Battle Warsaw / Slides!

First of all, Tim and I will be scheduling Skatefreestyle workshops for the autumn and winter. Summer is just too busy with travel and competitions for us to be giving any in the next few months.

Second of all, we've been up to a lot in the past few weeks, including Battle Warsaw last weekend, which was very different this year than it was last year. The technical level has grown astronomically, which was amazing to see. For me it was very revealing about just how lazy I actually am with training in comparison, as I tend to practice one trick only for as long as it is entertaining, and then I move on to something else. You can see that the Polish skaters train very specifically and very effectively, until a trick is of water-tight consistency. I have taken their example to heart this week and spent the majority of my time working on tightening up tricks and beginning with a few new ones. It's satisfying in its own right, especially with a good drum and bass mix in my headphones, which easily provides a one to two hour backdrop while I plug away at wheelings or sitting tricks or whatever.

However, many of the skaters at the battle appeared to ONLY train tricks, with no nice freestyle mixed in. Without the freestyle, only half the job is done, in my personal opinion. This was reflected in the judging, as I made it through to the final ahead of people who are technically further along than I am, and I assume this is because I was one of the few female skaters representing "freestyle slalom" as a whole, as opposed to "slalom tricks." I was very proud to make it to the final; it was actually the goal I had going into the battle, and once I got there, I didn't really fight. I came in fourth place. *Maybe* if I had fought I could have secured third, but I'm not really sure who I could have beat in that final, because the level was VERY hard.

I was a bit nervous skating in this battle, as opposed to other recent battles, so that was a little disappointing, because I couldn't really pull off any back wheelings, and my sevens were still failing left and right, whereas I am knocking out 7-9 of them easily in practice. Before Paris, I hadn't trained seven in a month of Mondays and just kind of took it for granted that I could do them, and it's been showing in battles lately. So, I've been back to the grindstone and they've improved massively in the past few weeks. However, they still didn't work in Warsaw. This is possibly the most frustrating thing, that I KNOW I can do a trick really well and then I fail it because I am a bit shaky. It just goes to show how sure of your tricks you must be in order to do them well in competition. With back wheeling, I am inconsistent in practices as well as in public. However, I've been drilling the crap out them all week, so maybe I will show some improvements in the next battle. Currently I am shooting for the elusive 20 cone back toe wheeling, and while I've come as close as 19, I've never gotten down the whole line without a single tap or mistake.

Anyway, back to Warsaw, the atmosphere at the battle was quite competitive and serious, and I didn't get much of a sense of the camaraderie amongst the skaters that I so depend on in order to keep bringing me back to battles. However, I realize that a lot of peoples' motivations are different than mine, and that for some people, winning is the only way to have fun. No matter. To each his own. However, it does concern me if this attitude becomes prevalent, and then people shy away from competing. On the one hand it is not necessarily a bad thing, because then it opens up the sport to having several different levels of competition and different kinds of events, but on the other hand, it does not help the sport if the competitions themselves have smaller and smaller numbers of people entering to compete. This is absolutely not the case so far; in fact, there are more people than ever in the freestyle slalom rankings, so I guess it's just a natural part of the evolution of the sport as it gets more popular and the level improves.

Personally, I am still improving all the time and know I am nowhere near the top of my potential, so I will continue to compete as long as I feel like I should be doing so, because I WANT to be as good as the people who are the best, and I know I can be, but it just takes more practice and more experience...i.e. competitions.  

The women's slide competition in Warsaw was my favorite part of the whole weekend. I hadn't signed up to take part originally, because I hadn't practiced any slides in ages. I had sort of lost interest in sliding somewhere between last summer and this one, partially because of the fact that I didn't really know how to improve, and I tire easily of something when I know there is no improvement. I suppose I could have sought out internet videos and studied them to learn, or bugged people to show me things, but I didn't, probably because I've been enjoying slalom way too much and I am content most of the time to just keep skating around the cones. Anyway, Ukranian skater Ksenija Komarchuk had an infectious enthusiasm about the whole thing and basically said to me, "Come on, why aren't you sliding?" which of course, worked on me and I signed up! Lidia Wardzinska was also taking part, and it's basically because of those two that I didn't want to be left out. :)

