Competition on Sunday and nervous! (Figure skaters only)??

Question

Hi :]

I am a figure skater, 14 and competing at Preliminary Test Level (all consistent single jumps, only a combination with a waltz, salchow and toe loop) s and compulsary. And its 2 days before competiti, hardest jump a lutz and all jumps are consistent) on, and i am SO nervous. Ive only competed once before, in Basic 6. And the reason i am so nervous is because in my first competition (in basic 6) i was doing a forward lunge and FELL. It was awful. And i feel like i will fall on something here. Also, I was going to do a sit spin as well as a scratch in my program, however its been really wacky so at last minute (tuesday) my coach & i put in my camel spin instead which is NOT consistent but nice as of this week. AND, ive see n my competition, and they are awesome! And they have more jumps and spin combos than me so i feel like they will win over me anyways. Please help in telling me what to do when i get there, and what to do now to feel less nervous.

Thank you so much in advance :]

Answer 1

im a competitive figure skater and have competed all around the country so I think i can help :]

before the competition eat alot of carbs. pasta..granola bars..eggs.. etc.

warm up good...stretch..listen to music..jump rope..stay warm!

when u step out on to the ice imagine its just  a practice..

most importantly have fun!

let me know how it goes :]

Answer 2

Unfortunatly, the nerves will be there until you get used to the pressure of competition. For me, it took me about 4 competitions to get comfortable and not be so nervous. Somethings you can do to better prepare are to visualize your program and imagine yourself doing the jumps and spins. Visualization activates the same part of the brain as actually doing it, so while your body might not be physically doing it, your brain is. Another thing to do is just take deep breathes. It will calm down your body and all the weird things it's doing because of the nerves. One thing I would advise you against is not eating or drinking because of the nerves. At my second competition I became so nervous that I hardly ate or drank for about 3 days. When it came time for my warm up I became so thirsty that when it was over I chugged half a bottle of water. I went out and skated my program and then came off and threw up. Luckily, it was just water, but after that I realized that hydration before the warm up is very important. Don't stress out too much. Just go out there and skate your best. Skate for yourself and from your heart. Take the joy of the sport and let it show in your face... the judges will notice. At my 4th competition I was nervous because the other girls I was against were very good, but I went out there and just felt the music. My coach said I gave her chills and I ended up winning 1st place in both of my events. Good luck!

Answer 3

The best thing you can do is relax.  Take deep breaths before you skate.  Don't focus on 'everybody's watching me,' focus on 'I love skating and I want to show everyone what I have accomplished.'  If you relax and skate because you love to skate, it shows to the judges.  They know you're nervous, so show them how well you can skate under a little pressure.  I always try to think that I'm out there to entertain more than I am out there to walk away with a medal or trophy.

Go over your programs in your head over and over.  Skate a perfect program in your mind.  When you're out there, if you fall, so what.  You can't reverse time and re-skate it, so all you can do from that point on is to skate like it never happened.  Get up, smile, keep going.  That's one of the marks of a good skater -- the ones who can keep going after a mistake.  I'm sure you've watched competitions and there are skaters who fall at the beginning of their program and then the rest of the program also looks bad because their facial expression shows that they're disappointed.....and they burst into tears before they have both feet off the ice.  

It's possible to make a mistake, keep going and still place.  Remember, sometimes it's not always about 1st place -- it's about how you feel about yourself and your skating.  Not saying that we all don't have performances that we wished we could erase from everyone's memory banks, but say you have an element in your program that is difficult for you, but you miss an element that is normally easy for you.  Keep going, finish the program as confidently as you started and know that you did well on something that's hard for you -- don't dwell on the one missed jump/spin.  

On your warmup, start with the elements you're most worried about so that if you run out of time on warmup to get to your other elements, you've at least worked through the things you're most apprehensive about.  Smile, laugh a little, have fun.  In a week and a half, I'll be in your shoes too!  :)  Good luck!!

Answer 4

If you don't believe in yourself you'll never do your best.

You never know what will happen. Sometimes people do great in practice then totally mess up in competition. Just try your best and skate the best you can, skate for yourself and smile the whole time. If you skate the best you can and still don't win, you'll should be really happy that you did your best and thats what matters.

Drink water and eat breakfast before the competition, something with protein like eggs. When you get there try to find some of your skater friends and talk to them. Before you go out go over your program in your head and DONT watch your competition, it will just make you more nervous.

I had a theatre on ice competition last weekend and all the other groups had axels and much harder spins than my group and people who have passed their novice freeskate, while in my group barely anyone has passed pre-preliminary freeskate, but somehow we got first.

So, anything can happen. Good luck to you (and to me I have an exhibition tonight :)

Answer 5

In my personal experience, I'll say this: You've already seen your competition and know they are better than you are. You know you won't have enough time to make your Camel perfect in 1 day and you probably can't do Level 4 steps and much less create a higher level steps sequence in so little time to at least boost a few points there.

The best you can do is to skate clean and in a way, don't really care what the judges do because you know beforehand you probably won't medal. Since you don't have that pressure, you can either skate it safe with easier figures and hope for the best or just do something crazy and pop a tougher figure that's still permitted in the level (the mexican and US skating systems are somewhat different but I have competed myself in the equivalent of that level before).

Obviously while not your first comp, it's the first comp where you'll be doing real figures and not just Bunny hops and crossovers. You did your preparing, it's unlikely you'll make your routine better in so little time anyways. Also, winning first place in that level isn't like the big psaaz either. This competition will be more about learning what the feel is like and very importantly from what you said: getting over stage freight. I can't really compare myself because the one and only time I ever feel in a competition I had hypoglycemia that night and it's really amazing I even finished the routine. I didn't even fall per se, I actually passed out because I remember that everything turned black, but my body woke up so quickly that the audience probably thought I did had a regular fall (and it was doing a Half Flip to boot, a figure I'd never fall doing).

I think this happens to everyone, but in my first few comps I just did everything like a machine. Doesn't help that the job of choreographers doesn't really exist in Mexico so in some routines I did that job myself (though some coaches aren't too shabby at it). In later competitions I started to look more at the audience. You'll probably just work like a machine and the routine will be over before you know it.

Oh, and even I had butterflies in my stomach everytime they called my name to get on the ice. However it just made me more fierce instead of shatter me apart. Hopefully the same will happen to you.

And if you're going to have to fall because it's some sort of eeeeevil mental block you sadly formed, fall in the warm-up and just laugh at yourself for it, don't take yourself so seriously. Heck, I actually crashed against a girl in a warmup once and hit my head. I actually remembered grinning in my own stupidity because I think it was my fault and continued as if nothing happened despite the light pain.

Good luck! ;)