizzle on the backwards stroking. Also worked on forward chasses on a circle, which meant going back to basics and really working on my scooter pushes, trying to get a clean push, a nice lengthy glide and good extension. This helped me when I practiced forward crossovers as well.

I think watching the young competitive skaters during the freestyle session before mine was helpful (aside from making me feel wholly inadequate and jealous…), because it gave me a picture of flow and athleticism to hold in my mind while I skated. I noticed they use their knees a lot to gain speed and agility, lots of bending.

Also I think the reason my backwards one-foot glides turn off to the side rather than going straight is because my weight shifts from the toe to the sole and when I do this, it doesn’t come down evenly. So I have to try to get solidly on the flat of the blade before I pick my foot up.

Went to a dance shop before the rink and bought two pairs of skating pants and a pair of black legwarmers. I spent a lot more than I wanted to but it was nice to skate in pants that fit today and showed the lines of my movements! However basic they are at the moment… :)

Really pleased with my two-foot spins and started trying to pick one foot up today, but this is going to take lots of practice. And I want to learn a 3-turn soon! But this might have to wait until I get back to Oxford and can take another lesson.

I’ve have been dancing since i can remeber, though even if im canadiene i cant play hockey…
i played street hockey and was an amazing goale but ice is not my role of dice.
Im into jazz, funk and dropy drop acid dance music,
these style are what i would like to do but on figure skate i also secretly do baley but only a few of my freinds know or if i get drunk i might acedentely do a baley move BLUSH
I need skate and i need a partner.
GOGOGO
-Zohlee

2 hours practicing today. Played around on my edges for awhile, both left and right foot, just testing them out, and actually felt much more comfortable and able to more footwork afterwards. Also backwards one-foot glides got better, tried some spirals and some moving entries into the 2-foot spin, and forward crossovers on both sides. Today was one of the first days I felt like I looked different from the recreational skaters, like I sort of knew what I was doing.

Fell twice, on very basic movements, both backwards swizzles I think. I noticed I sometimes have trouble keeping my weight squarely over my skates. On two-foot turns it’s difficult to stay with the motion, when I’m turning quickly and moving forward at the same time. But these have gotten a bit less wobbly. I may need to be more conscious of keeping my knees a bit bent.

Lots of little kids learning to skate today, and parents teaching or skating with their kids, lots of fathers and little girls. Lots of the dads looked like they played hockey and it was cute watching them try to get their daughters to skate forwards without their support…some of the kids were more willing than others :) Also a little girl who’s obviously taking lessons, showing her dad what she could do and trying to teach him things like one-foot glides. So sweet!

Worked on stuff for two hours during a busy public session. It’s difficult to skate when so many people and especially little kids are just traipsing about. And of course there are always the show-off teenagers, i.e. the advanced skaters, who don’t seem to look where they’re going and always get in the way. But perhaps I’m just impatient…and most definitely jealous :) But, all in good time…

Still having trouble with the backwards one-foot glides, although I may have seen a slight improvement by the end. I can now definitely balance on my left leg for much longer going forwards than before. And the backwards stroking has gotten easier as well…I just really need to concentrate on leaning my weight onto that outside edge, as it makes it much easier.

I also fell on something stupid, like a forward swizzle. It’s bizarre how my balance can be so inconsistent on skates…I suppose that fluidity and sure-footedness just comes with practice. So, aiming for another 2-hour session on Monday, if the rink is open. I really have to focus on keeping my weight centered and not dropping a shoulder when I’m doing one-foot stuff.

So my lesson yesterday was ok…I did much better when I was practicing on my own, and I also fell once. My backwards moves are still weak and inconsistent. My instructor seemed a bit grumpy too which didn’t help. I wonder if they have less patience for adult learners? I think it’s more difficult as an adult largely because you think about every little thing rather than just going for it full-throttle. But eventually maybe that will make for a very precise technique?

On the plus side, my instructor said my two-foot spin looked great and I was more than ready to learn a one-foot spin, but she wanted me to get more comfortable on my left leg first…so that’s the goal for next week. Lot of one-foot glides, backwards and forwards, backwards stroking and one-foot pulls to practice. She also said that on the whole, I’d improved a lot…that we’d basically covered 3 levels in the few weeks I’ve been home…and that even just in terms of stroking, now I looked like a ‘real skater’ rather than someone who comes and just skates around for fun.

I also learned a two-foot turn but I need to practice keeping the motion going throughout it.