Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Slalom Practice Structure

Well it's been a busy and wonderful holiday season, but the holidays have been officially over for more than a few days, so it's high time I get back to writing here.

A few posts ago I said I would give you details of my practice for jumping tricks, which I was very jazzed about doing at the time. Now that it's been too long (my fault), the topic no longer fills me with long-winded joy, but I figure I should still make good on telling you how I structure my slalom sessions.

Generally speaking, I try to fill my practice time with a mixture of mini-sessions. I might not spend time on every one of the subsequent areas every session, but I do vary the content of what I do from one practice to the other. Also, if I have 4 hours my session will be quite different from one that is 2 hours. In 2 hours, I will be more likely to cut to the chase after my warm-up and get straight to working on something that was on my mind I wanted to work on, whereas if I have 4 hours I will spend a good amount of time on just enjoying freestyle, maybe an hour or more. Otherwise I will divide sections into blocks lasting as long as I want them to, anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours. I do this because I skate for pleasure, and I don't have anybody breathing down my neck telling me what I should be doing. Only myself. :)

The sessions include, but are not limited to:

1. Warm up with crosses, nelsons, strolls, crazies, or/and other foundational moves:
Every time I begin a slalom session, the first thing I usually begin with is forwards crosses on both sides. I would say that I begin with my bad side, but my "bad" side is no longer any different from my "good" side, which is the way it should be for all foundations. I often review things like nelson, mega, sun, and one foots on both sides (forwards and backwards if applicable), because they are vital basics and if the basics get rusty then everything suffers. Naomi always talks about how if one side feels less comfortable than the other that it's still fine as long as both sides LOOK equally good. The less comfortable side will require more effort from the skater in order to make it look as natural as the "good" side, but that's to be expected and no one will ever know.

That being said, practice both sides of all your foundations until you feel no difference between them, and your arsenal of freestyle possibilities blows wide open. :)

2. Blank-minded freestyle improvisation with music:
This is important to me to do, because it's why I started slaloming in the first place...because it's insanely fun to glide freely and easily around the cones while listening to music. However, there are always bigger and harder tricks calling to me, so I spend a lot less time doing this than I did two years ago. Now the bulk of my sessions are usually dedicated to working on technical moves, which is extremely satisfying in its own right, but I still maintain that the best moments in slalom are those when I am not thinking, not trying to do anything in particular, and just enjoying the feel of slalom improvisation. I don't think, I am SURE, that my best skating is to be found in these moments.

3. Designing or practicing a choreographed run:
This is by far my least favorite thing to do, and the thing I am least likely to be doing during a skate session.

Some skaters have a bunch of runs that they use in battle. I don't, although I know I probably should, because I don't want to look like an arse in battle. But the thing is that I really hate choreographing lines. I hate it so much. So I don't spend a lot of time on it, and I am sure it shows.

When I DO choreograph a line, it's only because I HAVE to for a classic style competition.
I wish I enjoyed it, I really do.

4. Technical practice:
Actually I should put "technical practice" in the number two position in this list, right after warm-up. This is because it's helpful to practice your hardest moves when you still have plenty of strength and energy. However, I personally save sitting trick practice for well after wheeling practice, because sitting tricks drain my legs of the strength I need for wheelings, and I save jumping tricks for the very last thing I work on, because it can be very exhausting overall. I find that it doesn't really matter when I practice things in the screw category because while those moves are challenging, they are often about placement and being used to being in particular positions, rather than demanding massive amounts of strength or energy. The exception to this is my attempts to make it all the way down the line with 20 screws...the most I've done is 17. Arrgh.

Anyway the way you structure your technical practice will naturally be unique to your own skating and your own body. Pay attention to what makes you feel exhausted and make sure you pace yourself so that you can make it through to the end of your practice while making the best use of the time you have. You can always write down the things you know you want to work on and make sure to divide your time accordingly amongst those things.

The great thing is that you can do basically whatever you want (within reason) and still be improving your slalom at a good rate. If I am frustrated with a move, instead of infuriating myself with failure and wishing I never started the sport in the first place, I simply switch to working on something else. Often if I am having a bad day with wheelings, my sitting tricks will feel amazing, or vice versa. If I'm not in the mood for working on any tech, my freestyle will be brilliant. Or if I'm feeling particularly inspired to design a run, I will abandon other plans and go with that creativity, because it's not something I have every day.

The bottom line is, I suppose, grow from your strengths. Don't punish yourself for your weaknesses.
And HAVE FUN. Because, honestly, why else would we be skating?

I didn't go into as much detail as I wanted to, but I will talk about practicing more in the future, I'm sure, and I also want to address it in the workshop.

Coming up soon: the style/tech divide present in slalom these days and what freestyle slalom means to others, and to ME. Now this will be interesting. :)
Thanks for reading!
xoxoxo
meg

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