2回目の9週間レッスンが終わった。 これからどうする？ The 2nd 9-Week Lessons Ended. What am I going to do now?

「イゴールがいいよ。絶対お勧めだな。彼はきっちりと基礎を教えてくれるから。」と義姉。

私は『きっちりと基礎を教えてくれる』という言葉に弱い。
やっぱり何をするにも基礎が大事だもんね。

この言葉で、もしレッスンを受けるとしたら彼からと決断。

「（娘の）美香もイゴールに教わって本当に良かったし、私は色々な人に勧めているの。」

「でもたしか彼の英語（訛りがひどくて）分かりにくいのよね。」

「そんなことないよ。美香も分かってたし。他の人に比べたらそんなことないよ。」
姪も隣で会話を聞きながら頷いて、まるで彼からレッスンを受けるべきだと説得するかのように私を見ている。


もうこうとなっては、もしプライベートレッスンを受けるとしたらイゴールしかないでしょ。




2回目の9週間レッスンが終わった。　これからどうする？

残念ながら４レベルあるうちの３で終わった。

でも、４で習う内容も既にコーチが教えてくれていたので、クリアしなくてはいけない全種目のうち２つ以外はできている。

夏のグループレッスンは週日で私には不都合な時間帯しかやっていない。また同じようなグループレッスンは9月まで始まらない。

で、たとえそれを受けてクリアしたところで、その先に繋がるレッスンのプログラムはない。

となるとあとはプライベートレッスン。

いやほんと、これからどうしよっか。

去る12月に始めたときはバックのクロスができれば十分と思っていたし、そのハードルはとても高く見えた。
でも意外と簡単にできるようになった。そして当初思い描いていた「それなりに自由自在に滑れる」ようになっている。

じゃあ目標達成ということで、ここでやめにする？

んなわけないよね。

実際、良い運動にもなるし、更に上達したいのは確か。
べつにプログラムを組んでコンペティションで競うつもりはない。
でもやっぱり続けたい。
ダブルでなくてもシングルジャンプくらいは夢じゃなさそう。
スピンも頑張ればできそう。　　かな？


取り敢えず今週末の土日のサマーキャンプに参加してみて、もうちょっと感触を掴んでみよう。
私と同じような人達が全国から、なかには海外からも集まって来てる人もいるそうなので良い刺激になりそう。
っていうか、私のことだから合宿が終わった時点でもっと上達したくなるんだろうな。

************************

"You should go with Igor.  I definitely recommend him. He teaches solid basics.", said my sister-in-law.

I have a soft spot for words like "solid basics."
Afterall, solid basics are important foundation in just about everything you do.

With these words out of her, I pretty much made up my mind that it will be him, if I am to take lessons.

"It was really good for Mika (daughter) that she took lessons from him, and I've been recommending him to many people."

"But I think I have hard time understanding his English, if I remember correctly."

"Oh, I don't think so.  Mika understood.  Comparing to other coaches, his English is not bad."
Mika is listening to our conversation, nodding to her mother's words and looking at me as if to persuade me to go with him.


Well, at this point, I can't think of anyone else but to go with Igor, if I am to take lessons.  Mr. K, the old man, on the other hand, is profoundly experienced in teaching and probably has a lot to offer, but I don't want to join his little "team" he has and I have good reasons to believe he would probably put together an outdated program with poorly edited music that I cannot refuse to perform.



The second 9-week group lessons has just ended.
What am I going to do now?

Unfortunately, I finished it at level 3 of 4.

But since my coach has already taught me many of what's taught in level 4, I'm able to clear all requirements except for 2.

The only group lessons offered in the summer season are during the week in the hours I cannot attend.  The similar group lessons do not start until September.

Even if I take group lessons and clear level 4, there are no programs to continue from there on.

So that would leave me with taking private lessons.

If I can only find someone on the same level of skating as I do, I can take semi-private lessons which would be a lot cheaper.

So, what am I to do now?

When I first started in last December, I thought being able to do backward crossovers would be enough and the hurdle seemed pretty high at that point.
But unexpectedly, accomplishing that came pretty easily and I am now able to freely skate as I once imagined to want to be.

Well then, I have achieved the goal, so shall I finish here?
Nah.

In actuality, it is a good exercise and I sure want to be better at it.
I have no intention of putting a program together and competing.
But I do want to continue.
Maybe not a double, but single jump may not be a dream.
I'll probably be able to do some spins if I tried hard enough.  Who knows?

I guess I'll participate in the summer camp program over this weekend and see what happens.  Of what I understand, there are so many people gathering from all over the country, and even some from overseas just for this ni the past, so this will be a good stimulating experience.
But it's me we'are talking about here...I'll probably want to continue to get better at it especially after participating in the camp.