In a skating slump | Golden Skate

In a skating slump

gracestaniforth

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Hi all,

Recently I've found myself in a bit of a skating slump. For the past two weeks I've seemed to regress massively and lose so many skills I was confident in.

I flutz every lutz, I over-rotate every sal and toe loop, and my backspin has went from really consistent, centred and relatively fast to practically non-existent. My skills have declined that much that I don't want to do axel drills until I get out of this slump.

It's really demotivating and I've pulled out of my first skating competition and don't want to do the x-mas show because I've lost so much confidence in myself.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get out of this slump and push through it? I understand they will be periods of stagnation and new skills come and go, but I wasn't expecting so many moves I was confident in to disappear.
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
Just a thought - When is the last time you had your blades sharpened? Perhaps they are dull and you're now fighting against them.
 

silver.blades

Medalist
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Country
Canada
Try spending a week working on non-freeskate skills. Turns, steps, stroking, field moves, etc. Sometimes the best thing you can do is move away from the skills that are giving you a problem and focus on something else. Plus, it never hurts to spend more time on the basics; that can only help the jumps and spins in the long run. You could also try going right back to basics on the jumps: walkthroughs, two foot jumps, toe jumps, bunny hops, simple rotational jumps, etc.

Basically, spend some time not working on the skills you're struggling with. The space usually helps in cases like this.
 

gracestaniforth

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Try spending a week working on non-freeskate skills. Turns, steps, stroking, field moves, etc. Sometimes the best thing you can do is move away from the skills that are giving you a problem and focus on something else. Plus, it never hurts to spend more time on the basics; that can only help the jumps and spins in the long run. You could also try going right back to basics on the jumps: walkthroughs, two foot jumps, toe jumps, bunny hops, simple rotational jumps, etc.

Basically, spend some time not working on the skills you're struggling with. The space usually helps in cases like this.
Thanks Silverblades, I will give this a go. My field moves and turns are much further behind my freeskate anyways so I could probably do with knuckling down on them[emoji4] . I just hope this slump ends soon
 

gracestaniforth

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Just a thought - When is the last time you had your blades sharpened? Perhaps they are dull and you're now fighting against them.
My blades were badly in need of sharpening and I had them sharpened last week. Apart from my spin entries, there hasnt been much improvement since I sharpened them though.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Try spending a week working on non-freeskate skills. Turns, steps, stroking, field moves, etc. Sometimes the best thing you can do is move away from the skills that are giving you a problem and focus on something else. Plus, it never hurts to spend more time on the basics; that can only help the jumps and spins in the long run. You could also try going right back to basics on the jumps: walkthroughs, two foot jumps, toe jumps, bunny hops, simple rotational jumps, etc.

Basically, spend some time not working on the skills you're struggling with. The space usually helps in cases like this.

I'm going to second this. :)
 

WednesdayMarch

Nicer When Fed
Medalist
Joined
Mar 24, 2019
Country
United-Kingdom
Try spending a week working on non-freeskate skills. Turns, steps, stroking, field moves, etc. Sometimes the best thing you can do is move away from the skills that are giving you a problem and focus on something else. Plus, it never hurts to spend more time on the basics; that can only help the jumps and spins in the long run. You could also try going right back to basics on the jumps: walkthroughs, two foot jumps, toe jumps, bunny hops, simple rotational jumps, etc.

Basically, spend some time not working on the skills you're struggling with. The space usually helps in cases like this.

Absolutely. Basic skating skills should be worked on all the time as they are the foundation of every element. Have a lovely time working on beautiful edges and turns - even do some dance - and you should find that your skating will improve exponentially. And enjoy yourself while you do it. :)
 

gracestaniforth

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Thank you all for the advice, I spent todays session just focusing on moves and edges and then tried a few jumps and spins in the last ten minutes and they all came back again! The only exception was my backspin. I think im going to spend a few weeks just doing moves because it really helped [emoji4]
 
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