How serious a skater are you training to be?

[FSWer]

Ok...I'm not sure how much we've talked about this. But what I'd like to ask all our skaters here today is how serious a skater they are training to be? I myself am just hoping to gain more skating moves/etc. and keep becoming a better skater in the future. What about you all?

[davincisop]

I'm looking to begin competing in the new year, and become a stronger skater. I need to work on my fear of doing elements at a speed.

[sk8Joyful]

I'd like to ask all our skaters here today is how serious a skater they are training to be?
I myself am just hoping to gain more skating moves/etc. and keep becoming a better skater in the future. What about you all?

Well, the more 'serious' I behave or get on the ice, the more I - um, get nervous, make more mistakes, fall down, get hurt Not good at all.

So for some years, I have worked very diligently just telling myself "RELAX Annie, the ice is your play...ground remember"; and
so I allow myself to be Silly, just have fun... and giggling alot, I delight in every little move that goes better...

Last month, one of the other Adult-skaters paid me an encouraging compliment,
saying: "While we stew about this move, for that test, for yet another competition, you simply Enjoy each experience of this learning adventure Good for you!"

[drskater]

I myself am just hoping to gain more skating moves/etc. and keep becoming a better skater in the future. What about you all?

Me too, FSWer! I'm serious in the sense that I take lessons and practice; I enter some competitions now and then and I strive to take tests. At my age, I can only go so far, but skating makes me happy and that is what counts the most.

[Sierra]

I am very serious- from the minute I step on the ice from when I get off all I do is work work work.. unlike some of my peers who mostly chat and fool around when they're on empty midday publics..

I do not have the resources to compete often. I compete twice a year.

My goal is to land all the doubles, including double axel. When I get there, I'll consider triples. I am not serious in the sense of aiming for the Olympics, because it is simply not realistic. But I am serious about passing all my tests and becoming the best coach I can be.

Right now I am tied down by my parents' will. But as soon as I can drive and can get a job, I'll throw all my resources into ice time and lessons.

[Laneybug7]

I'm starting to be very serious because I only skate one freestyle session a week.  For the amount of money...it's not worth wasting it with fooling around.   In saying that yes I do have a lot of fun practicing hard especally choreographing and creating new variations of spins and/or jumps.  I'm never going to be an Olympian, yet I would love to compete at Adult Nats and National Showcase at some point in my life.  Also I don't have a coach to guide me or conduct my practice, so alot of it is making a list of elements I know I need to work on and sticking to it.  (Lots of self motivation) And so with this answer I went in a full circle...basically it's work and play at the same time.;-)

[TheAquarian]

I will answer this question with what I told my coach before I'd ever even been on the ice.

"I have no idea what my potential is as a skater,  but whatever that potential is I would like to realize it. "

So far, I have not experienced anything to make me believe that I am anywhere close to the limit to what I can achieve in the sport, so I keep practicing 4-6 days a week, and taking lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays.

[TheAquarian]

Well, the more 'serious' I behave or get on the ice, the more I - um, get nervous, make more mistakes, fall down, get hurt Not good at all.

So for some years, I have worked very diligently just telling myself "RELAX Annie, the ice is your play...ground remember"; and
so I allow myself to be Silly, just have fun... and giggling alot, I delight in every little move that goes better...

Last month, one of the other Adult-skaters paid me an encouraging compliment,
saying: "While we stew about this move, for that test, for yet another competition, you simply Enjoy each experience of this learning adventure Good for you!"

I think you have the right attitude here and believe me attitude is about ten times more valuable than diligence because both having a good attitude and diligently practicing will bring you to the ice,  but the difference is that someone who practices without a positive spirit behind the practice  isn't going to learn as fast as someone who is out there simply doing what they love and expecting to succeed one way or another.

I have only been skating about 7 weeks now, however my coach has told me that she thinks of me as her "star student"  and I know that a lot of the coaches and folks at my rink talk about me and sometimes even take the time to comment on my quick progress.   I haven't been a distinctly athletic person in my entire life,  but I DO have a really good attitude about skating.

Here are a few things about my thought process that serve me well:

#1 - Expect to be amazing.  Even if you are only learning now, if you can find it within yourself to just assume that you are going to be awesome in the future, and that the only question is "How long" rather than "if"  you will move closer to that goal faster than if you are constantly questioning yourself.

