Surprising skills you lost over quarantine

[syzygy]

I was expecting to lose my double and triple jump and that my advanced spins were going to be sloppy. What I wasn't expecting to lose:

• Crossovers
• My ability to center a scratch spin
• Three turns

I think it showed what really were my strengths, my back spins were actually better than my forward spins when I got back on the ice which probably means they were better or more solid before.

 

[concorde]

It takes a long time for a skater to get then stamina back.

 

[overedge]

When I go back, I'm going to blame the shutdown for me not being able to do doubles and triples

 

[mjb52]

When I go back, I'm going to blame the shutdown for me not being able to do doubles and triples

yeah I lost my quad lol I was so close

more seriously, although I haven't skated in years, I do really want to try to do some singles once rinks re-open near me, just as a celebration.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Yeah, I too am worried about losing my triples when I return to the ice.

I took a 25-year break before stepping back on the ice as an adult skater. When I do a waltz jump, I have to remember I am doing a waltz and not an axel. I can still land all my doubles cleanly in the harness. The muscle memory and timing is there. My body is not.

After my injury, I didn't want to compete any longer and hated ice dance, so I struck a deal with my parents that I had to finish my figures tests. In the long run, passing my 8th Test is most likely why I've been able to resume skating at a certain comfort level despite all the changes.

The only thing that I've completely "lost" is the ability to do a sit spin low enough for IJS credit. I'll need a knee replacement for that.

If I could stop for 25 years, another year isn't going to hurt me. Because I've been through this before, making sure to retain/improve functional strength and letting injuries heal has been critical in this downtime. If I play my cards right, I should be OK when I feel it's safe to return to the ice.

 

[Yazmeen]

Considering I screwed up my skating royally by wasting almost two years in low cut ice dance boots and blades on size 5.5 feet under broad shoulders, DDD boobs and a wide rib cage (I went back to regular boots and blades a while ago), at 62, I'll just be happy to able to stroke around the rink once I go back, and that won't be for a while yet.

The biggest blessing I have is that I'm actually in better shape than prior to the BB having lost the weight gained through a year of dental hell courtesy of walking, belly dance, and yoga. Skating is likely to become sometimes recreation for me with a bit of dance coaching from now on. So be it, I'll get what I can from it.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

When I got back onto the ice, I found I hadn't lost anything, other than my memory of what steps go into the Rocker Foxtrot. When my coach told me to do the dance, I asked him to call out the steps, because I got nothin.

 

[gkelly]

I skated once this week, first time since March.

I was able to do runthroughs of my programs (no music, so not necessarily up to speed), but I was not able to step from a back inside edge after a three turn to the FO edge on the other foot, needed for both sets of threes in the Preliminary Moves in the Field, which I had passed years ago.

That was always difficult for me, but moreso now.

I don't know if it's just a matter of being out of practice, for those particular moves as well as in general, or whether it's because my hip joints like to turn out even less in recent years than they did in the past.

 

[just tuned in]

I felt like a new beginner. It was so frustrating. But after three sessions I am basically comfortable again, with a bonus being that I "forgot" bad habits and can more easily correct mistakes.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

Yeah, gosh, my first run-through of my old program was ghastly. I can do it, just not to speed. It'll get there, if I continue to work on it. But I don't think I'm going to compete this season, so I may just skip it for now and work on ice dance and Moves instead, see if perhaps I can take the test for the Rocker Foxtrot.

The only thing is the Boston Open - that's tempting me. It'll be at the new SCOB facility, I can stay with my mother in law, my family can come with me (we're from up there, originally.) But I'm not sure it's worth it to bring my programs back up to speed to only do them for one competition; and... you know... coronavirus.

 

[gkelly]

My goals are to compete in 2022.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

I think realistically, it'll also be 2022 for me. Or maybe a couple of comps in the summer of 2021, if the coronavirus settles down by then. I'll need to see.

 

[Bunny Hop]

When I got back onto the ice, I found I hadn't lost anything, other than my memory of what steps go into the Rocker Foxtrot.

I forgot Swing Dance. It's not even like it has a lot of steps. I still have to go off and review it before the next attempt.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

My forward inside 3 turns are crap right now. Oh, and spins, I can't even manage 2 rotations. Ugh

 

[syzygy]

I skated once this week, first time since March.

I was able to do runthroughs of my programs (no music, so not necessarily up to speed), but I was not able to step from a back inside edge after a three turn to the FO edge on the other foot, needed for both sets of threes in the Preliminary Moves in the Field, which I had passed years ago.

That was always difficult for me, but moreso now.

I don't know if it's just a matter of being out of practice, for those particular moves as well as in general, or whether it's because my hip joints like to turn out even less in recent years than they did in the past.

That was another thing I found hard to do. I found myself going to pre-pre and prelim moves and finding them difficult even though I passed that years ago also. Bodies do weird things.

 

[syzygy]

I forgot Swing Dance. It's not even like it has a lot of steps. I still have to go off and review it before the next attempt.

I forgot all my dances. Some I remember mentally, but no muscle memory what so ever.
edit: apparently I can't spell forgot and wrote forget even after trying to fix it once before while drafting lol

My doubles are coming back slowly but surely. I'm not jumping as high so I'm rotating faster and pulling in tighter. Probably won't be thinking about triples again for a month or two.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

I have found that I've forgotten how to do a loop jump.

 

[antmanb]

I have found that I've forgotten how to do a loop jump.

The $£%&ing loop jump in my household

I've been off the ice for over a year, but I bet I could land my first attempt at a loop jump and then fail for the next 6 months to land it again.

Honestly I'm hoping that whenever ice rinks actually reopen here and I go back I might be able to start from scratch and all the bad muscle memory for all the things that go wrong on the loop will be forgotten and I can go back to the very beginning and relearn it with proper technique.

 

[AxelAnnie]

I lost my brain!

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Well, since starting again in late July/early August, I'm finally comfortable on ice. I have only 2 moves left to cover all the Gamma/Delta moves. The LFI3T is still crap (working on it) and I've never attempted hockey stops.

I am super excited about the Freestyle 1 moves. I really enjoy doing the backwards outside and inside edges, so much fun. Arabesques are fun too.

I really should work on testing, huh? Oh, and I may need new skates. My 6 year old Jackson Elles may not cut it for FS.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

I'm teaching Basic level ice skating and one of the levels requires a hockey stop. I can't do a hockey stop any more - my knee won't let me - so I had one of the hockey boys come over and demo it for the kids. I have retired my hockey stops.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Apparently I passed a test long ago in my learn to skate days which included a hockey stop. I have zero recollection of this, and the last time I tried one I fell over (that was also some years ago now). Actually I haven't even done a t-stop recently. As long as I can do one basic stop (well, two if you count forwards and backwards) I'm fine.