Tips for a Strong Mental Attitude for Competition

Will (13) and Christina (8) during their 1998-99 pairs season when they won their first Junior Olympics/Junior Nationals medal.

Will (13) and Christina (8) during their 1998-99 pairs season when they won their first Junior Olympics/Junior Nationals medal.

Having competed in pairs skating for ten years, I learned various techniques to handle the pressures of competition and public performance. After that, I was a skating coach for a number of years. Here’s how I dealt with my students’ most common competition fears.

Usually the most common fear for new skating competitors is performing in front of an audience. The skaters fear they will make a mistake and embarrass themselves in front of their family and friends. The most common question new competitors asked me was, “What if I fall?”

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August 30, 2016

How to Choose Music for Performance

Christina Chitwood and Mark Hanretty performing to “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” from The Swing Kids at the 2009 European Championships. (Photo by Liz Chastney)

Christina Chitwood and Mark Hanretty performing to “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” from The Swing Kids at the 2009 European Championships. (Photo by Liz Chastney)

Most of us listen to music every day. However, if we were asked what would be good music to perform to, would it be easy to answer? Maybe or maybe not.

Whether you’re choosing music for a show performance or for a competition program, here are some tips for choosing music, especially in figure skating.

1. Start with finding a notebook and pen.

2. Write down any pieces of music you really like and make you feel like moving.

3. Listen to these pieces of music while standing up (if you have the pieces of music – or you can search for and listen to them on the Internet). See how the songs make you feel, if you naturally begin moving to them, and if you can imagine skating to the music.

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November 30, 2012

Halloween Skating Fun with Kurt Browning

Happy Halloween! Here is a video of four-time world champion Kurt Browning to get you in the Halloween spirit. 🙂

Also, my sister, Christina, and wife, Chea, are participating in a breast cancer fundraiser this Sunday, November 4th. It’s the 2012 San Diego Race for the Cure at Balboa Park! They chose to do this Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in honor of Grandma Judy, a breast cancer survivor.

Christina and Chea are taking donations at their team page: The Fabulous Chitwood Ladies Team.
October 31, 2012

Express Yourself through Figure Skating

Most people think of figure skating as both sport and art. Peggy Fleming has a short video on expressing yourself through figure skating:

Peggy Fleming On Why People Should Skate

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September 26, 2011

Show Skating Inspiration

Ice skating shows are one of the most popular parts of figure skating for the audience. Usually the skaters in shows are previous competitors who have retired from amateur status (competitive skating) and gone professional (just doing shows).

The professional skaters perform in shows like Disney on Ice with productions of Disney stories that start in the U.S. and then tour around the world, Holiday on Ice which tours around Europe and Latin America, and cruise ship shows on cruise ships with ice rinks. There are also shows like Stars on Ice that have both top Olympic and World professional and amateur athletes performing, such as Evan Lysacek, Sasha Cohen, and Kurt Browning.

Every year there are thousands of smaller private shows that both amateur and professional skaters perform in all over the world as well. Usually in shows you will see many exciting moves, such as backflips, that aren’t legal in competition.

While many of these moves are more entertaining to the audience, many of the show tricks are actually technically easier than the moves you will see in competition. This is because the sole purpose of a show is to entertain the audience, not to get higher points for harder moves.

I attached a video that one of my students found on YouTube. The team is Jodeyne Higgens and Sean Rice who are former two-time Canadian national bronze medalists and World competitors. I found the video to be a very entertaining show program. Notice how small the rink is and how Jodeyne and Sean still effortlessly perform a very entertaining program with advanced tricks!

Note: See Upcoming Events page for summer class information at the Kroc Center in San Diego!

June 17, 2011