Axel Madness

There are milestones on a journey that sometime feel like the journey itself.

In the figure skating world, landing a clean axel is one such milestone. It's an accomplishment that comes after much hard work, exhausting patience and sheer determination.

For Justin, that milestone came on Wednesday, February 9, 2011.

I've yet to capture Justin landing his axel on video. When I do, I'll post it. Meanwhile, the video below shows Michael Weiss, a two-time Olympian, demonstrating the axel jump.

For Justin, landing an axel with good form happened after a lesson with Coach Diana. She spent most of the 30 minutes helping him with the jump.

Named after the Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed it in 1882, the axel can take years to master. It's attempted only after a skater first learns several other jumps: the Waltz jump, the Salchow, the Toe Loop, the Loop, the Flip, and the Lutz.

Of all the jumps, the axel is the only rotating jump to take off from a forward edge, which is what makes it one of the most difficult jumps to learn. After jumping forward from the left, forward outside edge, the skater makes 1 1/2 rotations in the air and lands on the other foot on a back, right outside edge.

On that Wednesday, all that fell into place for Justin.

"He did it!" the mom sitting next to me at the ice rink in Oldsmar said. The achievement is acknowledged even among other skating parents, who know what a skater goes through to land an axel correctly.

Justin's face lit up. He smiled and raised his hands over his head in victory.

"I knew I only had a couple of minutes left in the session," Justin explained later. "When I went to go into it I saw the Zamboni. I knew this was the last time I would get to try today. I told myself, 'I'm going to do it.'"

Earlier in the week, after being so frustrated because he couldn't land it, he challenged himself.

"If I don't land my axel by Friday, I'm quitting."

I've noticed in the four years Justin has skated it seems to liberate him to say "I'm quitting." It takes the pressure off so he can focus on what he really wants to achieve. And it seems to open him up to more possibilities. I've noticed this phenomenon throughout my role as a parent, actually. I seem to help him the most when I just offer him an empathetic ear. He expresses the negative emotions that build up from trying so hard to reach each new skating goal. I listen. The next thing I know he's back on the ice trying again.

His journey with the axel is no exception. After trying so hard to land it, vowing to quit several times, and then finally landing it, the floodgates seemed to open.

The next day at practice Justin landed several clean axels in a row. Two of his skating buddies, Madi and Shayla, were there to see it.

"Madi said it was awesome. Shayla clapped," Justin said.

Madi, 13, and Shayla, 14, know how frustrating and hard it is to land the axel. They both remember the date they did so.

"January 21, 2009," Shayla said. "It was exhilarating. I cried. I was so happy because I had fallen on my knees three months straight."

Tears of joy are an appropriate response to finally landing this jump.

Justin, at right, with Shayla, Madi & Mike

Sept. 30, 2008 was when Madi landed hers. "I was shocked and I cried," she said. "It's such a hard entrance and not natural at all."        
And last month, Madi's brother, Mike, landed his first clean axel. The 12-year-old started skating about 1 1/2 years ago.

"I was excited," he said. "It's my favorite jump now."                                  
Once skaters land the axel the goal then becomes to land it consistently. Often that means more trials and tribulations - for both the skaters and the parents.

"It's the most frustrating jump ever," said Tami, mom to Madi and Mike. "The overwhelming feelings of frustration. The 'I quits.' You want to cry right along with them."

Clearly, this journey will contain a lot of new milestones with all the double and triple jumps ahead. But landing that first clean axel is one milestone Justin - and many skaters - never forget.