As of last Thursday I have been skating exactly 3 years. I put in 5 - 7 hours ice time every week and have two lessons. Despite this, every time I step onto the ice at the beginning of a session I feel wobbly, unsteady and feel like a beginner skater, the harder the ice surface is the wobblier I feel. I have friends who skate less than me who are able to step onto the ice and immediately start skating backwards, do turns, spins etc but I can't even do a forwards crossover until I've had a least a couple of circuits of the rink to 'find my feet'. If I have any time off from skating, it is even worse. Last Thursday was my first time on ice for 10 days after being grounded by the doctor and the ice was very hard, it totally freaked me and I had to wobble my way round the rink for about 10 minutes or more before I could even face doing a crossover let alone anything clever. Once I've got my first few crossovers out of the way then I'm generally happy and can carry on with the moves that actually reflect my true ability level. I'd have thought after 3 years I would have got over the initial wobbles. I'm an older skater, in my 50s and not very confident but have my level 8 signed off and the only reason I haven't completed Skate UK (1-10) is because of my inability to do one rather important move (backwards edges). I've also been working in my group lesson on higher level moves from Passport so it's not like I'm a useless skater but if anyone saw me step onto the ice they would think I was a beginner level skater.
Anyone else get this or is it just me?
I have been skating for 6 or 7 years (started when 40+) and skate most days, so probably do about 10 hours a week, some of which is private lessons, some group and some practice. While I have got beyond Skate UK stage, I still rarely feel like a proper skater and every single skill I have acquired has taken me many hours of frustrating practice to master, and I have had to force myself out of my comfort zone every time I attempt something new. Whenever I feel wobbly and negative, which is often, I remind myself of the progress I have made, and above all of something a late friend of mine, who skated with me, said whenever I moaned - "You've got to put more dog in it" - meaning to grit my teeth and be aggressive, positive and determined. I am still making progress, and enjoying that immensely, so it seems to be working. I can't offer any magic formula, but strongly believe that with sufficient "dog", and the right input from coaches, even us oldsters can become accomplished.
Have you tried talking about your rate of progress with your coach?
I often feel that Skate UK tries to fit too much in, too soon, and that before you start to worry about turns and backwards and skating on one foot, you should be able to skate forwards with confidence and do a decent 2-footed hockey lunge, really feeling the edge on the skating foot most of your weight is one (the bent leg), going so far as pressing down on that knee with your hands, keeping your centre of gravity low, going left and right, and also forwards 2-foot slalom with LOADS of knee bend and making sure you are on a decent inside edge on the outside foot and most importantly a decent outside edge on the inside foot, so your feet, knees and ankles are very close together, feet parallel, and keep low so you feel less worried about falling and get used to the feeling of getting down into the ice. I'm not a coach, just advising what has worked for me. I have been watching a bunch of teenagers with hockey skates learning their craft at my rink over the last few months, and they just do the same basic things, on two feet, over and over again, and it is working well for them. Once you have those forward move down, you can do them backwards. Once you can do the hockey lunge well, you will find that you can lift one foot off the ice (the one that most of the weight is NOT on, obviously) and still feel stable and over your skating foot.