After one year ...

[quarkiki2]

After reading the plateau thread and realizing that I'm approaching the 1-year anniversay of my first skating lesson I thought I'd ask all of you adult skaters a question. What were you learning at your one-year mark and how far had you come? Did you start skating as an adult or were you a former child roller or ice skater?

One year ago I had been on the ice maybe five times in my life. I could not do forward stroking the length of the rink because it was too much distance and I was scared -- the width was about all I could do. I could do some pretty lame backward swizzles. That's about it. I wasn't exactly one of those beginners who couldn't move on the ice, but I didn't exactly take to it like a duck to water, either.

Now, unless lightning strikes twice and I miraculously get both FO3s before my test Saturday, I'll be taking ISI Gamma again. I've been working on three turns for five months now with little progress. I know that the skills from this level are very important and crucial for me to learn, but I'm getting frustrated -- so much so that last lesson I was bombing everything I tried, even stuff like lunges that I could already do. I think I need to re-adjust my expectations a bit as my schedule is leaving me very little time to practice outside of my lesson and I know how important that is. I'll have more time after the end of April and I plan to take as many summer camps that fit into my schedule.

So, anyway -- I'd love to hear your replies! Thanks and have a great week!

[RoaringSkates]

I've been skating for four years, and only just now started testing. I passed my ISI gamma test. Although I have skills above this level in some areas, I'd never learned a hockey stop, so some things were new.

It's hard as an adult. You, like me, have very little, if any, time to practice outside your lesson, and that can be frustrating. Still, I find it worth it to continue because it's fun and because I am making progress, slowly.

[garyc254]

My one year anniversary of skating was last November.

What have I learned in that year:
Forward and backward stroking
Front and back crossovers
Front and back edges (although the back ones need some polish)
Inside mohawks
Front 3-turns inside and outside (more polish, please!!!)
Various other elements that need lots of work

I also learned to "STAY VERTICAL" the hard way. I guess one fractured wrist and one goose egg over a years time isn't too bad.

Most importantly, I learned how much I enjoy being on the ice and have met many, many wonderful people because I've started skating. This is priceless.

[sk8er1964]

I've been back on the ice almost exactly one year. Last February I was quite a bit overweight, stressed and very out of shape. Now a year later I have very low stress levels (how can one be stressed when one is doing something they love?), I've lost about 40 pounds, and I can run a 2 minute and 40 second freestyle program without passing out.

As far as my skating skills go, I am relearning the stuff I did as a kid and loving every minute of it!!! Coming back to skating was one of the best decisions I've ever made :D .

[melanieuk]

I was learning axels a year ago.
I'm not now - I still can't do them.

I have not progressed at all in a year, except to pass a test.

[skaternum]

I want to approach this from two angles: my first year and one year ago.

My first year was a while ago (I started skating at the end of 1994, at the age of 30). By the end of 1995, I think I was working on BI3s, as part of the Advanced Adult basic skills program in place at the time. If it makes you feel any better, I voluntarily repeated that class because I just didn't feel solid enough with those and a few other skills in that class, and I didn't want to start Freestyle I with a handicap. I remember from my first year that the FO3s were the first skill I really had to work at. Don't give up. You'll get them if you keep working on them.

As for the One Year Ago, I was just about to return to the ice after a 6 month forced hiatus because of major back problems. My back was only marginally better. I'd gained almost 16 pounds because of inactivity. My boots still didn't fit, which had contibuted significantly to my back problems. I could barely do any of my old tricks on the ice, and when I was able to get out and skate again, I did so in pain.

Now, I have boots that fit and my back problems are almost gone. (Uh, huh. 15 months of physical therapy and still going! I'm not completely healed.) I don't skate in pain anymore. I've got most of my tricks back, and I passed my Silver freeskate test just before the Moves went into place. I've lost all the weight. I've taken up Faux Pairs with a partner who's a lot of fun to skate with. And I'm enjoying skating again. What a difference a year can make!

The point of this ramble is that, one year from now, things will be so different. You'll look back and marvel that you were ever having trouble with those FO3s. Heck, they'll probably be your favoritet element by then! Hang in there. To paraphrase a t-shirt, figure skating isn't easy. If it was, they'd call it hockey! :)

[Elsy2]

I'm trying to think back and remember where I was after 1 year....I was in adult group lessons, and I quickly learned that I couldn't even skate forward properly :roll: Everything was a struggle and it took an eternity to learn crossovers, another eternity to learn to turn on two feet much less one foot, and beginning a two foot spin was a total joke. I wanted to hang over the boards and puke......

