(Don't) Watch and Learn

Olympic Silver Medalist, Canadian Patrick Chan says he still hasn't watched his performances at the Olympics (at least, he hadn't as of the time this article was written last week).

I don't blame him. Both of his Olympic skates in the men's singles competition disappointed him. Yes he won silver, but a regrettable performance is not how you want to remember your Olympic experience. From personal experience as a skater, you almost want to forget that a disastrous performance even happened. And being forced to watch it on replay definitely doesn't help one forget.

At Regionals one year, I pulled a Mao Asada and skated so badly during a short program that I didn't even bother to look at the results. I knew I'd come in dead last, and I wanted to avoid the embarrassment of having it confirmed in ink. And thank goodness it wasn't recorded on video, because even today, a decade or so later, I would refuse to watch it. And I wouldn't learn anything from watching it. I already know why I messed up, and it has everything to do with the mental aspects of skating, and nothing with the physical. My father has a picture of me on the ice during that program displayed in his office. He argues it's a great picture of me, but knowing how badly I skated, I still can't even look at it. I avert my eyes every time I'm in there. It's a stark reminder of my failure to achieve a goal I'd set for myself. Much like Chan, who had his sights set on gold.

And watching yourself is hard even after a good performance. I've been accused of being my own harshest critic, and I don't deny it. I can pick apart my own performances until they become tattered shreds in my mind. It's generally a good practice to watch film of yourself on a regular basis though. A coach can only do so much, and can't be there 24/7--seeing how you are doing something wrong goes a long way to help yourself on the ice as well. But when it is a mental error rather than a technical problem, watching makes it worse.

But I don't think Patrick Chan needs to watch these particular performances to become a better skater. Instead, he needs to concentrate on what's important to him, and why he might have let pressure get to him. He's not competing this season and is uncertain about his future in the sport, so he has ample time to do so. He's a great skater, and he'll figure it out.