That Stupid Axel

Ice Girl has been working on her stupid axel since the end of February. The day Ice Coach gave her the walk through, Ice Girl cleared all of my furniture away in my living room and has been terrifying the dog with her stupid axel ever since.

Over the summer she had a problem with her hamstring and her pelvis was twisted – overuse. Finally, finally she’s landed the puppy. It’s been a little over eight months and she finally has it consistent. For now.

For those of you parents who have been through the stupid axel, maybe twice or three times, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you parents who haven’t been through it, let me tell you what to expect.

Crazy obsession. When she first started the stupid axel walk through back in February, Ice Girl was obsessed. She was determined to land that jump and move on with her life. She cleared out my living room. She jumped everywhere, but still, no stupid axel.
The grocery store. Once I got over the embarrassment factor, I supported Ice Girl’s weird habit of practicing off-ice axels in the soup aisle. Hey, at least she’s practicing and I’m not paying for the ice time. The grocery store is one of her favorite off-ice jumping venues because the floors are so slick. Of course, I can’t move on to the pasta aisle until I watch just one more jump, please, Mom.
Fear of falling. Ice Girl doesn’t like to fall. As a parent and a non-skater, I don’t blame her. However, falling is a part of the process. There are ways to minimize the pain, but it’s my understanding that rotating the jump and landing on the correct foot are pretty tough. Most skaters can do one or the other at first, but not both at once. That’s why skaters fall.
Crash pad drama. I bought Ice Girl crash pads. Two sets of crash pads. Did she use them? No. She thought they made her rear end look enormous. She changed her tune when a coach showed her the dent in her thigh she created from trying to learn the double axel without crash pads. I will say that there’s some debate about crash pads. You can find people who dislike them because they worry a skater won’t perform a jump without them. For Ice Girl, they really helped her with her fear of falling, so I like them.
Waltz-jump-itis. For months, Ice Girl swung her right leg wide like a waltz jump instead of forward like an axel. She had some wicked pain in her hip from that. She also overworked her hamstrings and twisted her pelvis. Stupid axel.
Anything but the stupid axel. The stupid axel’s hard. Ice Girl had some pain from muscle overuse and was discouraged because that stupid axel was taking so long. She’d practice all kinds of things – neat spins, combination jumps, and moves in the field – rather than that stupid axel. Aw, darn. The practice hour is over and no stupid axel attempts.
Bejewell that harness and call it a day. Ice Girl has landed many fine axels in the harness only to land many lousy ones off of it. I swore that I would make her a fake harness and put crystals all over it just so she’d land that stupid axel without ropes and pulleys.
Two feet. Geez. She’s so close to landing that stupid axel and it’s always on two feet. For months it’s on two feet. Two feet really aren’t that bad, are they? I mean, it’s just one more than one foot. It’s not like two feet and a hand. Really, how bad can two feet be?
Ankle weights? Really? When Ice Coach requested I purchase ankle weights, I did, but I thought it was weird. The weights I bought have long Velcro straps so they fit over both Ice Girls’ boots. I’m not a coach, but the weights force Ice Girl to use more power for her rotation, so without the weights she really rotates that jump. That’s what Ice Girl told me, anyway.
Core strength. It takes a lot of core strength to spin around in the air like that. Ice Girl does regular off-ice with Ice Coach once a week. She does it sporadically otherwise. This is definitely an area for improvement.
Many, many hours. Ugh. I thought the sit spin was bad. The stupid axel takes many, many hours off-ice and on. Bring a book. Or a library. Me, I steal others’ crossword puzzles (I’m cheap. And pushy.)
Where did you put your Lutz? Ice Girl has her stupid axel pretty solid today. Her Lutz? Where did that go? Honestly. She’s had a Lutz for over a year, but today she didn’t have it. I understand that this is the same with the stupid axel. I’m anticipating the day that she misplaces it, too.
Honoring the occasion. It’s not uncommon for parents to give their skater a nice gift to honor the hard work the skater has put in on the stupid axel. You know me, though. I’m cheap. But, I also know how much work went in on that stupid jump. I got her an iPod. O.K., technically it was a re-gift, but it was still new in the box and she loves it, so there.

You might have noticed that I pretty much hate that stupid axel. Don’t get me wrong, that stupid axel is a pretty thing and I was near tears this morning when Ice Girl was just popping them off. I might grow to like it, but over these past eight months, I’ve really harbored resentment toward that stupid jump.

Another gal in the rink was so nice and congratulated Ice Girl this morning. But the mom warned me: here come the doubles.

Update: From reader Helicopter Mom: But…. now we’re stuck in the double salchow zone!!! I keep hoping it won’t take as long as the axel did but so far it’s looking eerily familiar… Sigh…

Update: From reader Anonymous: as a skating coach and mom, that stupid axel is gonna be the biggest accomplishment in her skating career [...]Falling is a must and until you are daring enough to do that, the axel will elude you, so I say be bold, be daring and have enough courage to just fall on your tush!

Update: From reader Anonymous: For me [the stupid axel] was more difficult than the doubles I mentioned above because I thought the forward takeoff was scary.

Update: From reader Ateam on the Edge: Okay – Axels are a half revolution more than any other jump. It is also the only one that takes off forward (meaning that ALL other parts of skating are “backwards”). We went through agony with double Axel. If you follow skating, you KNOW the triple axel saga. [...] Axel Paulsen was the person who “invented” the Axel jump. I don’t think he did any of us a favor, do you??

Update: From reader Jillybean: My daughter preferred the frozen section of the grocery store, I guess it felt more like the rink. [...] The axel is a HUGE accomplishment! I’ve known skaters who work on the jump for many years and still never land it.

Update: From reader Anonymous: If I had a blog of my own, my topic would be ‘That Stupid Loop Jump’. I’m an adult skater who does not even want to attempt the stupid axel – I just want to master the stupid loop jump!

Update: From skate coach and reader Xan: Hang in there everyone! My skating princess holds a rink record for learning the axel– 2 1/2 years. Worst time of my life, lol. And she eventually managed a trip to Junior Nats and now skates professionally. I tell my students that if they aren’t falling, they’re not trying to learn an axel, they’re trying not to fall!

Update: From reader Jozet: Gain an axel, lose a lutz. Double Salchow is axel’s sister? She must chop off her sister’s pigtails at night, because we weren’t feeling the family love.

When people ask me what’s the big deal with learning an axel, I use this analogy: going from leaning single backward jump to learning an axel is like going from driving an automatic car all your life to suddenly being put in a car with a stick-shift manual transmission and clutch and then trying to pull-out on a steep hill. There’s just that much more you have to coordinate to make the car go without stalling. Or falling.

Update: From reader Anonymous: Well, I thought offering a “reward” would be a good incentive for my daughter to practice her axel…backfire! She became consumed with what she would get when she lands the axel that she got frustrated each time she tried and didn’t land it!

How about you? Have a stupid axel tale to tell? Share your stories in the comments!

wyosk8mom

Ah, yes! The nine-month jump. That's how it was referred to me by a good friend whose daughter is a few years ahead of mine….and it took my daughter about nine months to the day. Bleh.

I remember my daughter finally landing it…and landing it BEAUTIFUL (I had a dad I didn't even know at an out-of-town rink tell me how beautiful it was)….for about a month and half, just in time to lose it two weeks before a competition. I swear I counted 90 (failed) attempts in one day! She was in such a state, hysterical to the max, and I wasn't much better. I just did a better job of hiding it! I do now suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, though, every time she lands a jump clunk-clunk. Clunk-clunk is a technical term I came up with where they get the revolution, but then land on the wrong foot and quickly, and clumsily, switch to the proper foot. Ugh. I literally break into a sweat and my skin crawls when she does that with her jumps ever since the learning process of that “stupid” axel! The flashback aren't pretty, either!

The way she resolved the “clunk-clunk” landing? She decided one day to smack her landing leg with her skate guard! You may wonder why. Well, she said it was so she would remember which leg to land on. I think she was punishing it for being bad!! But whatever the reason, who cares, cuz it worked!

