Well as you said it is good that you did fine in the warm up. And despite the panic attack, it did probably help you to skate a little better since physically you were probably more warmed up than in previous competitions.

Its quite a fun thing for me personally as I also go through various nerve issues and at every competition I try to do things differently if they didn't work before!

And yes a support person to calm you down is good.

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Tidesong

SkatingOnClouds, congratulations on working through the fear and skating much better than you thought you would! I think you are onto something with the deep, slow breathing. It really does help you bypass the panic. Sometimes it may be a case of two steps forward, one step back, but you will gradually get better and better at dealing with competition nerves. I am really proud of you!!!

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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 find deep, slow breathing is the key to conquering panic. I've learnt various "centring" breathing techniques over the years, and they really do help. As does Rescue Remedy.

Congratulations on a fine result, despite the panic.

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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!

Congratulations on surviving.. and not taking the panic attack with you on the ice. Your trophy may say "2nd" -- but we all know it's a huge victory just to get out there and perform.. especially with "just a few glitches". This WILL get easier.. and the idea of over-preparing may be a good one... especially if you really over-do it and can make yourself laugh or at least take it a little easier on yourself. I agree with the other skaters, deep-breathing can reallllly help in that situation or any other where you have that "I HAVE to get out of here or I'm going to die" feeling. More oxygen to the brain is a GOOD thing.

Congratulations again!

Congratulations in fighting through the fear!

My biggest suggestion would be to compete often and/or simulate competition experience as much as possible so that you can work through it. It gets easier the more you do it and even though you had a panic attack right before skating, ever other piece of preparation and even the performance was good. I recommend a good dose of daily competition visualization going forward from the minute you walk in the rink until you step off the ice. It does help!

Just stumbled across this article that explains why slow, deep breathing works to stop the fight-or-flight response (i.e., panic). It's a little long, so you might want to skim and read selectively.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A19953156

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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 agree, I think it would be better if I competed more often. This artistic comp is the only comp featuring adult divisions in our state this year, and I can't afford to go to the interstate comps (airfares, hotels etc) when my husband is already tetchy about the cost. I thought I had this one all visualised and prepared for, but evidently not.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Can you have your coach simulate a competition setting? For example, have you come in in your costume, have you do a five (or however long yours is) warm-up then have you skate?

One rink I know of has critique days.. where skaters sign up to have judges come in and take a look at their programs. That may not be practical where you are, but at least simulate as much of a competition atmosphere as you can, including having an audience/judging panel, even if the people are family, friends, other skaters or other coaches.

Some people freak out when they put on the dress, some panic when it's just them on the ice, some just arriving at the rink knowing someone besides their coach is going to watch them. I freak out knowing MY COACH is going to watch me when I test or compete and I don't want to disappoint her. Can you pinpoint what it was that was your tipping point? Can you simulate going through that? When I started competing, I would get shaky as soon as I put on something that might be used for a test. So I started always wearing skating dresses and tights, going without gloves at least once a week, and doing "stage make-up and hair" at least a couple times a month. After a couple months of that, those things didn't bother me any more... then it was having people look at me. So my coach started out by having her then-five-year-old daughter critique my skating. It's hard to be scared of a five-year-old, but I was the first couple times. After I heard her say things like "you didn't jump very high" and "your leg was kind of hanging out", I realized at least when judges look at me, I don't have to hear that directly from them, they just put numbers by my name. The only way I was able to get "private ice" and deal with the nerves from that was to be the first one on the ice when the zamboni finished... and that of course only lasts 30 seconds. So my coach did reverse psychology. She had me practice on the busiest sessions we could find.. and then I was just SOOOO glad for private ice so I could actually skate my programs the way I knew I could without having to look out for people. I'm still working on the "not disappointing my coach" thing.. but she's pretty good about it. She just keeps telling me she'll still be my coach as long as I keep trying my best at that moment. She says the only way she'll drop me as a student is if I just stop midway through something and stop giving everything my best effort.. especially in a judged-situation. So far, it's worked.. she's been my coach nearly 15 years now... and we keep saying we'll keep at it until we're in our 80s. Sorry for the digression.

Anyway, if you can figure out what it is that set you off this time, maybe we can help you plan on how to desensitize yourself to that. Sometimes just talking about it helps. I also like your plan for over-preparing for the meltdown... and then laughing at your efforts.

Good luck!