I BECAME A COMPETITIVE FIGURE SKATER IN 2 YEARS… I STARTED AT 15! | 2 year figure skating progress!

Here's how I went from this to this in two years. Welcome to my two-year figure skating progress. Hi, if you're new here, my name is Sophia and I started figure skating when I was 15 and this is my figure skating progress. My skating journey started in March of 2021 when I took my very first learn to skate class. At this point, I had just gotten my first pair of skates. I was about three weeks into skating and was working on forward skating skills. I started in the learn to skate adult one class but quickly moved to adult two and started learning how to go backwards. On my second month of skating, I started learning things like inside and outside edges and pumps. It wasn't much different than the first month. I was just getting used to going forward and getting used to being on the ice. On to my third month of skating, I started feeling more secure with forward skating skills like one foot glides and pumps. Here's me doing some backwards swizzles, some pumps, and some one foot glides. This month, I also started learning things like two foot turns and I even started my very first two foot spins. I was so excited to learn how to spin but they were so scary at first. I was really afraid to go fast. Here's me on my fourth month of skating. I felt more comfortable going faster and I felt like I had more control. I also got more comfortable with stopping and then I also tried stroking with leg extensions. This month, I also got my first crossovers. I was really afraid of crossovers at first and I remember feeling so accomplished after finally being able to do my first ones. On my fifth month of skating, I started to learn things like hockey stops and I also worked on lots and lots of crossovers. I remember trying to get used to going faster and also transferring my weight from one foot to the other as I crossed. Here's me on month six. I really struggled with crossing my right foot over my left. This was definitely my bad side and I really tried this month to get better at crossing my right over my left. I was around adult three or adult four level at this point. We also worked on getting more comfortable with going backwards. I mainly worked on forward skating so my backward skating skills were definitely lacking. Here's me doing more crossovers on my bad side with my coach's guidance as well as her teaching me proper posture. Here's me on my seventh month of skating doing more two foot spins. These were still really hard for me. I surprisingly got dizzy really fast. I also really had trouble with pulling my feet together during the spin. I was also learning how to spin on the rocker of my blade. I also started learning backwards one foot glides. These were so scary for me at first and I ended up struggling on these for a couple months after this. I also tried spirals for the very first time. I was by myself without a coach at a public session one night and I decided to try them and I was so surprised when I was actually able to hold them. During my eighth month of skating, the rink that I took my learn to skate lessons at was having a holiday show. I decided to sign up for it and I joined my learn to skate adult group and we did a group number together. I also took my very first private lesson. I ended up taking an extra lesson because I was struggling with some of the moves in the adult four class and I really wanted to pass on to adult five but I needed some extra help. During my private lesson, she also started teaching me things from higher learn to skate levels and I started learning my very first three turns. During my ninth month of skating, I spent the month working on the group number with my adult learn to skate class. It was so much fun being able to work on this group number with everyone. We even did some pair skating and some synchro skills. Our theme was 1920s so we all had flapper dresses on. It was so cute. It was my first time ever performing and I was so glad I got to share that experience with this group. Here's our group number and my very first performance. During my 10th month of skating, I ended up taking another learn to skate session but I was frustrated because I still wasn't passing adult four. I had only been skating one to two times a week I ended up switching rinks in hopes of getting better coaching. Here's me three months later after switching rinks. I joined a new learn to skate group and I was able to find a private coach. I ended up switching from group lessons to private lessons entirely around this time. I also ended up getting my skates sharpened and they got ruined and so I had to get a brand new pair of skates. So I didn't have any videos from the past three months because of all these changes that were happening all at once. But here's me doing some two foot spins at the one year and one month mark. Here's me at one year and three months. I finally got some new skates. I ended up getting the Edea Chorus boots with the John Wilson Coronation Ace blades. I absolutely loved them. My old skates were slightly too big on me causing my heel to slide around which made skating harder for me. I also started learning the pre-preliminary moves in the field patterns around this time with my private lesson coach. I still struggled really bad with backwards skating so I was still working on backwards edges and backwards crossovers. I also started learning some of my first one foot spins around this time. Here's me attempting to lift my one foot during my spin. As well as waltz jumps. I was so afraid of jumping so my first jumps were just very small hops. During my one year and four months, I took a vacation this month so this was my first time back on the ice after a two-week break. One of my skating friends ended up teaching me a Y-spiral. At one year and five months, I finally got my very first one foot spin. I was so excited to finally be able to spin. I felt like it was the first thing that I could do that was actually cool and it made me feel like a real figure skater. I would literally spend almost my entire practice sessions working on spins because they were so fun and I was so excited to get better at them. Here's me at one year and six months working on even more spins. I got comfortable with going faster and getting more rotations in my spin. I also started learning one foot spins from this entry instead of the pump entry that I had been doing before. Around this time, I also had to get a new private lesson coach because my previous one had went to Disney on ice. With my