I've been skating twice a week and working on upping my IJS point values. I've added combo jumps and spins that were in me to do last year, but weren't quite ready for prime time. I've also been going over the scoring system and memorizing base values, grades of execution and how they are all tallied. I'm still a little confused on how spins are scored, but I got the jump system down. I crunched a few numbers and learned that the score for all the jumps in my program last year (if only base value was earned, not counting any GOE), was ~14 points. This year, if I incorporate all the jumps I'm planning (and complete them to earn base value only), I'll add six more points to the technical score.
This summary of the system has proven to be a major resource, more so than anything on the USFS website in terms of helping me understand the system.
As far as jumps are concerned, I've given myself two major goals - first, to get that darned 2axel back (more on that in a bit) and to get my 2lutz on the correct edge. Regarding the latter, this issue goes way back to when I learned the jump. In those days, the 6.0 system was firmly in place, and it tended to ignore the "flutz." Most elite-level female skaters passed off flutzes as true lutzes in those days - Sarah Hughes, Michelle Kwan, Tara Lipinski, to name a few. But IJS will nail you with a mandatory negative GOE if you pull that today. It's not a score-killer, but it annoys me enough that I feel the need to get it right. And let me tell you, once you've learned to do a 2lutz off the inside edge, it feels like a completely foreign, new jump to get it on the outside. It's not there yet, but it's getting close.
Regarding the 2axel, a little bit of history. I first landed this jump when I was at the intermediate level, 15 years old. Two years later, I lost the muscle memory. I literally could no longer tell I where I was in the air, and it was kind of terrifying. It was like the Polar Express, once you hit a certain age, you can't hear those bells ringing anymore. When I picked up skating again years later, I still had no sense of timing with the jump. It seemed depressingly out of reach, even though I was in peak physical condition, arguably more so than I was in my late teens. I was a not a little sad about it, to be honest. But this week, a breakthrough! Something started to feel familiar again...I found some snap in the air and came down on one foot! It was cheated severely, but it's eons beyond what I had been able to get out so far. My dream of getting it back is within reach, I think! Here's a video of an attempt from practice this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment