This document provides 10 tips for skaters to prepare for competitions with confidence. The tips are to train as if competing, set SMART goals, maintain a positive mindset, focus on personal best rather than competitors, choose how to respond to circumstances, keep stress low, quickly recover from mistakes, focus on the present, eliminate distractions, and communicate effectively with support team. The overarching message is to develop "ice cool confidence."

1. Ten Top Tips
Preparing for your
Skating Competition with
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2. 1. Train as if you were Competing
If you treat your lessons and patch sessions
as if you were stepping onto the ice to
compete, when it comes to the day of your
competition or test you will feel like it’s just
another practice and you won’t be so
nervous.
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3. 2. Set Goals for your Event
Aim to skate your very best, to skate a clean
programme or even to land at least X% of
your jumps. Don’t set goals which are out of
your control – such as to gain a place on the
podium or to beat another skater. Keep
them SMART* and positive.
*Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed
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4. 3. Keep it Positive
Banish negative thoughts from your head. If
you think about a jump as if it is the enemy it
almost certainly will be! Instead of “I hope I
don’t fall on my (insert name of jump or body
part here)” tell yourself “I can do this – I’ve
landed it before”, and believe it!
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5. 4. You are your Competitor
Remember you are not competing against
your fellow skaters. Your competitor is you.
Strive only to do your personal best and to
improve on this each time you skate.
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6. 5. Choose your Response
You can only control yourself and your
response to what happens. You cannot
change other people or control external
factors. You can choose how you will
respond to them. You can decide whether to
get upset or to keep calm.
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7. 6. Keep your Stress Levels Low
Choosing to be stressed or upset by events
beyond your control releases chemicals into
the body which affect your balance, muscle
control, timing and thought patterns. This is
not a recipe for successful skating. Choose
instead to respond positively and maintain
reduced stress levels.
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8. 7. Keep Calm and Carry On
Get up and carry on as quickly as you can
after a fall or a mistake. You have a limited
amount of time to impress the judges with
what you can do so don’t waste it sitting on
the ice after a fall. Practice this in lessons
and patch too, so it becomes second nature.
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9. 8. Stay in the Moment
Don’t think about the mistake you’ve just
made or the double toe-loop coming up at
the end of your programme. Think only
about the move immediately ahead of you.
The time for reflection is when you step off
the ice at the end.
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10. 9. Stay Focused and
Eliminate Distractions
If you get distracted easily, make a note of all
the things which could distract you and work
out ways of eliminating them from your
thoughts one by one.
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11. 10. Communicate
Learn to communicate effectively with your
cheerleaders – those closest to you who
support your skating – your coach(es) and
your parents. They are on your side, but they
aren’t mind readers. If you have a
concern, tell them. A question? Ask it.
Politely!
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12. Now go out there
and show them all what you can do
with Ice Cool Confidence!
www.icecoolconfidence.com