How do you impress the judges

[cutiesk8r43]

I'm going to a copetitoin the 21st of may and just for grins :D Does anyone have any tips on how to impress the judges :?:
thanx in advance :)
~cutie ;)

[jp1andOnly]

skate your best

I'm going to a copetitoin the 21st of may and just for grins :D Does anyone have any tips on how to impress the judges :?:
thanx in advance :)
~cutie ;)

[mdvask8r]

Keep your head up, SMILE, and skate as if you OWN the ice. Skate to the crowd, not just to the judges -- eye contact brings them into your performance with you. Most of all, have FUN out there.

[MannyisHOT]

When you are skating on the ice skate in and do what the big skaters do! like the ones at Nationals and Canadians and such..... when you skate one..... i dont know how to explain it..... maybe someone can help me?!?!?

[NYCskater]

I'm going to a copetitoin the 21st of may and just for grins :D Does anyone have any tips on how to impress the judges :?:
thanx in advance :)
~cutie ;)


When you figure that out, let me know. I'm obviously not doing something right!

[jenlyon60]

Skate strong, center your spins, fully rotate your jumps, and SMILE!

If you fall or otherwise mess up, get up quickly and keep going.

If you look petrified, it broadcasts to everyone, including the judges.

[Debbie S]

If you look petrified, it broadcasts to everyone, including the judges.

Yep, that was always my problem! :roll:

Remember to bend your knees - it sounds obvious, but it's easy to forget.

Good luck!

[Layback]

when you skate, show that you enjoy what you are doing...nothing more painful than to watch a skater perform who looks like they dont want to be there. our attention is always with you but we know when your heart just isnt in it. even when the jumps let you down, maintain commitment to your program. also, please...PLEASE just skate elements that you are able to do. too many skaters try too many difficult elements hoping that this will secure them a higher placement because of the risk factor. sometimes (often!) it is just better to do what you are capable of and to do it well and be proud of your accomplishment...it should never be about results but about skating *your* personal best--your biggest competition is yourself.

i second the suggestion to keep smiling. :D :D :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Simple steps, beautifully done - i.e. stay with what you can do.

Smile. Make eye contact. Entertain....

[windsor]

Smile. Exude confidence - they know you are nervous, they don't want to see it!

Keep your head up and good posture! Look happy and no matter what you do, don't act embarrassed or as if you feel silly. That makes the viewer uncomfortable as well.

Give it your all!! And, good luck!! :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh, and don't do my favourite trick of looking up and presenting quite beautifully to the judges as I go past - and then allowing my head to drop just as soon as I am past....

[TimDavidSkate]

I impress them first on warmups with speed all over the ice and solid jumps.
Also a lot of eye contact.
I try not to show them sign of me being weak.
(Even though I am panicking and almost about to collapse b/c of fear and nervousness)

See if those things will work for you, I doubt that you will have time to think during the warmup.

[Thin-Ice]

Smile. Exude confidence - they know you are nervous, they don't want to see it!

Keep your head up and good posture! Look happy and no matter what you do, don't act embarrassed or as if you feel silly. That makes the viewer uncomfortable as well.

:D

Wow.. you said in two paragraphs what it's been taking me weeks to tell my friend who is just starting to compete. I'm going to print out your advice and just hand it to her! This is the perfect size for her to pull out of her skatebag just before she goes on the ice. :)

[NickiT]

But how can you not look nervous when you are feeling absolutely terrified? I just wish I could go out and skate like I do in my lesson. I know I can do the stuff, but nerves always get in the way when I'm competing!

Nicki

[Mrs Redboots]

But how can you not look nervous when you are feeling absolutely terrified? I just wish I could go out and skate like I do in my lesson. I know I can do the stuff, but nerves always get in the way when I'm competing!It's about acting - you have to act as though you aren't scared! Use all the tricks people use when they are about to go on the stage, or into the pulpit, and are nervous - there are a load of exercises you can do to get yourself centred & grounded. Mostly to do with breathing & relaxation - for some people, it's almost more important to do that than it is to warm up!

The one that works best for me is to sit down with both feet flat on the floor - okay, both blades, if you already have your skates on - back straight but relaxed, hands loosely in lap, then breathe in, counting 4, hold for 4, exhale for 8. Try to get your breathing right down into the pit of your tummy. Once you are comfortable with the breathing rhythm, imagine that you are breathing in confidence & skill, and breathing out all the negative things that stop you performing well.... fear, and nerves, and stuff.... sounds ridiculous, written down like that, but it works.

[jenlyon60]

After my warm-up is done and before I compete, I don't watch the skaters ahead of me. That way I won't necessarily know how they skated (compared to how I hope/expect to skate).

