Deciding on what to do this year...

[jazzpants]

Brain storming here...

Okay, I know what I have to improve on this year to become more competitive... now I got an interesting situation...

I love the competition experience. However, I have the typical adult skater situation where I have limited time and $ to work on my skating and limited time to prepare for competitions. I do want to continue competing, but I'm wondering if I should go and take another year off to do more "technical catch up" and then come back and compete again and see where I'm at. Or is there a way I can do both but not have it eat up my time or have both drain my mental energy to where I am now. (I'm exhausted!!!)

The one good thing, I do have programs to skate to either way... so I don't really have to go and start from scratch. (Of course, I still have to get my sequined halter top, bell bottom pants and fake boobs!!!) :roll:

And you may be asking "So what do you need to work on that will take up a lot of time this year?" Well, one of my goals this year is to work on my overall skating (the crossovers, the mohawks, 3turns, etc.) so that I can get more speed and flow to it. I think they also want to work on my spirals, add in my Y-Spiral and maybe do something with my shoot the duck. The other goal is that my secondary coach wants to work on my spins this year! Gotta get my spins to catch up to my jumps now!!! (Of course, the quest to get a a consistent flip and lutz in my program is still in there...just not higher priority.)

Needless to say... that's a LOT on my plate this year and I'm not sure how to manage this AND still prepare for the competitive season.

Any thoughts?

[vesperholly]

How many competitions do you typically do? Maybe if you pare down and save up for the important ones, you won't feel so much pressure. Also, can you make a more defined set of goals for yourself? That lot seems pretty vague, but definitely not unobtainable!

I personally get inspired to work on different and more difficult stuff when I compete. I'm still high on skating from ANs two weeks ago (is it 2009 yet?)!

[jazzpants]

Generally, just the one at Skate SF... but this year it was 2 (Skate SF and AN) and in 2005/2006, it was Skate SF and Sectionals since it was local to me. But between March 2006 and Nov 2007 (Skate SF 2007), I did NOT compete at all b/c I was working on my Bronze Moves and FS tests.

This year, I have planned for 2... Skate SF and AN again, but am considering taking another hiatus and coming back to compete at Skate SF 2009.

Pare down... hmmmm? I'm only doing two this year... so I don't think I'm doing that much in the way of competitions... :??

I have made my list more specific:

Well, I am working on my crossovers this year. They seriously need work given the videos I've seen of myself vs. the other skaters! Also, better transitions and flow on forward 3turns and FI mohawks. I would also like to have better spirals and add on the catch foot and Y-Spirals this year too!

As for spins, I want a lower sit spin that stays well over the 3 revs. requirement. I would like to fix my back spins (both the upright and the sit) so that I can stay on the BO edge this time around. I would LOVE to have a good camel this year too!

Jumps: clean up flip entry, get the flip as consistent as my loop are now and the lutz somewhere consistent as my flips are now.

If I could make those goals this year, I'll be QUITE happy!!! :bow:

[starskate6.0]

:D
Hi Jazz
This is a great question so Ill share a little of my experience with this. :D
Time and Money are typical issues for many of us and I am always amazed to see the same kids at my rink on the ice for several sessions a day and taking lessons every day. Deep wallets are not common amongst us as adults.
However..
If nothing else happens I pick just one competition a year and If I can afford the rest Ill do it. for me its Oberstdorf. because its the cheapest event for me, Nationals is a big expence for me and I can't afford it every year. :?? In Fact after Oberstdorf this year I may hang up my skates for a couple of years.. Im getting tired..:roll:

As for priority . You can't go wrong with spending your first session doing nothing but skating stroking and going through your moves, brackets double threes, both ways, transitions to jumps, set ups etc etc etc what ever you can think off. I do the same thing for the first 45 min every day I skate.. Then move on to jumps and spins on the second session and skate a third if the body is up to it. The transitions help me prepare to jump and spin. Entry is everything..:mrgreen: Im not sure Ill go to Nationals nest year,, Right now the idea of hanging them up after Oberstdorf sounds pretty good,..:bow:

[skaternum]

Hi, Jazz!
Here's my input, for what it's worth. You had some major goals last year -- pass bronze fs and compete at AN. (Kudos for achieving both.) In my experience, after achieving test and competition goals, it's good to take a little time away from both. Sort of hunker down and work on those basic skating skills, in order to get them really competitive for the following year.

So my advice is to put your precious time and financial resources into lessons and practice this year so when you do compete again later, you can come out of the corner swinging!!

