Figure Skating

Ashley Wagner - Closing Gala - 2012 World Figure Skating Championships in Nice Nizza France

Ice Skating Dresses

Are you interested in buying some attractive ice skating dresses?

Are you a budding or experienced female ice skater, or know someone who is? It should hardly be a surprise if the answer is 'yes'. The practice of ice skating requires great skill, but can be exciting for many to try and watch, and has recently been lent an even more glamorous image thanks to the hit ITV show Dancing on Ice.

One problem for female ice skaters, however, can arise in finding ice skating dresses. Of course, you want to wear something that looks nice - but it also needs to be practical and durable, not to mention affordable. Where are you supposed to find a good choice of ice skating dresses like this? Well, one highly recommended option would be through specialist retailers of dancewear.

What searching procedure should you use first for locating sellers of ice skating dresses?

Your first resort, rather than the more established but ultimately outdated technique of flicking through the phone book, should be using a good Internet search engine like Yahoo or Google. Use one to do a simple search for 'ice skating dresses', and enjoy seeing the considerable plethora of ice skating dresses sellers that immediately appears on the following screen.

What should you ideally seek in an ice skating dresses retailer?

As we alluded to earlier, you should seek a specialist retailer of dancewear. So, as well as a varied selection of ice skating dresses for both girls and women, you should anticipate a large supply of skate wear, ballet clothing, gymnastics clothing and Zuca bags.

However, a diverse stock of ice skating dresses is clearly imperative. For young skaters, there should be Jenetex, Chloe Noel and Jerry's ice skating dresses, while there should be an enticing selection of Jerry's adult ice skating dresses, including the Lace Grace and Art Deco varieties.

If you still can't locate what you are seeking among the shop's generous stock, however, you should be able to easily find a phone number, email address, or even feedback form on the company's website, through which you can express your concerns to their staff, who might be able to help you further.

Olympic Level Figure Skating Dresses

Tania Bass, NYC Fashion Designer is interviewed about her custom designed olympic level figure skating and ice skating costumes. She discusses the difference between singles, pairs, ice dancing, and exhibition show costume design. Located in New York City theater district she discusses designs she did for Sarah and Emily Hughes, Michael Weiss, Miki Ando, Mao Asada, Yu Na Kim, Mirai Nagasu and others.

Adult Figure Skating, an Introduction

Some of us started as kids and have stayed in the sport ever since. What often seems to happen with this group is that they often are forced to take a break due to lack of time during major life events such as starting university or work. Alternatively they may have to relocate to an area which lacks sufficient resources for figure skating such as Tunisia or Borneo. Inevitably though, the minute they are back within reasonable distance of an arena, like migratory birds, they find their way back home to the ice.

Some of us start as adults with either no or little childhood skating experience. This group is a truly inspirational bunch. There is a comfort level with the ice that those of us who started young have and tend to take for granted. For example, we have learned how to take a fall and most of the time feel pretty solid on our feet when doing basic elements. Not so the adult beginner who can take nothing for granted. The minute they step on the ice, they have stepped right out of their comfort zone, things like stopping and changing direction are not necessarily things they have control over. Falls can be especially rough. When you are little; you fall from a smaller distance, weigh less and don't hit the ice as hard. As an adult the inverse is true. Sooner or later you will probably run afoul of your toe picks and do a belly flop. This is nothing to be ashamed of, it happens to skaters at every level. In Canada we have a TV series called Battle of the Blades in which retired pro hockey players learn to skate as pairs or dance skaters with elite figure skaters. The hockey players certainly know how to skate but they also are tripping over the picks until they get used to them.

For safety reasons a helmet is highly recommended, so now you look like an over grown 5 year-old and even more awkward.

But victory is truly sweet the first time you come to a full and complete stop exactly where you wanted to stop or you nail that pesky left outside three turn. What's more, your adult training buddies will be cheering you on with the same enthusiasm reserved for a world champion landing some mega-impossible jump combo! What's even crazier is that you will start to dream bigger... mowhawks, waltz jumps, one foot spins... there is a whole world of elements out there for you to conquer! But for now how about a celebratory hot chocolate at the local coffee shop?

There is another group of adult skaters that are also truly impressive, the ones that start to skate because their kids started to skate. They have to go through all the rites of passage mentioned above as well as living with their smug offspring who invariably are progressing at a faster rate. It certainly helps them to understand the sport much better and they are often still skating long after their child has moved on to other activities.

Then there are those who do it all... learn to skate as a child, compete, coach, get married, have kids of their own. Their children and sometimes even spouse may even have joined them on the ice.

No matter what our skating experience is we are all joined by our completely irrational love and passion for our sport. Adult competitions are characterized by a strange mix of fierce competitiveness and deep camaraderie on and off the ice

If you are participating in figure skating at any level... recreational, competitive or even would like to figure skate and want to know more come and join us at International Adult Figure Skating. There is a new blog entry every Tuesday as well as interesting videos and links to products and services of interest to adult figure skaters. Check out my special $1 offer on how to prepare for a skating competition.

http://internationaladulticeskaters.com/

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Coaching Figure Skating Jumping

As an Olympic favorite, figure skating should be 100% cutting edge on techniques and theory. Unfortunately, many coaches are not keeping up with the times and learning the newest figure skating mechanics to the detriment of their students One of the most difficult of the skating routines are the jumps. There is a lot of off ice and on ice preparation to complete a perfect jump. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to get a coach who really knows how to coach jumping properly. As a matter of fact, many coaches totally disagree on the fundamental mechanics of skating jumps.

A lot of figure skating coaching is passed on from older coach to younger coach and the to the skater. There is not very much written about jumping, and the books that are out there often disagree with each other! There is a problem getting the written word into a physical form also. So we know that most coaches teach very much the same methods and techniques that their coach had taught them when they were growing up and first learning. Unfortunately, in today's uber-elite-athletic world, figure skating seems to be caught up in the past and does not seem to be going forward in North America. New knowledge and techniques are out there, but still, old outdated teachings are still the norm at the regular skating arena.

The problem is not only the coaches fault though, it is the rules themselves that are confusing. They are out dated and vague, and more a hindrance than a help in most cases. Most coaches agree with this, but often it is too felt too hard to break the past history of figure skating instruction if one has been coaching the same way for 20 years.

When you go to the arena and watch a coach, most often they will not be using the newly developed jump mechanics developed by elite coaches for their skaters. The sad thing is, that some of these techniques are really not even that new, some of these mechanics have actually been used for decades. The elite coaches only now are allowing these techniques to become public, and so they are now becoming available for all figure skating coaches to learn from, if they so choose. Often they do not choose. Instead, the same old routines that they used as a child will be brought out and used again and again. It is really a shame that this continues to happen. The worst thing is, that it will continue to happen again and again until something is done about it.

Many coaches are thinking that without a common fundamental starting point, the confusion and lack of focus within figure skating will continue. What is needed is to get the coaches to agree what the basics are, or at least that would be a good start. In most other sports, there is a consistently improvement in teaching methods, but not so in figure skating. There is no consistent teaching of techniques in our sport. Coupled with the fact that the actual rules of Ice skating are so confusing, it is no wonder that coaches continue to do the same thing that they have done for years. What is needed is a starting point for all coaches to agree to and go forward from there.

Want to read a friendly and informative blog created by a Figure Skating Judge and NCCP Level 3 Coach? CLICK HERE to find out what the REAL facts are in today's figure skating world are, as well as the history of figure skating and much more

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