A Few Videos

So I was looking through old video of my daughter skating. Like I said her first jump was a toe loop and I think this video was shot around the time she was learning to do a waltz jump. Still pretty good jumping for 5 years old. I was impatient even then:)

Okay so next this is a video of her practicing - I skated in Nutcracker on Ice as well so I couldn't actually video her skating it during the show or legitimate rehearsals. I did film her skating on public ice. Note the incredible disappearing toeloop at the end. She still has loads of trouble with combination jumps and what goes where to get into the second jump. The half-lutz/toe loop (which was a half lutz/bunny hop something the other here it turned out right in the actual show) was her first combination jump ever and her first attempts at it were for this show. And of course me still being impatient with her. Note marked improvement at 6;)


also at 6:



I'll try to find some videos from age 3 or 4... maybe for a future post.

Skating Movies

It occurs to me that I said I was going to use this blog to talk about skating movies as well and so far I've only used it as an outlet to complain about skating.

Best Recent (21st century) skating movie:
Go Figure. If you haven't seen this movie and you are into skating it is definitely a must-see. It is about a little girl who has devoted her whole life to skating. She has an opportunity to skate with a famous Russian coach because for some reason Russians are just better skaters that Americans right? There's only one problem they can't give her a scholarship to this boarding school unless she plays hockey. She gets a crash course in learning how to play hockey and in the process learns how important friends and family are.

2nd Best Recent Figure Skating movie:
Cutting Edge 2: Going for Gold
Okay so who doesn't love Kim Possible - and seeing Christie Carlson Romano in a skating role is always great. But her co-star Ross Thomas really set the ice on fire. Were his 'stunts' real? Can anybody skate like that.. flips and stuff on ice. Saweeeet! Only drawback - they could've brought in Moira Kelly and DB Sweeney to play Christie's parents. Maybe the directors thought they were too young for those roles? Moira Kelly plays mom to Chad Michael Murray on OTH and he can't be that much younger than her?

I'll save some other lesser skating movies like "Ice Princess" for later.

Here Come the Tears Again

This time last fall my little girl was learning her back scratch spin. It took six months for her to learn it. Six months is a long time to keep trying over and over to do something that you just can't do no matter what. She cried a lot during those six months. Her tears made me feel bad. I felt like everybody was looking at me - judging me - blaming me because she kept trying. She kept skating. And she kept on crying for six whole months. I told her to stop. I told her to quit. Through her tears she told me that she loved to skate. And she told me in no uncertain terms that she refused to quit. Sometimes people just need to cry. This has been a hard year for me, in my life and I've done some serious crying. Sometimes people just need to cry. That back scratch spin came all of sudden some time around New Year's. One day she was crying the next she was getting 6-8 revolutions no problem. The tears stopped then. A few months after that she started working on her loop. Uh falling on her loop. And falling a lot. Then she started landing it. About 10% of the time at first. And then almost all the time she was landing. She cried a lot about it. It was hard. Then she lost her loop. And in the midst of the competition season we focused on what she needed for her programs jumps (combos with salchow, toe loop, half flip, half lutz and waltz jump), forward scratch/back scratch and sit spin. And footwork. And the loop was lost for a while. Now that loop is happening again. Maybe 15% of the time. Every time I think she can't do it she does. She surprises me. But she's crying again. Not so much as with the back scratch. But its been six whole months since she started learning that loop and its not mastered. I think we'll be done with those tears soon. Her single Flip is great. I think the single Lutz will be another story. I know how much she struggled learning the difference between half-lutzes and half-flips and I imagine I'm going to be seeing some flutzes in my near future. And a whole, whole lot of tears. Probably more than I've ever seen come from my little girl. God give me the strength to handle those tears. To be supportive. To resist the urge to tell her to quit. And for God to remind me that if I tell her to give up then I tell her I don't have faith in her. Maybe God will have mercy on her and have that Lutz come easy as salchow and toe loop did? A lot in this sport has came easy for her. The things that don't - the things that come through tears, falls, and bruises - I suppose those are the things that she really learns something from.

