Timing of Skill Acquisition

Young skaters and their parents are often anxious to get jumps landed and wonder how long it will take. It is very difficult to determine because there are so many factors influencing progress (see the Free Skating Performance Chart). Competitive Stream skaters usually master skills sooner not just because of their talent but because they tend to skate more often. Training volume plays a large part in skill acquisition but age, level of basic skating skill, talent and mental and physical preparedness are equally important so the answer really is different for each skater.  It is more accurate to express training volume in total hours rather than in years skated. For example, to say an Axel will take 18 months to learn may or may not be accurate since skaters working on an Axel may train anywhere from one to six or more hours a week and anywhere from six to twelve months per year. An answer in hours also promotes a healthy discussion of appropriate training volume and goals. Keep in mind too that skaters who may have acquired the same number of training hours but have done so consistently rather than sporadically are likely to progress quicker. The Average Timing of Skill Acquisition chart below shows a general schedule of skill acquisition based on total training volume shown in hours in the middle of the chart. It is meant to be a very general frame of reference and not a hard and fast schedule. As previously mentioned, there is more to it than just training volume. To determine a skater's total training volume please see A Comparison of Annual Training Volume and Determining Weely Training Volume. This chart is based on total training volume from the skater's first day on the ice, not just the time spent training each jump. The jumps on this chart are assumed to be fully rotated, performed correctly and fairly consistent.

Progress in mastering jumps does not move forward evenly- one jump every six months. If that were the case, skaters would be doing quintuple jumps before their twenties. It takes relatively longer to master certain jumps. For example, there is usually a large gap between mastering a Double Lutz and a Double Axel. This is normal and to be expected and reflects the need to create and sustain the increased rotational speed. A double Axel rotates two and a half times in the air making it a bridge between doubles and triples. Relatively few skaters who enter the Competitve Stream ever master it never mind STARSkaters. There might be 300 Competitive Stream skaters in all of Canada who can consistently perform clean Double Axels. They are rarely if ever seen in the STARSkate Stream.      It might for helpful for skaters to understand that this gap does exist and all skaters go through it. Knowing they can expect a delay at this point may mitigate some of the anxiety and frustration many skaters experience and questions many parents may have during the time it takes to learn difficult jumps.