Is It Too Late To Start Ice Skating? | Adults Skate Too || Coach Michelle Hong

Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. This is coach Michelle Hong. In today's video, I'm going to cover the topic of, is it too late to start skating? And the short answer is no. There is not a limitation to when you can start skating. And throughout this video, I'm going to shed light on all the different age groups that I've worked with to share with you that it's not too late to start skating. Because I know success stories and hearing other people's experiences is what is going to change your mind. Because I say no all the time, but I think you really need to hear these stories in order for you to feel as though you're not alone. So with that being said, if you're excited for this type of content, be sure to give this video a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe for more of these type of skating related advice videos. That being said, let's get started. My first example is the 12 year old range. So there are people who are interested in learning how to skate or putting their child in skating, but they think the age of 12 is too late to start. And some people, as I've seen in my comments on my Instagram, think that is so bogus that 12 years old is looked down as an older age. And it's the reality of the sport, honestly. If you think about it, everything that you see on TV, a majority of what you see on the Olympics are pretty pubescent bodies and people who are very young who are the ones that are excelling. 12 year olds, 13 year olds, 14 year olds, doing triple act quads. And another thing is that there is a limitation in our sport to achieve a specific level with an age limitation. So let me review the eight different levels that are in the U.S. figure skating system. Starts out with pre-preliminary, preliminary, pre-juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, and senior. And so at the juvenile level, you cannot compete past the age of 13 years old. So in order to get to this level, you really, most of the time, have to work your tail off before you turn 12 to be able to compete here. If you don't make your jumps at a specific age, then you have to do, or the requirements that are required for the juvenile level and to be competitive at the juvenile level, then you do open juvenile or you have to move up to the intermediate level. So there is a pressure. There is a sense of pressure for kids that are around 10, 11 years old. And so that's why there is this huge stigma around 12 being too late or ready to start. But I wanna share with you that it's not. And I'm gonna do so by sharing that my sister, Melissa, was the one that started being more serious about skating at the age of 12. And she was such a bright light that sparked my interest in skating. And so for those of you out there who don't know, but my sister was someone who passed all of her moves in the field test within two years of skating. And she did so because she worked her tail off and she was really hungry to catch up to all the other kids that were her age, but they were in the sport for five, six years longer than her. But that didn't stop her and it fueled her. It made her inspired to keep working hard. And she was really skilled at the edge quality and she picked up things really quickly. And later on, she became my choreographer as well. So when I was around 11, 12 years old, she really stepped up to the plate, especially because during that time of my coaching change, I didn't have a coach for six months. And Melissa started working at the rink and she started coaching as well. So she was able to teach me my junior and senior moves in the field. And so look at that. Someone who started at the age of 12 years old was able to pass her moves in the field test within two years to start working at the rink and teaching. And then she also became a choreographer to me and a moves in the field coach to me. And so those are some things that you wanna take into consideration just because yes, in the testing world or in the realm of competition, you might think that 12 years old is too old. You have to think beyond that. You have to think like, what can I do in my own measure of success to achieve the things that I want to achieve? So you don't always have to fit this box. And like I shared in my previous video, I'll pop it up here. There are so many different disciplines that you can explore as well. So if you feel as though you don't wanna go down the same track of all these other skaters who are trying to make it to the national level and get their double axel by the age of 12 years old to be competitive in the juvenile level, then you could try synchro. You can try solo dance. You can try theater on ice and you can try all these different disciplines that will allow you more flexibility in terms of your age. And you also don't necessarily have to feel tied down to this get your double axel by the juvenile level. You can still compete along this track and there's an opportunity for you to compete in the open juvenile level. So there's many, many options. I hope that you see that 12 years old is not too late to start. So my second example, my second age range would be the 14, 15, 16 year old range. And I get a lot of these questions because many people in high school feel as though it's too late for them to start because many of their friends started when they were a lot younger. So how are they gonna be able to catch up with the sport? So I wanna share the success story of my student, Lila, who is a phenomenal acrobatic and she had gymnastics experience from when she was younger. And so it sheds light on how powerful off-ice training is, how powerful athleticism on the ground is. And so when she came to me, she had a lot of flexibility but we really honed in on her strength training work and she picked up all the skills that were required on the ice. So she was able to start testing and she passed her pre-preliminary test, her preliminary moves in the field test and now she's working on her pre-juvenile test. And she also competed for the first time and she was able to jump. And one of the things that I find so special about Lila is that she hurt herself from her previous acrobatic experience. So her knee kind of gave out when she started jumping on her and landing on her right knee. And so what she ended up doing because she missed jumping so much because she had to take almost a whole year off of skating jumps, she transitioned to jump the other direction. So when I tell you that if you have a will, there is a way, Lila is a perfect example that I am so, so proud of my student Lila and she has such gorgeous lines as well. And the fact that she took it upon herself to re-strategize, I didn't shed this example or share this example with her. She wanted to, she approached me about it. She said, I wanna try jumping the other way. And I said, let's do it. Let's do it. You have the coordination, you have the