Why Learn To Skate?
By which I don't mean why learn to skate-- that's obvious. Because it's fun.
Learn To Skate (also known as weSkate, and similar to CanSkate, and Basic Skills) is where you get the fundamentals, including the part where skating is both fun and mental. If you don't get it here, you're not going to get it in Freestyle.
There's a skill in every level of every beginner curriculum that coaches blow off. "I'm not going to hold a kid back just because she can't do [XX].
Here's the skills, and here's what happens if you let it go.
PreAlpha or Basic 1
Skill that teachers let slide (so to speak): One foot glide on the weak foot.
Consequence: Really really hard and frustrating to learn crossovers
Outcome: they switch to hockey, or quit skating because it isn't fun and everyone is better than them
Alpha/Basic 2-3
Skill: Proper underpush (i.e. no toe push)
Consequence: since weSkate and Basic Skills are set up to teach a skill and then basically drop it until the kid decides to do USFS testing, toe pushes become embedded in a skater's muscle memory, and they will never unlearn it. Watch for a post about the curriculum model that drops a skill once you move to the next level.
Outcome: competitive decision made for you. I'm not saying every kid wants to or should be a competitive skater. But why make that decision for them by teaching poor skills at the outset.
Beta/Basic 5
Skill: t-stops, especially on the "hard" foot.
Consequence: snow plow stopping in the higher levels, which just looks stupid. The close-foot T position is also the basic position for a mohawk turn. Think about it.
Outcome: the embarrassment of the utter disbelief on the FS5 teacher's face when she finds out you can't do a T-stop.
Gamma/ Basic 6-7
Skill: hockey stop
Consequence: the hockey stop teaches opposition much more effectively even than drilling turns. You can make a turn without really understanding opposition. But you can't do a hockey top without getting it right.
Outcome: Poorly executed turns. Also faceplanting on 60-second drills (also never completing it in under 60 seconds)
Delta/Basic 7-8
Skill: bunny hop
Consequence: the bunny hop teaches the basic lift and landing for every jump. Shoulders square, rock to the toe, lift the free knee through. Land on your toe pick. It also requires an absolutely solid understanding of right and left (this is harder than you think, for kids as old as 10).
Outcome: let this skill go, and that kid will struggle with every single jump.
I could go on: waltz jumps that are taught with the free leg already behind on the landing (this is a consequence of the stupid commonly used term "landing position" to mean "check out position"). Pivots that quickly just turn into spins. Never teaching mazurkas (I'm looking at you, ISI.) Back spins on the wrong edge. Toe loops that take off forwards.
Skaters: take the time and learn the techniques properly. Coaches: keep kids in each level until they've mastered every skill. Skating directors support your staff by letting them keep kids in levels, and your skaters by having other classes that they can do while they're mastering the boring stuff.
In the end, it will catch up with you. If you get to testing, the judges are not going to let this stuff slide, and if a skater has been getting away with it, they're not going to understand what those judges are talking about.
What skill do you wish you or your skater had really mastered before moving on?
Showing posts with label skatingskills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skatingskills. Show all posts
Apr 9, 2015
May 14, 2013
What I wish I'd known to ask
Things I learned the hard way:
What's involved in competitions?
Both the obvious things like dedicated/extra cost, travel, extra practice time, how to get music. But also what happens when I get there? What's the parent's role? How many should we do?
Why should my skater do this particular competition?
I somehow got the impression that there were required competitions. I had no clue what that there was a thing called "non qualifying competition." No one ever told me what "regionals" was-- I thought you had to be invited, because our original coach never brought it up, and the mothers of the kids who went lorded it over us. Ask your coach why he/she does certain competitions, and what the value is in going to them.
Why do those kids go to different competitions?
Why don't I see the rink's best skaters at the competitions that my skater goes to?
It might be that you're just not seeing them. It might be that your coach is taking you to crappy competitions, for reasons unknown.
How do you get to Nationals?
By which I mean, know what the path is, not whether you're talented enough.
What is "moves?" (or any other technical class)
Another thing I didn't learn until I started coaching.
Why should I join ISI-- what does that mean?
Why should I join USFS and does it matter which club?
In a small market, there's probably only one club. But in a large market like Chicago there are a lot of them. Our coach had us sign up for the "prestige" club, but frankly it was all in his head. This club had a terrible testing schedule, punitive fees, and arrogant skating moms in positions of power whose sole purpose in life sometimes seemed to be to lord it over the "lesser" skaters by withholding information and being generally unpleasant.
What's involved in competitions?
Both the obvious things like dedicated/extra cost, travel, extra practice time, how to get music. But also what happens when I get there? What's the parent's role? How many should we do?
Why should my skater do this particular competition?
I somehow got the impression that there were required competitions. I had no clue what that there was a thing called "non qualifying competition." No one ever told me what "regionals" was-- I thought you had to be invited, because our original coach never brought it up, and the mothers of the kids who went lorded it over us. Ask your coach why he/she does certain competitions, and what the value is in going to them.
Why do those kids go to different competitions?
Why don't I see the rink's best skaters at the competitions that my skater goes to?
It might be that you're just not seeing them. It might be that your coach is taking you to crappy competitions, for reasons unknown.
How do you get to Nationals?
By which I mean, know what the path is, not whether you're talented enough.
What is "moves?" (or any other technical class)
Another thing I didn't learn until I started coaching.
Why should I join ISI-- what does that mean?
Why should I join USFS and does it matter which club?
In a small market, there's probably only one club. But in a large market like Chicago there are a lot of them. Our coach had us sign up for the "prestige" club, but frankly it was all in his head. This club had a terrible testing schedule, punitive fees, and arrogant skating moms in positions of power whose sole purpose in life sometimes seemed to be to lord it over the "lesser" skaters by withholding information and being generally unpleasant.
What questions do you wish you had asked?
Jan 21, 2013
Annual repost+: U.S. Nationals and skating terms
I'll be spending as much of the week as possible glued to Ice Network watching the live stream for U.S. Nationals. I'll watch as much as I can and I'll live tweet from the stream (@Xanboni). The hashtag for Nationals is #omaha2013.
Some tweeters to look for are @lepigeonbercy (affectionate snark), @dougmatthis (insider), @pfcclub (WAY insider), @theboyswhoscore (they try to guess the scores) and @MWskatecast (an actual journalist). If you're a fan, you can find all the skaters twitter names in the right side bar at Axels Loops and Spins (scroll down- caution, multiple videos; site loads VERY slowly).
Most of my hardcore readers here already know how to recognize specific skills, but for the more casual fans, here's a brief guide to skating terms. Also see my post on understanding the commentators.
I first watched figure skating with the world, so to speak, via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Skype and the SM links on the Olympic site in 2010. I've realized that for the many of us spend our days around figure skaters, former figure skaters, parents of figure skaters and people who work at skating rinks, we all know a LOT about figure skating.
What I didn't know is that other figure skating fans don't know a lot about figure skating. I always figured that if you're a fan you know the difference between a lutz, a loop, a toe loop and a flip. I figured you could tell when a spin is slow, or when a skater has superior edge quality.
But if Twitter is any guide, this is not the case. People are utterly mystified by the scoring because they really don't think of it as sport-- they think of it as art, and everyone knows, as the old joke says that with art, you don't have to understand it, you just have to know what you like.
If you've got friends who like to watch skating, but have no idea what's gong on, here's the original terminology post, from February 2010:
Jumps
There are 8 basic jumps, in order of difficulty- Salchow, Toe Walley, Toe Loop, Loop, Walley, Flip, Axel, Lutz. We've started seeing single walleys again, in footwork and leading into Flips, because it increases the difficulty. It's a funny choppy little jump against the direction of the edge. I haven't seen a toe walley in decades, so don't worry about them. Skaters love it when performers do walleys, and the announcers will go crazy if someone does one.