It was in the second year that things started to come together. I found mohawks much easier than 3-turns. I learned lunges, spirals (which came easily to me due to a gymnastics background), waltz jump, salchow and toeloop in the second year. I learned the most horrible whonky one foot spin imaginable by the end of the second year. By December of my second year, I entered my first competition, pre-bronze compusory moves.

As a kid, we did skate on ponds. So my childhood expertise was skating as fast as I could and sliding on my butt. Didn't prepare me much for real skating, but at least I was a little bit more comfortable putting on skates than someone who had never done so.

Hang in there! I think you will really shine as the year progresses!

[TashaKat]

Originally posted by melanieuk
I was learning axels a year ago.
I'm not now - I still can't do them.

I have not progressed at all in a year, except to pass a test.

Oh PURLEEEEZE Melanie!!! I saw the picture of your camel ..... it was beautiful!! So you did axels as a kid and you reckon you can't now ...... one thing to say girlfriend .....

PANTS ON FIRE (http://ngin.tripod.com/pants.htm) LOL

L x

[JDC1]

I was not a child skater, I skated maybe 15 times total in my entire life before I took lessons. I started Sept 2001.

After 1 year -

I could land a waltz jump, toe jump, waltz-toe on a regular basis
I had landed a loop once (and only 3-5 more since) I could land (and still do) my lutz and flip on 2 feet, rotation isn't a problem for me it's landing the jumps
I could do spirals forwards and backwards on both edges and ofcourse on flats.
I could skate backwards with control but not necessarily as much grace, that's improved
I could spin on 2 foot and had begun to work on spinning on one foot, I am not a natural spinner
I could do mohawks and Forward Inside brackets
3turns - Forward and Backward/inside and outside and had just begun working on double 3's.


The hardest thing for me has been spinning, I don't work on jumps as much and I'm slowly changing over to dance because that's what I prefer, I LOVE the feeling I get doing progressives and swing rolls.

[wannask8]

quarkiki, you think you're plateauing!? Imagine having only one precious hour each week to practice on sub-par knees! I figure I've skated a total (including lessons every 4 weeks or so) of about 40 hours (1 normal work week!) in the past year, which was also my first, not counting a few failed past visits to rinks. Let me tell you, developing muscle memory as a middle-aged adult on an hour a week is sloooow going! The most I can manage is forward stroking, tentative back stroking, FO pattern, two-foot turns, still-clunky F crossovers, and, sometimes, briefly, BO edges on a circle. I think the other coaches who see me practicing each week and don't know my schedule must think I'm the slowest learner on earth.

BUT -- this is something I'm doing for myself, for fun, so I resolved at the start never to compare myself to others. I definitely get frustrated when I can't "get" something for months at a time, but I hang in there because I know that when I do finally get it, it'll be the most amazing feeling! If the rut gets too deep, I take a break and work on improving something I can already do. Keeping notes in a skating diary is helpful, too -- it's nice to look back and remember how hard it once seemed just to skate forward on one foot . . ..

-- wannask8

[Kat]

I skated in public group lessons as a kid, where I learned how to do crossovers. I took one session (probably 6 weeks) in CanSkate where I learned FO 3-turns. Then I quit. After that, I probably went skating about once a year. I didn't really consider my skill level any better than my friends who never took lessons at all.

I've just passed my 1 year mark skating as an adult in January. I started going to public skate sessions last January. I could still pull off the choppy and poorly executed crossovers and 3-turns, but I was clueless as to what I was doing. I didn't even know that my blades had different edges. I started reading online and watching others, and basically taught myself until September when group lessons started. My coach basically had to decontruct a lot of my bad habits when I started the lessons. I started jumping in November. By the end of the 1 year mark, I had my waltz, sal, toe-loop, and half-lutz. I had just landed the loop, and the flip with a bad entrance. I was really struggling with the 1-foot spin. Currently, I still struggle with with the spin, but I've had some success with the sit spin. I now have a better loop and flip.

I've been told by some skaters that I've progressed quickly. I think a large part of this is because I'm still taking group lessons, but with adult skaters who had skated until their teens. I feel that I should push myself to keep up with them. However, I really struggle with stressing out too much about getting something and practicing bad habits into my muscle memory. This totally makes or breaks a successful practice session for me. I get really, really discouraged sometimes.

Still, I'm skating just for the fun of it, and also for the curiosity of seeing how far I can get with this. I enjoy hanging out with my friends at the rink just as much as skating itself. I had no idea what was even possible when I started. I still smile inside every time I finish an element the right way, whether it be a 3-turn or a tough jump, because darnit - these things are not easy!

