Going for the Gold: An Adult Skater at Camp

First day of skate camp! 

One of my favorite people in the world, my old coach Mandy. She's running the SPFSA show now.

I had the opportunity to revisit my old home club in Missouri and skate with a couple of Olympians and a veteran skater. 

I know them! 

I got there early for the Q&A and meet and greet. Everyone got a little gift, which was a drawstring backpack with a headband, pen, and sticker. They also provided autographed photos and a chance to get a picture with the team of coaches. Excitedly, Sue, Carley, and Mo, who skated with Gracie in the past, sent text messages for me to share with Gracie, who lit up at the sound of familiar names. 

Swag!

First class was power skating with Mirai Nigasu. She ran us through a lot of the pre-pre through juvenile moves, which was a relief since I kind of nailed it and was keeping up with the kids. Then came the twizzles. Still not feeling them in these skates, but I did manage to knock out the beginning of a fair to middlin' LFI twizzle. 

I had the adult locker room to myself on Saturday. SafeSport has its advantages.

Second class was steps and turns with Gracie Gold. She is a darling girl. And apparently a big fan of the supportive adult skating community. She complimented how well I was able to do many of the steps and turns, but saw I was struggling - still - with all that left inside stuff. She wrinkled her face and said, "lots of adult skaters have that one thing they struggle with. There's no reason you can't do it, you do it so well on your right. I think you just need to be cool about it." And I managed to do left and right outside rockers and counters and did her add on challenge when we connected power threes together with double threes and the rockers. Glad to have held my own. 

Axels? No problem...

Last class for Saturday was beginning axel with Eddie Shipstand. First instruction was to hold our head steady doing waltz jumps. It's amazing how well that worked! Then waltz-backspins. Then we did waltz-loop and I was practically floating, until I started thinking. That's when he yelled at us to stop thinking. Then came waltz-loop-backspin. Then he had us do bell jumps, which is the halfway point between a waltz jump and an axel. I was commended for fantastic bell jumps but not to try to pull in so hard, use my arms to help me. Next was bell jump, two foot spin, one foot spin, hop, one foot landings. I actually felt like I was getting close, then the girl next to me landed her axel for the first time! She immediately started landing them like she's been doing them all along. 

Adults skate too!

I woke up to a thunderstorm Sunday morning. It would have been easy to fall back asleep but opportunity was knocking. So I battled raindrops for my next three classes. 

I jumped on A rink for spins with Mirai. This class was a mixed bag for me, too many peeps on the ice for me to do more than a few feeble attempts at spin variations. Still, first camel spin in quite a while, and I managed a few tuck sit spins. 

Next, I scooted off to the gym for off ice technique with Eddie. He ran us through good practices for off ice jump, emphasizing technique, technique, technique. Skipping is a good warmup, and I was surprised to see I could do skips with ankle locking in mid-air. We did quarter-, half-, three quarter-, and full-rotation drills on two feet and I kept up with the kids. Reminder when doing these drills for one foot landings to always land and hop out the landing, least I rip my knees from my legs. He says there's training videos, I will need to find them. He was my favorite surprise from the camp. 

Lastly, combo jumps with Gracie. I landed a toe-toe-toe-toe-toe-toe-toe-toe, and continued to landing combo+toe through the whole experience. Then we switched to loops. When I wasn't thinking about it, I landed a couple of sal-loop, falling leaf-toe-loops, and half loop-loops. Then I started to think. Then she had us do two foot RBO glides into single loops. I FUBARed them. Ever optimistic, she said, "if anyone can do it, an adult skater can!" Thanks for the vote of confidence. 

Patches and rubs. 

With my toe killing me, my hips exhausted, and my knees protesting, the whole shebang was over. 

I'm still so very sore from all that time on the ice. Pretty sure all the walking and visiting historic landmarks in Saint Louis and Chicago didn't help either. I've taken quite a few notes and once I'm not feeling hobbled, ready to put it all into practice.