Ksenija took me on as her sliding paduwan and showed me heaps of tips and tricks, AND Mistrial slide, which I had never done before. I learned so much from her that when I left the competition area on Saturday evening, I left with an altogether different outlook on slides in addition to already being improved from the morning. Not only that, I managed to take fourth place in the women's slide competition, which was held apart from the men's only due to late registrations like mine (sorry, organizers!). Last but not least, I managed to do the whole thing in short shorts, and all of my skin remained intact, a fact of which I am very proud. :)

This week I practiced slide a bit on my own and with Pierre Alix, and I can feel how it's different than it used to be. Different better, if still rather noobish.

Well, apart from Battle Warsaw, there's actually been a lot going on, skating-wise, in that I've been training quite diligently. Last night I also had the pleasure of taking part in the Brussels Rollerparade for the first time, and I am hooked. I will be joining as often as possible until the season is over, that's for sure.

To close off, please enjoy some of these EXCELLENT slide tutorials, which come, fittingly enough, from Ukraine. :)

First up: Mistrial slide


Parallel slide


Pornstar slide


There's lots of these tutorials so check them out and happy sliding!
xoxoxo
meg

Tim & Megan Slalom video :)

Oh hey!

Here's another fun video, this time of Tim and I screwing around at the rollerparade in Hasselt on Monday. Wicked fun! Extra special thanks to Mia and Bram for making this, because it's really cool of them to do that. I've also never really looked at Tim and I skating in such rapid succession, so it's cool to see how differently we skate from each other. Tim's style is super cool and unique. <3

Mine is coming along. What I'm really happy with about this clip is that we are just playing around (hence I tried backwards sevens and toe shift), and I am actually showing that attacking quality I've always wanted to master. I don't even care that I didn't really do any "tricks" in this clip. :)

I hope you like it.

A few slalom clips starring...ME!

Oh hi.

Here's a video demonstrating the Sun, in case you need to practice yours. If you click through to the Youtube page with the video, there is a detailed explanation of every step of the move:


Here's a video clip in which I show a cool little hoppy combo I learned from Igor, so I call it "Igor hop." Although I am pretty sure Igor calls it "Korean leap." :)


And lastly, here's my classic run from Paris, which ends very, very sadly. :(


That's all for today! I'm still wrangling with that horrid beast out there, the Cobra, so don't worry, I didn't forget about that. :)

Thanks for reading!
xoxoxo
meg

LHSKontest Women's Final video

I haven't finished the Cobra series. Sorry for the cliffhanger. :-P

Anyway, here's a really nicely done video from the Le Havre LHSKontest this year. I realize that most videos of me to find on the internet are all two years old (and I've only been slaloming for three!) and in the videos, I'm not nearly as good as I am now, but they're still cute to watch anyway. Especially with the skorts...oh Lord. There will probably be a whole post dedicated to the skorts, but not today.

Anyway, this battle was rather recent, it was loads of fun, the atmosphere was lovely, and the people were great, so I hope you can also enjoy:

LHSKontest 2011 - Finale Freestyle Slalom Femme... par LHSKiki

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Cobra, Part 2 (of 3)

To my surprise and delight, yesterday evening, right around the time I clicked "publish post," I received a short video clip in my email of two of my Skatefreestyle teammates practicing nothing other than the Cobra. So I wanted to make sure I kept these posts timely and relevant to them right now as they are working through their struggles with the exotic beast, especially since I am out there with them in spirit, at least in part. The other part of me is very much enjoying being home, but I consider these posts my small contribution to the team. 

Tonight we take a look at my own experience chasing the deadly Cobra. So, onwards and...onwards! Because "upwards" doesn't really make sense here. Yeah.

The McIntosh Cobra Chronicles:

The whole saga begins at the April 2010 slalom retreat in Belgium with Naomi, where Jurgen and I, and possibly a few others, demanded from Naomi that she magically zap our feet into being able to do this trick. At the time we got the breakdown from her on the entry from toe-heel snake, but our success in execution was limited. She also told us to sit back on the toe, with almost no weight on the heel. (in my case, the right toe and left heel). The heel is for steering, we were informed. We could get into the Cobra, fine, and maybe sneak forward half a meter or so in the same direction as our toe-heel screws, but then we would spin around and around in heel-toe screws. Oh, poor us.

