After reading thru everyone's amazing Achievements , some of us go why bother.

A separate forum with nobody laughing-at newer skaters would be Welcome!

Who's laughing at newer skaters?

There's a lady at my rink who has been training for two years to meet her goal - which is to skate at Rockefeller Center Plaza. She is over 70 years old. Two years ago, all she could do was haul herself around the edges of the ice by holding on to the boards. Now she actually transfers weight from foot to foot and will go out in the center if someone will go with her. She is going to meet her goal this Christmas season.

She's my hero this year!

For 2010? Well I really dont know, after 1 minor and 2 major surgeries in less than 2 years I'm not sure I want to struggle on again in an effort to get back to where I was, I was just getting things back after my previous surgery when out of the blue I had to have another one, but I wish everyone on the forum, and all the friends that I have made over the years through competition, the very best for 2010.

I'm not sure what your post means. No one on this board "laughs at" beginners or non-skating members.

Everyone progresses at their own rate, so don't be shy about posting your own goals and achievements.

A lot of these posts contain goals, but very few contain the means to reach those goals. It isn't enough to say "I want to pass the Pre-Bronze MITF test" The skater has to figure out how to make that happen by planning lessons, practice time, and off-ice workouts. (As adults, we also have to factor in family committments, work schedules, and budgeting.)

That planning turns wishes and hopes into a tangible reality. Just mho.

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There are plenty of newer skaters in here. If you read through some peoples' posts, their goals are to get a consistent scratch spin, mohawks, etc.

No one laughs at new skaters. There are skaters at my rink who started as adults and a few years ago were hanging onto the boards, but are now working through dance and moves tests, doing single jumps, etc. I get so excited when I see some of the skating friends I've made make progress. I've been skating my whole life and I admire these people, I don't think I'd have the guts to try skating if I hadn't started as a kid (I'm so freakin clumsy). And newer skaters are often who keep many of us going, too. Trust me, it means A LOT to most of us when a new skater says they wish they could do X or Y like us, especially when we're having a bad day.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

My goals for 2010 are just to get through the rest of the basic skills stuff (currently ready to move from 4 to 5) and *hopefully* be ready to hit the first freestyle group lesson class come summer (which brings me back to where I was when I stopped all those years ago). My long hiatus off the ice after having my kids basically reduced me to having to start from scratch when I went back last year.

Why don't you post your goals? Nobody laughs at newcomers. Pretty sure I started posting when my goal was to achieve a 3 turn in learn to skate and it was great to have more experienced skaters offer tips and encouragement.

Yes my goals are more advanced now and yes I've achieved probably more than I expected last year - although not in free skating, only in couples dance which I hadn't really expected to be doing this time last year. In free I think if anything my skills are going backwards due to lack of time spent practising.

My main goal this coming year is to be injury free - at least of off-ice injuries!

Other than that
to conquer level 5 field moves (UK)
to get a parallel spin
to get sit spin low enough to count under IJS
to get a lutz

in other words for free skating pretty much the same as last year.

in dance
to get solo CDs levels 3 and 4 to passing standard and hopefully take the tests.
to learn some of the higher level dances so can compete them in couples dance
to get a level 2 lift called as such under IJS

I hope you do make it back to skating. Best wishes for 2010!

Thank you much!

There are so few skaters here who say that sort of thing. In fact, I'd say most skaters on this forum have NO doubles, and the ones who do have only a few.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a goal being "learn to 3-turn", because you know what- I know how to 3-turn, but it's definetly a goal of mine to figure out how to do it at speed on going over my left shoulder without freaking out. To an absolute beginner, I'm fairly good- but I'm so lop-sided on how I skate (can only turn one way) my coach is having issues putting together a new program for me. Footwork is SO limited if you can only do 1 mohawk at speed.

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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)

Well that is your choice if you feel embarrassed discussing your goals versus being proud of what you have accomplished. It has nothing to do with the rest of us discussing our goals or that we shouldn't be allowed to freely (that's kind of like the municipality I work in cancelling the kids summer baseball league all-star game because they decided it's "not fair" to all the kids that some are better than others at baseball and get picked for an all-star game...um...that was absurd).

I don't understand why you would be discouraged because other people on an internet forum (some of whom have been skating for a very long time) have different goals that you. I actually think it's easier to talk about what I'm working on with other skaters (regardless of what level they are at) as opposed to non-skaters. I feel perfectly comfortable telling other skaters what I'm working on or struggling with, and I'm comfortable competing in front of my skating friends because they get it. I don't really like posting videos or inviting my family, non-skating friends or co-workers to watch me skate (no matter how much they beg) because I don't want them to see me only doing single jumps and expect more. I'm afraid they will think "WTF, she skates all the time, were are the triples?" Synchro was the exception since I've always been on excellent teams and people watching the team are not just watching me. And I did let my parents come to my last dance test, they hadn't seen me skate individually since I was a teenager so I figured if I let them come once they would leave me alone.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Hi there,
Agreed! - That thought you expressed, re: "Canceling a sport, or not being allowed to post", never once entered my mind. So yes, that would be absurd

Partly because as a former snow-skiier, gymnast, & sprinter, I expect to have made progress, as fast as I did at 10 -
I mean, (except for near-dying a few times, & now financially-responsible for all the bills), those 2 are the only differences. So
my self-expectations are higher, and then I get side-tracked reading about "double-axels"

Yes, you are also right with "Other skaters GET IT". One does not need to explain futily, a bazillion-times over, regarding skills...that other skaters know only too well. THAT is a challenge talking with non-skaters, as they also have no clue what I am experiencing.

