Figure Skating Research Paper

From a very young age, I have been very involved in athletics and competitive sports. From the age of 4 until age 7, I was part of a ballet, jazz, tap, and acro, competitive dance team. Later on, I moved to figure skating and trained in the sport for nine years. Unfortunately, I was forced to retire from skating, due to some serious calf issues involving 3 surgeries. For this reason, I transitioned to rowing; which is a non-impact sport that would allow me to continue training at a high-performance level; even with my chronic calf condition. The switch to rowing required quite an adjustment, as I went from something that was highly technical and where you always had to look elegant and pretty; to a sport where power and speed were the main factors. Nevertheless, I adjusted …show more content…
Both extensively use video as a coaching tool; pointing out, in slow motion, exactly what you did right or wrong. The use of mirrors is also widely used, as both the arena and indoor rowing tank have them and are used to correct your mistakes. Furthermore, verbal coaching is very intense in both disciplines. In figure skating, all coaching is one on one, with non-stop critique on technique. Similarly, in rowing, a coach follows the crew in a motorboat and constantly calls out individual athletes errors.
Upon deciding to take this dance course, I was extremely excited as it had been many years since I had set foot in a studio. Modern dance was going to be a new challenge and was something I had never done before. Not having mirrors or constant direct critique was very challenging at first as I had years of training while always receiving immediate feedback. Learning new routines and doing diagonal work was especially difficult for me without a source of feedback and the security of knowing an outside source would let me know what I was doing