patience in skating

[froggy]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and to skating. I'm 24 and I just took up skating 3 months ago. I'm taking private lessons now and practice 2x week. I only now just began working on crossovers bkwd and fwd, I still need quite a bit of work on my edges and 1 foot glides. I feel I'm progressing really slow. What do you think? Do the basics just come very hard and slow for some people like me??? I'm having a great time and loving it but I just wish I'd progress a bit faster!

[Debbie S]

I'd say you're progressing pretty fast. In group lessons, you generally take one skill level for a 6-week (or so) series and move on if you've mastered that. In the USFSA sequence, forward and backward crossovers and edges are in levels 4 and 5. I skipped Basic 3 (long story short: I was the only person signed up for Basic 3 for that series so the group lesson director let me move into level 4) and I reached Basic 4 after 3 1/2 months (counting the rink's 2-week lesson break during Christmas/New Year's), and got to Basic 5 6 weeks after that. If you want to progress faster, then you probably need to practice more and maybe add another lesson each week, but I'd say you're doing fine. It takes a while to master the basics.

[fadedstardust]

I'll go ahead and answer even if it's not in the right forum- in skating, you will get what you put in. First of all yes, everything comes at a slow pace. Some people pick up faster than others- I got a double axel about a month after trying it. Some people still don't have it three years after trying it, and they already have all their doubles so they are good skaters. Skating will be slow to learn, not just the basics- everything takes a long time and you can always get everything that you've learned to a BETTER level than it is.

HOWEVER, clearly as with anything else, the more time you put into it, the least amount of time it will take for you to learn things. It's great that you are taking private instruction, you will progress faster, but if you only skate twice a week (which I understand might be all you can manage right now) then you will probably progress pretty slowly. When kids just start out, they skate a couple of times a week, and they pass one level a year on average. As an adult you'll probably have a little bit of a harder time, but I would say that if you skate twice a week and learn at a regular pace, I would expect going up a level about once every six months to a year as far as Basic skills are concerned. Everyone is different, though. But if you want QUICK progress, you'll need more time on the ice, even if you don't have a coach with you the whole time.

[TashaKat]

Do the basics just come very hard and slow for some people like me??? I'm having a great time and loving it but I just wish I'd progress a bit faster!

People like you? You mean beginners? Of course it takes time when you start out. Very few people can get a double axel in a month :roll:

I like the quotation:

Beginners aren't bad skaters, they just lack experience

Don't forget that you're not just learning a completely new, completely unnatural skill but you're also coping with actually standing up on the ice, a difference in your balance AND at the same time trying to move your feet.

In addition to this the basics aren't 'basic' at all, they're b****y difficult and you STILL need to work on them even when you're much, much better. There are so many of the top free skaters whose basics are frankly awful.

Don't be in a hurry to progress, get the basics and everything else will be so much easier (I'm NOT saying that anything about skating is easy though, that's what keeps us coming back for more :D ). Just because some people pick things up quicker doesn't mean that they're doing it well. I remember struggling when I first started doing the loop, I could not get the damn jump despite having 'got' the others quite quickly. I used to see other skaters who weren't as 'good' as me getting it and was getting frustrated. My coach used to tell me that it didn't matter, they got it quickly but hardly got off the ice and only just got round, I may take longer to get it but that it would be better in the long run. It was little comfort at the time but she was right. When I eventually did get the loop it ended up as my best jump, I was even working on double loops which were nearly fully rotated :)

It's true that getting more time on the ice will help but you have all the time in the world and in 6 months time you'll wonder how you found it all so difficult :D

All the best

[Anita18]

Oh, don't worry about it. When I first started skating (at 16, LOL), it took me months to figure out how to glide on one foot. Edges took me FOREVER (like, a year to feel all of them - and I'm still getting a handle on my backward insides), but I'm so glad I took the time to learn them. I didn't even have a private coach - I took group classes and practiced a lot. Thanks to my patience, when I last took a group class, my jumps and spins were easily the best. Not saying that they were perfect, but I had come a long ways thanks to my diligence in learning my edges.

