Several skaters at our rink, including mine, are beginning to learn their double axel on the ice for the first time. Does anyone know how long it usually takes to land this jump? And does it usually take boys and girls the same amount of time? I've heard that two years is pretty normal, but would like to know what others think. Thanks in advance.

Length of time for a double axel depends on a lot of different factors. Body type and training time are probably the two major ones. I know one girl who got hers in a number of months, and another who has been working on it for three years and doesn't have it consistent yet. Judging by the skaters at my rink, gender isn't a factor.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

I do not really know if it takes longer for boys or girls- I'd imagine it'd be easier for boys because somehow on practice sessions, theirs are WAY more consistent than ours, and plus, mentally, as a girl, the double axel is a huge hurdle. For boys, they know they have a triple axel to get afterwards, so I think they tend to not think of double axel as being as difficult as the girls think it is.

Meanwhile, it took me a long time to get mine. Someone i know got hers in 3 weeks. Someone else got it on their FIRST TRY (I hate this person...but I don't really, heh). A couple of my friends still don't have it consistent, even though they've been at it for years and years. It just depends. You can't predict. A person can get it on the first try, or never get it at all (that's why there's such a huge drop off in competition entry numbers between Intermediate and Novice and even Juvenile and intermediate, some people just aren't built to get a double axel and it's needed for those levels...) and of course most people get it some time in between these two extremes. You just can't guess it, and you especially can't put too much pressure on a person to get it, or too much importance on that ONE jump. It'll come when it comes, if it comes.

Girls tend to peak earlier than boys. A friend whose son went to Jr Nats a few years ago said that the 12 and 13 year old girls had all their triples, but none of the boys that age did. I don't think it has to do with actually learning at different rates, but rather growing at different rates.

__________________