25 figure skating goals for skating skills, jumps, spins and your season

Figure skating goals for beginners

Beginner goals are about balance, stopping and moving in both directions.

• Skate one full lap without touching the boards.
• Glide on one foot for 5 seconds, on each foot.
• Stop on purpose 10 times in a row.
• Skate backward across the width of the rink.
• Go to the rink once a week for 10 weeks.

Skating skills goals

Skating skills are edges, turns and crossovers, and everything else sits on top of them. They are the same foundation that goals for hockey players start from.

• Do forward crossovers in both directions.
• Do backward crossovers in both directions.
• Do a three turn on each foot.
• Hold a spiral for 5 seconds.
• Hold one deep edge all the way around a circle.

Figure skating jump goals

Jump goals should count clean landings, not attempts.

• Land a waltz jump.
• Land a clean single salchow.
• Land the same single jump 5 times in a row.
• Land a single axel.
• Land your first double jump.

Spin goals

Spin goals count turns and positions, and a few minutes at every session is enough to work on them.

• Hold a two-foot spin for 5 turns.
• Hold a one-foot upright spin for 5 turns.
• Hold a sit spin for 3 turns.
• Hold a camel spin for 3 turns.
• Change position once inside a single spin.

Test, programme and season goals

Season goals are counts you control: hours on the ice, clean run-throughs, tests entered. The parts of a programme that are not jumps or spins are close to dance goals.

• Pass your next skating test.
• Skate your full programme clean 3 times in a row in practice.
• Compete in a first competition.
• Get 60 hours of ice time in a season. That is 2 hours a week for 30 weeks.
• Do 15 minutes of off-ice jumps and stretching 3 times a week for 12 weeks.

What is a good figure skating goal?

A good figure skating goal is specific about the skill and the standard. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best. "Get my axel" is a hope. "Land 5 axels in a row by March" is a goal.

Keep scores and medals as the direction, and set your goals on what you do. A review of 27 studies of goal setting in sport found that process goals, the ones about how you carry out a skill, had the largest effect on performance. Goals about placing had almost none. "Check my landing arm on every jump" is a process goal.

Share the sheet with your coach. A coach is a built in accountability partner: someone who sees the goal and asks about it every week.

How to track figure skating goals

Tick off every session the day you skate. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Ice sessions are a day count. Hours of ice time and clean run-throughs are amounts that add up. A competitive season is not far from the length of a 90 day challenge, and it is tracked the same way.

Jumps arrive after weeks of falling. A picture that fills up one session at a time shows how much ice time went into the one clean landing.

Frequently asked questions

What are good figure skating goals for beginners?

One lap without the boards, a one-foot glide of 5 seconds on each foot, a stop you can do on purpose, and backward skating across the rink. After that, crossovers in both directions.

What goes on a figure skating goal sheet?

One jump, one spin, one skating skill and one count, like hours of ice time. Write the standard beside each skill, such as 5 clean landings in a row, so you know when to tick it off.

How much ice time should I aim for?

Choose a number you can keep all season. Two hours a week for 30 weeks is 60 hours. A steady total like that is a clearer goal than "as much as possible".