Finished Freestyle 3

I am unofficially done with Freestyle 3. Since I am learning on my own, the process took much longer than the ten-week group lesson. In addition, I took a break when we went skiing. I learned the backward-outside and backward-inside pivots fast. The back arabesques weren’t much of a challenge. I had the most trouble with the salchow jump. I got it down, but I am still not great at it. I skipped the change foot spin because I do not want to learn any spin. I didn’t learn the dance step sequence because I could not find any tutorial on YouTube. What I enjoyed the most from Freestyle 3 was the toe loop jump.

I am now ready for Freestyle 4. I am going to start with the loop jump. I am not sure the different between the loop and the half-loop jump. Then I’ll work on the flip jump. I am not sure what two arabesques and back 3-turns are. I need to look those up. I am going to skip the sit spin as well as the dance step sequence.

Continuing to learn figure skating allows me to set a goal for myself. Learning on my own is harder, but I don’t feel the pressure to keep with up with my classmates. I used to practice a lot to not embarrass myself. Now I just incorporate it into my exercise routine. At times I felt so frustrated, particularly when I was learning the salchow jump, and wanted to sign up for private lessons just so I can nail the techniques I was working on, but I was a bit shy to work one-on-one with a coach. In addition, I don’t want to pay for private lessons. We’re already spending private piano lessons for two our our kids and other activities including ice hockey and swimming. I’ll see how far I can go learning on my own.