am i in the forgotten group?

[sue123]

First, let me say hi to everyone, and tell you about myself to let you understand my question. i'm 19, and i used to skate until i was 13, but i had to stop because of some major knee problems. basically, i dislocated my knee doing a jump, didn't tell anybody because i knew they would make me stop skating (stupid, i know) so i kept skating for about 2 more months, until it got so bad i couldn't walk anymore. my doc told me i needed to stop skating.

well, i didn't listen to him and kept skating, but didn't jump. flash foward about 6 years, and i started doing some simple jumps. spinning just doesn't do it for me anymore. and i would really like to be competitive again, but based on my age, that would put me in the novice group, no? there's no way i could do double jumps. but i'm too young for the adult division. is there any level that i could compete at? kinda like a beginners older group sorta thing? anyone have any ideas?

[vesperholly]

Yes, you are in a forgotten group, but the good news is that many adult competitions are offering "young adult" levels that are 18-24. What if any tests did you take when you were younger? This may put you out of competitions if you passed anything higher than Juvenile.

[sue123]

how do i find out about the young adult comps? are they posted on the competitions website or on the usfsa website or something?

and actually, i think the highest level i placed was juvenile. never made it to the intermediate level.

[Melzorina]

You could think about ice dancing, it's a lot more relaxd and....ahhhh if you know what I mean. Shame about your knee by the way, I have knee problems which I am ignoring at the moment! I just hope it doesn't get as serious as yours!

[fadedstardust]

Well, to pass the Novice freestyle test you need doubles (and the MITF test is pretty hard, too) but to compete in Novice these days you'd need a double axel and two triples- that's what most girls on the podium have. I don't know what ever happened to your knee (did you get surgery or is it healed or what?) but if it is healed, you could get a coach and start working on getting back your strength and testing up the levels and seeing how far you can go, and if by the time you're 25 you still don't have any triples then you can go in the adult division. I mean sure you can go now but they're all non-qualifying events, so you might as well use the time you've got to get yourself to the best of your ability and then decide which track you feel you'll fit best in. In the meantime if you do want to compete "for fun", you could also join and compete in ISI competitions, they have no age limits. Good luck!

[Mrs Redboots]

You could think about ice dancing, it's a lot more relaxd and....ahhhh if you know what I mean. Shame about your knee by the way, I have knee problems which I am ignoring at the moment! I just hope it doesn't get as serious as yours!Is there a skater that doesn't have knee problems that they ignore as long as possible????

[skaternum]

Sue123,
Just to clarify: there aren't any young adult comps. There are adult comps that also offer Young Adult categories. There's a whole thread in this forum that lists all the upcoming adult competitions. Or you can use the USFSA's event search and narrow it by Adult. Then you just have to read the announcments to see if they offer young adult events.

Adult comps are a lot of fun. Hope you can make it to some!

skaternum

[backspin]

You could think about ice dancing, it's a lot more relaxd and....ahhhh if you know what I mean.

Spoken as a true bystander who's never trained seriously as an ice dancer, I presume? Sorry--couldn't resist. One of my pet peeves. Tell that to me later today when I'll be getting off the ice in tears of exhaustion from my ice dance practice!

Back on topic, as you can see, you do have some options. And, to be fair, ice dance will not pound your knees like the jumps will, although you do have to get a very deep knee bend, which is also quite straining on them.

[Elsy2]

I'm going to try and post a link for you with info on adult competition eligibility.

http://www.sk8stuff.com/f_rules/adult_qualifying_eligibility.htm

[singerskates]

Don't forget to get wired to Competitive Adult Skaters which is for skaters, coaches and judges ages 18+ who have competed, are competing or are thinking about competing be they just starting out in skating, returning to the ice, reg. competitive, elite competitive or pro skaters.

The URL is in my signature below....

singerskates a.k.a. singnskate

[sk8er1964]

.......and if by the time you're 25 you still don't have any triples then you can go in the adult division. I mean sure you can go now but they're all non-qualifying events, so you might as well use the time you've got to get yourself to the best of your ability and then decide which track you feel you'll fit best in.

Just FYI (not to be nasty, just to clarify) -- Adult Nationals is a qualifying event, for those who compete in Championship Gold, Championship Masters and Championship Dance events (maybe someday championship pairs, but not yet). We have to qualify through our sectionals (there aren't enough adults, yet, for regionals). My sectionals medal was the same medal that the kids got. Some of the championship masters skaters, both men and women, landed triples at Lake Placid this year.

Now, to the original question - I think that YA events might just be the place for you. If you only passed Juv., then that would probably put you at YA Silver or YA Gold (doesn't it depend on the local competition rules?). YA Silver would be limited to singles, up to an axel, and YA Gold doesn't limit jumps, but probably doesn't have a whole lot of doubles. I've only seen a YA Silver, so I don't know for sure what a Gold would have.

I think joining our adult ranks would be good for you -- we understand injuries, we understand limitations, and we cheer loudly for everyone who gets out there. It's a lot of fun, and I would highly recommend it! :D

[sue123]

Well, to pass the Novice freestyle test you need doubles (and the MITF test is pretty hard, too) but to compete in Novice these days you'd need a double axel and two triples- that's what most girls on the podium have. I don't know what ever happened to your knee (did you get surgery or is it healed or what?) but if it is healed, you could get a coach and start working on getting back your strength and testing up the levels and seeing how far you can go, and if by the time you're 25 you still don't have any triples then you can go in the adult division. I mean sure you can go now but they're all non-qualifying events, so you might as well use the time you've got to get yourself to the best of your ability and then decide which track you feel you'll fit best in. In the meantime if you do want to compete "for fun", you could also join and compete in ISI competitions, they have no age limits. Good luck!

i hear what you're saying, but i never had any surgery because i was told it may not work, and i still wouldn't have been able to skate, but since i was young, i was still growing, so they thought it might heal up. whether it's really "healed" or not, i don't think it'll ever be healed because it still gives me problems. sometimes, just bending it too much makes it hurt. not enough for me to stop whatever i'm doing, but enough for me to notice it. i've done a bunch of strength training for it (i also run, so i definitly needed to soup up the strength in my knee for that) but it's still a lot weaker than my left.

not to get all pessimistic here, but i don't think i'll get the double, just because of the force of the landing. now, i've been doing some half jumps and attempting some singles, and i've been rather iffy on those landings. if i do land them, it's usually 2 footed, or i can check the landing, but it's really shaky. but i think i could probably work on that to get them to look decent at least. but getting a double, let alone a triple, it doesn't look like it's in the future. even when i used to skate, jumping was never my forte. as my coach put it, i was a "better artistic interpreter of the music than a technical skater". meaning just about everyone else i skated with had better jumps and spins, but i could do a mean spiral.

but the ISI competitions sounds like it might work out, maybe. we'll see. thanks for htat idea though.