Comparing yourself to others

IcyBallerina said:

I compare myself to other skaters, but not to fluff my ego (at least I try not to). I look to see what I can do to improve.

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I know i said that I don't compare myself to others, however, I do look at other skaters and see how well/bad they skate. I do make notes of posture, form, etc and try to make sure that mine is good. In that sense, there is a comparison.

I skate with a young girl of about 14 who is constantly beating herself up when things don't go right all the time---I tell her "there are spin days, jump days, and when things don't go right, you just stroke around and try to do that correctly and wow yourself with good stroking form..." I know that she thought I was nuts, but even the most basic skating deserves good proper form (I hate to see toe-pushes).

yeah i definitly compare myself to other skaters, especially a few of my really close friends from skating... the one is at the same level as i am, and has been at that level all year, whereas i just moved up there, so to get a sense of where i will stand at competitions i look at how she does and how our skating compares... but our competitiveness with each other does help... she was getting really close to getting her double toe, so it pushed me to get mine back... and it worked! i landed it this morning!

soogar said:

One time I saw a woman who had really nice edges. I asked her how long she had been skating and she had only been skating for 3 months. It made me sit up and take notice and work like crazy on my edges and it has paid off in terms of my crossovers.

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GASP!

Th... th....th.....three MONTHS? Yowza. May all of us who are newly skating be so fortunate as to have those edges.

I am very glad to read your post soogar, because crossovers are one of the banes of my skating and if edge work will help them, I have the right instructor on this current group lesson session!

I do compare myself to others, it's practically impossible not to -- but I am not someone who has ever really had a problem with the little kids, I just think they are amazing and adorable. Hmmm, ask me later when I've skated for longer and find that I cannot get some of the moves that come so easily to them, I might feel differently then

Right now I guess I am pretty philosophical -- I am the age and condition that I am, and I'm doing well to be daring to get out on the ice. Also, it helps that I am at that stage where I am doing things that I NEVER ever thought before that I'd ever be able to do. Okay, so I have had low expectations for myself

But you can't compare assuming that all is equal, or you will drive yourself crazy.

SK8LUVR said:

I How do you motivate your hwell: young skater to think about themselves and forget about their friends?

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I noticed one of the girls on Ice Diaries, the one time that I had a chance to watch the show, and she mentioned that she has other interests than skating. I think that is something that helps young skaters to keep things in perspective a little. Granted, it is hard -- and competition IS comparing yourself to others, that's sort of a fact of life. And we all, do compare, in all areas of life, we gauge our own success against others. So it's learning that comparing happens and that it is NOT some sort of unchangeable, dooming thing to be compared and found a little wanting.

I guess we can just work at helping a young skater to see his or her own abilities and goals, and to recognize when they are achieved and when a lot of hard work has been done even when it HASN'T maybe resulted in complete victory?

Having once been a descent skater (more than 30 years ago) and returning at age 56, I find myself doing a 3-way compare! "I used to be able to do that as good as she does!" and "Gee, that 11 year old is WAY better than I am now!" LOL!

I have less than 12 hours on ice since returning so I am working hard just to get my edges back. Still, I have all that "old knowledge" and can't help but watch other (more accomplished) skaters and critique their moves, like "Nice flip but she over-rotated the landing."

No matter who you are or how good your skating, there will always be others who are better at somethings and others who don't do something as well as you do. Comparing yourself to others is a good way to improve but the attitude should NOT be "She's better than me." but "She does a better Camel - what do I need to do to improve mine?"

I do copmare myself to other, but definitely not to the point of obsession. I think it's good to have little rivalries because it keeps your competitive spirit up. I'm my own person and even if I don't learn as fast, jump as well, or whatever as well as other skaters, that's okay with me. I like the challenge that skating has to offer. It's useless to me to think about how so and so is a better skater because that helps me in no way. But sometimes I do look to other skaters for inspiration.

Yeah, icy_fresh, that's true- that you get inspiration by watching other skaters.

Last year, we had Nationals right after the World Championships. As I am a huge skating fan and a skater, I watched it and I was so glad when Irina got gold.. But the best thing for me was Carolina's bronze! The next day, as I said, we had Nationals. In the morning we had official practice and I did everything in the program. My coach said that I was watching Worlds yesterday, and because of a wish to be like all those skaters, I skated so good in the morning.

I compare myself with skaters from other countries and with skaters from here. Sometimes I like the result of it, sometimes I don't...but that's the way it goes, isn't it? It is good to compare (not too uch, ofcourse) because it pushes you to go foward and try new things...