new coach, when we started jumps together, she put me in the jump harness. I was so afraid to jump and I would only do little hops. She put me in the jump harness to get me more comfortable with jumping. I was so scared of jumping and had a horrible mental block because I was so afraid to jump and I was so afraid to fall. Being in the harness made me realize that it was okay to jump and it was okay to fall. I was even able to land some of my very first waltz jumps. Towards the end of the month, I even started to get better with this one foot spin entry that I had started in the beginning of the month. At one year and seven months, I started learning my very first scratch spins. These were some of my first attempts trying to cross my leg over the other. I also started getting more comfortable with doing waltz jumps. I forced myself to practice them because I had signed up for a holiday show and I was going to have my very own solo. And my coach put waltz jumps in my program, so I had to do them. This month, we started working on choreography for my very first solo. And then here's a little one foot spin update at the end of the month. At one year and eight months, we finished up the choreography for my Christmas solo together. I worked on it a lot because I really wanted to make it perfect since it was going to be my first solo. I really wanted to nail all my spins and all my jumps. Outside of my program, I kept working on my spins. And I kept working on my waltz jumps. In my program, I had a waltz jump, side toe hop, waltz jump. I was also so determined to get a scratch spin and eventually it started to click. These are a couple of my first actual scratch spins where I was able to cross my leg and hold the position. I was so excited about being able to do a scratch spin. Around this time, I started to go to the rink more. Instead of just one to two times a week, maybe it was two to three or three to four. Because of this, I was able to make progress a lot quicker. Here's a little waltz jump update and a little spiral update to end the month off. At one year and nine months, we finished up my program and I had my very first dress rehearsal. After working on my solo for months, I was so excited and nervous to finally perform. Here is my very first solo performance. Please welcome our next skater, Sophia Fernandez Torres. At one year and ten months, I started learning my very first sow cows and my very first toe loops. I got these immediately and I was so excited to finally be learning new jumps. Here's a little scratch spin update. I definitely felt like they started to get a lot faster. I also started learning my very first sit spins this month. These were so hard for me. I always thought I was sitting super low down, but then I would re-watch a video and I wouldn't actually be as low as I thought I was. At one year and 11 months, I started learning my loop jump. This one was definitely a lot harder than the sow cow and toe loop and it took me a while to land. I kept working hard on my sow cows and they got a lot easier for me, and I think it's because I finally figured out the timing and when to jump. Here's me at the two-year mark. I kept working hard on my scratch spins, my sow cows, my toe loops, and my sit spins. I even experimented with some arm variations in my spins. I don't really know if this spin counts as a side layback, but that's kind of what I was going for. At two years and one month, I finally started landing my loop consistently. I was having so much trouble with it. I could only land it at the wall, but now I finally was able to get it. Here's a little waltz jump update. These were definitely feeling a lot faster and higher, and I absolutely fell in love with doing this arm variation in my scratch spins. It's so pretty. Around this time, I also started to get my sow cow toe loop combo, and I also started to work on back spins. To this day, I still really struggle with back spins. At two years and two months, I agreed to do my very first competition. I started picking out music and I signed up to compete. I got better with my jumps. Here's a sow cow toe loop. And I landed my first baby waltz loop combo and my first baby loop loop combo. Me and my coach also started working together on choreography for my competition program. Here's a little sit spin update. Scratch spin update. These were feeling so much faster and a sorta, kinda, maybe side layback. At two years and three months, I took my very first moves in the field test. I took pre-preliminary moves and I passed with honors. I really, really pushed myself hard this month. I was at the rink almost every single day. I really wanted my competition program to be perfect, and I would even skate at five in the morning sometimes. We finished up my choreography for my program, and in the process, I ended up losing my loop jump because I started to rush it when it was in my program. I also skated in my competition dress for the first time. I handmade the entire thing with my mom's help. I also started trying layback spins for the first time. I started trying these on my own without my coach and later on started them with my coach. These were some of my first attempts. At two years and four months, it was competition month. I was super stressed out and nervous, and I had my first big cry on the ice. I'd been pushing myself really hard, skating two hours every day. I had a loop and backspin in my program that I could never do, and I was so stressed because I could never do them. My coach agreed to let me change the backspin to a layback, even though I hadn't been doing laybacks very long. I also had a long talk with my coach about how competing isn't you against everyone, it's doing your best and seeing what you can do to improve in your next competition. Here's me on competition day. I spent the morning warming up my program before competing. And here is my very first competition. After a successful skate, I ended up going home with a medal, and I'm so proud of how I did on my first competition. And this is where I'm at now. I'm working on getting my loop consistent again, and I just started working on my flip. I'm also hoping to pass my second Moves in the Field test this year, and I'm planning on maybe doing another competition this year. Overall, I'm really proud of the progress I've been able to make in two years. A huge thank you to everyone who supported me on TikTok. If you want to follow me over there, I post my progress more frequently. Thank you guys so much for watching, and be sure to like and subscribe for more skating updates.