Jennifer's Figure Skating Blog

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Gold Freeskate Video

It only took me 6+ hours, but I think I've successfully put my gold fs test on sk8rland. The following link should take you there:

http://mystel2.sk8rland.com/


I also added a few pictures from today.
Please let me know if it works!

posted by Jennifer @ 6:34 PM  

5 Comments:

  • At 7:26 PM, Blogger tigercat said…

    Hi,

    I'm "tiger" - I post on the rssir skating board, and skate in Boston. I found you through my skating pals "eskater" and "3turn".

    Just wanted to tell you that your program looks just fantastic. Your flow, elegance, and absolutely beautiful hands are really striking. You should be very proud of your footwork, too - it's not easy to look so effortless, as it were! - and again, I was struck by your flow.

    Little things of which you are probably well aware, but which might be striking to an outsider: (i) Your free leg tends to be very open in your jumps. The loop was notable, but I also saw that in your combo (lutz-toe, I think?), your free leg was kind of floating. It needs to look like you know where it is (not far away from your body, not too wrapped). (ii) You have a great spiral; but you take a while to hit it. That's hard, I know, but really fixable in your case. Just a thought. (iii) A tiny nit to pick: turn your free foot out on that sitspin! It's great, but a little adjustment would make it fabulous.

    Ok, you're probably thinking I'm a know-nothing nobody. Totally true. But I also love skating, and just love your level of talent and grace. You can ask 3turn - she'll tell you (I hope) that I'm nice (if too chatty)! And I have to say, again, that you are truly a lovely skater. Thank you for sharing your program with everyone.

    all the best,
    tiger

     

  • At 12:18 PM, Blogger Simone said…

    OMG. Sosososo amazingly impressed. I love your jump landings, they look so soft and easy. (Although I do see what Tiger means about your free leg, especially on the loop.) The whole program just looked so smooth and EASY - not easy as in simple, easy as in soft, flowing, and effortless. OMG. Did I mention how impressed I am?
    3turn

     

  • At 1:40 PM, Blogger Jennifer said…

    Thanks for the compliments! I loved hearing that the program looked soft and flowing, because I had a rather bad lesson today and all my coach kept telling me was that I looked stiff and mechanical.

    I am aware of the free leg issue in my jumps. Well, I'm at least aware that it's a problem. My old coaches used to believe that if you had the take-off correct, the rest of the jump would just happen. So, I never used to pay attention to what my body did in the air. Now, it's hard for me to tell what my body's doing once I'm up there. I think my landings also make it look worse because I tend to swing the free leg rather wide instead of bringing it straighter back. Lots of backspin - hop out drills are in my future. My coach actually just assigned me 5/session this morning.

    The spiral in the program was pretty sad compared to what I usually do in practice :( I've changed it now to a BI hydroblade
    - counter - FI spiral since my inside spiral usually looks better than my outside spiral, and I really wanted to get the hydroblade in the program. Now if I could just get my knee straight on my free leg in the spiral...

    The backsit is a work in progress. I've been focused on getting it lower - as in hip below the knee. I'm just getting that, and have started working on straightening the back and turning out the foot.

    Don't you love how there's always something to work on in skating :)

     

  • At 4:27 PM, Blogger tigercat said…

    Jen,

    I just watched the video again. Wow, you really do look beautiful. All the other stuff is just refining details - that's the fun part! - and maybe getting to an even higher level of achievement.

    You DO look soft and flowing. You can push yourself to skate faster and more aggressively (as I think judges here in the U.S. tend to like that, for better or worse), but you needn't worry about stiffness, etc. Maybe you had a tough lesson and stiffened up a bit during it, thus prompting your coach's comment? Never mind. NOT a worry.

    I mentioned the free leg b/c it may hamper your progress in the double jumps (plus, it's a peeve of my darling but impossibly tough coach). Again, though, it's very fixable - awareness alone can take you a long way. Try to keep everything tucked nicely in the air (arms, too) - it'll make you soar on the doubles.

    The backsit is awesome. You are so deep, and your back is so nice and straight. Just turning out that foot will help. But wow, it's terrific and low. Indeed, all your spins are beautiful. I'd kill for your camel and flying camel, girl.

    Would you come over to rssir and give me axel advice? I'm loving the practice drills, but trying to figure out how to achieve the straight/shallow entrance on LFI with enough spring. I seem to lean too far left just while bending my knee on takeoff, and therefore get on a too-deep edge. How do you spring up if you stay shallow? Also, how did you first practice axels? From a standstill? Waltz + backspin (shudder)? On the floor (yikes)?

    If you don't feel like posting on rssir, would you consider doing a helpful hints type of post one day? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

    Hey, thank you for being so gracious in response to my post. I just loved watching your program. You're an inspiration.

    best,

    Tiger

     

  • At 5:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wow! You looked amazing! I want your sit spin position so bad! As others have said, you have such a flowing grace across the ice. It was very easy to watch. You know how you watch a skater performing a program and, as an observer, you tense up because the skater is tense and stiff? You are the kind of skater that you can just sit back, relax and watch without feeling nervous for them. I guess that stems from confidence in your abilities. Great Job! Thank you so much for sharing. :)

     

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