Edge jumps lift off the gliding edge. Toe assisted jumps use the toe of the free leg as a vault. On an inside edge the skater's upper body will be facing into the circle he or she is on. On an outside edge the skaters body will be facing out of the circle he's on.
All jumps are described for counter-clockwise skaters who jump to the left (only 1 in 15 or so skaters are cw). For CW, same edge, other foot.
Salchow is an edge jump off a left back inside edge. Toe Loop: toe assisted jump off right back outside edge (RBO). Loop, edge jump RBO. Flip, toe assisted LBInside. A footwork sequence into a flip is a required element in singles skating. Actual back flips ala Michael Weiss, Surya Bonaly and Scott Hamilton are illegal (and I once saw someone faceplant out of a back flip, so I'm with them on this one). Axel, edge jump with forward take off, LFO edge (everyone recognizes this one because of the dramatic forward launch). Lutz, toe assist, LBO. Lutz is a "counter jump," that is it changes rotational direction at the launch. The edge traces a clockwise circle, but the jump rotates CCW. Lutz is the jump with the long entry edge. When you hear someone talking about "telegraphing" a jump, this is the most common jump they're thinking of.
It matters if the skater takes off on the correct edge, because it changes the difficulty of the jump. It matters if the jump is under-rotated. It's not a triple if it doesn't go around 3 times, just like a touchdown doesn't count if it doesn't cross the goal line, no matter how long the run or the pass was, or how elegant the player.
If you get good at watching, you can tell what jump is coming up by the skater's body language and positions. One of the wonderful things about YuNa Kim is that you cannot tell what jump she is going to do, in fact sometimes you can't even tell that she is setting up for a jump. Kwan had this ability as well; it's one of the things that makes their skating look so "easy."
A jump combination is two or more jumps in a row with no connecting steps. A jump sequence is any number of jumps with connecting steps between any of them. The little half and whole rotation hops that skaters do don't get points for jumping, but are counted as footwork and transition.
Edge quality
Edge quality refers to the skater's control of their blade. Someone with good edge quality skates with minimal snowy curves, no ankle wobble or stuttering, and steady-as-a-rock upper body. You can really see this on the ladies' spiral sequences. Good edge quality also gives you clean turns and steps (no scraping sound). Edge quality is the defining skill of a high level skater. You don't get the big jumps without the edge quality. As I like to tell my little skaters, my 90-year-old granny can jump, but she can't hold a back outside edge all the way around a face-off circle on a single push.
Quickie on spins
There are three basic spin positions: upright, camel, sit. Upright includes those leg stretchers (sometimes called a martini glass or if you're extremely rude, a b**ver), and Biellmans (the upright backbend). That hideous spin where the skater bends at the waist FORWARDS and grabs a foot (butt is now sticking up in the air- called an "A-frame") is actually an upright spin, as is a layback. The camel is the one in the arabesque position. A sit spin only counts if the skater's hips are below their knees. Otherwise it's an upright spin.
Skaters wave their arms around and keep changing the g*ddam position because the scoring system gives them points for multiple "features" i.e. waving their arms around and changing positions. UPDATE 2011: Since I first wrote this a "feature" has been added to allow skaters to maintain a spin position for 8 rotations and get extra points for doing so.
UPDATE 2013: the 8-rotation feature has now been limited, but a new feature has been added for inserting a jumping change or entry within a spin, so you'll see a lot of spins with a jump change this year. I'm pretty sure they stay up nights to change spin features just to watch coaches' heads explode.
The other disciplines
Pairs skating is mostly singles skills with the addition of lifts and throws, which makes you wonder why so many failed singles skaters switch to pairs. Man, if you can't do the singles, you're not going suddenly be a genius at pairs. One of the biggest problems with U.S. skating, in my opinion, is that we don't move enough strong Novice and Junior Men into Pairs. (And our general societal homophobia keeps us from training boys in figure skating in the first place.)
Ice dance focuses on partnering and edge quality. UPDATE: It used to be the most demanding from a training standpoint, because dancers had to master four programs a year-- 2 compulsories, a short program (the Original Dance) and a long program (the Free Dance). Now it's just Short Dance and Free Dance at the Junior and Senior levels, although Juv, Intermediate and Novice still have to do the pattern dances. The ISU chooses which compulsories will be skated; everyone trains the same ones. Don't get me started on how Code of Points has ruined ice dancing, we'll be here all night.
U.S. Nationals 2013 run all week, with all skaters in Novice, Junior and Championship (Senior) streaming on Ice Network, and NBC jumping in for the payoff on the 26th and 27th. You can get the live stream for a not-unreasonable fee, or watch the finals free on broadcast. The full schedule is here.
Some tweeters to look for are @lepigeonbercy (affectionate snark), @dougmatthis (insider), @pfcclub (WAY insider), @theboyswhoscore (they try to guess the scores) and @MWskatecast (an actual journalist). If you're a fan, you can find all the skaters twitter names in the right side bar at Axels Loops and Spins (scroll down- caution, multiple videos; site loads VERY slowly).
Most of my hardcore readers here already know how to recognize specific skills, but for the more casual fans, here's a brief guide to skating terms. Also see my post on understanding the commentators.
I first watched figure skating with the world, so to speak, via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Skype and the SM links on the Olympic site in 2010. I've realized that for the many of us spend our days around figure skaters, former figure skaters, parents of figure skaters and people who work at skating rinks, we all know a LOT about figure skating.
What I didn't know is that other figure skating fans don't know a lot about figure skating. I always figured that if you're a fan you know the difference between a lutz, a loop, a toe loop and a flip. I figured you could tell when a spin is slow, or when a skater has superior edge quality.
But if Twitter is any guide, this is not the case. People are utterly mystified by the scoring because they really don't think of it as sport-- they think of it as art, and everyone knows, as the old joke says that with art, you don't have to understand it, you just have to know what you like.
If you've got friends who like to watch skating, but have no idea what's gong on, here's the original terminology post, from February 2010:
Jumps
There are 8 basic jumps, in order of difficulty- Salchow, Toe Walley, Toe Loop, Loop, Walley, Flip, Axel, Lutz. We've started seeing single walleys again, in footwork and leading into Flips, because it increases the difficulty. It's a funny choppy little jump against the direction of the edge. I haven't seen a toe walley in decades, so don't worry about them. Skaters love it when performers do walleys, and the announcers will go crazy if someone does one.
Edge jumps lift off the gliding edge. Toe assisted jumps use the toe of the free leg as a vault. On an inside edge the skater's upper body will be facing into the circle he or she is on. On an outside edge the skaters body will be facing out of the circle he's on.
All jumps are described for counter-clockwise skaters who jump to the left (only 1 in 15 or so skaters are cw). For CW, same edge, other foot.
Salchow is an edge jump off a left back inside edge. Toe Loop: toe assisted jump off right back outside edge (RBO). Loop, edge jump RBO. Flip, toe assisted LBInside. A footwork sequence into a flip is a required element in singles skating. Actual back flips ala Michael Weiss, Surya Bonaly and Scott Hamilton are illegal (and I once saw someone faceplant out of a back flip, so I'm with them on this one). Axel, edge jump with forward take off, LFO edge (everyone recognizes this one because of the dramatic forward launch). Lutz, toe assist, LBO. Lutz is a "counter jump," that is it changes rotational direction at the launch. The edge traces a clockwise circle, but the jump rotates CCW. Lutz is the jump with the long entry edge. When you hear someone talking about "telegraphing" a jump, this is the most common jump they're thinking of.
It matters if the skater takes off on the correct edge, because it changes the difficulty of the jump. It matters if the jump is under-rotated. It's not a triple if it doesn't go around 3 times, just like a touchdown doesn't count if it doesn't cross the goal line, no matter how long the run or the pass was, or how elegant the player.
