Recreational Figure Skating FAQ - Adult Skaters

Archive-name: sports/skating/ice/rec-skate/adults
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Last-modified: 15 Sep 2003
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3. Adult Skaters

  3.1 Adult beginner skaters

   The  news  group  rec.sport.skating.ice.recreational  sees quite a few
   postings   from   adults   who  have  just  discovered  skating  as  a
   recreational  activity.  Don't  let  age,  weight or perceived lack of
   athletic  ability  deter  you  from  the  fun and accomplishment to be
   gained.  There  are several common factors that affect adult beginners
   in  particular,  including  fear  of  falling,  work  demands, and the
   dreaded *skater mother from hell*.

    3.1.1 The skater mother from Hell and other horrors

   Wherever  you  skate, there will be a mother who doesn't skate herself
   but  has a young girl enrolled at the rink. She may consider you to be
   taking up space on the ice. Any space is too much. Or you may outweigh
   little  Suzy  by  a  factor of three, and she fears that if there is a
   collision  Suzy  may  get  squashed  and  have  her  Olympic ambitions
   prematurely  terminated.  Despite the fact that the session is open to
   all  ages  and  you've  paid  full admission, she complains and starts
   rumors.

   To  combat this problem, join the skating club and make a point to get
   acquainted  with  the  coaches, adult skaters and parents at the rink.
   Volunteer  for  duties  at  competitions. Having a group of people who
   know  who  you are, and that you're serious about skating will prevent
   your  being  railroaded  by "kids first" rules. Often the answer is to
   skate  with  the intermediate juniors (12 year olds), even if they are
   much better skaters.

   You  may also want to become something of an "adult skating activist".
   But  please  remember  that  all  of  the  people who run the club are
   volunteers, giving of themselves and their time just like you. They do
   not want to be confronted with an "in your face" adult skater, and you
   would not want to be either.

    3.1.2 Talent vs. determination

   Everyone observes that some skaters seem to have a flair for the sport
   and progress faster. How far does determination and practice take you?
   The  answer  is  "a long way"! Physical talent may be required to be a
   high  level competitor, but anyone with a strong desire to improve can
   learn at least some of the jumps and master all of the basic skills. A
   lot  depends  on  how regularly you can find time for lessons/practice
   and your willingness to try and persevere in pursuit of your goals.

  3.2 Amount of practice needed to make progress

   The  final  problem  is not having the time to skate. In the beginning
   phases,  it is critical that you skate often enough so that you aren't
   "starting  over"  every session. For most people, this means a minimum
   of twice a week, though three times with lessons wouldn't be bad. Once
   a  basic  skill  is mastered, then it can be retained even if you only
   skate  occasionally.  This  doesn't mean you have to skate yourself to
   death,  a  30-minute  warm-up/lesson/practice  session every other day
   would be worth far more than a 3-hour session weekly.

   Progress  always  comes in fits and starts. You'll generally know when
   you've  picked  up a new trick or mastered a skill, but it's difficult
   to  assess  your  overall  progress. If you're still skating, enjoying
   yourself and being challenged, count that as progress.

  3.3 Adult-Onset Skating Syndrome (AOSS)

   So  you're  30-something  or  40-something  and  have never skated, or
   skated  a  bit  as  a  kid.  But  the  sight of the skaters on TV gets
   something  going in the pit of your stomach so you get some skates and
   take  a  few  lessons.  Next thing you know you're hooked! Some of the
   symptoms of this disease are:

   1) You start dreaming about sit-spins and double jumps.

   2)  You  find  yourself practicing spread-eagles while waiting for the
   bus.

   3) The major factor in choosing an apartment/vacation destination is a
   nearby rink. Corollary: You know the day/hour of every skating session
   within 50 miles.

   4)  You  start  planning your work and family life around your skating
   sessions. Corollary: Your dog fetches your skates on command.

   5) You put off buying clothes to pay for more coaching. Corollary: The
   clothes you DO buy are made of Lycra and sequins.

   6)  You  break  in your skates by wearing them at work and slip on the
   way to the printer, suffering a black eye.

   7)  You  forget  to  take work clothes to the rink and end up spending
   your  work  day in your skating costume. None of your colleagues seems
   surprised.

   8) You hype your Alpha test so much at work that your co-workers think
   it's a qualifying event for Nationals.

