Feeling Like a Gold Skater

I guess passing the gold test has helped my confidence because I've been skating really well since then (trying to cross fingers while typing so I don't jinx myself).

My jumps have been much more consistent. Axels have been coming off a clean take-off edge, finally. That only took about 8 years. I've discovered (thanks to Chris Conte and dartfish) that I tend to look left as I take-off which causes me to pre-rotate and skid. If I look forward and focus on trying to kick the wall in front of me, the take-off is much straighter and off of a clean edge. Double salchow is becoming more consistent. Double toe is still cheated, but I'm landing most attempts on one foot, and I'm getting a whole blade length, as in 10 inches of distance! That's still pretty sorry because I should really be getting 3 blade lengths at the very minimum, but it's a big improvement from the 1" that I used to get. Double loops were feeling good after a dartfish lesson with Chris, but I managed to mess something up today. I'll have to have Coach K look at them. The feel much bigger, but I don't feel as tight or strong over my right side.

Spins are going well too. For the gold competition program, I'm planning a forward camel-change of edge to FO camel-catch foot. That's coming along nicely. Coach K said that I'm getting 4 revs on the FO camel part. I was completely amazed! Even senior ladies only have to hold that position for 2 revs. I'm going to keep the flying camel at the end of the program, and those have been consistent. I'm working on adding a back sit with a core change or a layover, but haven't made a final decision yet on what will go in the program. At this point, the plan is to keep the layback spin for my third spin. My back has been bothering me a lot lately, so I haven't been able to do many laybacks and I've had to quit working on the sideways variation that I had been doing. Hopefully the back problems will go away. If not, I can always change the layback to something else. Maybe a back camel or a back sit. I think the back entry gets extra points, and I do both of those spins well.

Junior moves are also coming along. I had a choctaw breakthrough with Coach K. I finally got real edges on the choctaws, and I gained speed through the pattern! I haven't been able to do it that well again, but now I know that it's possible for me. When I first started the choctaw pattern, I thought I'd never be able to do a single choctaw, much less a whole diagonal pattern of them. Power circles still need some work. I don't think I'm getting quite enough quickness on the last few crossovers, especially in the clockwise direction. Rockers still have some sticky spots but are overall much better. Power pulls are fairly good. I have to remember to get on a real BO edge before the 2nd and 4th sets of rockers as I tend to rush them a bit and skid the turns. I'm starting to feel comfortable with these moves. They're not ready to test yet, but I'm no longer embarrassed to be seen when I'm working on them. My rink's next test session is in early January, and I think I'll give them a try then. If I pass, great. If not, I'll retest after AN.