Almost Ready, Almost Set, Almost Go

With money not exactly pouring out of my ears I have to be pretty picky about when and what and how and where I practice.  I’m taking a page out of just about any training program and writing my own syllabus to work off of. 

The Sportsman sequence consists of ten figures:

1)    45 degree upline

2)    1.5 rotation spin

3)    Reverse 1/2 Cuban

4)    Clover, Loop with a 1/4 roll

5)    Hammerhead, 1/4 roll downline

6)    Wedge; 45 upline, roll 1/2 roll, vertical down

7)    Humpty

8)    Immelman

9)    Goldfish

10) Aileron roll

I know that most of this sounds like jibberish.  To help, the IAC has adopted the use of Aresti notation to help clear things up.  You can view the above sequence in Aresti here: http://members.iac.org/knowns/knowns2010/Sportsman%20Known%202010.pdf.  I’m sure that helped. 

There are different takes on practicing.  Some people practice the whole routine all at once.  Others work on individualized figures.  Some break it into segments.  I’m combining two approaches; individual elements and segments.  Legendary acro coach John Morrissey commands that practicing the whole sequence is pointless.  If you are doing the elements properly stringing them together should be less of a challenge. 

I am going to keep it simple and practice 1,2, and 3 together, 4, 5, and 6; and finally 7, 8, 9, and 10.  The second segment is going to be a challenge in that I’ve never really done a clover. The last segment could be pretty nasty because there is a significant G-loading going through a goldfish.  Putting that at the end of a sequence will make it pretty hard to do well since you are pretty worn out by that point.  By only practicing a few figures ahead of it you give yourself to see the figure with fresh eyes and with your wits about you. 

I plan on getting started this weekend with a fairly steady schedule of flying.  I haven’t solidified my training syllabus just yet.  I’m thinking that I am going to take a stab at the loop, hammer, and wedge first.  I’ll start by looking at the figures individually and hopefully stringing them together by the end of the weekend.  I’m not gunning for 10’s this weekend, just basic proficiency and polishing them up as the season gets closer.