Then, that May in France, at LHSKontest 2010, I received some further advice from Chiara Lualdi on this trick (she is a master of all tricks that screw with your mind like Cobras, inverted eagles on toe and heel, etc;), who told me to sit back onto my right toe and counteract with my upper body by bringing my left arm forward. At that time, I was told that I was leaning forward too much as a result of trying to thrust my left leg out on heel. And let me tell you, that doesn't feel pretty, people.

Still no dice, although I was already adding to my body of knowledge on the mysterious Cobra (cue ominous snake hissing sound now).

We then cut to San Francisco in June 2010, where I reunited with Team Skatefreestyle for a week of practicing together while Naomi simultaneously ran a slalom retreat. At that time I was acquainted for the first time with an Irish skater named Sinead Howick, who learned the Cobra from Naomi in the course of the retreat. I saw her gradual but definite success out of the corner of my eye, and was consumed by feelings of jealousy and longing. I wanted my legs to do that too! But they wouldn't. Not without spinning around, whirling me down a dark tunnel of shame.

The score was thus

Deadly serpent: 3

Pitiful human: 0

I gave up on chasing the Cobra for the rest of that summer, and it was easy to do, distracted by battles and traveling and all the good things in life. Plus, learning a proper footgun was a big priority, so the need to practice Cobra sort of dissipated. I briefly flirted with it again in September 2010 at the Jeonju, Korea competition, aided once again by the ever-helpful Marina Boyko (whose name I am finally spelling correctly! Sorry!), but I still had no success. I knew I didn't have the right feeling. Everything about the trick felt very wrong.

Side note: When you are learning slalom, new tricks will often feel very weird. However, there is a big difference between weird and wrong. When a trick feels weird, it's the sensation that you are doing something you have never done before, your body is not used to it, and you have to think yourself through every step in order to succeed. However, what you will learn to feel is the imminence of the trick being good one day. When it's weird, you know it will get better. You will learn to feel it. When it's wrong, you will also learn to feel it, if you don't know already. Wrong means that it hurts, or that you absolutely cannot sense a balancing point, or even sometimes that it's too easy. If you have your doubts about what you are feeling, consult a slalom expert. But if it hurts, please stop, and change what you are doing.

End side note.

After Korea, that was the end of the Cobra for me for a long time. The summer slalom season was over, so we retreated into our winter habits, which included long practice sessions in the sporthall on weekends followed by well-deserved dinners in delicious restaurants. Life is tough, I know. However, I did chip away the ice at my favorite practice spot to keep my learning curve high.

And then, the Cobra came back to haunt my dreams.

This year at Battle Bremen, the Cobra revealed itself once again throughout the women's competition. Their hips didn't lie. In reaction, I whinged. I whined. I actually wondered if my legs were just too thick to lock into that position (not valid, by the way). At that time, Cris Pers assured me that it is not a flexibility trick. Sinead Howick said that if I could do toe-heel screw, then I could definitely do the Cobra. I wanted to believe them. I really did.

And still, I doubted.

Back in Le Havre, France, for this year's edition of the LHSKontest, I once again made it to the final. And once again, there were Cobras dancing up and down the cone line. Both Zoe Granjon and Sinead Howick busted them out as final tricks in the battle final, in backwards and forwards versions, respectively. They looked like they were having so much fun. I wanted to join them ever so much. Sinead even did a funky dancey Eastern arm thing as she glided, with ease, all the way out of the cone line.

And then, the next time I went out slaloming, after more than a year of wanting to do this move, I managed a teeeeeny tiny little Cobra slaloming in the 120's cone line, where my heel and toe were just about even with each other. Rightfully, I celebrated.

