Practice 2/12/201

Ughhhhhhhhhhh. I fell twice today and when you’re 5’11ish, the ice is a long way down. The heel of my left palm, my hip and knee are all angry at me. I only skated an hour because after the second one I just didn’t have it in my to rest, recoup, and get back on.

Little things I worked on: I’m not sure I remembered to think of the small things today. Arm position maybe. Let’s go with that.

Bigger things I worked on: Loops, back spins, scratch spins, salchows, waltz, a couple of toe loops, or jump + toe loop for fun mostly.

Frustrations: I came on the ice today all prepared to work like a dog and just ended up losing focus. I got off a couple good back spins then got frustrated when I couldn’t repeat them. Had trouble with scratch spins, which was especially frustrating because I’d had a couple really good ones yesterday with my coach.

And of course the falls.

And then. AND THEN. I’ve seen a lot of figure skating memes talking about how other people annoy you on the ice and here’s the thing. If you’re in a freestyle session, I bet there are a fair amount of skaters that know what a lutz corner is, or know who is doing what music, or that can understand that you’re curving left right before you curve right for an element. There’s an expectation that everyone is here to work, to be polite, to yield and be yielded to.

And then there’s public skate. I don’t care how high level you are, you paid for access to ice that has six year olds, hockey players, and adult fucking skaters. It’s public, all access, all levels. So I don’t care if your mother wants you to land that double axel or you don’t get to eat tonight, if you can’t manage the jumping pass you need, it’s not necessarily your birth right. I paid to be on the ice, I found a section that seemed unoccupied, I’d like to see what I can manage. If you were 20 feet down the ice hoping to do some footwork into your double jump right where I happen to be doing my shaky, lame spins well, I’m not sorry for not noticing you. I’m not sorry for not giving a shit. And I’m not sorry you didn’t ask myself and my skating friends to practice our elements somewhere else before getting the skate guard.

I take lessons on public ice. On SATURDAYS. And my coach has to chase people out of my line occasionally. I’ve had ruined attempts because six girls have linked arms while they shuffle down the straights, but I don’t act offended because it’s PUBLIC. ICE. I got what I paid for. So whatever hate me all you want, you’re in the wrong. Come crying to me about ruining your practice when your parents shelled out more than a fiver and there’s not a four year old wearing cat ears trying to eat the ice.

Successes: More consistency with the back spin. Coach is pleased with them and so am I.