Resolving the cheated double loop was our longest hurdle. From the first day landing it (I thought it was clean!!!) to landing it properly was almost a year to the day! Man, I hate/love this sport!
tryingtobenormal

Ice Mom. My 10 year old has been working on it for months. Her friends are getting it, one in 2 months they are all moving up to pre-pre. She just can't seem to get it, now doesn't want to compete anymore and has lost all confidence. Any advice?
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, trying.

This is soooo frustrating, not just as a parent, but as a student. It's the make-it-break-it point for skaters, I think and there are no easy answers.

What worked for Ice Girl was: lots of good practice with her coach, Axel pads (to help with the fear of falling), harness work, and having other things to work on for a sense of achievement. Ice Girl started that stupid Axel in February 2009 and didn't land it until October 2009. She didn't compete with it until February 2010. However, she passed four moves in the field tests during those eight months between February and October. Those moves in the field tests made her a better skater and gave her a sense of accomplishment.

Have you spoken with your daughter's coach? Does she think it's time to call in a jump specialist? I think if your daughter is thinking of quitting, it's a good time to try everything.

As far as other skaters passing her up, I think this is pretty normal. It's very hard not to compare one skater to another, or to listen to other parents compare skaters' development, or to discourage you own skater from comparing herself to someone else. However, it's just not productive to do so. Kids aren't widgets. They aren't the same. They learn and achieve at different rates.

That's why I'm so glad that Ice Coach gave Ice Girl something else to work on and feel that sense of achievement. She was still frustrated, don't get me wrong, but I think it would have been worse if she hadn't been passing all those moves tests.

Try to tell her to visualize landing it. Replace negative phrases with positives. Positive self-talk, not defeating self-talk will help a lot. Your belief in her is powerful, too.

Chin up! Let us all know when she gets the jump so we can celebrate!
sk8termom

Great to hear that I'm not the only one going nuts about the stupid axel. My daughter has landed and lost her axel at least 3 times now. Its just so weird because she would land it beautifully for weeks (she can even do a 3 jump combo Axel-loop-loop) then one day – poof its gone again. Its really been frustrating for her. It has affected how she feels about skating.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Yeah, sk8termom, that’s a jump I really hate. I’m trying to like it now that Ice Girl has a consistent Axel, but I still resent the eight-month frustrating journey.

For some reason, I don’t hate the double Salchow as much. It comes and goes, too, but I’m so beyond caring about the dumb thing.

Good luck with that whole sanity business! Let me know how it goes!
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Yeah, sk8termom, that's a jump I really hate. I'm trying to like it now that Ice Girl has a consistent Axel, but I still resent the eight-month frustrating journey.

For some reason, I don't hate the double Salchow as much. It comes and goes, too, but I'm so beyond caring about the dumb thing.

Good luck with that whole sanity business! Let me know how it goes!
Isabellem1998

How many months was Ice Girl skating for before she landed her Axel? I’m trying to set some goals and one of them is to land an Axel (It is in my long-term goals).
tryingtobenormal

Ice Mom, She never got it. Coach kept telling us it was days away. Has been saying that since May. My little one says she is tired of being sad all the time at skating. I think maybe this is one of those signs we should be done… advice?
skatermom

I love this post! My daughter started working on her axel in May. I was a skater and I don’t exactly coach my daughter, but i assist her. It became an obsession for me as well. I will never forget the moment she landed it clean…. I think I will remember it next to the day she was born. it was this past november right about her 8th birthday – 17th, 18th, she was with her coach and the cheering!! it just happened it was time. It takes about as long as a pregnancy that jump. The axel is like a pregnancy it gives birth ….to doubles….oh yes we are right in the throws of double sal.
Ffrozenmon

My darling daughter ‘landed’ her axle pretty quickly, bought the ipod – all was right with the world! THEN we moved coaches, “that isn’t an axle he said”……. (jaws theme tune is playing now!) so now 10 months on they have broken what she did have (she rotated enough without going up first, which apparemtly means she will never get doubles with that technique…. Me, I know nothing…!.) and we are back to landing on the wrong foot, we have a new Russian coach too who lifts her by her hair to do it – no harness here! Eeeeeeek!