Haha! Finally bought my first dress! It was on sale - only for $100 - and it was prettier than the others. Good thing it had a lower price than the others. Some other dresses were more plain than the one I have, yet cost more. I could've gotten a better dress online, but I guess I just thought it'd be easier for me to buy one in my Proshop that I could afford and was pretty. Anyways, during the day, I ended up staying almost 10 hours. I usually stay for approximately 6 hours, but I found out last minute that Christmas Show rehearsals were at 3:15pm. I thought it was at 4pm. Because I thought it was at 4, I thought to finish at 2pm, go home, then come back again for the rehearsals. But no, it was at 3:15, so I might as well stay. So I did. Now I regret it because my body is killing me. I hope this won't last long. That's pretty much today's summary. There's not much that has happened. I just thank my mother so much for the dress. I told her I wanted to use my own money to pay for it, yet my mum pushed me into allowing her to buying it. I owe her so much.
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Haha! Sorry everyone for not updating my blogs lately. I guess I'll be honest, I forgot! I know, bad excuse. But at least I'm updating now!
Anyways, the Medibank Icehouse is showing a Christmas Show in December again this year, and I am in it! Yay! It's not what I expected, but indeed I'm having fun. We've only started the rehearsals, so there's not much special things going on, but I will be performing in a few songs. I am in "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", "I am the Walrus", "Poker Face" and the finale! I don't think we find out our costumes yet until closer to the performing day, but rehearsals are definitely going by fast and I can't wait for the actual day! I haven't updated much about my progress, but one thing's for sure, I am now in Youth Freeskate 4! I've gone a long way, and still a long way to go! After Freeskate 4, I'll be in Preliminary. Preliminary isn't listed in the Medibank Icehouse's skate school, so I need to figure out how to get into Preliminary if I ever pass my Freeskate 4 test. I'm going to ask someone I know who's passed her Freeskate 4 test. At the moment, I am working on my camel spin (needs a bit of work in the amount of revolutions, but at least I got the basic position right), loop jump (landed it a few times, but still needs a lot of work), Lutz (Luts, loots, however you want to pronounce it. Needs A LOT of work. Can't seem to get the full rotation) and heaps more to work on. I get the feeling that I won't pass this test, because of my Lutz, but I hope I get it right soon. Just yesterday, during public skating, I fell over (just by pathetically standing there, I didn't fall from jumping or spinning... -.-) and hit my head. Thank goodness it was nothing. I only tend to forget things from moments before but now I'm fine. I head doesn't hurt anymore and it's not stopping me from attending Christmas Show rehearsals tomorrow! >:D Haha! Finally bought my first dress! It was on sale - only for $100 - and it was prettier than the others. Good thing it had a lower price than the others. Some other dresses were more plain than the one I have, yet cost more. I could've gotten a better dress online, but I guess I just thought it'd be easier for me to buy one in my Proshop that I could afford and was pretty. Anyways, during the day, I ended up staying almost 10 hours. I usually stay for approximately 6 hours, but I found out last minute that Christmas Show rehearsals were at 3:15pm. I thought it was at 4pm. Because I thought it was at 4, I thought to finish at 2pm, go home, then come back again for the rehearsals. But no, it was at 3:15, so I might as well stay. So I did. Now I regret it because my body is killing me. I hope this won't last long. That's pretty much today's summary. There's not much that has happened. I just thank my mother so much for the dress. I told her I wanted to use my own money to pay for it, yet my mum pushed me into allowing her to buying it. I owe her so much. Test day....the day that would determine whether I was skilled enough to make it to Freeskate 3. I was pretty nervous. My body was so tense, even during the practice before my lessons. Then as soon as lessons started, I couldn't stop making quick, short breaths.
I hated my crossfoot spin. I mean, I can do it, but you know, it's like those times where one time, you can do it and then the next you can't. It was probably just my stiff and tense body that didn't allow fluency to flow through my spin, but I was finally able to do it. I was more worried about my crossfoot spin, everything else was fine but I still couldn't help but be nervous. I mean, I could end up stuffing up and not be able to pass. I still need work on my pivots--both inside and outside--but I still did it right during the test. There was the change of edges, that was easy even though I had one side where that needed more balance. Apparently, as long as the circle I travel on the edge is big enough, then I could pass the change of edges. That's what I did, the circle I travelled was big enough for me to do it well. We also had to do our inside spirals. One side was a bit shaky, which was my right inside but I still made it through. Then there was my left inside. It was the best, if not perfect. I guess I'm better on my left. Even my left outide spiral is better than my right. We also had to do two jumps: salchow and half flip. I'm confident in my jumps. Jumps are what I'm best at. So I didn't have anything to worry about there. Overall, I passed my test (YAY!). So now, next term I'll be doing Youth Freeskate 3. Sadly the others didn't make it. The fact that the others didn't and only I did made me feel bad. They all worked so hard to get this far, and I hope they don't give up skating just because of it. They did a really great job and I know they all have the potential. They just need to open up more. We were all also given a sheet of paper that regarded the Rising Stars Program. I don't really know what it's fully about but it's mainly a time when skaters can come to the Icehouse for extra practice with coaches. While I was walking away, reading the information on the paper, one of the girls in my class tapped my shoulder. I looked at her and she told me how I should join in the Rising Stars and how fun it was. She also told me "Congratulations" for passing. I felt bad for her. I know how I would feel if I didn't make it through this test. So I tried to help by responding, "You did a great job". She smiled and said thanks. Later on, when I saw her in the cafeteria, I could tell she was close to crying. So she walked out and I'm guessing she went to the toilets for a bit of lone time. I pitied her. I wouldn't be able to handle it either if I didn't pass. But I did, and even though I should be happy, I wasn't. I guess my sympathy for the others took over my joy for passing. In the meantime, a friend of mine went ice skating that day for some public skating. She was there to spend time with me, considering we don't go for figure skating lessons on the same day anymore. Had quite the fun actually. But I can't help but still feel bad for the others in my class... I was just at the Icehouse, practicing during the public session. All of the sudden, a member of one of the Icehouse's synchronized team, Finesse approached me with a pamphlet about how Finesse was looking for new members. She told me how Finesse were training to compete in Victorian Championships and the Australian Championships in Brisbane, including Nationals. Hearing this, I was so excited and told my mum about it as soon as she picked me up.
