2014 Skating Resolutions

[taka]

Mid year update!

• Take and hopefully pass level 3 pattern dance. (Riverside Rhumba and Golden Skaters Waltz)
• Pass level 1 variation so I never have to do this dance again. Its been over 2 years now and I am seriously sick of it.

Well my papers are in but there has been no test date since September last year. Even my coach sheepishly admitted recently she'll be very glad when we never need to work on my variation again - I think we're close to 3 years on it now. We now have enough folks for a test but our organiser now needs to work round everyone's summer holidays as the kids finished school last week for the summer. Latest update is maybe late July but the previous one was for mid to late June which clearly didn't happen!

• Manage the Willow waltz regularly without wimping out on the RFO 3 turn at speed.

Sometimes but not frequently enough.

• Twizzles... that are proper twizzles!

RFI single - yes, double - work in progress. LFI -  , BO twizzles = 

• Do some kind of competition or exhibition that doesn't get cancelled / not held in the 1st place!

Club exhibition in Feb! It was carnage but I got through it.

• Improve my spins.

Better but a long way from where I was a couple of years ago still.

[Meli]

Adding in my mid-year update...

1.  Take (and pass!) pre-bronze MIF and FS tests.  Working on it, but about to lose my coach so not sure what the impact will be.
2.  Lose a few of those extra pounds so I look better in a skating dress for the above-mentioned tests. Down about 22.  Fingers crossed for more!
3.  Improve flexibility and increase spiral height.  Inching up there slowly.
4.  Consistently perform a catch-foot spiral.  Still working on it.
5.  Increase speed and stamina.  Really improved this working on my competition program.
6.  Be a little more brave when trying new things.  Did my first competition!  Woo!

[Isk8NYC]

Bumping for newbies!

[saje]

Thanks Isk8NYC!  Even though there's only a few months left in 2014, I'll try it...

1. Be able to complete all the Intermediate MITF patterns semi-correctly.
2. Get an additional revolution (or two!) tacked onto both forward and back camels.
3. Continue to work on flexibility, so that my spirals are similar to what they were when I was a teenager. (hah!)
4. Land the axel at least once before Christmas. (I had one glorious day after I first started skating again where I landed about 20 in one session....but, sadly, now my poor axels are nowhere to be found.)

[Loops]

My own mid-year/start of season update:


I need/hope to:

• Stretch every day- get my splits back and eventually my layback

Getting close- splits almost there.  Not stretching every day though.....

• Improve off-ice training discipline- work out two afternoons a week while DD naps

Pretty good about this- had some health issues though which have caused some lapses.  Of course now, DD is at SCHOOL in the arvy's so its easier.  No more 'scuses.


In terms of specific skills to acquire and goals to achieve:

• Center my spins

Not even close, although I do get the odd one here and there.  Overall they seem to be getting better though, so we're on the right track. 

• Make it mindless to lift my free-hip

This is the weirdest resolution ever.  The issue was I was having trouble with my outside edges, in particular the right ones.  Turned out to be as much of a blade alignment issue as a user-issue.  Its much improved after my old skate tech had his way with my skates.  Love that man!

• I'd really like to get back up to the Pre-silver dances, but will be happy if my coaches eventually let me work on Bronze

Yup: Foxtrot here I am!

• For next season.....Compete solo!

Nope.  But because of family obligations, not because I'm personally wussing out.

[Loops]

This is a bit off topic- Mod: feel free to do what you will with this comment! 

I like this resolution thread, but I was wondering, would it be more logical to have it correspond to the skating season (Sept-May) as opposed to the calendar year?  Or is it the vast minority of us who are in seasonal rinks? 

[ChristyRN]

~scratch, back, and sit spin,
   Scratch and back are coming along with the new skates, but haven't started on sit yet
~half flip to full flip,
  Haven't worked on yet.
~loop,
  Have started on and have the idea. Have actually done one or two
~pass bronze moves and start bronze FS program. (see previous goals) and
  Testing bronze MITF November 15!
~possibly compete.
  No competing since I struggle with loss of breath after about 30 seconds still.

I've lost a lot of stamina this year and my lungs still give me fits. I'm not sure how I'm going to to get all the way through the MITF without a rest, expecially the first two (the last three aren't as bad). However, I did some good upright centered spins this week but not with the free leg crossed. One step at a time.

[rd350]

Hmmmm, hard one.

