Mental Game Skills for Skating Success
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This article is about a common cause of frustration for skaters. One that slows them down and can keep them stuck, season after season.
It happens anytime a skater is unhappy with the skills they have (or skills they lack). For some skaters this happens after the intense the summer training season just before their big competitions. But for many this happens every week, or even daily. Continue reading “How to Deal With Self Doubt”
Listen to audio version.
What do you think of when you hear the phrase, “bulletproof mental game”? Many people think of an athlete with strong emotional control, almost like a robot devoid of emotions.
The truth is, a strong mental game is about balance. The balance between thinking and over thinking. The balance between allowing and forcing. Continue reading “A Strong Mental Game is About Balance”
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The goal of mental game training is to allow you to do your best work. This can be skating a personal best for a win or selling a million dollar business concept.
It is our habit to live in the past or the future. “The last time I competed at this rink I bombed my program!” or “If Peggy isn’t there, then I have a great chance of winning, because I will be the only one with a triple lutz.”
The only power you have is in the present moment. The present moment is the only time your choices and decisions count. You can’t change the past. The future is unknown. Continue reading “You Must Be Present to Win in Figure Skating (Mental Game Training is for Life #2)”
For figure skaters, dealing with the disappointment of poor results in a competition event can cause a lot of stress.
This stress can be managed, even eliminated if a parent or a coach is present to gently point out the opportunities for learning and improving instead of compounding the disappointment by adding their own negative opinions about the outcome.
Continue reading “How to Deal With “Unfair” Judging in Figure Skating”
In the sport of skating, this is the time of year that athletes are a little run down from the long season of pre-competitions. School has started and spending the day at the rink is no longer an option for most.
Even though the first thought for most athletes is to hit the training harder before the end of the season, remember that taking time to enjoy yourself might be the best thing you can do at this time in your training. Continue reading “How To Keep Your Training Energy High”
The words Confident and Champion are usually used together.
Have you ever seen a test session? A kid goes out there, and it looks like they don’t have a care in the world. They skate with confidence, and even though they made a few mistakes—they pass.
At that same test session, you did what was required of you, you were very careful, mindful of each movement because you were worried that you would make mistake and fail. In fact you only made only one minor mistake–but you didn’t pass. Continue reading “How to Train A Mindset of Confidence and Trust”