Hi everyone
I Started skating about a year and a half ago and i am on my swing/baby blues and a lutz! But i am still on preliminary skills !

So i have 2 things to ask you
Could anyone out there give me any good advice on anything in skating?
Any old tricks etc............. If you do that would be great and also i was thinking maybe we could make this the biggest thread answered ever!!!

So please come on and show your support!
LutzgirlLutz girl................rulez the world

I'm not sure there is a trick, except to:

Practice, practice, practice.

Over and over and over again.

I was exactly where you are now about 4 months ago. Trust me, be glad you're still on Preliminary skills because the Junior Bronze ones aren't fun to learn! Tricks? There are none that I know of except for, like icedancer 2 said practice and always try your hardest even if it's just a practice.

Just practice alot! i skate 6-7 times a week now I'm going to have no time for homework... but that's okay.. cuz i like skating WAY better! lol! Just keep practicing hard... and don't worry about skills, I just failed Sr. Silver skills last week and it's the first time i've ever failed skills so they only get harder, more boring, and longer! lol! But dances get more fun and interesting! I like dance now.. i just don't like my dance coach! lol! *shhh* didn't say that! lol! Oh yeah.. Syncrho skating is REALLY fun! i just joined the Ancaster Angels Novice this year and i LOVE it and it really helps with your skating

Caitlin

__________________
The passion for perfection The dream to be the best there ever was That is the flame that burns within me That is what I skate for

Quite honestly, the more time you spend on your skills now, the more it will pay off in the future. You don't want to be one of those skaters who can jump and spin, but has nothing in between, do you? Skills tests are designed to help that not happen, and that's why all the major Associations insist on them. But they do pay off in terms of balance, edges, weight transfer, etc.

I know they are dull, and you feel like you aren't getting anywhere, but many people prefer them to the old compulsory figures, and they will help all your skating.

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

You just have to keep practicing, if you aren't sure of some steps ask your coach that's what they're there for! I'm on Gold Skills, and I can tell you they get more fun as you go on, but right now make sure to try to perfect your prelim. skills because they are going to help you out so much later on!

__________________
beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

thankyou guys alot that was really great advice!

Now im begining to realise that your preliminary skills wil help you with about everything in skating they are like your first steps into life!

Im just finishing my waltzing threes up so i should be tasking the test soon !


Wish me luck!

Try to practice skills with the music as much as possible. I see a lot of skaters doing the patterns, but their timing is off, especially on those 3 turns and then when they do it with the music they're all messed up. It's all about practice. Running through the patterns each once during the skills session is not enough and that happens too often.

The trickiest part of the entire skills is on the prelim circles if you have to do a backwards one because of the 3 turn entry!

It's possible to squeak through prelim, jr bronze and sr bronze skills, but then when you hit jr silver and Snakes & Ladders it all catches up with you and you're stuck on that forever.

Are your skills done to music? I'm assuming by skills, you are talking about something similar to the American Moves in the Field. We do not do ours to music - just to the silence of the arena so the judges can hear every scrape and toepick ! I find it interesting that the same type of thing is done differently depending on where you live.

Lutzgirl - the other posters are so right. Practice, practice, practice! I like to look at them as a tool to help me improve my skating and control my body. Since I started doing the moves (USFSA just started requiring them for adults last year), I have seen an improvement in my posture, speed and power. (My edge quality was always pretty good because of figures.) I used to hate figures, and think the MIF's are so much more fun and so much easier than the figures!

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Lutzgirl: A little advice to you, don't get frustrated...your time will come and always practice. If you are having a bad day, go to something that you can do well and work on that for a while , then when your mind is clear go back to the lutz or other move you are having problems with. Good Luck!

~sk8star~

thanks all these are really great ideas!kepp em comin!

Amen!!!!

Tricks? Oh yes there are all kinds of tricks. A slighlty bent elbow on this, a straighter knee on that, and suddenly a skill gets easier. Unfortunately, it's not something that can be pointed out well on-line. Your coach is the one that can show you the tricks to proper form.

And then, to repeat everyone else, practice.

Remember: Perfect practice makes perfect.
Don't get sloppy in your practices or you'll instill bad habits in your muscle memory.

Canadian Skills are done to music. The preliminary 3's are simple to do, 3 turn,hold, cross, 3 turn etc, one around the end back the other way with 3 turns on the other foot inside and outside and then a finish. However, the turns all have to hit the music and it's like the dance music, it's imprinted into the brain of judges so that if you don't hit the turn on the "cymbals", there's no covering it up.

We lend the skaters a copy of their music especially if they're having problems with the timing and the steps and they practice it at home.

The judges stand right at the boards in the hockey box and the music isn't so loud so that they can still hear the scrapes.

• Always warm up with a jog and stretch your muscles carefully beforehand - you'll skate better for it
• Remember your posture. Shoulders back, head up.
• Basics, basics, basics. Over and over and over.
• Split your elements in to parts and master each part separately ie the flip, master the control on the 3 turn, then the spotting, then the jump up, the pulling in, then the landing.

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating