How nervous are you when you watch your favorite skaters perform?

[Bennett]

I read really a cute article on Jeff's mom:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/story/2008/03/24/buttle-mom.html

"I had my hands over my face and noise in the background so I [couldn't] hear the TV,"

"I ran the shower, turned on the fan and held the hand blower in my hand," she said with a laugh.

"In the arena, I can sit very calmly and I have a visual connection. I kind of know how he feels and you don't get that on TV, and it makes me more nervous."

I especially love this part, where she sounds so cute:

"My husband was very brave and watched it all."

And was relieved to read this:

"Jeffrey has very often — especially in the last year — gone into a competition saying 'I hope,'" said Lesley Buttle. "This time after Friday's short program, he called and said 'Mom, Saturday morning sit on the couch, have your coffee [because] it's going to be a clean skate.'

But seriously, I am also very nervous when my favorite skaters perform, especially those who have ups and downs (Mao! Jeff! Daisuke! Nobu! Sasha! the list continues...).

I would usually try to get the result online, and then watch it later with mental preparation.

How nervous are you and what do you do when you watch your favorite skaters?

 

[Tinymavy15]

When it is on live (or I just haven't looked at the results before hand) I am a nervous wreck when sasha, evan, tanith and ben, S&S, bebe or caroline zhang skate.

then there are other skaters that are favorites, but I do not feel nervous for them. Including Davis and white, marai nagasu. I was a disaster before Mao skated at worlds, but like her, after the fall on the axel, i calmed down.

 

[luvsasha]

i only get really crazy nervous for Stephane and Sasha and probably Caroline too. On the days Steph skates i eat chocolate (good excuse LOL), cross my fingers, pray a lot, and feel sick. Same for Sasha.
I like a ton of other skaters (like Yu Na, Mao, Evan, S/S, B/A,D/D, D/W, Brian etc) that i root for but i don't get nervous. so that's nice. i usually don't get too nervous for Yu Na, Mao, Evan or Brian because they are pretty consistent.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Stephane is the last of my favorites. I used to like Kurt, Kwan, Cohen but they're out of it now.

Since I am keen on figure skating, I like to see again certain comparitively newcomers to the world of skating. I listed them on another thread.

It's nice to sit in the stands and be cool.

Joe

 

[alekzu]

I sit with the heart in the throat everytime one of my favourites are about to make a jump... No matter wether I watch it on TV or live. The last mens FS almost gave me a nervous breakdown though... I had never been so nervous in my entire life. And I wasn't even on the ice! Talk about putting yourself in their shoes (errr, skates...)

 

[Spun Silver]

I am cold-blooded while Johnny skates but once he is done, if he wins, I start yelling. The neighbors probably think I am mad at my husband.

 

[Eevun]

Yes indeed, I still remeber you shaking, alekzu LOL
This Worlds, watching it live, I hardly took a breathe when Johnny skated O_O and squeezed my nails into my nose and made some tortured sounds here and there. Afterwards, when he got his score, all emotions just run through my body and I began to shake and breathe extremly fast. The entire last group was so hard to watch. I never want to feel that excitement again!! At least I now know that I've got a really strong heart!

 

[ManyCairns]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who gets so emotionally invested in my faves' performances! Seriously, I sometimes tell myself to calm down because only in the most vague karmic sense can my hopes possibly affect the situation, lol. I definitely get very nervous for them.

I love the days of the internet now, with finding out the results live and being prepared before a broadcast.

Other oldtimers may remember the US network (I guess it was ABC) coverage of the Battle of the Brians. I LOVED it when they announced, at the beginning of the men's long broadcast, that they were going to flash the winner in writing on the screen. You could turn away if you didn't want to know. I, of course, DID, and although I love both Brians my heart was with Boitano, and I thoroughly enjoyed the broadcast thanks to that early announcement!

 

[Tigger]

I am amazed my poor Teddy Bear Izzie has made it through some skates over the last 14 years.

And that's all I'm saying on this subject.

 

[AwesomeIce]

I get really, really, really nervous when my favorites are skating! Almost so nervous that I can't even enjoy watching! As soon as I hear their names announced, my heart starts racing, my palms get sweaty, my stomach starts churning, and I can hardly sit still. Luckily, there are not THAT many skaters that I love so much that I get so worked up over them. Right now, those particular skaters that I really get nervous for are Gregory & Petukhov, Kimmie Meissner, Carolina Kostner. I guess thats it at the moment. Used to get nervous for Irina Slutskaya and Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze.

 

[ks777]

I get really nervous too when Mirai skates. I usually wear a depends just in case.

 

[just wondering]

Great question - I never really thought about it, but truthfully I tend to skate along with the skater.

