Brace for unnecessarily long-winded reply


I went skating for the first time ever on my 22nd birthday. I refused to let go of the wall and if anyone came near me I freaked out. My dance studio had just closed so I said hmm, let me sign up for group lessons so I can at least just go forwards without wanting to kill myself. So I started in group lessons in March of 2003 and progressed up to freestyle 1 (ISI group) by July of that year. Then I decided that I'd like to get some private instruction since I thought I wanted to compete, so I switched rinks. My first private coach was a disaster, but I only realized this after my first competition in October of 2003. We spent more time chatting than we did working, and she was always content to say "That's good enough" when really I'm sure it needed so much more work. I only worked on freestyle 1 elements with her - waltz jump, two foot spin etc. to get ready for the competition but I was totally underprepared, particularly mentally. I had no idea what I was in for really. She put me out on the ice and I did horribly - even my friends who had seen me skate before were like what on earth?

So I quit. I figured whats the point if I can't compete, not realizing that ineffective coaching had something to do with it. I went back to dancing for a year or so and then decided to give figure skating one more try realizing how much I missed it. I started with group lessons in the adult class (I was with the kids before too) in March of 2005 and privates with a really good coach in April. I had no intent of testing or competing so my private lessons were just a mish-mash of jumps and spins or whatever else I felt like learning and group lessons consisted of relearning how to stroke and do 3 turns and such since I was pretty terrible at all that to begin with.

Then the hurricane came in October 2005 and almost every rink was shut down so I couldn't skate at all. My old rink is STILL non-operational in fact. I decided to try out a new rink in January of 2006 and I'm still there. I made a connection with my group lesson coach after a couple of weeks and inquired about privates. At this point I resolved to just start testing because I knew from seeing myself on video just putzing around doing jumps and spins that I wanted to get better. And the only way to get better is to practice the fundamentals. So, I've been working on pre-bronze for 3-4 weeks.

So, to answer your question altogether I've been skating for just under a year and a half with a variety of lessons and focus, but working on the moves for about a month. I'm turning 25 at the end of the month and I'd like to land an axel before I'm 30 so...I'm giving myself a good cushion I think.