Talking yourself out of jumps

[sk8ryellow]

Well I had my breakdown today all because of what my coach told me was nerves and talking myself out of doing my jumps. It felt like I had hit rock bottom.:frus: I ended up getting on after this huge breakdown for another half hour and landed my jumps. Has this ever happened to anyone?? This is the week before my competion. How did you handle it?

[hanca]

Hi,
I am not as good skater as you are (I am doing only single jumps), but I read recently something about similar problem. The person kept popping jumps. Apparently, what happens when a skater is popping jumps is that the skater makes a last minute decision to abort the jump. Which is actually what you are doing too; you talk yourself out of it completely.
What they advised was to count.

Look at the link, you may find it useful
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Figure-Skating-1600/2009/6/popping.htm

I would try it, you have nothing to loose. It may be that if you start concentrating on counting when you are approaching jump, you may stop talking yourself out of jump because your mind will be occupied by concentrating on counting.

hanca

[Skittl1321]

My coach always tells me I think too much about everything and I need to stop thinking and just do it.

I haven't figured out how. I have a life time of thinking before doing behind me.

What I've been trying to do is talk myself INTO things instead of out of them. So I try to keep something else in my head rather than the technical thoughts about the elements. I did my bronze moves in the field singing Sound of Music songs in my head, not to the beat, but just so I skated using muscle memory only. I now backspin singing a song too- for the same purpose, to prevent me from thinking.

[Black Sheep]

I only have to do this on a crowded session when I fear landing a jump cleanly might cross someone else's path. I do it out of pure respect for my fellow skaters. ;)

[FSWer]

I have never did Jumps. But I've always wondered at least how a skater gets the hieght in skates TO jump. I mean....skates make your feet heavy. So how do they do it?

[Clarice]

I have never did Jumps. But I've always wondered at least how a skater gets the hieght in skates TO jump. I mean....skates make your feet heavy. So how do they do it?

The most important thing is to bend your knees. Try it off the ice in your shoes. If you try to jump with straight legs, you won't get very high. If you bend your knees first, then jump, you'll go a lot higher.

[techskater]

I only have to do this on a crowded session when I fear landing a jump cleanly might cross someone else's path. I do it out of pure respect for my fellow skaters. ;)

Yeah, I got an earful about that on my lesson Thursday afternoon from my secondary coach during my program. He made a funny comment about how as long as there's no death involved, go ahead and take your space, even if you knock someone over - that's why there's liability insurance! ;)

[Skittl1321]

Yeah, I got an earful about that on my lesson Thursday afternoon from my secondary coach during my program. He made a funny comment about how as long as there's no death involved, go ahead and take your space, even if you knock someone over - that's why there's liability insurance! ;)

LOL- I've been working on "power" into backspins, and my coach keeps telling me "you can do it, you know you can do it, you also know that speed makes spinning easier, why don't you just do it"- my repsonse was "it causes instant death, I read it on the internet". he assured me it wouldn't cause instant death, but I'm still unsure, so I'm still proceeding with caution, not power.

sigh

[sk8ryellow]

ya I tried the one two three thing and it helped me but I think now its all on me to believe in me!

[kander]

Yeah, I got an earful about that on my lesson Thursday afternoon from my secondary coach during my program. He made a funny comment about how as long as there's no death involved, go ahead and take your space, even if you knock someone over - that's why there's liability insurance! ;)

Heh, I heard a coach on a public session tell her student to take the space like she owned it.

[ibreakhearts66]

I tend to have confidence/popping issues. What has helped me the most is to find rhythms for all of my jumps so it feels more automatic. I work on focusing more on what I do just before the jump than anything else.

Examples:
Axel: I focus on the strong back outside edge, looking over my left shoulder so that the neck muscle on the side of your neck that runs toward the inside of your collar bone is engaged. Then I think about accelerating onto the take-off edge. From there I can usually allow my body to do the rest.

2toe: This is a big one that came from my jump coach. I do a RFI mohawk, cross in front to RBI edge step forward to LFI edge, then step into the 3-turn and go. This (http://www.youtube.com/user/ibreakhearts66#play/all/uploads-all/2/XUkhWBrw3uE) video has my 2toe with that entrance, this (http://www.youtube.com/user/ibreakhearts66#play/uploads/5/Ks7QvU0ZIVg) video at 1:45 has older 2toes (as do most of my videos). I now pop them less, have a better air position, and feel much more secure on the landings.

2flip: I do a mohawk entrance, so I go from CW back crossovers, then come forward and do a slide chasse-ish (not as deep) step to my LFI edge, then RFI, hold the left leg in front to check with, then mohawk and go.

I've found that as long as I concentrate on the rhythm, timing and steadiness of all of my take-offs, I feel more confident leaving the ice and letting my muscle memory do the rest. Plus, if you're thinking about a certain rhythm, you have less time to freak out.

[sk8ryellow]

Thats also good advice. I ran through my agonizing novice long today and it seemed better but its all in the confidence. The competition is on Thursday and Friday for me. I skate my long on thursday and my footwork and dance on friday.