Overcoming Fear of Ice

Hello everyone!

I have my lesson in a bit and I thought I'd send this out before then. I've been skating for almost a year and a half now, so I think I have somewhat of a handle on my strengths/weaknesses. My main concern is that I'm a scaredy cat!! Nearly everything there is to be done on ice is mildly terrifying to me, and it's really holding me back. I'm getting to the point where I'm very frustrated with myself and my slow progress, especially when both my coach and I know I'm capable of more. This, along with the fact that I'm a working adult, has left me much farther back than I thought I would be at this point.

I'm wondering how you all deal with your fears? For me, it stems from falling and injuring myself. I've never had a major injury or any broken bones, and if something happens now it would be bad financially for me. I'm going to invest in skatingsafe pads soon and I hope that will eliminate some of my fears. It's just been very disheartening because I'm too scared to do what I want to do on the ice.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

The best approach is proper protective gear. I wear (a) a helmet, (b) wrist guards, (c) elbow pads, (d) knee pads, (e) tailbone pad, and (f) hip pads.

Fear usually comes from lack of knowledge and bad experience that made us lose our confidence.

We humans all make mistakes, injure ourselves or hurt others with our actions. Especially if we do things for a long time without any negative impact, we will lose our "nothing can happen to me" attitude, if something actually does happen. It´s a bit like with a Boxer, he wins 30 times by KO and then all of a sudden he loses one match and gets hurt. This is well shown at the Rocky movies 3 and 4 and it´s a totally natural thing and nothing to be ashamed of.
The thing that makes us so strong is also our biggest weakness if we lose it, self believe.

Olympic champions suffer under this, just like amateur athletes.

It is a very complex topic and if possible, should be supported by a sportstherapist, especially if you already have fear before even stepping on the ice.

At the start of such a therapie, you will try to find reasons for your injury, like what caused them, how severe was it... Our mind works best, if we actually understand what we did wrong, because then we can avoid a second wrong doing. It also helps if we realize that even if another injury would happen, it will heal again and not cause any major damage.

In your case, buying protective gear, working on your elements in a save environment... could be a solution to give you back the safety and trust in your body.

The next step would be developing some kind of routine to block out the negative and focus on the postive. You do see this with skaters quite well, a handshake with the coach, a clap on their shoulders, some touch their noses, recheck the skating boot... anything can work and it is supposed to give you confidence, because whenever you did this routine, you were safe and came back healthy. In case of knee injuries, a lot of athletes use some type of supporting tape, Maria Kirilenko did this for many years.

One of the girls in my team broke her foot a year ago, she was scared to hell to even just kick a ball with full force. Over time she developed a routine which is dribbling the ball from the locker room to the pitch and it has helped her.

There are also some very good books about this topic, unfortunately they are in German, else i would have given you a link.

Good Luck!

^ I second this.

If you can, look into a sports psychologist or a therapist of some kind that can help you with this.

Good luck!

Make sure your skates fit, are laced right, and are appropriate to your level and size. A lot of the time it feels like I'm "afraid" to do a move, but in reality, most of it is that I'm wearing ancient, ill-fitting recreational skates, and I'm hesitating because my feet and ankles don't feel stable enough (and rationally or not, I'm kind of scared of the blade snapping off and hitting someone).

Get a good, professional fitting from someone who knows figure skates, not someone who mostly does hockey. Try different brands and go for the one that fits best, not the cheapest or the one your best friend or coach or favorite skater wears. The skates should be right for the shape of your feet, and your heels should not move in them. Wear tights or very thin socks or even skate barefoot. If you're taller or heavier than your average elite competitive skater, you might need even stiffer boots than are usually recommended for your level.

Also, make sure your blades are sharpened and have proper edges. And maybe try having your coach lace them for you.

Good luck! (And sorry if you already know/have done all this! I don't mean to say that you in specific don't know this, just that these are very common problems even for people who have been skating much longer than you have.)

This might be an odd piece of advice...but one thing that stood out in your post was that getting hurt would have major negative financial implications for you. Is getting some sort of disability (or health?) insurance a consideration? Just a thought.

Thank you all for your advice! Alex D I appreciate the thought you put into your post. Do you think sports therapy is worth pursuing, even though this is a hobby? I would like to compete one day, but right now I'm only to skating less than 5 hours a week. I did some research and there is a reputable looking sports therapist near my area, so I'll keep that in mind after I get protective gear and see how I feel with it.

Thank you hanyuufan5, but it's me, not my skates, lol. My overtures have held up quite well, and while I'm looking to eventually upgrade the blades, I feel comfortable in my boots.

Scout, I do have health insurance, but with the way my job is right now, I don't get paid if I don't go into work. It's supposed to be changing to a salaried position soon but the process is taking a while. At least that isn't a permanent issue, and I suspect it won't be a concern by the end of the year! I am still super afraid of getting injured though, but I'm hoping the skating pads will help!

I always think that the times I've gotten hurt, it's been doing stupid things at home, like going down the stairs and tripping over the cat.
Fear is healthy to a point but at some point, you have to just do things and fall. I don't fall a lot, but when I do, I'm fine and just continue.
If investing in butt pads/helmet or something makes you feel better, do it. A lot of adults at our rink wear protective gear.

MiraiFan said:

I always think that the times I've gotten hurt, it's been doing stupid things are home, like going down the stairs and tripping over the cat.
Fear is healthy to a point but at some point, you have to just do things and fall. I don't fall a lot, but when I do, I'm fine and just continue.
If investing in butt pads/helmet or something makes you feel better, do it. A lot of adults at our rink wear protective gear.

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Seriously. I have an awful upper ankle sprain that is really impacting my skating... I got it picking up laundry while walking in the basement -_-