To evaluate my skating I probably ought to have Mr. FallDownGoBoom take a few shots. But I'm afraid to see the results.

I have yet to see myself skate.

Ugh.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Sigh.

First you will hate it, be embarrassed, and feel completely inadequate.

Then you will love it, want to tape yourself all the time and be proud that you have a record of your skating progress.

Also, it is really helpful to see yourself skate. It becomes immediately clear what you have to fix! A picture is worth....

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First, have a look at the "Classic/Vintage figure skating videos" thread, and watch the U-tube extracts from the 1936 Olympics. It is a real eye opener.

Hunched shoulders. Bent free legs. Arms waving around. Skaters of normal body weight (rather than uniformly skinny). Skaters staring down at the ice instead of looking up and presenting. Spirals done without any back arch and with the upper body and leg in a straight line ...

Then get yourself videoed - it won't look so bad after all ... just imagine you were born 70 years too late ...

I had a coach who used to tell me "I don't want to see that Sonja Heinie free leg position!"

j

Exactly. And you get the "Oh so THAT's what's going wrong! But that's easy to fix!" moments which save you weeks of work.

The same thing with ballet. I got this book on ballet that was printed in 1937. Firstly - they're advising upon 12 years of age as the ideal age to start ballet training (!)
Secondly, the ballet dancers are not by much more flexible than I am - and I don't consider myself flexible.


I'm going to guess that the olympic contestors in 1930 didn't start skating until around the same age ballet training began, but rather started perhaps even as adults. And they didn't have the opportunity to practice for four hours a day every day all year - just like adult skaters don't have that opportunity.
So from that point of view, it's not that bad of a comparison.


And if you can get a book with photo prints of ballet from the 1930's do, it'll make you feel SO much better about yourself! It's a pelican special book, author's Arnold Haskell, it's called Ballet. I've got the first publication but I bet it was reprinted without modifications (or maybe even more photos were added?)

This is so true! The first time I taped myself, I thought "ugh! I will never ever do this again! I look awful." But I did, b/c I was curious to see if I'd improved. And I did.
Taping myself has allowed me to reinforce what my coach has told me. I can't count how many times she told me both my legs were bent on my camel. I didn't believe it (they FELT straight!) until I had my mom tape my camels. Yeah, legs were definitely bent!
It also helps you catch little presentation things you don't realize you're doing (like strange arm positions, droopy hands, weird free leg placement, etc.).

Taping is so useful as a "well, that's what I was doing wrong" sort of thing.

I also found it was useful in a "well that wasn't so bad" sort of way too. I came off my PB MITF test holding back tears. I wanted so bad to cry, it was horrible. If I wasn't an adult, I probably would have cried. Watching the videos, it wasn't good- but it wasn't that bad either.


Another thing to think about- it might be fun to tape a few times and NOT watch them, if you can't bring yourself to. Then in a year or so, watch them. It's a good way to see improvement. I find that EVERY single day is hard, like it's never getting better. Then I remember a year ago I was learning how to do a 3-turn from a standstill. I guess I HAVE gotten better.

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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)

The first time I watched myself skate on film I almost cried- what my skating felt like, and what it looks like were two completely different things.

However, using film consistantly helped me match what I'm doing on ice to what I'm feeling on ice, corrected a few minor errors helped me eliminate moves from my program that looked really awkward but felt comfortable and so on.

After awhile of using video training if I'd drop a shoulder or rotate my upper body too fast during a jump and fall or land funny afterwards I'd think this feels like the time I.. (insert) and be able to fix it right after.

It also worked wonders with my presentation.

That really sums it up! But for me, it helped me with body awareness because I could see myself lifting a hip or whatever. Also, my spirals that felt pretty good looked really crappy. But it helped me strive for just a little more flexibility.

I was shocked at how slow I skated the first time I filmed myself, but that motivated me to consciously work on speed.

I was so excited after my first month of skating, I wanted my husband to come and watch and take pictures and video. What an eye opener! I was totally not confident on the ice, and wow...I had gained some weight. But it helped to see what I needed to work on. A couple months later I took video of myself and saw a vast improvement - and weight loss!!!

I am very camera shy, but the digital camera is a tool to help improve my skating. Not so scary when you think of it that way.

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My Blog - FINALLY updated!
Living out my childhood dream

My coach is big on using the video feature on her cell phone for new spin positions. Ugh! In three weeks, I see improvement, though, so there IS that