I figure skate because I really like doing it. I have no problem going to the rink and skating for hours. I have noticed quite a few people now, who on a patch session have little motivation to skate when their not in a lesson.

Just wondered what your views were on this; are you a self-motivator or do you need to be motivated?

Do you think this is down to the individual or perhaps certain coaching styles may influence this?

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Skate Free

I think it's definetly an individual thing.

I come from a ballet background where we were told NOT to practice outside of class, so we didn't practice things wrong. It's hard for me to practice skating until I master it- because I don't want to practice it wrong. I've already had multiple things I've had to redo because I have practiced them wrong, it's very frustrating and it affects my ability to practice on my own anything new. So to some extent I have to use lessons as supervised practice or else some skills would never get done.

Other than that, sometimes I can just be lazy. If I don't have an ultimate goal, I like to practice what I enjoy doing. Which isnt' a good way to build a skill set.

I need to be outwardly motivated. Whether it be an upcoming show, threat of a test, or a coach telling me what to do. I enjoy skating, but I'm not going to work on "hard" things unless I have a reason to!

I don't think coaching style affects this, though.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

My previous coach didn't motivate me to do much except feel bad about my skating. It's a miracle I persisted as long as I did with her. So it was all self-motivation.

Since moving and acquiring two wonderful coaches, they have definitely become a big incentive to practice. I practice harder when they are there, even if I'm not having a lesson with one of them. But it's still self-motivation that gets me to the rink, even when I know they won't be there.

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

For me personally, I am self motivated. I love to skate, and while I really, really, really love my lessons, I know that there is no way I am going to improve if I don't practice, particularly those skills that don't come easily to me. Which is why I do quite a few scratch/back scratch spins each day and I also work on my brackets in the field pattern.

At the same time, it is also a motivation when my coach says that I'm ready to test and when we start working on a new skill...because that means I must be doing something right!

When I was younger however, it was mostly the opposite...I needed a coach there to get me motivated to do something....

I have no problem practicing without a lesson. I do better being told how to do something and then working on it on my own, so we tend to cover a lot of things in my lesson. But if I am stuck on something and feel I am not doing it right, I won't practice it until I can get it fixed.

HOWEVER....without a coach at all, I found that I was not motivated at all. It was too discouraging to skate without lessons.

j

I can't imagine a ballet program with those rules! (And I'm professionally trained). How do you improve, though, without practicing on your own?

Anyway, I enjoy practicing - whether with a coach or not. I know that to improve, I have to specifically work on those things that I have trouble with, and practice the rest to at least maintain those skills. I'm working on Intermediate MITF right now, and I do the moves I hate every single morning as warm-up. If I don't, I know I'll never learn them to passing standard. My motivation comes from my own competitive spirit - I have to better myself everyday.

Also, since I do more than one discipline, I often schedule my practices so I don't get bored with one thing. Ex: On a non-lesson day, I'll warm-up for 5-10 minutes, work on MITF for 45 minutes, work on Jumps for 20 mins, work on spins for 15mins, work on program for 15 mins, work on dance for 30mins. If there's a competition coming up, program may get more than others, if I'm sore, I may work on jumps for less and add footwork in.

I think what I see the most for kids that aren't motivated is when all they do is work on jumps, jumps, jumps, program, jumps. Then they get tired and bored from doing the same thing over and over!

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

I started at a ballet academy as an adult. Due to moves I went to three different ones, always taking class with children, rather than adults- 3 classes a week, and in the last year also a pointe class. ALL of them asked us not to practice outside of class. The "older" girls were told to practice outside of class, but the "developmental" levels of the "pre-pro" program were told not to. (I think the little kids who weren't in "pre-pro" didn't have a restriction.) The idea behind this was to not let bad habits form if a teacher wasn't watching.

Since all the schools had the same policy, it never occured to me to think it was unusual. At my low level I had between 4.5-5.5 hours of class a week plus rehearsals before the nutcracker/spring ballet, so it didn't seem unusual. There was plenty of time for improvement in the classroom. The higher level girls usually had class 5 days a week, taking 2-3 classes a day, so I can't imagine they really did THAT much outside of the studio.

You probably know more than me, as my ballet lasted only 3 years before yet another move and ankle problems that brought me to skating- but it's not that odd. My sister was a high level gymnast, with the same sort of schedule as the high level ballet students, she didn't practice at home.