1.  Nice 1-foot spin(s)
2.  Nice waltz with more height
3.  Salchow, away from the wall!
4.  All inside/outside/forward/backward edges clean and symmetrical
5.  Test?  Pre-bronze?
6.  Do a competition
7.  Love my custom Harlicks when they come in, hopefully in next 4-5 weeks!

[AgnesNitt]

Omg I got a bunny hop this year! On schedule for 2012!

[littlerain]

Omg I got a bunny hop this year! On schedule for 2012!

Lol! Awesome job though

[saje]

I'm going to go ahead and sign off on these goals, since most have been accomplished and I'm ready to start on my 2015 resolutions!

Thanks Isk8NYC!  Even though there's only a few months left in 2014, I'll try it...

1. Be able to complete all the Intermediate MITF patterns semi-correctly. All except those #$^! twizzles.  Coach thinks I'll be ready to test in February - I'm not so sure.
2. Get an additional revolution (or two!) tacked onto both forward and back camels. Yes, but back camels still look awful.
3. Continue to work on flexibility, so that my spirals are similar to what they were when I was a teenager. (hah!) Flexibility is better, but still not where it used to be (especially on back inside spirals).
4. Land the axel at least once before Christmas. (I had one glorious day after I first started skating again where I landed about 20 in one session....but, sadly, now my poor axels are nowhere to be found.) YES! Landed (poorly) on 11/21!  I'll take it!

[skategeek]

(Near) end of year update!

I think I'm going to keep this simple...

Starting in February when I get back from my trip:

* In addition to weekly group class, skate at least once per week, at least 3 weeks per month Done!  Averaging about 2 hrs/week.
* Start regular off-ice exercising, even if it's just stretching, 2x per week.  Spotty success here- daily stretching and a 7 minute circuit workout, when I remember to. 
* Fall at least once so I'm not so scared of it. Um... nope.
* Build confidence in general (not sure how, though...)  Better safety gear (wrist guards, knee pads) and more ice time are helping.  Not sure how to quantify this, though...

Developing goals for next year... trying to make them more specific.  Stay tuned!

[CaraSkates]

End of year check in - by May I had achieved 4.5 out of these. I had a great spring skating season and then a slow summer/fall due to injury. Starting to get my groove back just in time for 2015!

1. clean axel in competition - achieved this in April at a local competition!
2. land 2sal - nope, didn't even work on this due to a stress reaction/time off the ice/time with no jumps. 2015?
3. pass Juvenile FS - passed May 1st!
4. pass Gold FS - passed May 1st!
5. pass Junior MIF - didn't even test, hopefully in March?
6. pass Tango & Rocker Foxtrot - passed Tango May 1st! Rocker is getting a lot better but the solo isn't ready yet. Maybe March?
7. compete at Adult Sectionals - medaled in all three events at Sectionals and competed/medaled three events at Nationals!
8. improve back/flying camel spins - I'm crossing this off even though my flying camel didn't improve - but I did discover flying sit and can do an 8 rev one. My back sit/back camel are much better then the beginning of the year.
9. Gold FS program ready for competition - first Gold competition was the end of Nov!

6.5 out of 9 - guess the 2sal and the two tests will get moved to the 2015 list!

[alejeather]

I never posted my list here for 2014, but I had one squirreled away in a document on my computer. I had a good skating year.

1. Land axel clean - Yes! 11/14/2014 See the progression here: http://skatingforums.com/index.php?topic=5273.75
2. Attempt axel in competition - Yes! I attempted axels in competition in June, August and September. Underrotated in each, of course, but I attempted and stayed upright
3. Begin work on 2 or more doubles - Yes! I've been working on double loop and double sal on and off for the latter half of the year.
4. Pass Gold Moves - Yes! I squeaked this one in at the beginning of December.
5. Pass Silver FS - Yes! May 2014
6. Pass bronze dances - Yes plus I passed all three bronze dances and I took my first pre-silver (14 step) on a whim and passed it, too.
7. Spin consistency, revolutions and speed - This is the least concrete of my goals, but I think I made good progress on this this year. In my June competition, I was very happy with my spins, and I hit them more than I missed in competition in general. I've particularly made progress on sit and back-sit. Hopefully this year, I'll make similar strides with camel.

It was a good skating year

[WaltzJump413]

Here's my end-of-the-year update...

*Finish ISI Basic Skills and "graduate" to Freestyle
March 2014.