If you get good at watching, you can tell what jump is coming up by the skater's body language and positions. One of the wonderful things about YuNa Kim is that you cannot tell what jump she is going to do, in fact sometimes you can't even tell that she is setting up for a jump. Kwan had this ability as well; it's one of the things that makes their skating look so "easy."
A jump combination is two or more jumps in a row with no connecting steps. A jump sequence is any number of jumps with connecting steps between any of them. The little half and whole rotation hops that skaters do don't get points for jumping, but are counted as footwork and transition.
Edge quality
Edge quality refers to the skater's control of their blade. Someone with good edge quality skates with minimal snowy curves, no ankle wobble or stuttering, and steady-as-a-rock upper body. You can really see this on the ladies' spiral sequences. Good edge quality also gives you clean turns and steps (no scraping sound). Edge quality is the defining skill of a high level skater. You don't get the big jumps without the edge quality. As I like to tell my little skaters, my 90-year-old granny can jump, but she can't hold a back outside edge all the way around a face-off circle on a single push.
Quickie on spins
There are three basic spin positions: upright, camel, sit. Upright includes those leg stretchers (sometimes called a martini glass or if you're extremely rude, a b**ver), and Biellmans (the upright backbend). That hideous spin where the skater bends at the waist FORWARDS and grabs a foot (butt is now sticking up in the air- called an "A-frame") is actually an upright spin, as is a layback. The camel is the one in the arabesque position. A sit spin only counts if the skater's hips are below their knees. Otherwise it's an upright spin.
Skaters wave their arms around and keep changing the g*ddam position because the scoring system gives them points for multiple "features" i.e. waving their arms around and changing positions. UPDATE 2011: Since I first wrote this a "feature" has been added to allow skaters to maintain a spin position for 8 rotations and get extra points for doing so.
UPDATE 2013: the 8-rotation feature has now been limited, but a new feature has been added for inserting a jumping change or entry within a spin, so you'll see a lot of spins with a jump change this year. I'm pretty sure they stay up nights to change spin features just to watch coaches' heads explode.
The other disciplines
Pairs skating is mostly singles skills with the addition of lifts and throws, which makes you wonder why so many failed singles skaters switch to pairs. Man, if you can't do the singles, you're not going suddenly be a genius at pairs. One of the biggest problems with U.S. skating, in my opinion, is that we don't move enough strong Novice and Junior Men into Pairs. (And our general societal homophobia keeps us from training boys in figure skating in the first place.)
Ice dance focuses on partnering and edge quality. UPDATE: It used to be the most demanding from a training standpoint, because dancers had to master four programs a year-- 2 compulsories, a short program (the Original Dance) and a long program (the Free Dance). Now it's just Short Dance and Free Dance at the Junior and Senior levels, although Juv, Intermediate and Novice still have to do the pattern dances. The ISU chooses which compulsories will be skated; everyone trains the same ones. Don't get me started on how Code of Points has ruined ice dancing, we'll be here all night.
U.S. Nationals 2013 run all week, with all skaters in Novice, Junior and Championship (Senior) streaming on Ice Network, and NBC jumping in for the payoff on the 26th and 27th. You can get the live stream for a not-unreasonable fee, or watch the finals free on broadcast. The full schedule is here.
Jan 5, 2013
How to get a glide going
If you managed to glide the first time you stepped on the ice, you are what is called a "natural."
Seriously, that's all it takes.
You'd be surprised at the number of people who can't figure out a glide, or who fight it when one starts. Here's some tips to getting up a glide on the ice:
March
Don't try gliding right away. Frankly, if you figure out how to move on the ice, the gliding takes care of itself. A lot of people try to "stroke" (pushing back with the side of the blade) before they've figured out balance, and down they go. This is because they don't shift their weight off the pushing foot. So march, like a soldier. After about 10 marches, just put your feet side by side and relax. You should have built up enough inertia (the tendency of an object in motion to stay in motion) that even though your feet are still, the low-friction surface will translate it into a glide.
There are three types of marches that work: "big" marches, with high knees, fast marches, and loooong marches.
Pull
Kids who still can't glide after marching are often stopping the glide-- they'll pigeon toe, or just press down so that they don't glide. Their experience is "if my feet are still then I am still" and so they make that happen. So I'll face a child, take both their hands, and tell them "don't move your feet and don't pull back" and I will tote them like a little wagon, then let go. They already feel the glide, from pulling, so they're more likely to let it happen solo. Once they know what a glide feels like they're more likely to be able to do it from marching.
I don't do this with adults or older kids, because they generally react in one of three ways-- they pull on you, even though you've told them don't. They'll let you pull, but won't let their fee move. Or they'll push you away.
Push
I let beginners push with their toe picks. Yeah, you heard me. This is because it seems so logical. Why else are those things there, anyway? To trip on? Pushing with the toe pick instinctively tells the skater "glide forward." Again, if you're expecting it, it's easier. Plus, toe pushes are an easy thing to fix later.
Run
Not kidding. Of course, you're not really running. You're "fake" running, ice-style. Get down in your knees, bend your elbows, and pretend run three or four or five steps. The second you stop feeling safe, stop "running." You will glide.
Swizzle
A lot of kids get a glide going by subtly letting their legs go wide, in other words, the front half of the swizzle. This is a push and is a perfectly acceptable way of finding out what gliding feels like. The only problem with it is that if you keep pushing out, eventually your legs are going to be really far apart, which looks silly and is hard for a beginner to recover from.
Now do it on one foot.
Seriously, that's all it takes.
You'd be surprised at the number of people who can't figure out a glide, or who fight it when one starts. Here's some tips to getting up a glide on the ice:
March
Don't try gliding right away. Frankly, if you figure out how to move on the ice, the gliding takes care of itself. A lot of people try to "stroke" (pushing back with the side of the blade) before they've figured out balance, and down they go. This is because they don't shift their weight off the pushing foot. So march, like a soldier. After about 10 marches, just put your feet side by side and relax. You should have built up enough inertia (the tendency of an object in motion to stay in motion) that even though your feet are still, the low-friction surface will translate it into a glide.
There are three types of marches that work: "big" marches, with high knees, fast marches, and loooong marches.
Pull
Kids who still can't glide after marching are often stopping the glide-- they'll pigeon toe, or just press down so that they don't glide. Their experience is "if my feet are still then I am still" and so they make that happen. So I'll face a child, take both their hands, and tell them "don't move your feet and don't pull back" and I will tote them like a little wagon, then let go. They already feel the glide, from pulling, so they're more likely to let it happen solo. Once they know what a glide feels like they're more likely to be able to do it from marching.
I don't do this with adults or older kids, because they generally react in one of three ways-- they pull on you, even though you've told them don't. They'll let you pull, but won't let their fee move. Or they'll push you away.
Push
I let beginners push with their toe picks. Yeah, you heard me. This is because it seems so logical. Why else are those things there, anyway? To trip on? Pushing with the toe pick instinctively tells the skater "glide forward." Again, if you're expecting it, it's easier. Plus, toe pushes are an easy thing to fix later.
Run
Not kidding. Of course, you're not really running. You're "fake" running, ice-style. Get down in your knees, bend your elbows, and pretend run three or four or five steps. The second you stop feeling safe, stop "running." You will glide.
Swizzle
A lot of kids get a glide going by subtly letting their legs go wide, in other words, the front half of the swizzle. This is a push and is a perfectly acceptable way of finding out what gliding feels like. The only problem with it is that if you keep pushing out, eventually your legs are going to be really far apart, which looks silly and is hard for a beginner to recover from.
Now do it on one foot.