capabilities, you have the mindset, let's do it. And she started learning. So she got her waltz jump, she got her south house, she got her toe loop, she got her loop jump the other way. She's working on her flip and her lutz the other way. So for those of you out there who are discouraged because 15, 16, 17 years old seems like it's too late, please re-evaluate that because she is doing camels, back camels, ice spins, eelmans, and I am so, so proud of her. So that's why I highly encourage you to work on off ice skills. So I'm gonna pop all my off ice skating videos above because learning that foundational aspect of the sport is so helpful to your success. So whether you do not have access to a rink right now, maybe you can start thinking about, okay, so I'm gonna plan, I'm gonna train hard off the ice. And then maybe when I'm older, I can move to a location that is more closely connected to an ice rink, right? And so if you might not be able to have the capability to do it now because of finances or because of location, if you really dream hard enough and think that skating is in the cards for you because you just wanna do it as a hobby, you wanna do it as something that you've always dreamt of, then you can put in the work to do it. And I believe that you can do it because many people that I've worked with really put in the work, passion, the work ethic and grit. Those are my three pillars. So my third age range that I'm gonna discuss is the late 20s, early 30s age range. And Shindo is one of my students who has such a beautiful, phenomenal story. And it's one of these stories that you might relate to as well. So Shindo started when he was younger and he was able to potentially get up to his triple loop. I think that's what he recalls, but he had to quit around the age of 12, 13 years old due to personal reasons. He shared that he also didn't feel comfortable being a boy figure skater. He potentially got made fun of for being involved with figure skating. And he ended up just quitting the sport because he didn't necessarily have that mental and emotional support. So with that being said, he comes to me and he emails me when he moved to the Bay Area looking for lessons. And I think he came to me in his early 30s. And it was so great to see how passionate he was about the sport. And I saw that he did still have those coordination skills, but we really worked on his edges. We really worked on fine tuning his skating skills before we started getting into jumping. And then once he started getting into jumping, he was able to do his axle, his double saddle, his double toe, his double loop, his double flip, his double up. It took him time to get all these jumps. And then we started doing testing and he practices after work. Whenever he gets a chance, he has a full-time job. And so for those of you who are out there who are like, you know, I have a job. I, you know, I have a full life. I started when I was younger, but I really want to do it. Do it. Here's your chance. You can do it. And I believe in you. The next example I want to share is people in your, you know, your early 30s to your 40s. And so for those of you out there who have always dreamt of competing and never thought that you would ever have a chance because you're older. I want to share about my student, Mikey, who competed at the international level. He competed in Oberstdorf, Germany, and he was able to win all these international competitions. He uses his artistry. People know him as the ribbon skater because he lights a fire every time he's on the ice and he knows how to win a crowd over. So it is so great that he's able to combine his passion for artistry, rhythmic gymnastics, and his love for entertainment on the ice. And Mikey is such a great advocate for adult figure skaters to really put themselves out there, shine in a performance way. And I love the fact that he is willing and open to answer questions in regards to adult figure skating. And he's also really willing and open to share any advice that he has for people who are interested in the sport. So I'm going to also pop in the link of how you can connect with Mikey as well, because he teaches Zumba classes and all that stuff, and he's just an energetic soul. So I am so, so grateful that I got a chance to work with Mikey because he really instilled a fire in me to really get more adult figure skaters involved with competition, because I saw how much value adult skaters got out of competing and how much people really wanted it. So I really, really encourage all of you out there, if you're interested in competing in the sport of figure skating and you feel like you're older, but you might not be able to do it, or you feel like it's not your opportunity anymore, all those thoughts should go out the window. You can get a costume, you can get a program, you can get a coach, you can go compete. And a lot of adult figure skaters feel like they didn't get to do that when they were younger because of financial circumstances. But when you're older, you have a job and you can commit time and energy and set aside some finances for you to pursue your dreams. And my last example of the age group that I want to talk about are people in their 50s and above. I've taught people in their 50s, their 60s and their 70s. And these are skaters that have come to me with a desire to learn something new. And yes, I've taught somebody who had never had any figure skating experience before and they are retired and they just wanted to be able to try something new. And one of the things that I think people who are older fear is getting hurt. So the biggest thing that I highly encourage are helmet, elbow pads, butt pads, knee pads. And not only this, accompanying your skating training with off-ice training. So for those of you who have seen my Skate with Michelle series and my Stretch with Michelle series, I'll pop the links up above. Those are excellent places to start incorporating these off-ice training skills to build your body as an athlete and to support yourself on the ice. This goes for people who are starting at age five and people who are skating all the way up into their 60s, 70s and 80s. So age is but a number. And I say this because I've seen it in other sports. I've seen it in other arenas. I see yogis that start when they're older. I've seen 60 and 70 year old grandmas being able to run half marathons faster than me. And I know that if you put your heart, soul, dedication and you have the proper training and you have the proper coach and you have the proper support and you have the proper off-ice training, passion, work ethic and grit, you can do it. You can put your efforts into what you're passionate about. And I'm here to tell you that it's not too late to start skating. So with that being said, I hope this video really inspired you and like this video if you're interested in more advice videos like this. Thank you all so much. Don't forget to subscribe and I'm here for you and your journey. Love you all.