This one time, at skate camp...

This weekend, two friends and I headed to Sheffield for this year's NISA adult development camp. I came back three friends better off and having tried my hand at not only skating, but also at being a showgirl, a ballet dancer and so much more.

Ok, so I also had it reinforced to me that I'm (stealing a friend's term here) severely choreographically challenged (!) - but I actually didn't fare as badly as I would have suspected.

If you haven't been to a camp and are thinking about it, I would absolutely urge you to grab a couple of friends and get yourselves there. We had an absolute blast from beginning to end.

The classes

Exciting things happening for adult skaters

Is it me, or is it quite an exciting time to be an adult skater right now? Maybe these things have always been going on but I'm just becoming aware of them as I learn more about this sport I've become so obsessed with, I'm not sure....either way, it's good.

Happy campers!

Well, we WILL be happy campers in August, my friends and I.

In case you haven't heard about this elsewhere, the second annual NISA Adult Development camp has been announced. Yay!

I went to the first of these new camps last year and it was fab so I'm really, really looking forward to this year's. I've been to quite a few adult skating camps over the past couple of years and that one was by far the most valuable. I came out with skills I didn't have before, plus improved ones, and a renewed confidence too. The coaches may not be the same this year (they haven't all been announced yet) but the coaches last year were brilliant. Never did we feel

*A year in pictures - 2013 edition*

Round about this time last year I posted a "year in pictures" so thought it was probably a good tradition to keep up. This year hasn't produced so many good skating times as 2012 did, so I might just include a few non-skating things in here too for good measure.

The main reason for doing this is to give me a way to look over the year and remember that it wasn't all doom and gloom, as much as it felt like it at times.

For those who don't know me in real life, by the way, I had my thyroid surgery on October 31st (right hemi-thyroidectomy - and for the record, I was NOT impressed that it ruined my halloween plans), and got the positive results I was hoping for - no cancer - yay!! So it definitely could have been a much, much worse year. I recovered much more quickly than I thought I would and continue to do so. I've been told it's likely I'll have some swelling in my throat for up to 6 months, and I'm under strict instructions to moisturise my whole neck twice a day for at least three months! This is to prevent it healing "tight" and leaving me without a full range of movement in my neck. Couldn't have that, could we?? You need to look behind you to skate.

My thyroid's currently showing just on the border of underactive, but

*Camping it up*

This one time, at skate camp.....

We got told off for "disturbing the other guests" in the hotel (with our loud laughing at 11.30pm) and for setting a toaster on fire at breakfast.

Yeah, that was us.

If you've never been to a skate camp, you really should go - if you're anything like us you'll have such a laugh, and probably learn a fair bit too. 

Last weekend, four friends and I went to NISA's first adult development camp at Sheffield and I'm pleased to report the organisers did a really great job. A small kink or two, but it WAS the first one they'd organised and overall it was a great success. I do hope they'll run more of them. 

We did all kinds of things, from learning little choreographed sequences to working on improving crossovers, spins and jumps. One of the things I really enjoyed was a class on Annie's Edges - something I've never seen done before, though I'd heard of it. For those who've never heard of it, it's a series of drills/patterns set to music, different exercises to help improve your edges. Most of them were way out of my league, but I enjoyed giving it a go and I'm going to keep practising them because I do think they'll really help me build up a bit of control. I suppose some of them are probably quite similar to old-style compulsory figures, which I kinda wish was still done to be honest. 

There was the odd new thing I tried there too