My dance background from when I was in school was that I did practice on my own. But the goal was to look like everyone else, not to do it technically correct, due to the sort of dance. I identify more with the ballet theory I was taught for my skating, because the goal there was to do it correctly, as I feel it is for my skating, since I want to test.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Motivation without a coach...hmmm

This is the first year that I haven't had a coach for eight years, so I'm in a good position to take stock in myself. First observation -- I tend to work on the things that I'm already good at instead of trying new things.

For example, I was practicing the brackets in the field pattern several times a week with my coach last winter. That forced me to do the #@& LBO bracket and overide the self-preservation core of my being.

Without a coach, I'm merely avoiding them. Ahhhh. Life's so pleasant without the LBO bracket!

However, I'm not making any progress toward gold moves.

So a coach does indeed provide motivation (for me) when the going gets tough.

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Bill Schneider

I am in this situation now b/c I cannot afford coaching. I have no problem practicing and working on skills. I had a coach for 10+ yrs. I learned many skills from those coaches that I now practice on my own. However, I think I would need some coaching to do a program or something, but that is not what I am working on right now.

I absolutely love skating and can focus on what I am doing for hours. Some days I do mostly MITF, others dance, others spins and jumps. I try to vary it and focus on different things on different days. Some times I will work on challenge skills and other times I will just have fun w things I can already do well.

Kay

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

I think i do quite well on my own, since i don't have a big support group of people my age here, anyway...

So, mostly, even if i wind up being temporarily coach-less, due to schedules that can't mesh or other things, i always know, i can improve even on the things i am doing.

If i only had more time....

the only thing that can hold me back at times, is if the rink isn't playing any music. i NEED music!

I'm a self motivator. I appreciate my coach being around to help me. In fact, I can't imagine not having her help. I need her to teach me new skills, fix my old, and keep me motivated. Saying that, I love skating with or without her. I'm just better when she is.

teresa

I am very self-motivated, I work hard at my skating, at improving my elements. Having said that though, I don't reckon I would work so much on things I find difficult if I didn't have a coach.

Sometimes though, especially in a public session, I need to play around a bit, and have some fun. Much as I love skating, sometimes I make it hard work, so it can be good to have a slack session every now and then.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I need a coach for motivation. I work a lot harder in the presence and tend to play around more on the ice when I'm just practicing. That is one of the reasons this move has been difficult for me. I don't practice as much because my friends are not on the ice. Practice sessions used to involve individual practice and then and some friendly advice and then some chatty and then back to individual practice. I could keep that up for 2 hours. Now at the new rink, I run through skills on basically dead ice with absolutely no feedback and am bored and back off the ice in 40 minutes.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

I am one of those skaters that absolutely LOVES taking a lesson. My primary coach recently decided to quit one day (she is older and desperately wants to retire, but darn, it, she just LOVES teaching!) - for two weeks I felt kind of hopeless, wandering around, etc. Then just last week she decided to come back, with a new attitude and a new zest for teaching, -- I had a lesson and it was great!

I also have a dance coach who for whatever reason, we were never able to get together for a lesson - he would overbook and he kind of thought I wasn't that interested so I wouldn't get a lesson (well, yeah, I had an njury last year and have problems with my back, etc., for the two years I've been with him). I finally had a lesson with him yesterday and it was great!

BUT I am also one of those types of skaters who doesn't just like having a lesson - I have to have something to practice so that I can show the coach for the next time that I have been working on whatever it is that we are working on. My lessons have gotten kind of scattered, actually - I've been taking lessons for so long (16 years?) that sometimes it's hard to know what to work on - basics? Skills? Figures? dance? But it is always fun and having a lesson hopefully keeps me from getting into bad habits.

I don't like having a lesson, however, that is basically supervised practice. I don't need that. Of course, when my primary coach is around she is always keeping an eye on you no matter if you are in a lesson or not - you will see her working with some student across the rink, you are working at the other end, she will see you do something wrong and yell out your name and what the correction is - it's like she has eyes in the back of her head or something! I know some people would feel intimidated by that, always wondering when she is looking at them, but she is so nice about it and we always laugh.

This is why I love having a coach.

Now I just have to see if I can afford all of this.

Hmmmm.