Sadly, since I've moved away to college, it's a lot harder to skate. When I started in high school, I would go two or three times a week when I was still the middle of learning my basics. Since I had a car and the rink was close by, it was so much easier. Last semester, I only went three times total, partly because of my class schedule and partly because the rink is much farther away and I need to take a bus. (And LA public transportation sucks) But, surprisingly, I've retained most of the skills that I had, and even progressed a little: my loop is getting more consistent, my spins are centering more, and my flip isn't so scary. Obviously, since I don't practice enough to warrant paying a coach, it isn't loads of progress, but it's something. This semester, I'm hoping to go more often.

Take the time to learn those basics! It will make it MUCH easier on you when learning more advanced things, believe me! Plus, once you've practiced a lot, you retain the feeling of the ice even when you leave it for a long period of time. About a year into my skating experience, I didn't skate for 3 weeks because my family went on vacation. The next time I got on the ice, it felt so unnatural and it took me a few sessions to get back into it. Now, I don't skate for months on end and when I get back on the ice, it comes back really quickly. So...keeping skating!

[Casey]

Beginners aren't bad skaters, they just lack experience
Now, if only we could get you to spell beginners right in your signature :-P ;-)

[Casey]

I've been skating for about 3 months as well (since the 6th of November), and while I've learned a lot, it's because I've been spending 15 hours a week on the ice, and continually trying to do better. Sometimes I think I'm not learning any more, or that I've forgotten things I was once better at, but I persevere and keep going and in reality everything just keeps getting more refined the more you do it and at least your balance and confidence increase.

I'm not going to say I don't have loads of bad habits, as I do not have a coach yet due to an unstable employment situation...but I think the most important part is just continuing to get yourself out onto the ice as much as you can (of course, I'm horribly addicted to it, so for me it's not an option).

If you truly want to learn more, don't be afraid to push yourself a bit more, and try new things. You will fall sometimes, but sometimes you will learn something new. Talk to other skaters and ask for advice on how to improve something you're working on.

If you want to take your time, that's perfectly fine too - everyone has their own personal limits. desires and goals. There's no penalty for taking as much time as you need. Only you can decide what's right for you.

[Mrs Redboots]

I've been skating for very nearly ten years, and I'm still appallingly bad. Doesn't stop me having great fun and trying really, really hard, though. When I started, I was fairly slim, but couldn't skate because I was such a beginner, plus I'm very unathletic; then I got fat & couldn't skate because I was so fat; now I'm slim again and hopefully, "This time, I'll win". It's my theme song for this year..... maybe I should do my interp to it?

[Chico]

Skating is a journey. Every journey has a start, and your at the start. Every skater has a starting point too, and we've all been here. Everybody. =-) Skating is a journey of learning new things; first you need to learn the steps, then you work on making these steps "coach right" and comfortable to you, AND then you try to make them consistent. Every day you skate you take a trip. Every day is new and why skating is such a big challenge and so much fun. Some days you can do anything, some days you can't do anything, some days you try like heck to improve, some days you try like heck not to kill yourself, some days you ....... Enjoy yourself and don't compare yourself to annyone. Be yourself and try to improve on your schedule. Some things will come easy and some will make you pull your hair out. Just enjoy the trip!

Chico

[froggy]

Thanks everyone for your advice and encouragement!! I'm going to try and work on putting in a 3rd day of skating during the week. It's funny b/c I realized I've been creating a lot of pressure for myself since the times a go to skate there are some very advanced skaters on the ice!!

all the best and happy skating to all :o)

[Raine]

Hi froggy! Welcome to our wonderful sport!

You're doing the right thing by taking lessons so early. One instructor said that it takes years to do crossovers really well, and it's true for most of us. I've been skating on/off for a long long time, and my coach cringes when she sees my forward crossovers, but I developed a lot of bad habits from working on my own for such a long time. If you're working on backward crossovers, I'd say you're doing just fine.

Cheers,
Raine

[mikawendy]

One example of patience in adult skating--learning and mastering the backspin! ;)