Jul 14, 2012
Talking to yourself
Self talk--by which I mean tin-foil hat, pretend there's someone at the other end of the cell phone, outloud crazy person talking to yourself while you're practicing--is one of the most effective practice tools at your disposal, and if you don't mind the weird looks, it's free.
One thing at a time
Just as the trick to coaching is often finding the root problem, you need to find out what is that you want to remind yourself to do. Let's take beginning three turns-- there's a lot going on in a really short amount of time, so you can't say, at the start "okay I'm going to push and then up there at the top of the arc (wait, how will I know where that is?) I'm going to rotate and then when I'm backwards I'll check, and I know my arms belong somewhere and if they're wrong then the turn is a spin? or I'll fall? something? and then I'll glide." Class is over by the time you get all the way through this. Think about the skill-- push, glide, rotate, check, glide. You have plenty of time to say, and do, each of these things in order.
Complex skills
Of course, if you're running a program, or jumping axels, or doing combination spins, you cannot possibly pick out each thing you need to think about. So you need to focus on one or two key items-- do you rush your jumps? Then your self-talk word might be "wait." Do you bobble the landing? Say "strong." This is where you need a pair of outside eyes to spot the point at which you need to talk to yourself. If you watch certain skaters you can actually see them talking to themselves.
KISS
Keep it Simple, Stupid works brilliantly here. Say one thing, say that same thing every time you are in the same situation. Your self-talk won't help you if what you end up saying is "what was I supposed to be telling myself here?"
Stay positive
Self talk can also be self-destructive. If you tell yourself, "crap I always fall on the double sal" then you will always fall on the double sal. Self talk helps you set up expectations-- it can be specific instructions related to the skill but it can also be a pep talk. What it can't be is a recitation of mistakes or fears.
Say it
Eventually, you'll train yourself to do the self-talk to yourself. But when you're teaching yourself this skill, do it out loud. You'll look a little weird, but on the other hand, if everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing, no one will be paying attention to you. By saying it aloud you can keep it confined--your thoughts are much more likely to wander than a verbal command.
One thing at a time
Just as the trick to coaching is often finding the root problem, you need to find out what is that you want to remind yourself to do. Let's take beginning three turns-- there's a lot going on in a really short amount of time, so you can't say, at the start "okay I'm going to push and then up there at the top of the arc (wait, how will I know where that is?) I'm going to rotate and then when I'm backwards I'll check, and I know my arms belong somewhere and if they're wrong then the turn is a spin? or I'll fall? something? and then I'll glide." Class is over by the time you get all the way through this. Think about the skill-- push, glide, rotate, check, glide. You have plenty of time to say, and do, each of these things in order.
Complex skills
Of course, if you're running a program, or jumping axels, or doing combination spins, you cannot possibly pick out each thing you need to think about. So you need to focus on one or two key items-- do you rush your jumps? Then your self-talk word might be "wait." Do you bobble the landing? Say "strong." This is where you need a pair of outside eyes to spot the point at which you need to talk to yourself. If you watch certain skaters you can actually see them talking to themselves.
KISS
Keep it Simple, Stupid works brilliantly here. Say one thing, say that same thing every time you are in the same situation. Your self-talk won't help you if what you end up saying is "what was I supposed to be telling myself here?"
Stay positive
Self talk can also be self-destructive. If you tell yourself, "crap I always fall on the double sal" then you will always fall on the double sal. Self talk helps you set up expectations-- it can be specific instructions related to the skill but it can also be a pep talk. What it can't be is a recitation of mistakes or fears.
Say it
Eventually, you'll train yourself to do the self-talk to yourself. But when you're teaching yourself this skill, do it out loud. You'll look a little weird, but on the other hand, if everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing, no one will be paying attention to you. By saying it aloud you can keep it confined--your thoughts are much more likely to wander than a verbal command.
Have you used self-talk? Does your or your skater's coach teach this technique?
Jun 10, 2012
Self taught
I love it when my skaters try something on their own because they think it will be cool to do.
I'm less sanguine when they insist on continuing to do it wrong (or worse, when someone barely above their level has taught it to them incorrectly).
Trying things out, believe it or not, is a great way to overcome fear. Adults in particular are not going to try something they feel incapable of doing, so it's self-limiting. Kids need to have fun. But then there's this problem, sent by a reader:
Higher level skills, including moves, but especially jumps, should be learned under expert advice because of the potential for injury. I have a very gifted young student right now, who always wants to do the next thing; a lot of her lessons right now are focused on making her remember the safe way to do the skills she wants to do.
In the long run, though (even in the short run), teaching yourself complex skills is, as I say, self-limiting. Someone who hasn't done the work of learning edges and proper upper body control simply is not going to be able to teach themselves the higher level skills. And if they try to test, it will catch up with them quickly.
I'm less sanguine when they insist on continuing to do it wrong (or worse, when someone barely above their level has taught it to them incorrectly).
Trying things out, believe it or not, is a great way to overcome fear. Adults in particular are not going to try something they feel incapable of doing, so it's self-limiting. Kids need to have fun. But then there's this problem, sent by a reader:
There was a skater who taught herself the Bronze Moves, and she wonders why she hasn't passed it the two times she's tested. She taught herself stuff and thinks she can be her own coach. I've seen other adult skaters try and teach themselves things. It hurts them in the long run usually.If you are trying to do it by the book, and go through testing, you need a coach. Period. There are very minute and specific "common errors" and proper execution that judges are looking for. It's the rare self-taught skater who is able to overcome or execute these properly, if for no other reason than that no one is watching them, so they can't see what they're doing wrong.
Higher level skills, including moves, but especially jumps, should be learned under expert advice because of the potential for injury. I have a very gifted young student right now, who always wants to do the next thing; a lot of her lessons right now are focused on making her remember the safe way to do the skills she wants to do.
In the long run, though (even in the short run), teaching yourself complex skills is, as I say, self-limiting. Someone who hasn't done the work of learning edges and proper upper body control simply is not going to be able to teach themselves the higher level skills. And if they try to test, it will catch up with them quickly.
What have you taught yourself to do? Did you figure it out properly on your own, or did a coach have to fix it?
Feb 23, 2012
Snotty skater girls
You can always pick out the skaters with the future.
It's not the ones with the speed, or even the ones with the jumps.
It's the ones with the attitude.
Except it's not actually "attitude" in the pejorative sense. The actually snotty, mean ones generally don't go far because eventually they're snotty and mean (or their mothers are) to the Club president or a judge or a coach and it's all over. They don't get the marks, or the prime ice, or the assignments. Their coaches get pressure and start to phase them out.
The attitude I'm talking about is something much simpler.
It's posture.
That's right, posture, like your grandmother and your first grade teacher used to insist one. Shoulders back, spine straight, nose in the air posture. My daughter still regrets that she didn't work on her posture as a skater, because it not only looks better, it helps your technique. It's a key reason that skating coaches always tell you to take ballet.
My old Polish coach used to say it this way: "geyt yur hyed over yur naik" ("Get your head over your neck". You have to say it with a Polish accent or it doesn't work.)
I call it "snotty skater girl" and I use it starting in Alpha class. Every single child in the class knows exactly what I mean. I say "snotty skater girl" and everyone immediately sticks their nose in the air and stands up straight.
Try it.
It's not the ones with the speed, or even the ones with the jumps.
It's the ones with the attitude.
Except it's not actually "attitude" in the pejorative sense. The actually snotty, mean ones generally don't go far because eventually they're snotty and mean (or their mothers are) to the Club president or a judge or a coach and it's all over. They don't get the marks, or the prime ice, or the assignments. Their coaches get pressure and start to phase them out.
The attitude I'm talking about is something much simpler.
It's posture.
