That said, I've skated three times now since returning to the ice and already I feel like I'm back to where I was when he left, possibly with slightly renewed confidence which, given the circumstances, I'm really happy with.
I think one of the things that's helped that is how inspired I'm feeling at the moment to become a better skater.
One of the major things that's inspired me is
having the opportunity to go to see the show CoachA was skating in. Although it wasn't his 'best' skating, due to the nature of the show, just seeing him doing his thing, was brilliant.
Occasionally, when he's between lessons at our own rink, he'll "mess about" himself, doing jumps and various other bits of skating - and I wish he'd do it more often, because that's the one thing that really, really does make me want to be a better skater. It makes me realise how much I want to be able to do even a fraction of what he does.
At our rink, there are only two coaches who really do actually skate properly themselves sometimes - CoachA is one of them and let's call the other CoachL. Both fantastic skaters, and amazing teachers, who are fascinating to watch when they really show off what they can do on their blades.
I also had a mad moment of confidence the other day at the rink.
As I was describing to a friend how CoachA does my step sequence (so differently to how I do it, that is!). I described the "huge" edges he does in his mohawk and kind of did a "like this" demonstration - - then realised what I'd just done was try to copy him and done one of the best mohawks of my life. I realised then why I do best when I'm literally following him around trying to copycat. Clearly that's how I learn. Watch, emulate.
In addition, when I was editing together my Dancing on Ice footage, I realised my videos folder on my laptop was, quite frankly, a disgrace. Videos were all over the place instead of in folders and with names like "DSC5678843.mp4" who the hell even knew what they were. So I decided to have a tidy up, and had to watch a lot of videos in the process.
In amongst videos of my cats doing silly things were many snippets of skating over the last two-and-a-half years. Every now and then, I get someone to film me practising bits, or I'll sit the camera on the barrier to catch the odd thing. I hate watching it back at the time because mostly it just makes me cringe at what a nervous, terrible skater I am. However, I find I'm always glad in the long-term that I did it because when I re-discover the videos later, it usually gives me a bit of a kick up the backside.
This time, it gave me an unexpected little boost of inspiration. Because I discovered that all the things I'm convinced haven't improved since day one, actually have. Only a little, in most cases, but there is some improvement that I can see, even if just in the general confidence stakes. It's definitely inspired me to keep working hard. I thought I'd post a few here to show you.
My 3jumps: From a hop to, well, a slightly better hop! Improving slowly, but more markedly over the last few weeks I think. The 3 jump, for some reason, is the one element that for me seems to go up and down - better, worse, better, worse etc. It's never consistently improving, and got stuck on "crap" for a long time.
Salchows: This again is a bit up and down for me, though since I was first taught it I've been off the ice more than on. Determined to work hard on this now I'm back on the ice. I know it's my head that's the problem here, because I simply do not jump when I know I ought to. There's far too much hesitation between the three turn and the jump, hence I'm halfway round before I even leave the ice. I suppose having an idea of what's going wrong is a good start to putting it right.
And finally, step sequence. This has evolved over the last couple of years. CoachA started it off small, and kept adding bits and changing bits as we went along. Right now, it's much too difficult for me to do properly and the most recent video shows some right hash ups, but I'm working on it....constantly.
I would love to know if other people have had similar experiences. Does skating hold different challenges for everyone, or do we all get stuck on the same things? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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