Something else coach told me was that, as long as I didn't take a long time about it, to take 5 or 10 seconds once I'm more or less in place and just settle myself. Shake the arms a bit, step a bit, then stand in place ready to start. When I'm testing/competing with my coach, as we finalize our starting pose, he'll usually say something nice or give me some encouragement. I usually comment something about "let's get this done and over with..."

You don't want to take TOO much time getting to your starting place and getting settled (not to mention that if you take too long, there is a deduction for delay), but you can take a few seconds to settle yourself (and they'll seem like more than you think).

[NoVa Sk8r]

It's about acting - you have to act as though you aren't scared! Or in pairs skating, it's about acting as though you don't hate your partner. That's sometimes harder than the program elements. :P Tee hee! ;)

[flo]

Enjoy yourself. No matter what the level, the audience and the judges like to see someone who is enjoying the experience.

[Skate@Delaware]

But how can you not look nervous when you are feeling absolutely terrified? I just wish I could go out and skate like I do in my lesson. I know I can do the stuff, but nerves always get in the way when I'm competing!

Nicki

Have you tried "Practice competitions" by way of exhibitions or skating shows at your home rink? Sometimes that helps you get used to 'stage fright' (you can get used to it-I don't know if you can ever get over it)

[TimDavidSkate]

After a lot of competitions you will learn more about pacing yourself and what suites you.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Skate well. At the beginning levels, regardless of what anyone says, that's what they care about.

As you advance, I think other things come into play (certainly not for all judges, but I think for some), but if you're just getting into competing you have a long time bfore you have to worry about that.

[samba]

Stay within your capabilities and if you are at the lower level remember your basics, the judges are examining that more than the elements. A smooth programme is better than a shakey one.

Actually looking at the last entry I thinks thats basically the same.

[peanutskates]

just practice and practice before you go.
I tend to get nervous if I am suddenly tested on something. Last lesson I had been practicing my 3 turns for 1 and a half hours, my coach was looking then during the lesson he was like, show me your 3 turns. the things I had been doing quite well for more than an hour suddenly turned to unbalanced messes with terrible edges. he goes, "i was going to move you to level 7 but you need to practice those 3 turns more". i wanted to kick myself.

I know I will pass next time because after this I practiced them even harder and got them so well... it's like, you need to do all your elements as naturally as simple stroking. if my coach had said to me, skate round the rink a few times, i don't think I would have blanked so much because just skating is so natural. so make all your movements practised and natural. yup.

[Skate@Delaware]

Smile. Exude confidence - they know you are nervous, they don't want to see it!
It's not a matter of the judges not wanting to see it-they almost expect it (especially at the lower levels). Rather, they want to see CONFIDENCE. You can be confident and nervous, but the confidence overrides the nervousness.

Don't mistake nerves for excitement. I had one girl from my rink who was shaking when she stepped off the ice yesterday-it was from the adrenaline rush (excitement) instead of nerves.

[cassarilda]

I know from experience (in dance), and from what others have told me, that if your face stays the same confident, unwavering look (whilst of course including different emotions depending on your program), it will help you get over anything you do wrong with your feet... If you flinch or grimace, everyone will look straight away at your feet to see what you did wrong...

It is all about acting, and the more you do it, the easier it gets.. practise it before hand.. you might feel silly at the rink doing it, but trust me, its nicer and more impressive watching someone with ice presentation and confidence, with arms out and head up, than someone who just does the moves without any confidence, or with a scowl, and looking at their feet, with arms at their side or sloppy... also, practising your arms up definately helps build the muscles ;)

Also, in practise, skate like you are competiting.. the judges watch the practise as well, and in Aussie Nationals, the practise sessions the day or so beforehand are just as important as the day to imprint yourself in the judges mind for good reasons (this is info from hubby ;) ).

And have fun!! :) Thats why you skate after all.

and if you fall, get up and keep skating ;)

[Sonic]

Well, I only have very limited experience of competitions (only done 3 baby ones) but totally agree with Mrs Redboots. I say - if at first you can't skate - fake it! Or put it another way - if you're going to mess it up, mess it up with a bit of pizazz and you might just get away with it.

My first competition was a spin spiral jump, and apart from a great spiral, the rest of it varied from mediocre to just plain lousy, I was so nervous I was shking, but I kept telling myself 'who cares, it's only a bit of fun', and maintained a silly grin throughout. To crown it all, I toe picked myself at the end, which resulted in a spectacular skid across the ice on my front. I just thought 'Sod it' - kicked my leg up in the air...and got a standing ovation (not to mention my coach in stitches with laughing). The result? I won - even though I felt the other skaters were better than me.

