Do any figure skaters have tips on doing programs?

Question

I am a 16 year old intermediate level skater. I absolutely hate doing my program. I rarely do clean programs in practice and procrastinate terribly before practicing it. All my jumps are clean or near clean outside of it, but when it comes down to the real thing it all falls apart. I wanted to know some of the things other skaters do while doing there program to help assure jumps and other components. Any tips?

I also have a problem during the warm up in competition. I get very nervous with the other girls on the ice with me. Any tips for that?

Answer 1

Break your program up into sections.  Focus on a specific section and its elements per practice session....or how ever you want to divide it.  When you're happy with the section, move onto working on the next.  Practice it so you don't have major gaps in each run through....go through it, stop, catch your breath a little and do it again.  Once you feel more comfortable with each section, put it all together.  When you're working on your jumps, practice them like they are set in your program...for example, if you have footwork going into it, rather than just doing the jump a few times, add the footwork before and add the jump.

I get nervous on warmup too....it's almost like I spend more time trying to get the feeling back into my knees than I do warming up.  Focus on warming up for the judges rather than on what the other skaters are doing.  Connect your warmup to your program -- make it part of your overall performance....a preview of what they'll see later.  Warmup what you're most worried about in your program so that if you don't get through everything in your program on warmup, it won't be a big deal if you don't get to the things you're already confident in.  Also -- BREATHE!!! :)  Good luck!

Answer 2

Is this a case of just not practising the routine long enough to get used to it or is it a case that you hate the music but your coach already chose it and he or she won't switch it now?

While it is cheap to just recycle already mixed music from someone else's routine, a skater should try to skate to music they feel identified with. You're supposed to enjoy the program not hate it.

If it's a case of feeling not comfortable doing the program, go with the break the parts thing. You will avoid huffing and puffing and work on the toughest parts of the routine. No point doing those Camel spins if you nail 'em always but leave the steps and major jumps out.

As for warming up in the competition and getting nervous, that never really was an issue with me and I've crashed and fell on the ice on collisions without affecting my performance later. Try to get used to skating in crowded rinks. If you start to feel comfortable being forced to do Axels and Lutzes and spins in a place crammed with people, you won't feel so awkward doing the warmup.

At warmup, start the first circle around the ice just skating around with some crossovers and then start warming up the top gun figures, but remember to not overtire yourself (especially if you're first to skate). Which is the exact formula of figures to do warming up? You'll gain experience with competitions and be able to judge what is the best way to warm up. Can you collide with another skater? Yes, it can happen, be aware especially of avoiding to do spins in the Lutz corner. If you can perform a solo figure away from the other skaters in a part of the rink where a figure like a Lutz can't be executed, do it. The other skaters want to avoid hitting you as much as you don't want to hit them.

It's also a good idea to warm up specific short parts of the routine that are giving you trouble, like a step sequence into an Axel or a difficult spin that collides very closely with a major jump. The idea is to warm up the figures that are the hardest to do without tiring yourself. As an intermediate skater don't expect to have more than 5 minutes to warm up so be wise on which figures to warm up in this amount of time. Don't waste time doing simple stuff like a spiral (unless you plan on doing the hardest edge or it connects between two tough figures), use your time wisely.

Don't get nervous, just have fun and show off what you can do to the skaters. You can blow a jump at warmup, but not when you're actually skating. While judges might be looking whether you can really land doubles at warmup or not, they aren't grading you. If you have to make a mistake on purpose to remove a mind block, do it at warmup when it doesn't matter.

If you really do feel unhappy with your routine because the music sucks or you don't like the choreography, you might still have time to change some things. Talk to your coach if this is a huge issue or just practise the trouble parts and maybe you'll enjoy it more.

Good luck.

Answer 3

listen to your music in the car going anywhere. at home listen to it and concentrate on what jumps come first, so on.  when you are practicing really concentrate on what you are doing.  at the competition, relax and just pay attention to what you need to get done.  have fun and don't worry.  probably other girls feel the same

Answer 4

sounds like you don't practice your program enough and you just aren't comfortable enough with it. The more you do it, the easier it will get!

Answer 5

when im practicing routenes i always make sure i count in my head other wise i always mess up too.

another thing is, no matter how many times you go wrong

if you get really annoyed or give up it wont make it any better

so always be patient  ;D

and as for being nervous in the warm up with the other girls..

im sure there are other girls there who are just as nervous as you are. just pretend they arnt there

hope this helps  :]