How old were you when you landed your first jump? What was the jump? Any other remarkable firsts you can remember in your first skating days

hhmmm...it was probably a bunny hop, if that counts! I think I was maybe 9? Waltz jump came around 9 or 10.

I distinctly remember passing Delta and beginning FS 1, because that meant I got to start private lessons. I felt like the best skater ever - I was sure the Olympics were only a couple years away

28. Christmas Eve, and I landed my waltz jump.

Salchow and a consistent, proper toeloop will probably have to wait until 29

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?

I landed my first jump, which I believe was a half-flip, at 8. It was during my group lessons class.

Other memorable skating firsts:
* First time stepping on the ice with my guards still on...

* First major facial injury. (I don't know a single skater who hasn't bashed his/her face off the ice at least once. For me, I did it...three times. ) I fell during a two-foot spin, knocked myself unconscious, broke a back molar, split my chin open, and was taken to the hospital to get 7 stiches on my chin. Lovely...

* First competition. I took fourth place out of ten. I remember thinking that I was the hottest thing on ice because I beat some girls who had been competing for months.

* First South Atlantic Regional competition. I captured the Gold and Bronze in compulsary and freestyle, but didn't get a chance to move on because I skated at the non-qualifying level.

* Passing my first Senior level test. In May 2005, I passed my Senior MIF sick as a dog after falling on my butt on the powerpulls. This was my third time taking the test and it is still one of the most rewarding skating memories I have...just knowing that all the committment, hard work, and practice paid off. Having a Gold is something that no one can ever take away from you, and I'm so proud of myself for pushing through those rough skating days.

* First SynchroEast competition (Eastern Sectional Synchronized Skating Team Championship 2007). My team (our first year together) had only been together for three months when we competed in Providence, RI at Eastern Sectionals. We ended placing 6th out of ten teams, even scoring two 2nd place ordinals. The feeling of skating in the arena that seats 14,000 people with all eyes on us was a one-of-a-kind experience, one that I was thrilled to share with some of my closest skating friends. Skating is so much better when you have ten of your closest friends to share the ups and downs of the sport with.

Well, that's enough from me, hahahaha!

First real single jump was when I was 15.. it was a flip. I'd been skating for about 4 months.

First competition I was a month shy of 16 and I placed 2/4 and 1/4 in two events. And the night before my first event I slipped and fell down the icy steps of a restaurant, got a huge freaking cut on my finger and hand, hit my tailbone, my back, my elbow and my knee and I still did well the next day. So props to me.

First attempt at a double jump ever was a double loop, July 10. I'm 16.

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My first jump was a bunny hop, in a group class. I was 30 and I was so excited, I felt like a kid again!

It was probably a toe loop... though I still think my technique sucks. I was probably 12 or 13.

But I'd like to say it was my flip because that's my favorite, best and most consistent jump. Hahaha. And I landed the flip way before I ever landed a decent waltz jump.

Other notable firsts... doing an awesome sit spin way before doing a decent scratch spin. I didn't get my scratch spins until the last couple years. Sad, isn't it? I'm all backwards.

I'm similar to Bruingirl... had a toe loop before a waltz or salchow (though you wouldn't be able to guess that now with my crappy toe loop technique of late!), and I had a flip before a loop or a salchow. The flip is still my favorite. Apparently I like the toe jumps more than the edge jumps. As for spins, my camel is far better than my sit, which is far better than my scratch/one foot spin. My coach says (lovingly of course) "Girl... you are a FREAK!" I think I was like 18... it was during my "before being poor in college" skating year.

My first jump? I don't even remember - I can't even remember not being able to skate backwards. I've been skating since I was 7, so it was probably not too long after that. I do remember demonstrating a salchow in Badge 3 classes. I was the only person in my class to pass Badge 3 after 1/2 year.

I remember:
• The first competition I ever won (Intermediate MIF in 2001)
• The first axel I landed (November 1997)
• The first axel I landed after quitting for four years (September 2006)
• The first tests I passed (Pre-Prelim MIF and Free in 1995)

It was probably the bunny hop, I remember my coach teaching that because I remember falling badly on it. I also did the waltz jump not long after that. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I've moved on so far from the days when I would practise waltz jumps with shaky landings and 3 turns by the boards.