Unfortunately, one of the training sessions are on Friday mornings, and I have no way to get from the city to school without having something to bring me. I would also need more than 1 hour to get to school, considering the city is pretty far from where my school is located. I kept trying to find out how to get around the situation and join in because I really wanted to compete, but my mum told me to leave it alone and wait for another opportunity. I did, and I am leaving it alone, but I can't help but feel devastated about it. I was really hoping to join in and I was even working hard to see a way around the situation. Oh well. Time to move on.... Second lesson back and I was excited. At least until we all had to do crossfoot spins. At first I was like, 'Oh no!' in my head. But then I thought, 'It's better off for me to try today considering I'm actually being taught the steps to it.' So, I got up all my courage to try the spin again.
It was okay. I didn't fall over. Slowly, I got used to it. Even though I was close to falling over a few times, I still practiced my spinning. I'm actually pretty proud even though I didn't ace it. I'm proud because I persisted in spinning despite falling over so shockly last week. I'm pretty proud. ^^ My first lesson as a Freeskate 2 figure skater was okay. All we did was outside pivots and a little bit of outside spirals. So, first lesson was easy on me. I'm glad about that~~
Unfortunately, during public skating I was trying crossfoot spins without even being taught how to do it first. So then, I slightly lost balance during the spin and quickly tried to put my foot back. Because I retreated my foot too quickly when I lost balance, I fell over and stratched my leg. OUCH! I kind of got nauseous after looking at the scratch, not because of sight of blood but more likely because I got suprised from the fall. Although, my wound wouldn't stop bleeding, so I guess in a way the blood made me nauseous. It was a a bit of a big wound but not that big. So I was fine after that. I would have kept skating but then I had to leave. I might as well since I was at the rink for 5 hours already. I had a good rest when I got home. I'm glad about that. :) Yes! Today was the best day ever! I am right-handed but I used to do left-handed spins. Since I want to learn figure skating properly, I had to get used to right-handed spinning. I can do the entrance, but I couldn't do the spin the comes after. Thanks to a little free lesson from a coach (long story, but I am so grateful!), I learnt how to add the spin properly. After practicing and practicing, I finally spun at least 3 revolutions (YES!), which was the amount of revolutions I needed to be able to pass the figure skating test that is in two weeks time. Soon, I will be in Freeskate 2! (Hopefully...)
Today wasn't really a good day. I planned on getting to the rink by 12pm. I ended up going at 2pm just because my parents were busy and they couldn't bring me over just yet. When I finally got to the rink, turns out my blades were blunt. I went to ask to sharpen them but the guy who sharpens blades wasn't present at the Icehouse. Therefore, I was unable to practice properly. I noticed that my blades were blunt when my spinning was really rusty. At least I was able to practice my waltz jump. Unforntunately, I was unable to practice all I wanted. I ended up just skating laps like everyone else in the public skating was doing.
Only one good thing out of all that bad happened though. I was able to think. People say that their best place to think is in their own room or anywhere where they can be alone. Me, however, I prefer some place where there's music and people all around me. My thinking spot is the rink. It seems to be the only place where I can think. I am able to think in my own room but it't not as efficient as when I'm at the Icehouse. The Medibank Icehouse is like my second home - my second room. When I'm there to skate, I feel at home. When I'm there to think, I feel comforted. Another thing that happened was that this kid came up to me and said, "You're really good." I smiled and told her, "Thanks." She then asked, "How do you skate backwards?" That wasn't the first time someone's asked me that. I've been asked before by someone my own age how to skate backwards. I ended up teaching the little girl how to skate backwards. It was pretty fun but then she had to leave soon. It really wasn't a good day for me to skate but there must be a reason why I ended up going anyway. Was it to think things through about my personal life? Was it to inspire younger kids about skating? Or was it to just connect with children? I don't know. And I probably won't until the right time comes. Right? It was fine. I was able to get my leg high enough for a spiral. I still need work on my left leg when I do a lunge but at least my right leg is fine. My ballet hop is already good since I was practicing it during public skating. My coach Amber, told me that my Waltz jump was wide but wild. So I just need to work on the control.
One bad thing that happened was that some little kid stumbled and as he fell, he crashed into my legs. So then, (you guessed it) I fell as well. Thus, I ended up with one cut on my middle finger, a graze on the base of my thumb and a scratch on my calf. Three cuts from one fall. Yeah, not a good day for skating. Not to mention that my back has been hurting from trying to get it flexible for a Biellmann. My back's gone flexible and I can somewhat do a Biellmann (off-ice) but after a while, my back begins to hurt. Not good. I'm going to stop with the Biellmans for now, in case I end up injuring my back further. I don't want my back getting in the way of my skating. |
AuthorMara Isabel Santos. 19 years old. Currently in Freeskate 4 working on Preliminary. :) Archives
October 2017
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