Quarkiki, just hang in there and enjoy yourself. Just look at how far you've come already! You'll be surprised where you'll be another year from now! :D

[JDC1]

I've had more luck with my sit spin then my scratch spin too!! I can actually do a real sit spin for about 4 revolutions but my scratch spin is pathetic. :-)

I take group and private lessons, I am so NOT coordinated, I don't mean I'm not graceful, I am, it just takes me forever to learn the steps into jumps and spins, it's sort of become a running joke in lessons. :-)

[Kat]

JDC,

Hey, me too! I'm so bad with co-ordination that I always have to ask my coach to repeat the pattern an extra time so that I can watch while I copy it. Kind of like when you watch an aerobics video! ;) Whenever we do straight line patterns, 9 times out of 10, I will chose to turn the wrong way!

My coach once told us that the sit spin is easier because your center of gravity is lower.

[wa_skater]

I started skatng as an adult. Put on skate for the first time at age 30, but then didn't really skate regulary for quite a while. After my first year of really skating with lessons, I was still in group lessons, and frustrated because I was having trouble with back crossovers.

So I didn't feel as though I had progressed very far in a year, but most of the time, I only skated at lesson once each week.

I didn't really start progressing until I started private lessons with a coach who understands the needs of adult skaters and when I started adding in additional practice time.

When I get frustrated and think I am plateauing, my coach just says that is part of figure skating (she was a gold-level competitive skater). I skate during sessions that have very good, highly competitive young skaters, and I've seen them kick the ice, and sit down by the boards and cry out of frustration, or go into a tizzy and stomp out of the rink. It's a tough sport. Not even the actual execution of the moves, but just LEARNING the moves to begin with is a major challenge. And one reason I love skating is because it teaches us so much about ourselves and life in general.

I have promised myself that I will keep trying no matter what - because in the past if things in life were too hard or it felt embarassing that I couldn't do what others could do, I would tend to give up or just say that it wasn't for me. It has helped me to start to learn patience. And patience with myself is a big, big issue. Staying positive about yourself and your abilities is another lesson of being an adult skater. Stay positive no matter how hard it gets. You are undertaking one of the hardest sports there is - and doing it starting as an adult is a very real accomplishment.

[Alexa]

Well, in one year I have come farther than I expected, and then back a few steps. I started lessons last winter, and learned a lot more than I had anticipated...stopping, crossovers, etc. Took another class in the summer, and was really moving forward with polishing up my forward crossovers, working on some edgework to prepare for backward crossovers, and began to learn the mohawk.

In the fall I planned on taking more classes, but there was some confusion with the signing up, so I did not go, and decided to think about whether I wanted to continue with lessons. I decided not to, as it is difficult to practice outside of lessons (public sessions on the weekends are so busy, and it is hard to get to the quieter weekday sessions).

Decided to pick up a public session this morning, and it is probably only my 3-4 time on the ice since fall. It always feels strange being on the ice after so long--it takes a while just to get in the groove of forward stroking properly. And though the session was not crowded, it was filled with people skating every which way, so it is hard to do anything other than forward/backward stroking. But I do enjoy it, and would like to feel more comfortable on the ice again, so maybe I will take lessons again sometime.

I could still do right over left crossovers, slight backward stroking, and a two foot spin, so I have kept some things, but definitely do not have the control I used to.

[Chico]

I can't answer your question exactly because to be honest I can't remember. =-) I will give you some advice.... Don't worry about what anyone else could or can do. This will make you nuts and most likely upset. Look at what you've learned and where you want to go. Skating is a journey made up of ups, downs, and detours. Everyones ups, downs, and detours happen at different times. There is no right or wrong schedule, there just IS. Embrace and enjoy the ups and be strong during your struggles. You will accomplish amazing things. What is hard now will be easy some day and something new will be your challenge. Good luck!

Chico

[DancinDiva]

Well, I've not even been skating for a year, but I'm much better now than I was before I started lessons this January! Prior to this year I had skated maybe four or five times, several years ago, with friends, and that was it. So far I've learned foward crossovers, foward and backward stroking, back half-swizzles (hope to make those back crossovers sometime soon!) and two-footed turns. I just started working on a two-footed spin last night, and so far I'm only getting 3 or 4 revolutions, but I'm confident that it will get better with more practice. I have six more lessons left for this session and I'm hoping to get a decent spiral, bak crossovers, and maybe 3-turns before I'm done. Also hoping to find a rink that has summer sessions so I don't lose all my new skills! And I Really hope to pick up a few additional skills by the time I actually reach my first year mark:D