Ice Skating Competition Survival Kit

Wendi's Competition Survival Kit

Dedicated to All My Students - Happy Skating at Your Next Competition!

"Competition can bring out the absolute best in people--speed, performance, indomitable spirit. Or the worst--when winning becomes more important than the act itself. But the best competition is the one you have with yourself--stretching your abilities, your body past where you have gone before. That is what makes a true winner." (Fitness Magazine)

If I could give you a gift to take to your next competition, it would be the ability to enjoy each and every moment of the event. Skating your very best, cheering for your friends and other competitors, and most of all having fun! That is the gift I would wish for you to have.

"Try to win every time you practice!" (Mark Nolan)

When it is your turn to skate, I hope you will reach out to the judges with every part of your being. Talk to them with your eyes, reach out to them with your gestures, bring the joy that you feel for skating into your performance. The judges are people, just like you and I. They are coaches, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and they truly want to see you skate your best. So right from the moment you take the ice, skate full on, don't hold back. Have fun with it!

"Success is a choice." (Kathy Casey)

Your primary goal should be to measure your performance against your own past performances. If you can improve then you are a winner. Let the medals and trophies be secondary, because they are granted by a subjective and imperfect judging system. No matter how you place, whether it's first or third or last, remember that the results are merely a numerical representation of that particular competition. These numerical results do not say anything about your skating as a whole, nor do they undo any of the progress you have made or the work you, your coach, or your family have done.

"Sometimes you win and don't know how, sometimes you lose and don't know why." (Scott Hamilton)

When you get home from the competition, I hope you will be able to say that you went there to SKATE and have FUN and that is exactly what you did.

Click here for Competition Essentials.