Sk8 Post 1: APBM

I think this blog is about to change from a hip surgery blog to a skating blog. It may only be valuable to me, as a record of my skating progress, since I am starting over with zero ability. In that regard, it could be a private journal. But making it public keeps me honest and perhaps inspires (or annoys) others. It means I have to follow through. Right now motivation is a problem, so that's a good thing. Knowing someone may be reading this might mean the difference between going to the rink or sleeping in.

I didn't have any realistic skating goals until today, which meant I wasn't motivated to go to the rink. My pre-PAO goals were to pass my Novice moves and a few more international dance tests, but those goals are plain impossible right now. So my new, post-PAO goal is to pass my adult pre-bronze moves. Now, granted, I have already passed that test, along with all of the other adult moves tests. I have my adult moves-in-the-field gold medal and in fact was the first person in the country to earn it. But that was a couple of surgeries ago. After looking at the patterns I realized that going through all of the adult moves tests really will give me a good fundamental grasp of the skills I've lost.

Today was day 1 of my "training." I ran through the APBM test and, let's just say, I would not have passed the test even with a drunken panel of judges. I put my free foot down several times, and just plain couldn't do a lot of things. For example, a Waltz 8, something I passed when it was a preliminary figure back in 1976, is scary and impossible right now. The FI three turns on the last move are impossible, not to mention the FO three turns that are only slightly less impossible. Oh yeah, and backward crossovers? Give me a break! Working on these things until I master them will be a true test of what I can accomplish.

My goal is to test the APBM May 24th at Sherwood. That gives me just over two months to master them. It should be a nice quiet test session where nobody knows me so when I fail the test I can slink out the back door quietly. Or, more likely, take off my skates and judge the rest of the test session.

The plan really is perfect ... a timeline which may culminate in total embarrassment if I don't get my butt out there. Instant motivation!