Why do we need to protect young skaters?
Figure skating is a difficult sport, which requires athletes to complete all kinds of complicated movements in a very short time. These actions include jumping, rotating, stepping and so on. This requires athletes to have higher technical level and physical fitness. In order to meet these requirements, many young flower skaters need to start training at a very young age, which brings them great physical and psychological pressure.
Long-term training and competition will not only affect the physical health of young athletes, but also have a great impact on their psychology. Many young flower skaters will feel depressed and lost when they perform poorly or are injured in the competition, which may affect their self-esteem and self-confidence. Therefore, it is very important to protect the physical and mental health of young flower skaters.
Implementation Support Unit measures
In order to protect the physical and mental health of young flower skaters, the International Skating Federation (ISU) recently announced that athletes under the age of 17 are prohibited from participating in international competitions of adult groups.
Specifically, ISU stipulates that from the beginning of the 2020-202 1 season, players under 17 can only participate in the international competitions of the youth group and cannot participate in the international competitions of the adult group. This regulation applies to all figure skating competitions, including world championships, European championships and four continents championships.
According to the International Skating Federation, the purpose of this regulation is to protect the physical and mental health of young skaters and prevent them from receiving too much training and competition pressure too early. At the same time, this regulation also helps to promote the sustainable development of figure skating and provide better protection for athletes' career.
How to protect young flower skaters?
In addition to prohibiting athletes below 17 from participating in international competitions of adult groups, there are other measures to protect the physical and mental health of juvenile flower skaters.
1. Arrange the training time and intensity reasonably.
Training is the key to improve the technical level of figure skaters, but overtraining will bring great pressure to young athletes. Therefore, coaches need to arrange training time and intensity reasonably to ensure that athletes have enough rest time and avoid overtraining.
2. Pay attention to nutrition and rest
Nutrition and rest are very important to the health of flower skaters. Coaches and parents need to pay attention to athletes' diet and sleep to ensure that they get enough nutrition and rest.
Cultivate a positive attitude
Figure skating is a difficult sport, which requires athletes to have high technical level and psychological quality. Therefore, coaches and parents need to help athletes develop a positive attitude and encourage them to remain calm and confident in the competition.