DO SKATERS...OR HAVE YOU AS A SKATER FOUND YOURSELF TOO NERVOUS TO EVEN SKATE YOUR PROGRAM?

[FSWer]

Say,I was wondering about that?...After just STEPPING onto the Ice...DO Skaters get so nervous,that they can't even START their Program?

 

[gkelly]

I've seen that happen with little kids at beginner competitions. Not very often, but sometimes.

And sometimes more experienced skaters who are skating new programs just forget what they're supposed to do next. Maybe they can improvise, maybe they just stand there and look lost. Mostly it's because they're not used to the program yet, so they have to stop in the middle when they forget what comes next.
But being nervous could be part of the reason why they forgot.

 

[overedge]

@FSWer No. Some skaters get so nervous that they forget their program and their coaches have to help them through it. But I've never seen anyone - even little kids - get on the ice and then leave because they were too nervous.

I think if a skater was that nervous their coach wouldn't let them get on the ice at all. The coach would probably tell the referee the skater was withdrawing from the competition or test.

 

[Yazmeen]

Nerves may have kept me from my best performance, but I never considered not performing.

 

[Shyjosie]

Even experienced skaters of world class level suffer from nerves at times (some do, some don't). I've never seen anyone leaving the ice due to a bad mental condition - but it may happen with very young people at events we don't get to see on TV.
Nerves have always been in my way. I made mistakes because my legs felt numb from nervosity. But at my last competition, I had a very good coach, an experienced ice dancer, who knew how to calm me down.

 

[purple skates]

I was tempted to leave once in the middle of a horrific program, but instead I stuck my tongue out at friends in the audience before a spin and soldiered on to my last place finish.

@FSWer, some people do have pretty paralyzing stage fright, but those people tend to not compete.

 

[treesprite]

Not when doing a program. The last time my phobia came up, I had gone to the ice for rink guard duty and suddenly I was so terrified that I couldn't even step on the ice. Had to go get a co-worker to take my place, so the session started with no guard on the ice. The first time my phobia came up, I was doing a camel spin and when I stopped, I was suddenly so terrified that I had to hold the wall to get off of the ice. Of course a phobia is not normal nervousness. I imagine any skater who has had a traumatic injury like I did, might suddenly and unexpectedly get struck with fear of such intensity as to be unable to skate, but I have not seen it happen to anyone else.

 

[Iluvid]

i never got off the ice before it was done but i saw a girl get scared and do that.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I saw a kid a couple of weeks ago in tears and freaking out about competing. She was about 8-9 years old I think and had just been doing group lessons so didn't have a coach organised. It was her first event and basically each kid was just doing a couple of very basic elements. As I was judging I tried to have a chat to her and calm her down along with her dad. Her dad was really nice and he thanked me for trying to help but she was so distraught that she couldn't get on the ice.

 

[purple skates]

(You did good, though.)

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

There was one girl, little, she fell and then tried to run off the ice but because it wasn't her rink, she forgot where the door was and started banging on the wall to get out and had to be calmed down so she could see where the ice monitor had opened the door. It was just a fluke - I've never seen that kind of panic since then. Coaches are good about knowing their student - they wouldn't put them on or sign them up if the skater didn't want to do it because they want the student to have fun. I think there are lots of skaters who don't compete because they don't feel comfortable competing.