In my second competition, a novice foxtrot, again my skating wasn't great, but in the warm up I came onto the ice as if I owned the place, and kept smiling throughout the performace - I didn't win, but got placed.
:mrgreen:

S xxx

[jskater49]

I really believe in smiling. Because even if you skate terrible, if you are smiling people think, "Well bless her heart, she's having a good time" but if you skate bad and you look miserable, then everybody just feels embarrassed to be watching.

J

[LilJen]

But how can you not look nervous when you are feeling absolutely terrified? I just wish I could go out and skate like I do in my lesson. I know I can do the stuff, but nerves always get in the way when I'm competing!

PRETEND!!! I absolutely agree with the other posters who say it's acting. I have yet to do my first skating competition but did numerous others as a kid/young adult (gymnastics, Alpine skiing [okay, exuding confidence doesn't *really* matter there], violin, etc). Deep breaths and pretty much acting it out worked okay for me. I get to test this out at my first comp a week from Saturday.

[mtskater82]

This thread is giving me some good tips. LilJen, are you competing at Mids? It'll be my first one - Pre-Bronze - ...not too nervous yet, but that could be a different story come the 17th!

[Mrs Redboots]

In my second competition, a novice foxtrot, again my skating wasn't great, but in the warm up I came onto the ice as if I owned the place, and kept smiling throughout the performace - I didn't win, but got placed.
:mrgreen:
Actually, what got you placed in that competition wasn't so much the smiling (although that, too), but the fact that you kept your head up, and looked where you were supposed to be looking, not down at the ice as all too many of your competition did. The smiling certainly didn't hurt, though, nor did your air of confidence as you took to the ice!

[Skate@Delaware]

If you are having a tough time at competitions with nerve, then try getting "crowd time" some other way-ice shows, public speaking courses, acting classes, etc.

Believe me, they all help! And, nothing beats experience! The more you do, the better you get (it may not get easier, but you develop ways of dealing with it).

[jskater49]

If you are having a tough time at competitions with nerve, then try getting "crowd time" some other way-ice shows, public speaking courses, acting classes, etc.

Believe me, they all help! And, nothing beats experience! The more you do, the better you get (it may not get easier, but you develop ways of dealing with it).

Well as someone who has a lot of experience with public speaking and even singing in public--I have to say - skating is totally different. I can get up and talk or sing in front of a crowd...no problem - skate for people, that's a different story. So I'm not sure that really transfers well

j

[slusher]

I did trial judging and following an evaluator around this season. Two things stuck with me:

Judges watch warm ups, if you pop an element, give it the big finish and above all, don't kick the ice in disgust.

which is point two. Smile and look like you're enjoying yourself. Practice smiling, glue it on if you have to.

About trial judging, picking the top three or four was easy for the most part. The rest, I wasn't even close.

[newskaker5]

I have yet to compete in skating, but from a gymnastics perspective, the judges love confidence. I found even when i did a great routine, if I looked like I was going to pass out from nerves, my scores were low. If you keep your head up, have great posture, and reflect you are confident in what a great performance you are about to give/did give, the judges will take note.

Also, I found visualizing my routine before each event a huge help. Also have a few key phrases to remind yourself while you compete - for instance, "head up" "smile", "breathe", etc - we used to choreograph these "phrases" into our routines such as stop and smile here, deep breath here - it helps. It is very easy to forget to breathe when you are nervous! haha

[doubletoe]

Put yourself in the place of the judges and imagine you are watching a skater who is screwing up and getting more and more nervous as her program goes on. How do you feel? Good? No, you feel uncomfortable. You are squirming in your seat. So if you want a positive response from the judges, do whatever it takes to make them feel comfortable! A big smile as you get up from a fall, or a grin and bow with a flourish after your worst program ever is going to give you every advantage! But if you use your body language ot post a big price tag on yourself that says "$0.29" then guess what? You've just told them that's all you're worth and they'll take your word for it. That's not just true in skating; it's true in life! On Saturday I smiled after a weak landing on an easy jump and I considered that a milestone for me, since I had never done that before. I hope to get to the point where I remember to smile after *every* mess up from now on, LOL!

[Sonic]

Well as someone who has a lot of experience with public speaking and even singing in public--I have to say - skating is totally different. I can get up and talk or sing in front of a crowd...no problem - skate for people, that's a different story. So I'm not sure that really transfers well

j

I'm exactly the same. I've given presentations and they didn't bother me in the slightest. I've done several singing auditions and been on stage several times a large theatre in front of hundreds of people - didn't bother me in the slightest, in fact I really enjoyed the experiences!

