Eva's last post on goals inspired me to post my own. I never wrote down any official goals for this year, so you'll just have to believe me when I tell you what I had in mind at the beginning of the year.
One of the reasons I didn't write down goals for this year is because beyond the following three things I knew I wanted, I wasn't sure what else I wanted to accomplish.
I wanted to have a clean skate at Nationals, or at least feel like I'd skated my best.
I would say that I accomplished this. Could my combo spin have gone better? Yes. But I skated everything else basically as well as I possibly could have. I also wanted to medal in the free skate and finish in the top half of the solo dance event. I wasn't sure if I could make it a goal, though, since those things don't depend completely on me. But I won both events, so I realized that goal, even though I never stated it.
I want to land my axel.
Well, I'm still working on this. I still think I'll get it this year, but my experience working on the axel so far is that you can't really make predictions about it. I did have a bout of hubris with this jump when I started it. I thought I would get it faster than average, because my coach thought I had a good concept of the jump and I have pretty good body awareness. But I'm definitely not setting any speed record on this jump, and that's okay.
I wanted to pass Gold moves and Bronze dances by the end of the club year (June 30).
Honestly, I was hoping to win my club's award for most tests passed again. It's kind of a silly goal, but I had it in the back of my mind anyway. So far, I have not gone for any of these tests, and while bronze dances are still somewhat likely this summer and I'll definitely do them this calendar year, gold moves will probably not happen. But I'm testing my silver FS next week, which was not even on the radar for me at the beginning of the year. Our awards banquet is next week, so those tests wouldn't count for the award anyway.
And those were my goals for this year. I'm still working on the axel, the gold moves, and the bronze dances, so I suppose they're still in effect. I'm pretty close to obsessed with the axel, so I feel like it might be healthy to make some other goals to work on too. I'm working on the skatingforums spin challenge, though a bit informally, as well as trying to get some more interesting spins going, in anticipation of moving up to gold some day. Which brings me to my long term goal: qualify for championship gold someday. This is not a goal for this year, nor for next calendar year, but maybe the year after that? (2016) I guess if that's my long term goal, since I'll need my axel and my gold moves and that competitive experience to get there, my current goals are on the right track.
Those are some great goals and fantastic accomplishments from the first half of the year! The axel is a finicky jump - some days, you make awesome progress, while other days, you take a step backwards. The part that got me over the hump was sincerely WANTING to land it (and dreaming about landing it). Your mind needs to have no fear or doubt. Once you get in the right mindset, your body will know what to do. If you have even an ounce of worry or doubt, the jump won't come. I know you will do great on your Silver FS test and the Gold Moves will come shortly afterwards. I know how hard you work, so I have no doubt that you will accomplish everything you want, alejeather! (and of course, let me know how I can help) =)
ReplyDeleteWow, well, I can only dream of someday having goals as lofty as yours! How long have you been skating?
ReplyDeleteI've been skating for three years, more or less. But I feel like I always have to add that I had a head start by dancing all my life!
DeleteGreat goal-setting! I should do a post like that. I am just thinking about what my next goals will be. Probably working on my spins and jumps, camel and sit-back sit especially. I spent so much time this last year working on my gold moves that I didn't get to do as much freestyle as I had wanted.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to do everything. I've hardly worked on moves because I've been working so much on freestyle! I'd love to see the goals you set for yourself!
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