roflol Yes, I'm only laughing, as last week during my birthday-party, a neighbor-friend
watching me leave for practices in my skating-dress, asked me "so Annie, WHEN are you skating in the Vancouver Olympics? "
-
it took me a moment to recover, before answering "always in my dreams! " LOL
.

crazy year, so I need to revisit 2009 goals:

2009 GOALS
see if I can cobble something together for Mids, depending... didn't happen - lack of $ plus cankles, and I delivered Will two weeks later!

get my lutz and lutz sequence back (brain screams "baby!" when I prepare to pick) - happened! I'm now doing a smorgasboard after the lutz although I cannot verify the quality

get my camel and camel combo back (morning sickness plus changing body geography rendered it gone on the eve of Buckeye) - got it back, and the camel is BETTER

Silver MITF - passed in November!

Silver free - didn't happen

find time for me or at least appreciate what will be diminished me time
persuade my yet-to-be-gender-determined child that a skating rink is a fun place to play - still a work in progress, Will likes being at the rink, but more than an hour tests his limits. He's getting older and bigger and is not content sleeping through mom's freestyle.

I'd like to think I, along with the rest of the LOC, delivered on the promise of a rockin' ANs too.

2010
Put out two solid programs at AN in MN. If I medal, icing on cake. And I love icing, can I please earn some icing?

Get solid jumps, combos and sequences in any and all incarnations.

Solid spins and combinations.

Get ever-closer to a clean axel! I am currently nowhere near this. When I first started skating, my goal was to have an axel by 40, I have less than a year now.

How about a flying spin? I tried a couple yesterday and am interested in it.

Silver free! At least get the program choreographed and compete up a couple of times to get over the jitters and finally test.

Get started on gold moves. I'd like to earn at least ONE gold test level. Oh, those brackets in the field... I have the spin trainer out in the kitchen to start working on body mechanics while cleaning. Yeah, just a little psycho...

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

Mel, you forgot 2009 ultimate accomplishment: Traumatic premature birth-turned-complete miracle. I'm sure we're all just amazed every time we look at pics of him now and then compare to the one from the day he was born.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I didn't want to brag... but Will is better than an axel, a gold medal and partying with Michelle Kwan.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

OK, you promised!

Live long enough to continue skating...

How kind of you Batikat and to you also, I will be following everyones progress anyway, so remember I have my beady eye on you, no pressure

Well see - far from laughing, I see you have several goals there that I know I will never achieve no matter how hard I try - the spread eagle for example and I could only dream of a Y or Biellman spiral. My flexibility has always been extremely poor.

I was watching a lady today who started long after me and yes I can do many more things than she can but boy her spirals are beautiful.

When I was a real beginner I always found drags (lunges) really easy to do and can do them better than many kids even. So if I ever feel down about my skating, I do drags and drag turns and back drags and I feel better. You might find the same with spirals and find you can do them better than many if not most other skaters.

Gee, you were so positive & complementary & encouraging!

Funny you mentioned *lunges, practiced some, & 2 other skills.

(tho having it copied, makes it sorta overwhelming , particularly
since I haven't been able to practice but 6x this year so far!
And setting ourselves up for failure, isn't) my idea of Fun.

But Thanks! for your comments again!

MERRY Christmas to you!
.

Well, mine are more like coaching goals, but first, from 2009, which I completed :
Now, for this year, 2010 my coaching goals include:

Short-term goals:
•Network, network, network
•Complete my remaining U.S. Figure Skating Rules CER/B course: U.S. Figure Skating Test Rules
•Complete my remaining Sport Safety and Science CER/B course(s): Essentials of Pair Skating; and Sport Safety for Synchronized Skating
•Seriously begin studying/preparing to take my Registered MIF rating

Long-term goals (that I wouldn't mind getting done in 2010, of course!):
•Maintain my active Basic Accreditation rating with the required 28 educational credits every three years
•Attend a PSA national conference
•Coach a skater through a Senior test (probably moves in the field) within the next year
•Get my Registered MIF rating

Ok my fellow Skaters!!! I want to know from you today what your plans as a Skater are for the year 2010. For me I'd say I plan to go to the Rink more,and to become a better skater. I think there may be more that I'll think of later. But until then Skaters.......GO!!!!!!!

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FSWer

To keep skating - we have a change of coach this year, which is rather exciting for us, and so we don't quite know what is in store. However, we have asked him to prepare us to skate at the British Adult Championships in February, possibly for Bracknell in April, and definitely for the Mountain Cup in late May. After that, I am not sure.

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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!

I have been giving this a lot of thought; since I will be in nursing school full-time I won't have as much free time. I have to plan my free time carefully and not waste it! I plan on testing USFS Pre-Bronze sometime this spring. I also plan on fixing some small things (height on loop jump, scratch spin); train more efficiently.

School ends mid-May so I can skate all I want after that (until my rink closes mid-June).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

During 2010, I want to:

* Pass Junior Moves (testing January 16th)
* Pass Senior Moves by September
* Test Intermediate free (coach's idea)
* Land axel on a back edge and not with a 1/4 cheat
* Land a clean 2 sal
* Land 2 toe
* Land 2 flip

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

I honestly have no idea what sort of progress to expect in my first year of skating. I'm not particularly physically adept and am now older than I've ever been , so we'll see what happens. I'm going to make my resolutions losing a bunch of weight, and getting to the rink at least twice a week. If I do that, I'll be satisfied with whatever comes of it.

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I'm a boy, and I can figure skate if I want to.