*Get at least one or two consistent jumps (probably 1/2 jumps) and one or two consistent spins
This is kind of iffy. I can now do the half flip, waltz, half toe walley, ballet, and half lutz. Spins...well, the two-foot got to a passable level, but honestly I don't do them anymore since I'm working on one foot spins (which are not there yet, but getting somewhere).

*Skate a program in a show or competition
Group program at the skating day camp in March.

*Keep working on improvement in basics (stroking, crossovers, turns, stops)
Mostly crossovers and mohawks. I need to focus more on threes.

*Have fun and keep enjoying the process
Yes! There were some rough times, definitely. But far more good times. I'm still excited to go to the rink. And still enjoying learning new things and making progress. Skating is awesome.

[sarahspins]

Mine are pretty simple this year

1.  Pass gold moves (I did meet last year's goal of TRYING to test them, and did fairly well, aside from not finishing the test)
2.  Don't get hurt

I just wanted to update that even though mine were simple, I have failed on both accounts... but to be honest I'm doing okay with that.

1.  I became our club's test chair over the summer and it just hasn't worked out to give those gold moves another shot yet - but it's not because I'm not ready, it's more of a "have too many irons in the fire" and I'm just not quite ready to trust that things will move smoothly during our test sessions and commit to testing them
2a.  I was in a car crash in April (not my fault and initially I thought I walked away with just some bruises) and I have been nursing some undiagnosed hip unjury since then - I suspect it may be as simple as bursitis (and in that case it's iliopsoas bursitis, not trochanteric bursitis) but it's been frustrating.. and it didn't really start to bother me until the end of October.  Some weeks it's fine, and doesn't bother me one bit, then the very next it will be incredibly painful and I feel like I can't do half the things I want to do.  Mostly it effects jumps and spinning (but only some spins - camel spins are really the only one that is 100% uneffected, which seems weird to me), MITF seem to be the only thing I can reliably practice lately, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2b.  I have a hairline fracture in the 4th metatarsal on my left foot following an off-ice toe stubbing incident last weekend - I didn't even think it was that bad at first, but I had this nagging sharp pain any time I stood up on my toes so I went to get it checked out, and it's broken.  I'm not in a cast or even a boot since it's not an unstable fracture, just told to "take it easy and don't do anything that makes it hurt".  That's all well and good, but I usually can't tell what will hurt until it does.... oops   Thankfully I can take some time off the ice over the winter break (last class day is tomorrow, and it's eval day, which should be fairly easy on me, and I hadn't planned on skating much over the break anyways, so no biggie) and that should be all I need to do to make it better.

However, things that I DID do, despite not setting goals for them:

• I participated in a group performance at a hockey game in January - it was awesome
• I competed for the first time since 1995 (ack!) back in June - and I got first place in both events.
• I willingly participated in my rink's holiday show this year, in 5 difference performances.  Some went better than others, but it was a ton of fun anyways.

[Bunny Hop]

1) Be more confident on the ice (carried over from 2013)
2) Work towards passable preliminary edges
3) Start updating my skating blog again
4) Acquire a proper twizzle

One more lesson to go this year, so time to assess:

1) This will be carried over again. Certainly didn't become less confident (although that would be difficult), but with coaching changes and what not didn't really progress this.
2) Still working...
3) Done, although need to do so more regularly.
4) Nope, although my twizzly things have improved. Need to get a running edge coming out though.

[taka]

• Take and hopefully pass level 3 pattern dance. (Riverside Rhumba and Golden Skaters Waltz)
• Pass level 1 variation so I never have to do this dance again. Its been over 2 years now and I am seriously sick of it.
• Manage the Willow waltz regularly without wimping out on the RFO 3 turn at speed.
• Twizzles... that are proper twizzles!
• Do some kind of competition or exhibition that doesn't get cancelled / not held in the 1st place!
• Improve my spins.

1) Tested and failed... Apparently I loose all ability to a) bend my knees and b) stay in time on the 2nd pattern while skating the riverside rhumba under test conditions.
2) Tested and also failed. Never doing this variation ever, EVER again...
3) Sometimes works but not often enough for either my or my coach's liking.
4) La, la, la, la... I can't hear you!
5) Yep. Club exhibition in Feb - my dance group did a Golden Skaters waltz in hold into a syncronised skating style wheel to finish. Chaos on ice pretty much sums it up! I have long scuff on my boots where my partner and I tried to kill each other mid dance!
6) See 4!