[Kim to the Max]

As for priority . You can't go wrong with spending your first session doing nothing but skating stroking and going through your moves, brackets double threes, both ways, transitions to jumps, set ups etc etc etc what ever you can think off. I do the same thing for the first 45 min every day I skate.. Then move on to jumps and spins on the second session and skate a third if the body is up to it.

I generally skate 2 sessions when I go (a total of 1.5 hours), and I will spend the first 45 minutes on freestyle (when there are more kids on the session), and then the 2nd 45 minutes, I work solely on moves (because there are less people and it's easier to get a full pattern in)...at least now I don't need to worry about those power circles...and running kids over at full speed :D

[flo]

Hi there,
How many lessons do you have a week? Are you getting enough practice time between lessons? If you have more than one lesson a week, I would suggest you substitute one for an edge class. Since you want to improve your skills, I would suggest continuing to work on programs. That's where I learn new skills and refine others. It's one thing to learn a skill, but being able to do it in a program is the next level. And know that it really does take quite a while to refine crossovers, this comes with time and you'll get it. I also don't think two events a year would take away training time, but that in preparing for these events you will learn a bit.

[kander]

Hey Jazz,

It seems a little early to be worrying about the competitive season. Skate SF isn't until October! I'd work on the elements and not worry about the program until at least summer.

Regarding the sit spin, does Maggie have you work on your quads?

Kevin

[jazzpants]

It seems a little early to be worrying about the competitive season. Skate SF isn't until October! I'd work on the elements and not worry about the program until at least summer. I'm actually working on those elements (i.e. crossovers, FI mohawks, 3turns) now... Not even doing my program these days...

Regarding the sit spin, does Maggie have you work on your quads?Maggie has me practicing shoot the ducks off ice on a stepper and I think I finally got it to the point where I can actually go down on one leg, but not consistently. My NYC coach had me started on shoot the ducks since last Christmas -- I now have the incentive to do them (i.e. he also expects to see a lower sit spin by the next time I see him again.)

Now coming back UP (never mind on one leg...) :roll:

Thank you for the comments! Keep 'em coming!!! :)

[jazzpants]

Hi there,
How many lessons do you have a week? Are you getting enough practice time between lessons? If you have more than one lesson a week, I would suggest you substitute one for an edge class. Since you want to improve your skills, I would suggest continuing to work on programs. That's where I learn new skills and refine others. It's one thing to learn a skill, but being able to do it in a program is the next level. And know that it really does take quite a while to refine crossovers, this comes with time and you'll get it. I also don't think two events a year would take away training time, but that in preparing for these events you will learn a bit.
I have two lessons a week... and BOTH coaches are working on edges in some shape or form. Last Friday, my secondary coach worked on stroking with me. (Focusing on posture though. My shoulders tends to ride up.) Last Thursday, primary coach worked me on back crossovers. Ummm... I need a LOT of work on it again... :oops:

Secondary coach also had me doing spins too and she wants the spin entry a certain way, which for the life of me I can't seem to *get*!

[techskater]

I go through this every year after ANs for about a month where we spend time almost exclusively on stroking, MIF patterns, new program or program adjustments, picking out new interp music, new spin variations (until we pick a couple to concentrate on), and new jumps and combos. By the end of May, things tend to have sorted themselves out (except for moves, those never seem to sort themselves out!) and the interp, program adjustments, and new spin positions/variations seem to settle in as part of the rotation of things to work on. Then we start preparing to compete at GRO. Then it's back to new stuff for most of the rest of the summer until it settles in again. If you can find that balance for yourself and your coaches, you can do both.

[FREESK8ER]

A rule of thumb is to practice 5 hours for every 1/2 hour lesson. I train and compete from September until the end of May. In the summer I take time to enjoy beach, golf and waverunning while practicing once a week. By August I cant wait to get back to training. During the summer I cut music and think about new programs. If you want longevity in the sport you need to step away for a while.
Starskate6.0 - You better not hang up those skates. We need you at the competitions with your skates and your cowbell..................

[kayskate]

Not a competitor myself so take this w a grain of salt.
Maybe you would want to do local comps only to gain exp w/o a huge travel investment. Sounds like you have what you need to compete (programs,costumes) and just want to improve.

Kay

[Skittl1321]

A rule of thumb is to practice 5 hours for every 1/2 hour lesson.

WHAT? At what level? Certainly not adult bronze? (I'm only PB, but I am lucky if I get 1:1 for lesson practice time, because of group lessons I sometimes have more lesson time than practice time.) I don't even skate 5 hours a week (I do 1.5 hr of lessons, 1 hr of synchro, and then maybe 1-1.5 hr of practice)- to do 5 hrs practice for every 1/2 hour lesson I'd have to do 15 hours of practice a week, plus seperate time to work on synchro elements outside of group practice.


