Momentum

Momentum in skating is keeping the progress of skating moving forward.

This is actually a very delicate thing. Depending upon where you are at in your training, you can lose skills and take a step backwards in your skating if your momentum is lost. One of my jobs is to create a plan to keep the skater moving forward by skating enough and learning the right skills, however, momentum can be lost by too much time off, especially due to illness and injury.

This is why creating a plan and knowing how to keep the momentum going is important. Momentum can be slowed down by the simplest of things (dull blades) to the most uncontrollable things (severe illness) so the more we work to build up the momentum and are smart about when to take time off and when not to, the more a skater keeps moving forward, and you will see more progress and less frustration from the skater. This is why we divide our yearly season into four parts; off season, pre season, in season, and post season so that skaters know when to peak and the training builds up to that peak.

You will see skaters learning difficult elements when they have built up their momentum, such as landing their axel, skating a clean program or doing double-double jump combos. Long term goals such as achieving the gold freeskate test, competing NQS, and landing a triple only occurs when momentum is built up enough. These goals are oftentimes unrealistic if the momentum isn’t there.