That's right, posture, like your grandmother and your first grade teacher used to insist one. Shoulders back, spine straight, nose in the air posture. My daughter still regrets that she didn't work on her posture as a skater, because it not only looks better, it helps your technique. It's a key reason that skating coaches always tell you to take ballet.
My old Polish coach used to say it this way: "geyt yur hyed over yur naik" ("Get your head over your neck". You have to say it with a Polish accent or it doesn't work.)
I call it "snotty skater girl" and I use it starting in Alpha class. Every single child in the class knows exactly what I mean. I say "snotty skater girl" and everyone immediately sticks their nose in the air and stands up straight.
Try it.
What simple or silly phrase have you, or your coach, come up with that makes you skate better?
Mar 7, 2011
The Specialty Coach
What do you do when you cannot get the jump? Or can't get control of your nerves at competition or testing? Or need to increase the difficulty of your spins?
You call in the specialty coach. (Maybe. We'll get to that.)
A specialty coach is a coach with a strong track record in technique on a single type of element-- you'll most often find specialty coaches working on pairs spins, jumps (or a specific jump, or a specific level of rotations). Off-ice training and choreography are specialty fields. Dance teams in particular might work with a number of coaches because of the complexity of the discipline--pairs and dance spins, lifts, stroking and tracking, expression, compulsory patterns. A specialty coach may also have general students, but then team teaches with the main coach on some kids working on the specialty.
So how do you know you need one? Who decides that, and when? Who are the specialty coaches? How long do you work with them, who takes part in the lesson, how much will it cost (and how do I keep my husband from finding out).
How do I know I need a specialty coach?
If your regular coach suggests it, you need one. However, if you're only working on single axels, it's possible that you don't need a specialty coach, you just need a regular coach who knows how to teach axels. I hate to break it to the newbie parents, but single axel is a low-level (ok ok mid level) jump. Your regular coach really should know how to teach this. If you're having trouble with your axel and the coach suggests a jump coach, you might want to look around and see if your coach's other students are landing axels. (Then, just for good measure, make sure the supposed jump coach has kids who are landing axels, and isn't just the regular coach's buddy.) You might not need a "jump coach" so much as you need a "coach." If you're having trouble with your axel while working with a coach who has a track record, stick with him. The only reason to get a jump coach in such a case is to break down mental barriers that you may have built up with your regular coach.
If you think you might benefit from specialty lessons, it's okay to approach the regular coach with this idea. This is where I might relent a little on the idea of a specialty coach for the axel. If you've been working on the axel for the better part of a year or more, sometimes just hearing even the same technique from someone else really can help.
If your coach suggests a specific specialist ask around and see if this person really is a specialist in this area. You will tend to start to know who the jump wizards are at your facility. (Ask the parents, not the coaches. A coach will not pass judgment on a colleague. We are actually prohibited by our professional association, the PSA, from stating an opinion on another coach's teaching ability.)
What if my coach suggests working with a "guest coach?"
Sometimes a guest coach might be in town and your coach suggests taking a couple lessons with him or her. The guest coach might be a famous person (at least in the figure skating world), so go for it, because what fun! We had former U.S. Ice Dance Medalist Morgan Matthews teaching at our rink last year; her friend that brought her in even had her working in tot class, which was just wonderful.
Higher level skills
You're more likely to need a specialty coach for doubles and triples than for singles because of the greater complexity, and because it frees the regular lessons from overworking the jumps. When you take a specialty lesson, this is additional, not in place of your regular lesson. Including the additional cost. Further, find out if your regular coach expects to be there, because if he does, you're going to be paying two coaches for that lesson. (This is not always clear to parents.) Again, especially with doubles, which are basic skating really, make sure that you need a guest coach because it's the best option, and not because your coach doesn't know how to teach doubles. Again, because of the additional cost involved, check out your coach's other students-- are they landing doubles? If so, then a specialty coach may or may not be called for. (Sometimes a coach might say right up front, look, I don't teach doubles, why don't you work with Coach Special on those, and we'll continue to do everything else in our regular lessons. This is fine, and bully for that ethical coach.)
Special skills
Spin features, expression, stroking technique, and other narrow skill areas are also places where you might find specialty coaching. Your Xanboni says if you are competing only in Basic Skills or non-qualifying events, and call in an expensive specialty coach to work on your Level IV spin, you're either pretentious, indulgent, or delusional. But that's just me.
What will it cost?
Whatever the market will bear. Some coaches will charge their regular rates for specialty coaching. Some coaches will charge more when it's framed as a specialty skill. Some can charge a lot more because they've got a reputation for being good with the specialty. Plus, remember, additional ice time and fee; you're doing this in addition to your regular lesson, not in place of it.
When are we done with the specialist?
Up to you and the regular coach. When you master the skill, or after a set number of lessons. Or you do occasional one-offs. Or when you run out of money (if you think this might be an issue, please tell all parties involved at the outset. Thank you.)
What's the best way to brag about this?
Cool, specialty coach! Well, maybe. If you're working with a specialty coach because it's been 3 years and your kid still doesn't have an axel, I'd keep it on the QT. But if you're working with Famous Coach, or you've started working on triples, or you just really can't keep your pride to yourself (yeah, yeah, I get it I get it), don't say (nose in air) "Owh, that's her jump coach." Say, "Oh, she's just working with Butch on jumps." Please don't start in on "well, Princess' jump coach blah blah blah and Princess' choreographer blah blah blah and Princess' sports psychologist blah blah blah and Princess costume designer blah blah blah" or if you do, don't come crying to me about your slashed tires.
So, specialty coach, yes or no?
Yes. Even if you're not sure about your coach's motivation. Even if you feel a little silly having a "specialty" coach for a nearly recreational skater, as long as you can afford it, it really can't hurt.
And there are those bragging rights.
You call in the specialty coach. (Maybe. We'll get to that.)
A specialty coach is a coach with a strong track record in technique on a single type of element-- you'll most often find specialty coaches working on pairs spins, jumps (or a specific jump, or a specific level of rotations). Off-ice training and choreography are specialty fields. Dance teams in particular might work with a number of coaches because of the complexity of the discipline--pairs and dance spins, lifts, stroking and tracking, expression, compulsory patterns. A specialty coach may also have general students, but then team teaches with the main coach on some kids working on the specialty.
So how do you know you need one? Who decides that, and when? Who are the specialty coaches? How long do you work with them, who takes part in the lesson, how much will it cost (and how do I keep my husband from finding out).
How do I know I need a specialty coach?
If your regular coach suggests it, you need one. However, if you're only working on single axels, it's possible that you don't need a specialty coach, you just need a regular coach who knows how to teach axels. I hate to break it to the newbie parents, but single axel is a low-level (ok ok mid level) jump. Your regular coach really should know how to teach this. If you're having trouble with your axel and the coach suggests a jump coach, you might want to look around and see if your coach's other students are landing axels. (Then, just for good measure, make sure the supposed jump coach has kids who are landing axels, and isn't just the regular coach's buddy.) You might not need a "jump coach" so much as you need a "coach." If you're having trouble with your axel while working with a coach who has a track record, stick with him. The only reason to get a jump coach in such a case is to break down mental barriers that you may have built up with your regular coach.
If you think you might benefit from specialty lessons, it's okay to approach the regular coach with this idea. This is where I might relent a little on the idea of a specialty coach for the axel. If you've been working on the axel for the better part of a year or more, sometimes just hearing even the same technique from someone else really can help.
If your coach suggests a specific specialist ask around and see if this person really is a specialist in this area. You will tend to start to know who the jump wizards are at your facility. (Ask the parents, not the coaches. A coach will not pass judgment on a colleague. We are actually prohibited by our professional association, the PSA, from stating an opinion on another coach's teaching ability.)
What if my coach suggests working with a "guest coach?"
