Post 3

My project has been going really good lately. Last week I was on vacation in Las Vegas with my family. I was worried if I took a week off of skating that I would lose some of the progress that I have been making, especially with testing coming up so soon. I had my first lesson since I got back yesterday and I was dissappointed because my jumps were not as good as they have been. I decided to get some more practicing in, so I am going to be skating more than I usually would for a while. I was thinking about what else might be able to help me and I realized that my skates had not been sharpened in a while and that they might be part of the problem. I went skating again this morning and things were a lot better than they were yesterday. It's very important to keep your skates sharpened. It depends on how often you skate but usually it is every 4 to 6 weeks. You can tell that your skates need to be sharpened if they are getting dull, which means you won't be able to do your moves as well as when they are sharp. Dull skates will make it hard to stop and make it hard to hold a deep edge. The first time you get on the ice after you have had your skates sharpened it's still going to be hard to do your moves. Just sharpened skates grab the ice more so it slows you down and makes it harder to skate until you dull down the blade a little bit. Another hard part about getting your skates sharpened is finding someone to sharpen them for you. You should have someone who specializes in figure skates sharpening instead of someone who just sharpens hockey skates.