#2 - Embrace your mistakes and laugh at them. In skating you WILL fall.  When you are learning a new move you WILL mess up.  Everyone who has mastered the same thing has fallen and messed it up before achieving perfection, so your mistakes should NOT be actively avoided.   Each time you mess up, you are given a lesson in what not to do.    I tend to think of hitting the ice as a necessary step on the way to being perfect, so ya might as well hurry up and get it over with so you can move on with understanding and doing bigger and better things.

#3 - Have FUN!   If you aren't doing this when you are on the ice, then it's time to sacrifice your skates to the recreation gods and ask for a new favorite hobby.   No one is making you skate, and it is certainly easier to NOT skate than it is to do it.   Each time you are on the ice there's got to be a part of you that remembers that you are there because you love doing it, even if whatever you are learning at the time is hard.


The one time that my progress really slowed for a week and a half was when my confidence was shaken.   I  kept practicing just as much as I did before, but when my confidence went poof, so too did my ability to advance.   In the end, it wasn't the on-ice training that made me get back into the groove,  it was the off ice steps I took to readjust my attitude.

I hope some of this helps

[singerskates]

I skate for fun but am serious in learning new skills to add to my ever increasing slow arsenal of skills.
I've tested a bit but I'm mostly driving by competition and skating in front of people. And with CPC (same as IJS but with the original name of CPC) as called in Canada, I get to compete against myself each time I go out to compete even if the skaters I'm competing against me are really ready to move up to the next level except for one thing that's holding them back.

This year I've been consentrating on my PC (Program Component Score), which is made up of Skating Skills, Transitions/Linking Footwork, Performance/Execution, Choreography/Composition and Interpretation, because many people beat me just with their second mark in the past. Don't get me wrong, I've been working on upping the anti on the first mark too. I've thrown out my not so great spiral sequence and have replaced it with footwork in hopes of getting a much higher score. I've also been blessed with the ISU recently making the 1/2 Loop Jump count the same as a reg. Loop Jump when proceeding the final jump/or being in the first part of a jump combination...eg. 1/2 Loop + Sal, 3 Lutz + 1 half Loop + 3 Flip... I'm only doing single jumps up to Lutz because I'm still in Adult Bronze until I can get my camel to 4 revs, backspin to 4 revs, consistant clean Lutz, an Axel and a flying sit or flying Camel spin.

So yeah, I'm serious but I'm having fun in the persuit.

[miraclegro]

I am serious.  A hard worker, and frustrated a lot.  But it keeps me going.....

No one knows how hard it is but me....when the young ones come up and say "just do it!" when they are lower to the ground and learned when they were five. 

BUt i keep trying....and trying....and  before i die, i will get that axel.  And maybe pass Novice moves.   

[TripleDoubleDouble]

Serious, very serious. Hopefully sectionals next year, if my freshmen year allows for the training time. And I'm determine to pass my Gold Dances and Gold Freestyle along with the senior supplementary moves. First I just think I'll aim for passing my junior free during the spring though...

[Rusty Blades]

When I started skating my goal quickly became to make it to (adult) Nationals and I worked my tail off to get there. I also have a full time job and a household to maintain on my own so it required a lot of LONG hours and hard work but I competed in 2007 and again in 2008 and brought home a Bronze medal in my age group for Women's Free last time out. I am realistic, I am no spring chicken and I doubt I will ever do better than that but I continue to work on my skating regularly. If I get the chance (time and money) to compete again, I want to be markedly better than the last time.

Yes, I am serious - I don't go out there to play but I DO enjoy myself.

[jjane45]

More serious than I initially expected and could afford to be, sigh. EVIL AOSS

[ibreakhearts66]

I'm not so sure anymore. Prior to my eating disorder, I was pretty serious--aiming to compete Novice at regionals and secretly hoping to make it to sectionals. Now that I've been out of training for 8 months, I don't know that I can bring myself to shell out the time and money to reach that level again. Plus, I don't know if my body can even handle the intensity of training required to compete at that level. But I do plan to keep skating, and hope to get through all of my moves and FS tests eventually. Maybe I'll give ice dancing a go, at least for testing purposes.

I guess aiming to be a double or even triple gold medalist is still pretty serious, but competition wise, I think I may be done. I do want to explore the artistic side of my skating and may do showcase skating, but I don't see myself making it to regionals except for fun.