Standing out there on freezing cold ice in a little dress in front of judges and an audience? Having to perform skating elements when you can barely stop shaking? A whole different ballgame...though I have to say I was distincly less nervous (in fact, barely nervous at all) by the third comp than at the first one, so I guess there's hope....

S xxx

[Tiggerwoos]

In my second competition, a novice foxtrot, again my skating wasn't great, but in the warm up I came onto the ice as if I owned the place, and kept smiling throughout the performace - I didn't win, but got placed.
:mrgreen:

S xxx

Actually someone that knows you was talking to me at Slough the other day mentioned your dance comp and said you should have won as she felt you were the best skater, so you're definitely doing something right!:)

[Mrs Redboots]

Well as someone who has a lot of experience with public speaking and even singing in public--I have to say - skating is totally different. I can get up and talk or sing in front of a crowd...no problem - skate for people, that's a different story. So I'm not sure that really transfers well

j
I find it does - if I use the same breathing/centring down techniques before I skate that I do before I take a service or preach, it does seem to help me make the nerves work for me, rather than against.

[jskater49]

I find it does - if I use the same breathing/centring down techniques before I skate that I do before I take a service or preach, it does seem to help me make the nerves work for me, rather than against.

That might be why nerves would be so difficult for me to deal with - I never get nervous before preaching or doing a service..never did, so being so nervous was a new experience for me ...in the beginning I remember panicking over the fact that my legs were shaking..."My legs are shaking, how can I skate" and then I would make myself even more anxious about being anxious!

I have a different coach now, and she spends time with me a half hour before the competition, going through my warm up and stretching and walking through my program with me (if she can) I found that helps a lot - my old coach had so many kids competing, you were lucky if she could show up in time for your ice warm up.

Not sure how well my daughter will be in calming me down. Last time I tested she snapped at me "Would you stop pacing - you are driving me crazy"

j

[MusicSkateFan]

:twisted: SKATE FASTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE:twisted: 8-) 8-) 8-)

[Mrs Redboots]

That might be why nerves would be so difficult for me to deal with - I never get nervous before preaching or doing a service..never did, so being so nervous was a new experience for me ...in the beginning I remember panicking over the fact that my legs were shaking..."My legs are shaking, how can I skate" and then I would make myself even more anxious about being anxious!It's not so much butterflies, when I'm preaching (it can be, when I skate), but there are definitely nerves there... so I need to centre down and breathe into it, and find the technique transfers. Not actually sure where I first started using it - in the rink or in the vestry! But it works.

[doubletoe]

I'm exactly the same. I've given presentations and they didn't bother me in the slightest. I've done several singing auditions and been on stage several times a large theatre in front of hundreds of people - didn't bother me in the slightest, in fact I really enjoyed the experiences!

Standing out there on freezing cold ice in a little dress in front of judges and an audience? Having to perform skating elements when you can barely stop shaking? A whole different ballgame...though I have to say I was distincly less nervous (in fact, barely nervous at all) by the third comp than at the first one, so I guess there's hope....

S xxx

Yep, same here! I used to be on the speech team in high school and even though I was nervous, the adrenaline just helped me think faster. My knees could have been knocking behind the podium but you don't need your knees to talk, LOL! Skating is such a physical performance and requires such finesse that the shaky knees will just do you in! I use technique cue words as I skate to walk me through each element and keep me focused, and before stepping out on the ice, I do deep, slow breathing to short-circuit the fight-or-flight response. It really helps.

[LilJen]

This thread is giving me some good tips. LilJen, are you competing at Mids? It'll be my first one - Pre-Bronze - ...not too nervous yet, but that could be a different story come the 17th!

Um, I think it might be called "Midwestern Invitational"? Or "Spring Fling"? All I know is that it's basic skills, baby, which is ME until I pass my pre-bronze moves & FS (hopefully in May, but that 1-footed spin is giving me problems!). I'm not sure I can consider it a "real" comp because (1) totally signed up at the last minute and had no intentions of competing until maybe next year and (2) the moves include fwd XOs, T-stops, inside mohawks, and backwards glides and that's IT. No jumps, no spins, no 3-turns, practically nothing. Of course, now that I've said that I'll probably fall on something reeeeeeally stupid, like curtseying!

[techskater]

mtskater-
Liljen appears to be competing somewhere else, not MN

[phoenix]

I want to thank the OP for bringing up this topic, & all of you for your replies. It has been very helpful to read through the thread. I'm testing on Sunday, & now I'm approaching it with a whole different attitude, and I'm really focusing on the presentation. In practice today I smiled a lot & had a lot more fun! I've decided the skating will be what it will be, and for the rest I'm going to fake it!!

So thank you all--you have given me courage. :bow: :bow: