The skater stands, ready to go once the ice monitor opens the gate. Movement in the stands catches her eye, and she looks up. So many faces. So many more than usual, but this is to be expected. It’s the qualifying round of a big competition.
The announcer calls her name. She skates to center ice.
She feels the anxiety building as she shakes her arms; her right leg and then her left. She takes a deep breath as exhales as she settles into her starting position.
She has been preparing for this moment. Praying, no, begging for a clean skate. Telling herself there is no room for mistakes.
She pushes off and skates her opening transition across the rink, into her backwards crossovers. Now for the first jump, a huge point-getter, a triple lutz.
She proceeds into her pre-jump routine, setting up for the most difficult jump of her program.
She travels backwards, exhales, picks, vaults, goes up….then crashes hard. A triple lutz becomes a triple klutz.
An audible groan of disappointment erupts from the crowd. A few clap to encourage her.
But too late, her confidence has fallen too. The poised, enthusiastic skater is gone. A defeated, sulking skater has taken her place.
Now she is just going through the motions, no hope for a clean skate. She has given up.
She attempts a double axel, barely holds onto the landing. Then steps out of a double-double combo, falls on the triple sal and finally pops a flip.
The crowd is just as anxious for the program to end as she is, for her sake.
Not Clean-Cut
It’s easy to feel like you failed after a mistake in your program. Especially if you are convinced that a good skate means a “clean” skate.
When this is your “rule,” and you make a mistake, especially on the “most important element” in your program, you probably feel like giving up. Maybe you think,“Why bother, the points are gone, and it’s is too late to get a good score.”
In reality, it’s not as clear-cut as that, or “clean-cut” if you will.
Yes, if you don’t land the first jump in your program, you can’t skate clean. But skating a clean program is not the be-all and end-all of a good score.
It is not logical to pin all your hopes on one element. There are 7 (more or less) other elements in a program, and your score is the total of how you execute each element in addition to your component score. It doesn’t make sense to ignore them.
Mistakes happen. But it is what you do after the mistake that separates the good skaters from the great. When you make a mistake, you might be down (literally and figuratively) but you are not out of the competition.
It’s Element-ary, My Dear Skater
This doesn’t mean that you should not aspire to skate a clean program. But don’t make it an expectation. When you expect to skate a clean program, and you don’t, then you might feel that you have failed.
Remember that every element is very important and that each element gives you points. If you miss one, you still have the more chances left to accumulate points. But, if you give up, then you leave all those potential points on the ice, not to mention the points you get from the execution of your program.
Yes, even when you change your mindset from:
“should skate a clean program” to “shoot for a clean program,”
you will feel still nervous. This is a natural response in situations like big competitions (or any competition.)
Nerves aren’t a bad thing. Nerves are just your mind’s way of regulating your attention and motivation about something you care deeply about.
It can be unpleasant but you can use it to your advantage. Let it push you to your fullest potential of achievement. Let it be like that slightly overbearing (in a good way) friend or parent who supports you unconditionally, and who won’t let you give up.
How to “Imp-element” the Solution
Think of your competition program as a journey.
Say you wanted to drive from Seattle to Los Angeles to see your favorite group in concert, and right out of your house, you got on the freeway going the wrong way. Instead of heading South, you are going North to Canada.
Oh no, you or your parent made a mistake. Will you give up and go back home, forget the trip, it’s ruined, failed?
Of course not. Chances are, you find the first exit, turn around and get headed in the right direction.
In this example, it’s absurd to even consider giving up right? But this is exactly what you are doing when you give up on yourself after a mistake in your program.
Skating, like life has its ups and downs. But when you fail at something, you don’t need to give up. A mistake doesn’t define you or your life or you identity as a skater. It adds to your story, and you learn how to be better.
If you are struggling with this, ask for help from others who have gone through the same thing, or a professional who can give you feedback and guidance.
You are hurting yourself with a limiting belief when you think that that the only way to accumulate points is to nail the element with the most points.
Start with these steps to get rid of this limiting belief:
- Take a good look at your protocol from your last completion. Study the different elements such as spins, jumps and footwork and see the point potential of each.
- Look at the components to understand where you get points. You will see that there are many different ways to score points.
- Make up your mind to skate each element the best that you can. To skate the whole program with your full attention.
No More Limits
When you throw out the limiting belief that one element matters more than everything else in your program, you can begin to balance your attention across the program.
It is only then that you can begin to put the same amount of attention and motivation into practicing all parts of your program. This will lead to improvement in every part of your program. You will be a better skater, and a more confident skater because you know that one mistake is not the end of the world.
So don’t limit your victory by limiting your belief.
You can do this, one element at a time.
It’s your turn. Have you ever felt one element could make or break your program? Do you still believe it can? Shoot me an email.
Mental skills training can help to keep your emotions on an even keel so that you can practice and compete your best.
Start here; download “Confidence Myth Busters,” a complimentary eBook and make a change.