Roll on next year!

[Meli]

1.  Take (and pass!) pre-bronze MIF and FS tests.
Nope and nope.  Between working on a program for competition, and my coach leaving, it just didn't happen.
2.  Lose a few of those extra pounds so I look better in a skating dress for the above-mentioned tests.
I've lost about 40 pounds at this point, and put on a fair amount of muscle.
3.  Improve flexibility and increase spiral height.
The flexibility is coming along and both spirals are higher now.  They're passing height, but now I want them "pretty" height!
4.  Consistently perform a catch-foot spiral.
Took a few ugly falls working on this one, but I can do it... but as with #3, now working on getting it pretty.
5.  Increase speed and stamina.
The program for the competition in July really made me push and do things faster.  Doing the run throughs over and over really boosted my endurance.
6.  Be a little more brave when trying new things.
Did my first competition!  Wore a skating dress!  Signed up for another competition in January where I'll have to spin and jump.

[CaraSkates]

End of year check in - by May I had achieved 4.5 out of these. I had a great spring skating season and then a slow summer/fall due to injury. Starting to get my groove back just in time for 2015!

1. clean axel in competition - achieved this in April at a local competition!
2. land 2sal - nope, didn't even work on this due to a stress reaction/time off the ice/time with no jumps. 2015?
3. pass Juvenile FS - passed May 1st!
4. pass Gold FS - passed May 1st!
5. pass Junior MIF - didn't even test, hopefully in March?
6. pass Tango & Rocker Foxtrot - passed Tango May 1st! Rocker is getting a lot better but the solo isn't ready yet. Maybe March?
7. compete at Adult Sectionals - medaled in all three events at Sectionals and competed/medaled three events at Nationals!
8. improve back/flying camel spins - I'm crossing this off even though my flying camel didn't improve - but I did discover flying sit and can do an 8 rev one. My back sit/back camel are much better then the beginning of the year.
9. Gold FS program ready for competition - first Gold competition was the end of Nov!

6.5 out of 9 - guess the 2sal and the two tests will get moved to the 2015 list!

Small update on my #2 goal, to land a double sal. Still not landed but had a lesson on them on the harness this morning and by the end, apparently I was doing all the jumping/rotating myself and coach was quite pleased with the rotation! (it's all mental for me so his job is pretty much to stand there and hold the harness enough I don't whack myself in the head) I'll give myself half credit for that.

[axelwylie]

Here is how I did against my 2014 goals:

1. Pass my Gold freestyle test
Passed in January 2014

2. Get my axel more consistent and work on axel combinations (like axel-toe)
Still a work in progress, but I have added an axel combination to my repertoire

3. Work on double salchow
Still working on this, but I did land some clean ones (with video evidence!) in August

4. Add new high GOE spin to repertoire
I am working on a Level 2 and Level 3 spin and have them in my freestyle program. I'll have to see how the judges score them.

5. Skate with more speed and power
Always a work in progress. I got new skates in October, and they have helped immensely. I found out that I was skating in boots that were 1.5 sizes too big and blades that were 3/4" too long! So my smaller and lighter boots and blades have made a significant difference.

[Live2Sk8]

My end-of-year summary:

* Compete in 6 competitions in 2014, 2-3 events each    Yes, overachieved with 7 competitions, 2-3 events each.
* Perform in 2-3 exhibitions   Also overachieved with 7 programs in 6 exhibitions (although 2 were super-informal).
* Test and pass at least one of the 3 Preliminary dances, partnered (I have yet to skate partnered, yikes!)    No but making progress for next year.  Tried skating with a partner a couple of times - it is scary!  I might change this to testing solo.
*  New Dramatic program by midyear    Yes!  Competed 2x, and 3 exhibitions.
* Modify FS program to be a Bronze FS test program; must get a lower sit spin    Yes - hoping to test in next couple of months.
* Improve speed, power and edges    I hope so...always room for improvement.
* Improve jumps and spins    A little improvement, especially sit spin.

  Also had the opportunity to skate in adult group numbers in 2 different shows.  Really enjoyed this.  And worked on a duet with another skater.  Competed that 1x and skated 1x in an exhibition.  Lots of fun!  Both of these took up time that I might have spent on the dances, but they were worth the time.

When I started to post, I didn't think I had achieved much, but I guess I did ok!  However I failed miserably at changing the font color on each of my updates.  Oh well...