Five Months with No Competitions or Shows

We are skipping the Halloween show this year (well if there is one) and our seating area is being torn out (replaced by balcony seats which will be really, really awesome) so there will be no Christmas show this year. And the competition season won't start back in full force until February so that means 5 whole months with no programs to memorize. The settling down from the last competition has already caused my child to skate better. She's learning footwork. Really getting it - not stumbling through it. Its clicking and looking good when she does it. Landing her loop again - uh - knock on wood. How much can a kid learn in 5 months??? Yeah - well just this summer I learned how much a kid can forget how to do in just a few months. My daughter's been figure skating four and a half years. She's learned a lot. So have I. I've been skating myself for 3 whole years now. And what I can do and what I know how to do are light-years from each other. I know the difference between a loop and a salchow (and the difference between a flip and lutz for that matter). Yep I do. I can watch my kid do a salchow and say that was a salchow not a loop you are on the wrong foot. She can't feel she is on the wrong foot. It feels right. I put markers on her toes so she can tell a salchow from a loop. So she knows which foot to jump off of for her toe loop even. Toe loop - been doing toe loops for 2 and a half years. It was the first jump she learned. Yep before she could do a waltz jump my baby could do a single toe loop. It was what she did naturally when she went to jump off the ice. And two years later I still have to tell her occasionally she needs to launch off her right foot and pick off her left toe. I learned this when we thought she broke her left big toe at Tae Kwon Do and it turned black and blue and swelled up real big. The toe loop was the only move in her program that required 'pressure' on her left toe. It wasn't broke and the swelling went down before the show. I'm sure her doctor thought we were all evil for not making her miss her solo. It was important to her. And had the swelling not gone down or gotten worse we probably would've had her skip the show. Doctor's don't grasp how much work kids put into these things. Maybe most people don't get the work that goes into it. I know a lot - can't do most of what I know. My daughter can do a lot but has a hard time grasping what it is exactly that she is doing when she does it. She's accidentally landing her loop again. It may be a while before she's landing on purpose. Five months to get all her singles straight in her head so she is landing purposefully and with confidence? Yep - I think that will happen. And I think she'll have a really great back sitspin (better than her current back scratch). And maybe she'll have a flying camel by then. She thinks it flies now but it doesn't. Five months for me muster up enough love for this sport to give her another season of shining boots and stoning dresses and spraying glitter in her hair. Yeah it definitely could happen.

Off-Season Phase

It doesn't seem like this sport gets an off-season. I'm told that in summer kids typically train harder because they are out of school so it is important to keep up with what the other skaters are doing. And since Fall has arrived and we have to decided to not go to regionals - it is officially the off-season. The competition Saturday happened. Thank God my daughter didn't get last. Every competition, I seem to become more and more aware of how arbitrary this whole sport is. A child can skate a perfect program no falls, beautiful moves, jumps, spins, etc. and come in last place. And a child can stumble, fall, and mess up in pretty much every possible way and get first place. My child has been both ends of this (coming in 1st for no logical reason and coming in last for no logical reason). It seems like a lot to put yourself or your child through when the whole judging system doesn't seem to make any sense. I don't have the love for this sport. And over the years it becomes more and more taxing to support my daughter in this. Maybe I'll get a little break for a few months with just lessons and practices. No stress. I'm hoping that next season will be better. My daughter is fairly average at her level and with the split I think moving the more competitive skaters to the Well-balanced Freeskate track (the ones who are training for hours everyday) and the skaters who are only skating a few days a week to the Competitive Test Track will allow her to skate and compete in a less stressful atmosphere. I have high hopes for the new season.

I Hate This Stupid Sport

Figure Skating -- I want to start this blog by saying how much I hate this stupid sport. And sometimes I just need to vent. There are aspects of it that I love. For four and half years I've tried to love this sport because my daughter loves it. But honestly I am sick, bored and tired of it. The glitter, the sequins, the scrunchies.. everything that makes this sport "pretty" I hate - I really, really do. Tomorrow is the last competition we are doing this season. I say "we" because I have boots to clean, tights to stone, a dress to touch up and make up bags to check. I'm ready for this season to be over. Its been a rough last few months.
I envision this blog as a place to talk about my favorite skater. And other skaters that we like and admire. To talk about issues with rinks and clubs. Whatever skating relating.
But tonight I just need the strength to make it through this weekend.