Please Be 100% Honest About This?

Question

My cousin (technically my niece, lol) started skating when she was almost 11 years old. At HER rink, they split the levels into two groups (I asked this previously in my a question about MY rink), and she started at pre alpha 1, then went onto pre alpha 2, alpha 1, alpha 2, beta 1, skipped beta 2, and gamma 1. So our rinks are basically the same. She passed onto gamma 2 and it'll start a week or two before her 13th b-day. She really wants a straight and blunt answer on this, and doesn't want people to soften up and stuff. Do you think she can go to the olympics in like 2014? She's very dedicated, and learnt how to do backwards crossovers (undercuts) in less than 5 minutes. Do you think she can? Because she's heard that by now kids her age can do double axels, and etc.. She really wants the truth. Either way though, she's probably gonna try for 2014. Please be honest.

Answer 1

Not likely to happen, once she starts learning the jumps, it gets a lot harder to go from single jumps to double jumps, and then to triple jumps! Most skaters NEVER get triples, and most kids stop skating before getting doubles, let alone single axel!

She would need hours and hours of private lessons and practice time. Much more than she gets now, and that is NOT cheap!

She should still skate and have fun, enter low level competitions.

Answer 2

Well, honestly, no she can't. Johnny Weir (you've probably heard of him) started skating at age 12. He was a complete natural (I heard he did an axel his first week of ice skating lessons!) and even he didn't go to the Olympics until over 10 years after he started skated. There are people who have skated their entire lives, and even they will never make it to the Olympics.

But make sure your niece doesn't give up no matter what. There is so much more to figure skating than the Olympics. She could always do some lower level competitions, or when she is older, compete on the Adult competition circuit.

Answer 3

Probably not. The olympics are filled with some of the best ice skaters in the world. Very few people get in and at this rate (very slow) she'll probably just be learning her axle in 2014

Answer 4

Dedication is one thing, and perseverance is another.  I wouldn't say it's not possible, but it's unrealistic.  she should make goals she knows she can reach.  Start with completing the primary levels and competing.  Tell her she can do anything if she puts her mind to it, but tell her not to be disappointed.  Pegging Fleming was an exception. She started skating at 9 or so and went to the Olympics.  Keep in mind though she skated when they weren't so many strict rules and skating wasn't developed yet.  I know some people who progressed much more than that in 2 years.  

Kids the same age are working on doubles or even triples. Just tell her stay in the moment and most of all have fun.

Answer 5

im sorry, but

no. not at all. girls her age have been skating for a longer time with 10 times the dedication that she has. training 3-even 6 hours a day, 6 days a week with hours of off-ice training and stretching. and yes they can do double axels, even triples. backward crossovers are great, but in two years after starting skating i was already doing axels and double salchows.

sorry but you told me to be 100% percent honest.no soft stuff,  and in all honesty, even if she started training like that right now at this very moment, the other girls are still training, not standing still. so its not probable at all.

Answer 6

I hate to say it, but that's most likely unrealistic.  One of the hardest parts of skating is there is such a tiny percentage of skaters who actually make it to those elite levels of the sport.  We all want to go to the Olympics! :)  

The skaters who do make it there have been training for it all their lives.  They started very young and while she is 13 and a fast learner, there are other 13-year-olds out there who are already at that level, who are just waiting til they're old enough to go to the Olympics.  She'd have A LOT of catching up to do.  One thing people don't always understand about skating is it isn't enough to be able to perform the elements needed in those levels, but there is also HOW you perform them.  There are elements of skating that aren't really learned, but only come with time spent in the sport and performing.  If you compare even just a beginning skater's crossovers with a more advanced skater's crossovers, while they may be performing the same exact thing correctly, the advanced skater will look more polished and solid.  If you look back at Michelle Kwan's first international competition performances, she was very young and did not have a lot of experience.  She could do all the things the more experienced skaters did, but she didn't have the showmanship and the poise.  I know lots of senior level skaters, but they'd never cut it in Olympic competition.  So it's almost like the skaters who make it to that level are the "elite of the elite."  

Also, getting to that level and maintaining that level of competition is very very expensive....more than a typical family can support.  So in addition to the skating and long, long hours of practice, she'd need sponsors to pay for her skates, coaching fees (on and off ice), transportation, club fees, testing fees, costumes, competition fees and on and on.

Is the possiblity TOTALLY impossible?  No.  Johnny Weir started skating at 11.  But for 2014, will she be Olympic ready in a few years?  Based upon being in the sport for quite a long time and seeing talented skaters come and go, she may need more time than that.  Sometimes no matter how much you want the jumps and spins to come and no matter how hard you practice, they don't come overnight.