Long time lurker...sorry my first post is a bit of a brag, but here goes: my dd has been struggling for years with her axel...literally years! While she is still young she really hit a wall with this jump. What a wonderful learning experience for her as a person finally getting her head around this jump has been for her, though. Many issue surrounding the troubles including intially poor techinque being taught (a well thoughtout coaching change resolved this), growth spurts, confidence issues (of course!!) etc. She perservered, though, and kept her nose to the grindstone, kept listening to her coach, practising smart, and keeping her head up, and took pride in her other accomplisments at the rink and outside of it, even when others seemed to "get it" before her. Eventually it all clicked. The reactions were priceless...huge smile, some tears, coach over the moon...I have waited a while before posting (for fear of jinxing her!!), but really that is not the point is it? It is not about the jumps, spins, or tests at the end of the day, it is about the lessons learned along the way!

That stupid axel can be so hard, and she kept going until she got it!!!

EXACTLY! Some lessons are very hard to learn, but they are important. Congratulations to your daughter for her persistence, it will serve her well!

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BuggieMom
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Some people are like a Slinky...not really good for anything,
but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs....

Congratulations to your daughter. Jumps are hard, hard, hard. The skills she has learned while working on her axel will help her all the way through life.

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!

It's difficult for people outside the figure skating community to appreciate what a tremendous accomplishment this is. Enjoy the moment!

Thank you all for your kind words!

That is fabulous!!!! Congrats!

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

Thanks very much.

As someone who's been working on that axel for almost 2 years, I love hearing stories like this! Congrats to your dd!!

Congratulations to your DD and to you (it is tough on us moms too!). There is nothing like that big grin and the big hugs from the coach after they land that axel!!!
Skating has definitely taught my daughter patience, perserverence and resilience! (I think I've learned some patience along the way too!)

It is a lovely post and thank you so much for sharing it with us!