A skating buddy of mine was going to AN for the first time and she was convinced she could not do her Interp. program without her coach nearby. (He was not coming to the competition.) She claimed everytime she tried to skate with him not close enough to reach for if she started to lose it, she would completely tighten up, forget everything and fall. Her coach said ok.. I'll hold your hand one more time (he stood near her for the entire program.. which was kind of funny to watch). Afterwards, he took off his thin leather glove and told her he was still "in it" and to go do the program again. He stood by the boards, she skated with his glove and was fine. He then told her to take the glove with her and she could "still hold my hand" while you skate there. Fortunately the glove was very thin leather and she could ball it up and stick it in her sleeve and she felt her coach was there with her. Yeah, a lot of it was psychological.. but it worked. She skated well enough to place fourth out of about 16 skaters.. and was on the podium! She gave the "magic glove" back to the coach when she returned, and hasn't needed it since.

Hockey sticks are great!!! It's kinda like having a 3rd leg! LOL. Funny but it is indeed useful

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Keep Evolving. "From this moment forward, every voice that told you - You Can't - , has been silenced." - Freedom Writers

Seriously?! I would have thought that the weight would affect your balance on something like a crossover?

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Amanda

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

My Skating Journal

that reminded me of learning to ride my bike... i rode it with my mum holding the back to support me. so one day im riding along, everything's going really well, woo hoo... i say to mum, "this is fun", but no reply. i look back, she's like 100 m away. i fall cuz i'm not looking ahead. the injustice, the cruelty of parents... lol, well i could pretty much ride it after that so i guess it worked!

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I totally agree. When I have a fear of a certain move, I always know it's because I haven't mastered the technique yet. I would say, just keep doing what you can. If you need your coach's hand, it's fine for now. Do your crossovers holding on to that hand until one day you'll feel you no longer need it. And relax, don't give yourself a hard time. You are still doing those crossovers even if you need a hand. So what? One day, you'll feel there's no fear. It'll just happen.

LOL, I actually meant holding them lengthwise, so it would almost be like you're holding on to a barre. I never thought of having a 3rd leg!

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Mom never held onto my bike. She just unscrewed the 2 extra wheels at the back 1 by 1. After she unscrewed the first, I just automatically sorta started leaning to the left a lot. Then when she unscrewed the left one too, I took a heckload of nasty falls. One time, I slid down a gravel hill on my hands and knees with the bike. I had no skin on my knees for like a half a year after that. And I was bragging about that to every boy in the neighborhood!

It's funny you should say that - during my years of classical training, if I had to balance for a long time on demi-pointe on one foot for example, I would imagine that I had one of my hands resting on the barre, and would imagine feeling it under my hand. It worked wonders!

This mind over matter thing is really quite fascinating!

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Amanda

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

My Skating Journal

I loved the glove story. =-) Thank you for sharing Thin-Ice. My old coach used to pull the harness behind me when working on the axel. I wasn't in it mind you! Just hearing the noise and feeling my coach skating behind me was enough to give me a false feeling of security. Kinda like the bike thing already mentioned. =-)

teresa

I too enjoyed the magic glove story. My first trip to AN was also w/o my coach. At my last lesson before the competition she gave me a little smiling rag doll dressed to look like her. The doll sat on the boards every time I was on the ice -- I could hear my coach's voice loud & clear just like she really was there.

Here's another little trick. Go from holding the hand to holding the end of a flexible skateguard (the two-piece kind w/springs). Coach holds the other end. Gives confidence w/o total support. Eventually the coach can let go leaving the skater holding the guard but still feeling the "crutch" . . .
The mind works in fascinating ways, doesn't it??

My coach is the kind to not hold on; meanwhile my husband prefers to have someone holding on, but he has a death-grip and I won't hold his hand anymore after he almost took me down with him while falling!

He has pretty much given up on back crossovers, but he needs to work it out in his mind how to best deal with it.

I've fallen plenty on them. I was terrified the first few times...but eventually figured I could let it conquer me or I could conquer it. I did not want to give up skating! I plow through the fear and eventually I'm not so paralyzed.

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

When I was taking lessons, my coach refused to hold anybody's hands. She said she didnt' want me to develop some kind of psychological barrier. Even though it might take longer to do an element, it wouldn't be as long as it would to try to let go of the hand. She would adjust your arms or shoulders while you're standing, before going into an element fi she had to, but she would always stand away out of arms reach. So sorry I can't offer much help, other than maybe on future elements, refuse the assistance of the coach or wall to hold onto?

Actually, the story about the bike and mom lettting go, my dad taught me to swim in a similar way. When I was little, he took me into the pool, took me into the part where he could still stand but I couldn't, dropped his hands from me and made me swim. That's teh way my dad is, he bought me Rollerblades, strapped them onto my feet, and told me to go. Same with my bike. He said "Here's your sisters old bike, we lost the training wheels, so just go ride it now". It worked for me though, I think because I was dumb enough to not know I didn't know how to swim or rollerblade or ride a bike.

I wouldn't call it fear in my case, but I completely understand what you are talking about.

I'm working on Silver Moves, which include Power Pulls. Now, I can do forward Power Pulls, not terribly well, but I can do them. Well, when my coach holds my hands with just the slightest pressure, they become really well done. It's a confidence thing.