Sometimes a guest coach might be in town and your coach suggests taking a couple lessons with him or her. The guest coach might be a famous person (at least in the figure skating world), so go for it, because what fun! We had former U.S. Ice Dance Medalist Morgan Matthews teaching at our rink last year; her friend that brought her in even had her working in tot class, which was just wonderful.
Higher level skills
You're more likely to need a specialty coach for doubles and triples than for singles because of the greater complexity, and because it frees the regular lessons from overworking the jumps. When you take a specialty lesson, this is additional, not in place of your regular lesson. Including the additional cost. Further, find out if your regular coach expects to be there, because if he does, you're going to be paying two coaches for that lesson. (This is not always clear to parents.) Again, especially with doubles, which are basic skating really, make sure that you need a guest coach because it's the best option, and not because your coach doesn't know how to teach doubles. Again, because of the additional cost involved, check out your coach's other students-- are they landing doubles? If so, then a specialty coach may or may not be called for. (Sometimes a coach might say right up front, look, I don't teach doubles, why don't you work with Coach Special on those, and we'll continue to do everything else in our regular lessons. This is fine, and bully for that ethical coach.)
Special skills
Spin features, expression, stroking technique, and other narrow skill areas are also places where you might find specialty coaching. Your Xanboni says if you are competing only in Basic Skills or non-qualifying events, and call in an expensive specialty coach to work on your Level IV spin, you're either pretentious, indulgent, or delusional. But that's just me.
What will it cost?
Whatever the market will bear. Some coaches will charge their regular rates for specialty coaching. Some coaches will charge more when it's framed as a specialty skill. Some can charge a lot more because they've got a reputation for being good with the specialty. Plus, remember, additional ice time and fee; you're doing this in addition to your regular lesson, not in place of it.
When are we done with the specialist?
Up to you and the regular coach. When you master the skill, or after a set number of lessons. Or you do occasional one-offs. Or when you run out of money (if you think this might be an issue, please tell all parties involved at the outset. Thank you.)
What's the best way to brag about this?
Cool, specialty coach! Well, maybe. If you're working with a specialty coach because it's been 3 years and your kid still doesn't have an axel, I'd keep it on the QT. But if you're working with Famous Coach, or you've started working on triples, or you just really can't keep your pride to yourself (yeah, yeah, I get it I get it), don't say (nose in air) "Owh, that's her jump coach." Say, "Oh, she's just working with Butch on jumps." Please don't start in on "well, Princess' jump coach blah blah blah and Princess' choreographer blah blah blah and Princess' sports psychologist blah blah blah and Princess costume designer blah blah blah" or if you do, don't come crying to me about your slashed tires.
So, specialty coach, yes or no?
Yes. Even if you're not sure about your coach's motivation. Even if you feel a little silly having a "specialty" coach for a nearly recreational skater, as long as you can afford it, it really can't hurt.
And there are those bragging rights.
Have you worked with a specialty coach? Was it a good experience, or do you think you might as well have gone without?
Feb 13, 2011
It's just the one skill
Unlike private lessons, skating school curricula have sets of skills at each level that you must master in order to pass to the next level.
In the USFS Basic Skills curriculum, each level contains testable skills that are critical for the next level (backwards one foot glides at Basic 4 before backward cross overs at Basic 5, for instance). The ISI curriculum contains all necessary skills for the "macro" skills within a single level, but the principal remains the same--you have to have the building skills before you can acquire the macro skills.
So what if a skater is missing "just one skill." Do you pass them on an "average?" Do you let it go?
ISI PreAlpha, Basic 1, 2, and 3 contain more or less only "building" skills, and no "macro" skills: forward and backward two foot and one foot glides, and marching or "push-and-glide" (weight shift from one foot to the other while moving forward), swizzles, one-foot pumps, forward to backwards two-foot turn, scooter pushes on a circle. I think everyone would agree that the ability to move forward on the ice and generate a two-foot glide is pretty basic, and that a skater that can't do this shouldn't move on.
But what about that one-foot glide? What if a kid does it really well on one foot but not at all on the other? This is the most common problem with kids on the cusp in these beginner levels. Well, next level, Alpha or Basic 4, is forward cross overs in both directions. If you can't balance on one foot, how are you going to cross? The building skill is necessary for the macro skill. I hate having to waste time in Alpha 1 class (much less Alpha 2) teaching kids this skill that they were supposed to master in the beginning level.
The next macro skill is backwards stroking and crossovers. Basic 3 and 4 include backwards one foot glides; again, this is necessary to the completion of a cross over, even the unfortunate swizzling ones that they allow in Basic Skills (snark snark This is the biggest problem with Basic Skills- USFS makes fun of the "ISI crossovers" with a lift, but ISI kids understand the weight shift in a backwards crossover better in my opinion. /digression). A good ISI teacher (that would be me) adds this Basic Skills skill into Beta class- gliding backwards on a circle.
How about t-stops? T-stops are stupid, and why do we have to do it in both directions? Well, that's essentially your hip/foot position for the mohawk turn in Gamma. Can't hold the "T"? You're gonna have trouble with the mohawk.
Both curricula are constructed to lead to later skills--proper bunny hops lead to proper waltz jumps which lead to proper axels. Proper understanding of 3-turns, equally strong in both directions, with the free hip held back, will make back 3s at FS4 or FreeSkate 1, and brackets at FS5 much easier. If you enter your ballet jump or mazurka with your toe pick facing forwards, you'll have difficulty learning a proper toe loop, and you'll never get the double.
Especially in the lower levels (which I count as thru FS3), every skill must be at minimum passing level, and preferably better. The more time you take with the basics, the easier time you'll have with the higher levels. A lot of my kids go through Alpha or Beta or Gamma 2 or 3 or even 4 times, but very few of them spend more than one session in FS2 or 3, because their basics are strong.
It's not just one skill. It's the bottom of the pyramid, and it needs to hold the whole structure up.
In the USFS Basic Skills curriculum, each level contains testable skills that are critical for the next level (backwards one foot glides at Basic 4 before backward cross overs at Basic 5, for instance). The ISI curriculum contains all necessary skills for the "macro" skills within a single level, but the principal remains the same--you have to have the building skills before you can acquire the macro skills.
So what if a skater is missing "just one skill." Do you pass them on an "average?" Do you let it go?
ISI PreAlpha, Basic 1, 2, and 3 contain more or less only "building" skills, and no "macro" skills: forward and backward two foot and one foot glides, and marching or "push-and-glide" (weight shift from one foot to the other while moving forward), swizzles, one-foot pumps, forward to backwards two-foot turn, scooter pushes on a circle. I think everyone would agree that the ability to move forward on the ice and generate a two-foot glide is pretty basic, and that a skater that can't do this shouldn't move on.
But what about that one-foot glide? What if a kid does it really well on one foot but not at all on the other? This is the most common problem with kids on the cusp in these beginner levels. Well, next level, Alpha or Basic 4, is forward cross overs in both directions. If you can't balance on one foot, how are you going to cross? The building skill is necessary for the macro skill. I hate having to waste time in Alpha 1 class (much less Alpha 2) teaching kids this skill that they were supposed to master in the beginning level.
The next macro skill is backwards stroking and crossovers. Basic 3 and 4 include backwards one foot glides; again, this is necessary to the completion of a cross over, even the unfortunate swizzling ones that they allow in Basic Skills (snark snark This is the biggest problem with Basic Skills- USFS makes fun of the "ISI crossovers" with a lift, but ISI kids understand the weight shift in a backwards crossover better in my opinion. /digression). A good ISI teacher (that would be me) adds this Basic Skills skill into Beta class- gliding backwards on a circle.
