www.ice-dance.com
www.vox.com
I want to learn how competitive skaters prepare for competitions since although I don't skate I do other sports that are in some ways similar.
Thanks for all the advice. Anyway Im not sure if this is true but I once heard that if a skater is practicing a routine that they will perform in front of judges in an official event, that if they best their practice that can hurt their performance when they do it in front of the judged. Skaters will of course practice their routines before doing them in front of the judges, like all competitive athletes they have to train and practice for their events, but if they skate a perfect 10 during practice that can hurt their performance when they do it in front of the judges. The time and place to do your very best performance is when you do it on front of the judges, not when you're practicing. As I said, this is just something I heard and I don't know if its true but Im trying to find out if there's any truth to it since as I said in my previous post, although I don't figure skate, I have in the past, and presently do, other sports that are in some ways similar to figure skating in that you do performances in front of judges and are scored.I think the best thing for you to do is to first read many interviews and books from figure skaters themselves to get a sense of how they individually prepare for an event, what a competition schedule is like, what competing is like...before and during and after a performance, what the ins-and-outs of training daily is like, what their conditioning is like, what their diet consists of, how they stay motivated, etc.
If books and interviews aren't your thing, some skaters have vlogs you can watch and see how they prepare for competition and such.
You should also watch a bunch of competitions on YouTube to get a sense of it yourself and just to see how skaters look, act, etc. while they are competing. Absorb the environment, the nerves, the highs, the lows, the in-between. Also, keep in mind how long a competition is and the order of events. And then see how the Olympics differs from the more typical Worlds scheduling and then how that differs from other competitions, etc.
Then when you're ready to delve into terminology and understanding what the moves are, there are a wealth of resources for you to look into. One is ice dance specific but it has so much information regarding footwork and dance patterns, and holds and past rhythm requirements, etc. that it'll give you an idea of how exact this sport can be:
Reference – Ice-dance.com
There are tons of youtube videos showing off the different steps, moves-in-field, and elements.
As for the judging system itself, this Vox article has a good explanation of how it works, though it's out-dated since the judging system has been revamped since 2018 but the way they explain how Rippon lost to Kolyada gives you a good idea:
Figure skating scoring explained for people who don’t follow figure skating
Or, why Adam Rippon lost to Russian Elvis.
Also, old trusty Wikipedia has a summary, brief explanations, and links to the actual scale of values and handbooks explaining the rules:
ISU Judging System - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Why are you looking for information - is it general interest? Are you planning on taking up skating? Are you writing a book with skaters as main characters?
I am mostly looking for information on the competitive aspect of figure skating and how to max out your performance when it really counts, when you're performing in front of judges and being scored based on your performance.
Well as I said in my last post Im into the martial arts and we do forms, called katas, in front of judges and are scored much the same way figure skaters are. As you point out, figure skaters probably don't do anything differently so Im hoping to get some feedback on how they prepare for competition.
Your performance scores will be higher if you compete for a big country or if your coach is politically powerful.
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