   If  you  notice  any  of these symptoms in yourself, you are suffering
   from  AOSS my friend! Subscribe to rec.sport.skating.ice.recreational.
   At  least  you will have the compassion of others who are dealing with
   this  problem, and you may find the solution for centering that darned
   scratch spin!

  3.4 Lessons

   With  some exceptions, group lessons are mostly concerned with getting
   you  from  the "learn to skate" stage, though basic stroking and edges
   and  then finish up with figures and edges (or dance), without getting
   into the more advanced jumps or spins. Even if you already know how to
   skate,  this  can  be  quite  worthwhile,  depending  on the amount of
   individual attention from the instructor and the degree of improvement
   you feel from a disciplined, progressive review of the basic skills.

   As  far  as  group  lessons vs. private instruction that's a difficult
   call - each has some advantages. The group lesson provides peers and a
   programmed  sequence  of lessons. If you hang in, you'll learn, if not
   master, a lot of skills and be able to compare your progress with your
   peers. If you do have difficulty however, you're more likely to become
   discouraged.

   Private  lessons offer more flexibility, but lacking the fixed pace of
   the  group  lessons,  it's possible to get stuck on something that you
   don't  like  or  see the point of, but the instructor seems to feel is
   important before proceeding. This occurs more often if the lessons are
   infrequent   or   if   you   really   haven't   developed  good  2-way
   communications  with the instructor. If this is a problem, try getting
   some  off-ice  quality time to discuss your progress and goals - offer
   to  buy  coffee  or  ask if there's a "a time when we can sit down and
   talk for a few minutes".

   Moving  from  private  lessons  to group lessons, or re-starting group
   lessons  after dropping out can be difficult. You can't slough off the
   easy  stuff  or  you'll  just  hit  a brick wall where you had trouble
   before.  If  this  situation,  concentrate on doing that easy stuff as
   nicely as you can, using your hard earned "advanced" skills.

   You  can also supplement group lessons with private instruction or use
   the  group lessons to provide more "structured" practice time for what
   you're  also learning in the private lessons. It's hard to predict how
   well  this will work out for any given person, all you can do is plunk
   down your money and try it. Again, talk to your instructor - many will
   recommend  more frequent lessons with them, but few will really object
   to the group lessons.

   Plenty   of   practice  time  is  a  wonderful  thing,  but  too  much
   unsupervised  practice  between  lessons  isn't  a good idea. Not that
   you'll injure yourself, but you can end up doing things the "hard way"
   and forming habit/balance patterns that can interfere with your longer
   term  progress.  Invest in a little private instruction in addition to
   your  group  lessons.  This  will  prevent  bad  habits  from becoming
   ingrained   and   make   your   practice   time  more  worthwhile  and
   cost-effective.

  3.5 the pay-off!

     A man must love a thing very much if he not only
     practices it without any hope of fame and money,
     but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.
     (apparently written by G. K. Chesterton)

    (from Judy Tyrer)

   Let's  look  at  the  process  of  learning to skate. First of all, if
   skating  were  easy, it wouldn't take 10+ years to learn the sport. So
   get  over  the  notion that you will get results, any kind of results,
   quickly. You absolutely must fall in love with the process of skating.
   And  the  process  of  skating involves a lot of self examination. You
   will learn to face your fears. You will learn perseverance like you've
   never  experienced  it.  And  you  will have the greatest highs in the
   world  when after months and months and months of working at something
   without  any  indication  of improvement you have an "AHA!" moment and
   suddenly  find  yourself  gracefully  and seemingly effortlessly doing
   that which only a month ago seemed impossible.

   Skating  involves  complete  control  over every single muscle in your
   body.  Learn  to  focus  NOT  on  getting the trick, but one gaining a
   greater  sense  of awareness of your body and increased control of it.
   The  ice  rink  is  the  skater's  laboratory.  It  is  where we go to
   experiment. What happens if I turn my head this way? What happens if I
   lean  a  little  more  that  way?  What  happens if I drop my shoulder
   another  1/2  inch? If you go to each skating session with the goal of
   learning more about how your body affects your skating, you will never
   leave  frustrated.  You may learn 1001 and things that do not help you
   with this trick. But you will have learned some interesting things.

   Have fun and keep working at it. Because if you work at it long enough
   and  have  patience,  the  skating  gods  will visit you with a lovely
   "Aha!" and all the pain and suffering will instantly be forgotten.

