whaaa happened?

day 3: okay, tired and sore legs. but i was still excited to get to the rink and skate, skate, skate and learn, learn, learn.

the focus for the last day of class was crossovers - forwards and backwards. i was wary because i am really only comfortable crossing over to the left going forward, and that's not even really that good. but again, the class was run really well and we divided into small groups and were able to focus on habits on a very individual basis.

even though i can crossover on my left, i don't get a good ankle bend to get the outside edge on my left foot. Brad suggested that i might still be unconsciously nervous about my ankles and that i use the straps or tape. i might try this again to get more comfy with edges. but, they key to both forwards crossovers for me was not only getting the proper edges, but to lean more with my body and counterbalance the direction my skates wanted to take me. we did a "fun" drill to practice this and i hope that what i learned will stick.

backwards crossovers were next, and at first it was pretty much just me skating backwards. but then Robby really slowed things down and had us go through the motions step by step. that helped SO much, and by the end of that mini session, i was actually able to at least feel what it's supposed to be like. he also told me to dig in more with my skates to get more power pushing off, and in addition to bending my knees (surprise, surprise), that really helped.

Brad showed off at the end with a totarry suh-weeeet puck trick and then we got a quick demo on tight turns.

all in all, some of the most fun i've had in a while and i got to learn, too! at one point i looked across the ice and saw Viv with what was really close to a perma-smile. not quite an mvp smile, but i knew she was learning something, because it was that kind of grin.

only bummer is that i got home around 12:30 each night and by the time i showered and fell asleep, it was around 2. makes it hard for waking up the next morning, but hey, it was only for 3 days and it was totally worth it. oh, and of course there is the bummer about my stick. see, i attach sentimental value to almost everything, and this was a stick that a really good friend of mine sent to me. he's been going through some rough times over the past couple of years, but i knew that i could always mention the Dangler (model name) to cheer him up. now i can't possibly tell him the Dangler is gone. meh.

but i don't want to end on a sad note, because there were so many positives that i was able to take from this class. i hope that i'll be able to attend another power skating class in the future, once i've been able to apply some of what i learned. i hear that there's a stickhandling clinic coming some time in the summer - maybe Gouda and i can both do that! :-D