World and Olympic coach Audrey Weisiger talks about some of the uncertainties of competition and how coaches can help skaters prepare for it. In particular, the competition warm-up can be very stressful. Audrey says, “Competition is always semi-chaotic if not totally chaotic. So you need to train them (skaters) also to deal with things not going exactly perfectly.” Audrey notes that the true purpose of the warm-up is really to make sure the body is warmed up and working and it’s a chance for the skater to get acclimated to the rink and competition environment. It’s not really the time to be working on or tweaking skills, new or already “mastered.” As she notes, “If at that point you haven’t been landing your tricks, maybe it’s not a good time to see if you can do them.”
Audrey has her skaters do mental walk-throughs of their programs, internally simulating the program while being aware of the rink environment, including the judges and cameras and whatever else might be distracting. But building mental toughness is also necessary in case things change. Audrey tells a couple of stories to drive home the point.
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