How can I become a great figure skater?

How can you become a good figure skater fast ?

• Im turning 16 soon but i really want to try out figure skating ! How can i catch up from all the years i missed ? Thanks !

• Answer:

  If by "catch up from all the years I missed" you mean "get to Olympian level" it's not happening, kiddo. Nothing about figure skating is fast, because nothing about figure skating is easy. It takes years of hard work and dedication. You have to really want it. To begin with, forget jumps and spins. You're not looking at those for a few months yet. The basics come first - and don't scorn them, don't neglect them, because those basics are MASSIVELY important to everything else. You aren't going to be able to jump properly if your three-turns or mohawks are sloppy. You aren't going to be able to spin properly if you can't glide properly. You're never too old to start skating as a hobby. I was 22 when I started. Next month I will be 25, I have been skating for two and a half years (just on two years if you remove all the time I've spent off-ice due to injury!), and I am only just landing my flip and loop, and working on my Lutz. I test, I compete, I work hard. But what I sense in this question is not someone who has the right attitude for skating. What I sense is one of those silly airheaded teenage girls who waltz into the rink thinking it's going to be just like "Ice Princess", that you'll be doing triple Lutzes in a few months' time. Those are the ones who invariably quit after a month when they've only just started crossovers.