My coaches were pretty much going by the ISI things so I got all my jumps in the prescribed order of course a few were about the same time.

First jump landed in competition was probably salchow and toeloop, that was in my one and only freestyle 3 competition

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Tidesong

I don't remember when I first landed a jump in practice - it would have been a 3-jump (waltz jump) - but I do remember landing one in competition for the first time. Well, not exactly landing, but actually jumping rather than stepping! It was in 2006 at the Mountain Cup, and I was so pleased I nearly fell right out of character. Oh yes, I was 52 at the time....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

The first jump I ever landed was the waltz jump at age 39. I first began trying to learn to skate at age 38 and half. Mind you, those first waltz jumps were more like waltz steps because you would have had to lie on the ice and use a magnifine glass to measure how little space I had from in between the ice and my blades as I turned from forward to backwards. The second jump was the bunny hop. And the third jump was a half flip.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

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Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Well my first skating days weren't too long ago!!! I landed my first waltz jump after 3 or 4 days of skating. I can't remember which one. I guess it really doesn't matter. I do know that landed a shaky salchow the following day and a toeloop soon followed. I was able to do those 3 jumps after my first week on the ice. I had a flip before I had a loop. The loop gave me problems. I had an axel and a double salchow before I had a good lutz. I know I know. I'm weird. I hate the lutz. But I was age 23


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

My first jump I landed was a Waltz. I don't remember how old I was. I just remember it was in my first week of skating in 3rd grade.

Other than a bunny hop... my first waltz jump was age 41. I'd been skating about 1.5 years. My coach was SO patient with me!

I've added a half-flip since then but toe loop and salchow will take me a little while, it looks like.

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

Technically it was the bunny hop, I was 16. But up to this day mine aren't very high. I hate them (most of my worst falls came from these annoying jumps, lol).

I taught myself the waltz jump while I was in Gamma, I just watched the freestyle girls and decided to go for it and jst kept practicing them from a forward glide.I didn't do them from back crossovers entrance until I got to FS1.

Waltz jump at age 34 in Feb. of 2006 after only about 5 months skating.

I landed my waltz jump when I was a little kid. I wasn't taking lessons and just taught myself how to do it. When I stated lessons as an adult I could do all of the half jumps right away, and then after a few months learned the toe loop, which I could do almost immediately as well. It took me a few months to be able to do the salchow.

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Jessica

http://ilove2skate.livejournal.com/

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Really OT, but I'm curious. Why is it called a 3-jump? I can't for the life of me figure out where the 3 comes into play...

A loop jump is a figure loop with the middle part happening off the ice, and you could say the waltz jump is like a 3-turn (start forward, end backwards with only 180-degree turn), but with the turn happening off the ice. So I would guess that's where the name came from. . .?

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I was maybe about 44 and in a group free style LTS and I had been walking though a half flip. The teacher was 16 and clearly exasperated with my refusal to actually jump. Finally she resorted to begging. "Just hop. It's just a hop. Please hop!" and I thought to myself..."a 16 year old is begging me to jump. This is pathetic. You need to do this" So I jumped. She cheered loudly. It wasn't that bad.

j

I think because it started when someone was trying to do a 3-turn, perhaps in compulsory figures, and then slipped, so landed on the other foot... at least, that's what I was told.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

That actually makes sense, thanks!

A bunny hop. Aged 30. Today!!!!



Okay, so I know it's not a proper jump, but I was dead chuffed . . .

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Amanda

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance . . . "

My Skating Journal

Well the waltz jump / 3 jump when I was like, 11 but I didn't think of it as a jump at the time. I couldn't do a 3-turn so I cheated them like that. I'll still take waltz jumps over 3-turns any time.

Serious jump? 20, my home rink, toeloop. First time landed to the song "From paris to berlin, and every disco I get in, my heart is pumping for love..."
Turned out all I had to do was stop thinking about it.