How about t-stops? T-stops are stupid, and why do we have to do it in both directions? Well, that's essentially your hip/foot position for the mohawk turn in Gamma. Can't hold the "T"? You're gonna have trouble with the mohawk.
Both curricula are constructed to lead to later skills--proper bunny hops lead to proper waltz jumps which lead to proper axels. Proper understanding of 3-turns, equally strong in both directions, with the free hip held back, will make back 3s at FS4 or FreeSkate 1, and brackets at FS5 much easier. If you enter your ballet jump or mazurka with your toe pick facing forwards, you'll have difficulty learning a proper toe loop, and you'll never get the double.
Especially in the lower levels (which I count as thru FS3), every skill must be at minimum passing level, and preferably better. The more time you take with the basics, the easier time you'll have with the higher levels. A lot of my kids go through Alpha or Beta or Gamma 2 or 3 or even 4 times, but very few of them spend more than one session in FS2 or 3, because their basics are strong.
It's not just one skill. It's the bottom of the pyramid, and it needs to hold the whole structure up.
Jan 8, 2011
Skill building
How do you teach a new skill? Do you insist on absolutely correct technique from day one, or do you perfect one skill at a time, building it to perfection over time? This question brings coaches to blows. The technique-first people will say "Why teach it 'wrong'. Skaters need to know proper technique from the outset." The one-thing-at-a-time people will tell you "There's too much too learn about each skill to get every detail from day one."
Both arguments have merit, so what do you do?
I'm a one-skill-at-a-time person. I've had this validated by my Master Coach mentor, who likes to teach pattern and power, and then get down to steps and technique. (I was surprised that he and I shared this philosophy, as I can be something of a maverick since I didn't grow up skating.) After having an argument with a technique-first person yesterday, I was very amused when I opened up this month's Professional Skater Magazine from the PSA, and found this quote from Olympic coach Tom Zakrajsek: "...when I was younger I wanted it done correctly right away. It's all going to work in the long run. Patience. There are steps and that process can take a long time."
The one-skill-at-a-time approach isolates the parts of the skill. Each piece is mastered before the skater moves on. What it is not is "cheating" or "teaching it wrong." The end result will be proper technique on a given skill. The technique-first approach teaches each skill as a whole. The skater will get to the same place, and will make the same mistakes early on, but will have a picture from the start of what the skill needs to be in the long run.
Here's how this might look with basic alternating back edges:
One-skill. Start with the backward glide on an edge, with arms in an "airplane" position, and free foot tucked. You might teach this on a circle, or on a long axis, but the object is to get comfortable with the glide itself. I let skaters use a double pump to get going, because the most difficult part of backwards edges is the first push from a stationary position. Once they can glide backwards, I add the arm and head movements, and then the leg positions. The last thing I teach is the initial push. One-skill teachers do not compromise the final product. I believe this approach helps recreational, once-a-week, and not naturally talented skaters achieve success faster. It gives a skater something to succeed at on the first try. Instead of telling the skater "no that's wrong!" you get to say, "good, you've got a strong glide, let's add the arms." Further, it adds a reward to the process- you aren't allowed to move on until you've mastered each piece; the full skill becomes the reward for your hard work, instead of a mountain you have to keep climbing.
Technique-first: You have to explain the entire move: (face down the long axis, put your weight on your pushing foot, lift and turn the gliding foot, and pump to the glide. Free foot in front, drop and switch arms, turn your head toward the long axis, and bring the free foot through, setting up for the next push from the one foot glide. I know I'm showing my bias here, but really, how many FS1 skaters are going to be able to absorb and understand all that, let alone do it?). There's going to be a lot of hands-on guidance, placing skaters in the proper position, and guiding arms and heads. In private lessons, this works, but for group class, it forces everyone to stop while you work one-on-one with each skater. However, each skater is watching you (one hopes) working with everyone else, and absorbing the correction and the look of the skill. You'll get a lot of sloppy skating at the start, but theoretically a better understanding of the end result.
So which do you choose?
What I would say is: don't choose. Look at each skater and make a judgment. Can this skater handle the whole skill at once, or does she need it broken down? Are you sure that by choosing one over the other you are not compromising the quality of the final product? Are you using consistent, correct evaluation? In a class, you might encourage one skater to go for the entire correct technique, while allowing another (generally weaker) skater to break it down and perfect one skill at a time.
In the end, it's not about the teaching philosophy. It's about the best interests of each skater, and the approach that will help them be most successful.
Both arguments have merit, so what do you do?
I'm a one-skill-at-a-time person. I've had this validated by my Master Coach mentor, who likes to teach pattern and power, and then get down to steps and technique. (I was surprised that he and I shared this philosophy, as I can be something of a maverick since I didn't grow up skating.) After having an argument with a technique-first person yesterday, I was very amused when I opened up this month's Professional Skater Magazine from the PSA, and found this quote from Olympic coach Tom Zakrajsek: "...when I was younger I wanted it done correctly right away. It's all going to work in the long run. Patience. There are steps and that process can take a long time."
The one-skill-at-a-time approach isolates the parts of the skill. Each piece is mastered before the skater moves on. What it is not is "cheating" or "teaching it wrong." The end result will be proper technique on a given skill. The technique-first approach teaches each skill as a whole. The skater will get to the same place, and will make the same mistakes early on, but will have a picture from the start of what the skill needs to be in the long run.
Here's how this might look with basic alternating back edges:
One-skill. Start with the backward glide on an edge, with arms in an "airplane" position, and free foot tucked. You might teach this on a circle, or on a long axis, but the object is to get comfortable with the glide itself. I let skaters use a double pump to get going, because the most difficult part of backwards edges is the first push from a stationary position. Once they can glide backwards, I add the arm and head movements, and then the leg positions. The last thing I teach is the initial push. One-skill teachers do not compromise the final product. I believe this approach helps recreational, once-a-week, and not naturally talented skaters achieve success faster. It gives a skater something to succeed at on the first try. Instead of telling the skater "no that's wrong!" you get to say, "good, you've got a strong glide, let's add the arms." Further, it adds a reward to the process- you aren't allowed to move on until you've mastered each piece; the full skill becomes the reward for your hard work, instead of a mountain you have to keep climbing.
Technique-first: You have to explain the entire move: (face down the long axis, put your weight on your pushing foot, lift and turn the gliding foot, and pump to the glide. Free foot in front, drop and switch arms, turn your head toward the long axis, and bring the free foot through, setting up for the next push from the one foot glide. I know I'm showing my bias here, but really, how many FS1 skaters are going to be able to absorb and understand all that, let alone do it?). There's going to be a lot of hands-on guidance, placing skaters in the proper position, and guiding arms and heads. In private lessons, this works, but for group class, it forces everyone to stop while you work one-on-one with each skater. However, each skater is watching you (one hopes) working with everyone else, and absorbing the correction and the look of the skill. You'll get a lot of sloppy skating at the start, but theoretically a better understanding of the end result.
So which do you choose?
What I would say is: don't choose. Look at each skater and make a judgment. Can this skater handle the whole skill at once, or does she need it broken down? Are you sure that by choosing one over the other you are not compromising the quality of the final product? Are you using consistent, correct evaluation? In a class, you might encourage one skater to go for the entire correct technique, while allowing another (generally weaker) skater to break it down and perfect one skill at a time.
In the end, it's not about the teaching philosophy. It's about the best interests of each skater, and the approach that will help them be most successful.
What works best for you?
Jan 3, 2011
What's that called again?
With any specialized skill comes specialized language. As a grant writer (in my other life), I work to avoid jargon that is meaningless to outsiders.
Skating parents are the ultimate inside-outsiders. Definitely an important part of the equation, but not really skaters themselves, so what do they really need to know about skating terminology and jargon? What about skaters? Sometimes in class, you'll use the colorful or description word or phrase instead of the correct one. So what is skating jargon and when is it appropriate for whom to use it?