Well, of course this story has a happy ending, though the saga of my Cobra is far from over. I am far enough along at this point, however, where I feel like I can let you, my dear reader, in on the mysteries of this trick. Since I saw Sinead again at PSWC, I got her opinion on what I was doing, and I even managed to consult Polina momentarily to see what I am still doing wrong. It's a work in progress, but a labor of love.

Current Score:

Slithering reptile: 3

Tenacious cone warrior: 3

(I get extra points for maintaining a positive attitude even though I've still got a ways to go.)

So, the next time, we will deal with the mechanics of this sneaky beast.

This post is dedicated to all my cone-dodging Skatefreestyle peeps out in San Francisco right now, under the tutelage of Miss Natalie UJUK.  *thumps chest*

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Cobra, Part 1

What's this? Another post, so soon after the other? The weather must be bad, or I must be avoiding homework, right? Actually, neither. I'm just finally HOME. We've been all over the place lately, and it's nice to actually sit on our couch and blog to the blogiverse. Universe. Whatever. So, without further ado, in this mini-series of posts, I bring you my (unfinished) journey into the den of the Cobra. (DUN DUN DUNNNNN!)

The Cobra was made famous by (and possibly invented by?) Polina Semenova, and it has now has become a relatively commonplace trick in women's slalom battles. It's one of those tricks that completely messes with your head because you were not aware that humans were able to bend that way, and you're not entirely sure they are supposed to. So basically, it's got that bendy-legs quality that makes slalom so attractive and interesting to many of us in the first place. 

Here is the women's battle final from PSWC 2011, with skating from Julia Kulagina, Anya Ziertmann, Marina Boyko (I really need to stop spelling her name wrong! apologies), and Polina. (They skate in that order in the video, just in case you can't hear the announcer very well.) Polina performs the Cobra both forwards and backwards starting at 8:01 or so. Please feel free to enjoy the whole video if you want, and I bet there are other instances where other skaters in the round do the same trick, but I wanted to make sure I presented you with a moment where Polina does this trick, because I tend to think of it as hers. 

OK, without further ado, to the viewing of the Cobra! Watch out that it doesn't GET YOU.  

PSWC 2011 Slalom Battle Women Final by REKIL.RU from ReKiL on Vimeo.

Did you see it? Isn't it CRAZY?

(Well, no, this is actually Crazy, but let's stay on topic please.)

Well, we're just getting started here, but as you could have guessed from the title of this post, it's a two-parter. Or maybe more. But I promise to bring you part two within the week, because I've already written a lot of it, but it's not quite ready.

Until Part Two, my wheeled comrades! I'm off to go skating or watch Indiana Jones or sleep or something.

As always, thanks for reading.

xoxoxo

meg

What I've been up to

After Battle Bremen, I went to:

1. LHSKontest III: Le Havre battle. Awesome weekend. Such a chill atmosphere with cool people. And the DJ played KRS-One for me during my battle round, so that's a big plus. It was the first wholly post-cathartic battle for me as well, and the feeling of being in a competition is now entirely changed for the better. It's something I hope to continue and cultivate.

Then I went to Dutch class and started getting my butt kicked by this semester's workload at my program in Brussels. Yowza!

2. Skatefreestyle slalom workshop, Groningen: Don't worry if you didn't hear about it. We didn't *really* advertise for it. It was a small but amazing group. We also took part in a slalom showdown, ate pancakes inside a ship, shot some skating video, and generally had a ball.

In between, I practiced! And did homework.

3. PSWC: Paris Slalom World Cup: This year, the PSWC redeemed itself to me by being very cool and very fun. Last year, not so much, because I was really ill. The afterparty on Sunday night clinched it for me as the most magical competition to this date. Also, my classic run was SO GOOD...until I fell at the end. Great. Yeah. World #1 Marina Boyko told me that I am doing really well, but I need to fall less. She is right. :)

4. Skatefreestyle slalom workshop, London: This workshop was our first in Hyde Park, and it was good to do hot on the heels of Groningen two weeks prior. After this workshop, I am eager to ramp up our schedule of them, but it's difficult with so many competitions. So, I'd like to schedule more things locally, so it will be logistically easier for us to do.

So now you know why I haven't posted.

See you soon!
xoxoxo
meg