Jazzpants- good luck deciding where to go next. I'm trying to figure out the same thing!

[patatty]

If I were you, I wouldn't stop practicing the programs, even if you decide to skip the competitions. I have found that doing the elements in a program really helps to make them stronger and more consistent. Maybe it's the pressure of having to pull it off and only getting one try to do it in the program that makes you really go for it. Try putting everything you want to work on in the program (you can always take out the weaker stuff before the competitions). This way, you are working on the skills and the program at the same time. You may be surprised at how well you can actually do it when forced to.

[sexyskates]

I find that improvement in all aspects of my skating is a slow and steady process, requiring lots of patience and practice. You are not going to have perfect crossovers in a year, even if you give up competing. And Pattatty is right, that doing an element in a program is taking it to a totally different level. Also, I have found that my experiences in competiting has made me a better competitior in general. The experience is teaching me how to control my nerves, and how to prepare myself mentally and physically for competition.

After the exhilaration of Nationals I enjoy taking a break from programs and working on improving my basic skating and elements. But after that, it's stimulating to get the creativity going and put together new programs and or learn new moves to jazz up old programs. And I would miss my competitive skating friends too much if I didn't go to the adult skating competitions.

So, I think you need to do both - work hard on your basics but still do competitions. However, you can take a little break from competing right now.

[jazzpants]

... gosh darn it!!! I'm going to do my darnest to make it to Adults National 2009! I originally decided to take some time off to just work on my in-between skating and just take it easy. As soon as I did that, my skating started becoming CRAP!!! :evil:

Why? The motivation to improve was taken away from me! I asked both coaches if what they mean by "improving my in-between skating" means that they will work me on Silver Moves more this year. Primary coach's answer is very telling... "Not necessarily!!!" (I have NOT talked with secondary coach about this issue though...) But anyway, I didn't get the sense primary coach wants me working on moves. And without any goals to compete OR do a Moves test, my motivation level for improving my skating immediately dropped!

Also, I was also dealing with some old personal demons recently that I got out of thru skating before! I realized that I need to skate and compete to keep those demons at bay. So... for my sanity alone, I'm saving up $$$ to make it to Grand Rapids, come hell or high water!!! :mrgreen:

(Okay, I also have to make sure when Terri C does pass her Bronze FS test that I'm there to hand off the champagne to her too!!! ;) So Terri... you better pass that Bronze FS test this May 14!!! Do it for me!!! :twisted: )

[Rusty Blades]

LOL! I don't know about you Jazz but at my point in skating there isn't anything that doesn't need work! 8O But I also understand "limitations"!

I started just over two years ago, as a non-skater, and pushed like heck to take an Interpretive program to (Canadian) Nationals 14 months in (which I did). Like everybody else, I was re-charged by Nationals and decided I wanted a different Interpretive AND a Free skate program for the next Nationals. My coach thought that was too much and it sure made for one TOUGH year but I made it.

Now I have 2 programs that I like and, reviewing my performance (videos and marks) at Nationals, it is also obvious where the most effective improvements can be made. Since I want to retire in a couple of years (which means being more careful with $$ and scaling back the ice time a bit) it means picking goals with "the most bang for the buck" and scaling back on the "new stuff".

And don't forget the enjoyment factor! Allow yourself time for the things you enjoy!

[Mrs Redboots]

I think you're very wise, Jazzpants. I also think that now that you have travelled all the way across the USA to skate in competition, you should plan to travel just that bit further and come to at least one of next year's European competitions (Mountain Cup, Oberstdorf.....). Start saving the pennies.....

[rlichtefeld]

I think you're very wise, Jazzpants. I also think that now that you have travelled all the way across the USA to skate in competition, you should plan to travel just that bit further and come to at least one of next year's European competitions (Mountain Cup, Oberstdorf.....). Start saving the pennies.....

Or, almost as far for her: Atlanta. The Peach Classic (http://www.gafsc.org/peachclassic) will be August 30-31 this year.

Rob

[LilJen]

I'm thinking of putting together a footwork (1-min) program for an ISI comp in late June. I've been doing almost exclusively moves, moves, moves, moves. And I've found that the few programs (one an FS1, the other a quartet for our club show) that I've done have helped me exponentially and are much more interesting for me (since I'm a musical kind of gal) to work on than just the straight elements. Natch, the elements need work alone but it's a bigger challenge to string them all together and points out my weaknesses better than just practicing them separately. (Yeah, I have yet to propose this to my coach, who might say, "but what about your PB moves test later in the summer?" to which I'll reply, "oh, those moves will DEFINITELY be in this program!)

So: how about putting together an artistic or footwork program???