I also freeze up on the RBI 3 turn, though I can do the other 7 fairly well. And my program footwork is always much worse with the music than with out. I freeze up. Worried about tripping.

I also think I hold back on my axel because I don't believe that I can do it.

Well Peeps, as this thread is still going, I thought I would give you an update on my damned backward crossovers

I have decided not to stress about it, as I think they will come in their own time. In my practice sessions, I tend to do some near the barrier, and now I gradually move little by little away from it. I can work up to a few metres away from it. The other day I even did a crossover right on the hockey circle! Okay, it was only one, but after weeks of standing on the circle trembling like a newly born foal, it is progress.

I now (luckily for me) have about three days off work. I have calculated that by the time I go back to work on Tuesday, I can get in about 11 hours skating time. I shall just take it slowly and keep edging away from that barrier, and, most importantly I believe, not to STRESS about it!

And may I say thank you to everyone who has contributed - it has really helped just knowing that I am not that unusual and reading all your tips

So now that I am making slow progress on these, anyone got any tips for forward inside 3-turns?!!!

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Amanda

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

My Skating Journal

Yes I do. Understanding of the physics behind it makes it much easier.

Basically, first you have to start the rotation. You use the edge for this (since it's already rotating you in the right direction) and you keep your entire body aligned as you start the rotation. But then, you've given that rotation a push and immediately after you've rotated onto a back outside edge, you need to start stopping the rotation. You do this by pushing your shoulders in the opposite direction. For the right inside 3-turn, you'll be pushing your shoulders to your right - for the left inside 3-turn, to the left. It will appear from the side as if you're keeping your arms (and shoulders!!!) straight out where they were! And they will be. All the push you're giving is going into stopping the rotation!

Also, on the inside 3-turns particularly, keep that free foot close to your skating foot, and do not move it forward. At first I was like, firstly very neatly keeping it tucked behind my skating foot, then moving it forward at the last possible moment! Somehow I still managed to turn but you loose all control this way. Keep the free foot tucked next or just behind to your skating foot. This also helps to rotate the 3-turn because your legs are pretty heavy. You know how it's like swinging a heavy stone by a long rope? It goes much faster and easier if the rope is shorter. Same here, your leg is pretty heavy - the farther you stick it out from your centre of rotation (being your skating foot), the more force you'll need to exert to turn - and this is hard, especially for somebody just starting on them who hasn't mastered the maximum-efficient timing in turning yet.

Also, obviously, you need to be over your skating foot with your weight.

Generally, if I drop the left hip (skating on right), I'll raise my left shoulder (and drop the right one), if I raise my left hip - I start leaning to the right with my entire body (and vice versa for the opposite side).

Improper stopping the rotation or putting our your free leg where it doesn't belong will also lead to very sharp and uncontrolled 3-turns.

Good news: many people find the inside 3-turns much easier than the outside ones. I'm not one of them, but my mother is. The outside edge on which you exit is easier to hold than an inside edge is.

I don't think I'm one of those people either. I find my forward inside edge gets progressively more so, so I end up going in a spiral. My coach said it was a great entry into a spin, but not quite the aim here! When I do turn, because my FI is too much, I can't transfer onto my BO and do some weird skiddy thing.

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Amanda

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

My Skating Journal

It IS a great entry for a backspin. Except there you do keep the leg more behind you than for a normal 3-turn, and the shoulders are more closed and don't check afterwards.

I'm gonna guess you need to keep the leg closer to your skating foot?

Hmmm - not sure. I do try and keep my free foot tucked in behind my skating foot, but it is easy to lose concentration and find it flapping about

What I think it might be (pending investigations over the next few days!), is that when I am prerotating my upper body, my weight is dropping too much over my free side which is what is pulling me into a deeper forward inside edge. I will spend some time doing that prerotation but keeping my free side more lifted to see if that helps.

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Amanda

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

My Skating Journal

I'm terrified of every new jump. I have to sneak up on them verrrrrry slowly. First I walk through them a bunch of times, then the tiniest hop, and gradually as I get the feel for it let it go.

This isn't working so well on singles. I've been working for months and months on the salchow. I can land it once in a while, but mostly I two-foot or never even take off. Even with lovely cushy crashpads, I'm terrified of falling.

-Liz

Have you considered a controlled fall that you engineer on your own to get over the fear of falling?

Could be! Good luck

Ahhh I love the fear of a good fall in the morning. Nothing gets my blood pumping better than crashing on my first jump of the day. It's better than coffee! You don't know what you're missing, Liz.

ROFL! I've fallen plenty and not been hurt but I'm still fixated. If I could learn to embrace hitting the ice like that I'd get so much further!

Well if it's any concillation, I've acquired 2 chronical injuries in just over a year from all the falls I take... LOL! I'm gonna guess you don't quite want that either.

Really though it's a thrill. Like when you let yourself fall backwards into a pool, you know that water will sting against your back but it's pretty cool so you do it anyways. Or like skiing, you go down that mountain and you know you'll end up on your butt eventually, or like running (or other physical activities) where you know you'll have muscle ache the next day.
Actually I think - you're gonna laugh at me here - I think taking a lot of falls on the butt is helping against my cellulite...