    (adapted from "What I get from skating", by Janet Swan-Hill)

   Peace --- the intense feeling of inner stillness that comes from fully
   concentrating all of the body and mind on something

   Excitement  ---  the  rush  of  excitement  before,  during, and after
   performance.  Also the excitement of FINALLY having something go right
   after you've been working at it a long time

   Solitude  --- the privacy of concentration, especially during patch or
   while  working  on  dance  footwork,  but  also on any other aspect of
   skating.

   Companionship & camaraderie ---
   -  the  special connection you have to other adults working to succeed
   at something purely for the pleasure of it
   -  the special comradeship of watching each other's progress, sweating
   out  test  results,  etc. with other skaters .... no matter what their
   age, gender, or level
   -  the  "teamness"  of  working  on  a precision team, the process and
   results  of  working hard as a group, compromising, analyzing, helping
   each  other,  figuring  things  out, sharing the success and the blame
   among you, "pulling off" a move that seemed impossible just four weeks
   earlier
   -  encountering  and  getting  to know a group of people I would never
   otherwise have encountered

   Exercise  --- Of all the types of exercise I have ever done, only this
   and skiing didn't feel like exercise.

   Body awareness --- becoming aware of where the bits and pieces are and
   what  happens  when you move them (and how to keep from moving them if
   you don't want to)

   Sanity  ---  I can't really think about anything but skating while I'm
   skating, so it provides a wonderful breather in the middle of the day

   Perspective  ---  skating  puts  my  work  into perspective. work puts
   skating into perspective.

   Flying  ---  the  wonderful frictionless sensation of flying (not just
   during jumps ..... maybe MAINLY not in jumps)

   Goals  ---  a  never-ending  supply of goals to work toward: a growing
   list of goals reached. they don't even have to be big things:

   Facing  up  to  fear  ---  working  at something that scares you until
   finally  one  day you realize that you are doing the move without even
   thinking  about  it.  Also doing something that scares you even though
   it's still scary, and realizing that you CAN do it and you WILL.

   An appreciation of what goes into skating:

   - a greater appreciation of the skaters themselves and what they do
   -  an  astonished  and  continuing  appreciation  of  the thousands of
   volunteers  who  make  the organized sport of figure skating possible:
   judges,  accountants,  ice  monitors,  organizing  committees, costume
   crews,  fundraisers, music crews, registration people, the mothers who
   braid  hair  and  patch  up each other's children, the "rink moms" who
   play tapes during sessions, and many, many more.

   An  opportunity  to  serve and be useful --- knowing how badly you are
   needed,  because  skating IS run by volunteers, most of whom also have
   jobs and families that make volunteering difficult.

   A (moderately) harmless obsession-cum-addiction.

  3.6 Skating programs for adults

   Some  time  ago  the USFSA finally acknowledged the special needs from
   its  ever  increasing  adult  membership  and created an Adult Skating
   Committee,  which  publishes  the  newsletter  Adult  Insights.  Their
   address is:


    Adult Insights
    12017 N. 84th Street
    Scottsdale AZ 85260
    Fax: (602) 596-3992

   USFSA  adult  skaters  also  have an independent test track comprising
   freestyle  and  MITF  tests as well as separate Sectional and National
   Figure Skating Championships for adults.

   Other  skating  organizations  are  also  starting to follow the USFSA
   lead: For example, Skate Canada has started developing programs geared
   towards  adult skating too. Also, competitions with "adult" categories
   or  just for adults are being held in countries such as Great Britain,
   Germany  and  France,  partly  in response to the success of the first
   international  competition  for  adults  is  the "Mountain Cup", which
   takes place every year around May in the French Alps.

    3.6.1 USFSA adult testing track

   The  adult  testing track comprised four freestyle testing levels and,
   from  September  2002, corresponding MITF levels.The levels are: Adult
   Pre-bronze,  Bronze, Silver and Gold As in the regular track, the MITF
   test must be passed before taking the corresponding freestyle test.The
   USFSA  Adult  Figure  Skating  Committee  has  distributed a memo with
   information  about  the  implementation  of the Adult MITF track and a
   chart  listing  the  moves in each level, reasons for developments and
   expected standards.

   The freestyle tests consist in a program done to music (except for the
   Pre-bronze  test).  The required elements for each level are listed in
   Appendix A2.2.
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