Not big sweeping moves or gestures. Just subtle ones, like pulling in a bit to help increase rotation or sinking into my seat when the skater needs a smooth deep knee bend on a landing. I also find myself tilting ever so slightly during spirals, to help the ladies get a deeper edge. All these moves are very small, but my body instinctively tries to help. Pretty funny now that I think about it.

JW

 

[yelyoh]

When Kwan skated, I could barely breathe and held my breath on every jump. It was exciting and enervating. Actually, I'm a bit on edge when ANY skater skates. I know how hard they work, the costs they incur, the sacrifices they and their families make and I hope they do their best. I feel myself lurching a bit every time they jump. And when they do those intricate step sequences, hoping they don't trip.

Here's to the skaters AND their passionate, caring fans.

 

[McWicked]

I dont have problems watchin skaters but Kimmie... I just cant!!! I go to another room whem she's skatin & if im at the competition... I just close my eyes & turn my iPod on... full volume!!! & wait til it's over... It wasnt always like this... just the last competitions... I dont know why, I suffer too much. On the other hand, im also fan of Yuna, but i dont care that much... I keep cheerin for her & watch her without any problem.

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Oh, I get super nervous when I watch Yuna skating, I felt like my life expectancy were cut down short and I might have a heart attack, usually I end up thinking how silly I am to live vicariously through my favorite skater!!

I got also nervous when I was watching Lambiel this season, maybe because I wanted him so bad to deliver clean LP this season, give a justice to his masterpiece.

 

[MissIzzy]

This season I tended to go nuts whenever Johnny skated, especially during the Grand Prix, when I wasn't able to watch, and so followed through a chat room filled with nervous Angels, which didn't help my mental state any. During the long program at Cup of China, I tried not to pay any attention, and failed. Then during the short at the Finale, when I was able to watch, I think I had a heart attack every time he went up in the air. The Nationals short I was able to keep my cool, perhaps because I was the only one in the chatroom with IceNetwork and so had to focus on reporting to everyone else, but I was tense all day Sunday, and then the only lifeline to what was going on was someone in the chatroom calling someone else who was in the arena. Talk about the longest seven minutes of your life! I was making noises in my throat. Worlds I started feeling anxious a week before the event started! Then during the short I only had audio, leaving me free to pace around the room, mentally count off the jumping passes because by then I knew exactly when in the music they were, and waiting anxiously for Chris or Nicky to make some sort of comment. Oddly enough, after he didn't do the triple toe on the second jumping pass in the long I sort of deflated and felt very little until he medaled, after which I paid little attention to Brian...

 

[Ravyn Rant]

Anyone else watch standing up?

I'm usually pretty calm these days - I'll cheer for the winner and feel bad for the folks who had a bad night. Except for the men's competition at Worlds this year. I didn't know the results and Jeff and Johnny were 1 and 2 after the short. I ended up doing something I hadn't done since Paul Wylie competed: stood up at the beginning of the program and stayed up until the jumping was done. My reasoning was that maybe if I stayed up, so would the skaters! Didn't work so well for Paul Wylie, except that night in Albertville , but it worked just fine for Jeff and Johnny last weekend.
Not so much for Dai and Stephane, but I did try.
What a show!
xoxo
Rave

 

[Audrey19]

I usually get very very nervous for my favorite skaters, at the end of a program I'm often totally out of breath! Especially for Savchenko & Szolkowy, Lambiel, Buttle and Joubert. I'm not really excited in ice dance since they don't jump. But more than anyone else Irina Slutskaya used to drive me mad of excitement, I could barely breath during her FS in Torino. But I enjoy it, I would never look up the results before watching, I find it great to feel with the skaters, to wish them luck and to feel so relieved or disappointed when I see the scores. IMO all this emotions are something which makes the sport so special.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I get really, really, really nervous when my favorites are skating! Almost so nervous that I can't even enjoy watching! As soon as I hear their names announced, my heart starts racing, my palms get sweaty, my stomach starts churning, and I can hardly sit still..

Yeah. I don't even see the beauty of the program because I am so nervous that he/she/they might make a mistake. at nationals I didn't even see how well Belbin and Agosto skated until the second time I watched it.

 

[R.D.]

Sadly, the days of getting so pumped up for a competition for me are over. The only time I got nervous/anxious was during the kwan/Cohen rivalry at Nats from 2003-2005. Also during the world championships, I think up to 2006. The Olympics are the exception- there's always inherent excitement in that competition due to its once-in-4-years occurrence. But competitions like Nats 2006, Worlds 2007 and (to a lesser extent) Worlds 2008 were just bleh, IMHO. I do miss the days when I got really pumped...I hope they return. But not at this rate- not with the American ladies struggling as they are.