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

I need a coach for motivation. My coach was away for two weeks recently (the first time I was without her) and I moped about on the ice not really sure what to do! It was the most bizaare feeling.

That said, when things are going well with my skating I am self motivated and do things for me, however as soon as the going gets tough, I need a kick up the bum!

Practicing by myself: not a problem.
Practicing in group lessons with only sporadic attention from a coach: not a problem.
Practicing for longer than a few weeks without any coaching: a problem, I get both bored and frustrated, having met my immediate goals and seemingly not coming closer to meeting the larger goals. Need somebody to point out the problem and give me some new stuff to practice once in a while.

Its my huge problem - I have to FORCE myself to jump if I was by myself on a practice session. And I end up only doing one pass per jump and I would leave 20 min after a session.

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Tim David's Website

Oh, very much self-propelled! An important role of my coach is to help me achieve some degree of moderation. THE most important role of my coach though is to keep me from being too self-critical.

I have heard numerous coaches here say they love working with adults because adults WILL practice on their own instead of goofing around with their friends all session.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

My problem with that, is that if my lesson is too late in a session, I've worked so hard on my own, I've run out of puff by the time I get to the lesson. The kids work and play, whereas I tend to work and work. I've introduced a rule of 15mins of play at the end of the session and that's for messing around with all those things I'd love to do, but either can't from physical constraints which need pushing, or am normally too scared to try. But it's nice to relax doing something different. But I agree that too long without a coach is a problem. I do like having a couple of week breaks from lessons, and coming back and being able to show definite improvement.
There's also no fun in skating, if you can't show off to your coach with a ta-da moment when you suddenly get it. I like my ability to surprise my coach, it makes me feel like I am making some progress when they underestimate me.

I'm another one that's hugely self motivated, perhaps coming from years of elite sport where you were expected to be working hard at 100% at all times whether your coach was with you at that moment or not. It was instilled that hard work = results and it was up to you to put it in. I also then went into coaching and practiced the same philosophy with my students, so I guess that's why I took it to the rink too!

I actually get a bit twitchy If I'm stood talking to someone for more than a couple of minutes when I'm at the rink as I have skating to be getting on with!

I'm working toward my NISA 1 so tend to go through all the field moves 6 times each first, then work my spins and jumps that I have consitently, 10 of each. Then program, finally new skills.

I think I'm happier when I know exactly what I'm planning to do, but different approaches work for everyone!

I've found that those times when I was without a coach for some period of time (a few months) that I was really unmotivated to work on the elements that I know need work. I skated but I didn't work to improve.

Having a coach and being somewhat accountable helps keep me motivated and focused.

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Gordon Zaft
http://sk8rboi.blogspot.com
School figures are skating's equivalent of the Latin Mass.

I am so self motivated. I even give myself homework assignments. Like working on backspin, I give myself assignments to use spin trainer and do 50 releves per day. Coach laughed when I told him that. And working on alternating 3s, I've given myself the assignment to go back and work on the 3 turn figure 8 until I can do that once more, at which point I may work on the outside alternating 3s again.

That's funny because where I skate it's the opposite. I hate skating with adults because they stand around and chat and I have to be rude and just skate away because I'm not paying $17 an hour to chat. When I skate with the kids (in the early am with the serious kids) they work and that motivates me.

j

You know, when I was in learn to skate- this was certainly true. I practiced 2 hours a week for my 30 minute lesson. Most of the other kids did not come and skate at all except their lesson, maybe a few would stay and skate 30 minutes afterwards.

However, now that I am in freestyle 3- I think the kids definetly outpace me in good practice. I don't stand around and talk, but I am very guilty of only practicing what I am good at. Loop jumps hurt my ankles, so I don't do them. Backspins take the fun out of skating, so I don't do them... The kids seem to truck away at things because they want that axel. I know I'm not going to have one, so I don't worry about it.

I AM better at practicing moves than most of the kids are. I rarely see kids working on moves unless they are with a coach. I could do moves for the entire hour. Freestyle is too frustrating!

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I'm pretty self-motivated; I practically beg to go skating on Thursdays (the only days I have free to practice after school, other than Sundays when I have a lesson). But although I've only had a (private as opposed to group)coach for - what; four lessons? - I already feel even more intent on making her proud. But I know I can't do that without practicing and getting better.