Now that it's staying light longer in the evening, you might actually get to see some videos of me flying where you can actually see me, rather than just some movement in the dark. On Tuesday, I went up for my first turn and they said "Erica with a swing, ready....hep!" I left the board and George was cueing me for something I'd never done before. As I took off he said, "oh, you've never done that, have you?" I had no idea what any of his cues meant. So, the thing that I was first most impressed with when watching these people who have been flying for a long time was how much height they could get simply by swinging--or what looks like pumping when you're on a regular swing. They kick their legs out, and back until they are parallel with the net, or even higher. I've been looking forward to learning how to do it, and apparently this was the night. It's way more difficult than it looks when they do it, but then again, most things are. So there are 3 different cues--kip, hollow, stand. This video doesn't look like much of anything, but that's probably because I'm really not doing much of it right. I'm kipping too much (the first move is supposed to be barely a kick), my hollow isn't big enough (supposed to throw my legs back there), and my stand is way too piked. Anyway, this is just so in a couple months I can look back and see how terrible I was on the first day of trying a swing.
And, once Rod got up there to start catching, I was done practicing my swing and decided to do my splits for my catch that night. Next week I'll go back to trying to catch my straddle whip. I made the catch the first time, which was great because I've had a couple weeks in a row with not much luck on my catches. The other new thing I'm doing is taking off without someone holding the back of my belt. When you're first beginning to trapeze, someone up on the board holds the back of your belt while you take off to ensure you keep your grip on the bar. Last week I got to go without someone holding me, and let me tell you, it was way different! I can't believe how much they hold you when they do that...it was definitely tricky to get it right. It'll be awhile, I'm sure, before I have it figured out, but they did say I was doing better with my take offs this week. It's so fun to be able to learn new things!
I was pretty sore after this night of flying, especially my hands. I was hanging onto the bar much more than usual with the 4 or so times (plus once on the practice bar) practicing the swing, which made for some raw hands. I love the soreness though! It makes me realize that trapeze is making me stronger and that I'm learning and getting better!
As always, I can't wait until next week!