First of all, if you're deep into it--your skater is competing in qualifying competitions-- you should at least have a passing understanding of the terms. You don't need to know how to do it, or even what it looks like, but you should know that a Salchow is a jump and a Layback is a spin.
If you're a skater at any freestyle level, even just in classes, you should know every skating term through your level; if you're a serious skater, whatever that means to you, you should know every skating term through your level and beyond. Know what a bracket is. Know what a qualifying competition is. Know the difference between ISI and USFS.
If you don't know the terms, don't pretend you do. Sadly, we got a lot of mileage recently making fun of some poor parent who posted a lesson request, written very pretentiously, about how her "serious competitive skater" need someone who "knows how to teach whirlies" (we are still not sure what this is), fix her axle (sic), et cetera, and that only serious high level coaches would be "considered." This person tried to sound like they had a clue, which they clearly didn't. We know you're not a skater or a coach; don't pretend you are (this is just good advice no matter what the discipline). You'll just sound like an idiot and squander respect going in. Give me a parent who doesn't feel compelled to know everything I do any day. I don't try to pretend I know everything about the law that my skater's lawyer-mom knows; why should you or I expect you to know everything about figure skating.
You can educate yourself. Ask the class teacher what the class is working on. Ask if you can get a brief overview sometime so you know what you're watching. Look things up online. Youtube is full of ice skating how-to videos (of varying quality).
As I said, skaters should know the terms, but with very young skaters they can be confusing. I'll often call a serpentine pattern (alternating half-circles along a straight line) a "snake" because it's more descriptive. I have lots of silly and/or completely idiosyncratic terms that I use as well-- "criss cross applesauce," "train tracks," "hooks." that only I and my own students understand. So I always also teach kids the real term; if they go to a different rink or a different coach, that coach or rink isn't going to know my made-up terms. If the skater hasn't learned the real term, they're going to be very confused.
Terminology is short hand. I don't want to have to keep repeating "this pattern is alternating half circles along a straight line parallel to the long side of the rink." I just want to say "it's a serpentine pattern." Here's a list of the most basic skating terms. Your assignment is to look them up and find out what they mean! (With a little help from my good buddy* Nancy Kerrigan!)
Edges (inside and outside)
Turns: 3-turns, brackets, counters, rockers, mohawks, choctaws
Cross-overs and progressives
Stroking
Long axis, Short axis, continuous axis
Edge jump (and can you name the 3 edge jumps?)
Toe, or Toe-assisted jump (and can you name the 5 toe-assisted jumps?)(NB- Nancy says "3", but there are 5)
Bunny hop
Spins: Scratch, Upright, camel, sit, layback, Biellman, pair, combination, A-frame
Figures (or Patch)
Spiral, (and like the Bielmann, Sasha, Kerrigan, Catch foot, etc.)
Ina Bauer (and other glides like spread eagles, Jenkins spirals, shoot the duck, etc.)
Here's a really nice overview of terms.
Some more of the mystery-- some turns are named for the shape they make on the ice: they're called 3-turns because the tracing they make on the ice looks like a 3 and brackets because they look like a bracket }. No one knows why they're called mohawks or choctaws, however. Pretty sure they weren't any actual Indian tribes involved, but who knows.
Some jumps are named for their inventors: Ulrich Salchow, Axel Paulsen, Alois Lutz, Nate Walley. Some for the program they first appeared in: Mazurkas, for instance. The loop is named for the tracing it would make were it on the ice instead of in the air. Some jumps are named for skaters who excelled at them- the Albright (mazurka), the Mapes (flip).
Spins are named descriptively, thank god, except the camel, the name of which may or may not be a corruption of the inventors' name, which may or may not be Campbell. (You begin to see the problem with terminology.)
Here's some more Xanboni on terms and skills:
Jumps
General skating terms
* I don't actually know Nancy Kerrigan. But if you know her, tell her Xan says hey.
Skating parents are the ultimate inside-outsiders. Definitely an important part of the equation, but not really skaters themselves, so what do they really need to know about skating terminology and jargon? What about skaters? Sometimes in class, you'll use the colorful or description word or phrase instead of the correct one. So what is skating jargon and when is it appropriate for whom to use it?
First of all, if you're deep into it--your skater is competing in qualifying competitions-- you should at least have a passing understanding of the terms. You don't need to know how to do it, or even what it looks like, but you should know that a Salchow is a jump and a Layback is a spin.
If you're a skater at any freestyle level, even just in classes, you should know every skating term through your level; if you're a serious skater, whatever that means to you, you should know every skating term through your level and beyond. Know what a bracket is. Know what a qualifying competition is. Know the difference between ISI and USFS.
If you don't know the terms, don't pretend you do. Sadly, we got a lot of mileage recently making fun of some poor parent who posted a lesson request, written very pretentiously, about how her "serious competitive skater" need someone who "knows how to teach whirlies" (we are still not sure what this is), fix her axle (sic), et cetera, and that only serious high level coaches would be "considered." This person tried to sound like they had a clue, which they clearly didn't. We know you're not a skater or a coach; don't pretend you are (this is just good advice no matter what the discipline). You'll just sound like an idiot and squander respect going in. Give me a parent who doesn't feel compelled to know everything I do any day. I don't try to pretend I know everything about the law that my skater's lawyer-mom knows; why should you or I expect you to know everything about figure skating.
You can educate yourself. Ask the class teacher what the class is working on. Ask if you can get a brief overview sometime so you know what you're watching. Look things up online. Youtube is full of ice skating how-to videos (of varying quality).
As I said, skaters should know the terms, but with very young skaters they can be confusing. I'll often call a serpentine pattern (alternating half-circles along a straight line) a "snake" because it's more descriptive. I have lots of silly and/or completely idiosyncratic terms that I use as well-- "criss cross applesauce," "train tracks," "hooks." that only I and my own students understand. So I always also teach kids the real term; if they go to a different rink or a different coach, that coach or rink isn't going to know my made-up terms. If the skater hasn't learned the real term, they're going to be very confused.
Terminology is short hand. I don't want to have to keep repeating "this pattern is alternating half circles along a straight line parallel to the long side of the rink." I just want to say "it's a serpentine pattern." Here's a list of the most basic skating terms. Your assignment is to look them up and find out what they mean! (With a little help from my good buddy* Nancy Kerrigan!)
Edges (inside and outside)
Turns: 3-turns, brackets, counters, rockers, mohawks, choctaws
Cross-overs and progressives
Stroking
Long axis, Short axis, continuous axis
Edge jump (and can you name the 3 edge jumps?)
Toe, or Toe-assisted jump (and can you name the 5 toe-assisted jumps?)(NB- Nancy says "3", but there are 5)
Bunny hop
Spins: Scratch, Upright, camel, sit, layback, Biellman, pair, combination, A-frame
Figures (or Patch)
Spiral, (and like the Bielmann, Sasha, Kerrigan, Catch foot, etc.)
Ina Bauer (and other glides like spread eagles, Jenkins spirals, shoot the duck, etc.)
Here's a really nice overview of terms.
Some more of the mystery-- some turns are named for the shape they make on the ice: they're called 3-turns because the tracing they make on the ice looks like a 3 and brackets because they look like a bracket }. No one knows why they're called mohawks or choctaws, however. Pretty sure they weren't any actual Indian tribes involved, but who knows.
Some jumps are named for their inventors: Ulrich Salchow, Axel Paulsen, Alois Lutz, Nate Walley. Some for the program they first appeared in: Mazurkas, for instance. The loop is named for the tracing it would make were it on the ice instead of in the air. Some jumps are named for skaters who excelled at them- the Albright (mazurka), the Mapes (flip).
Spins are named descriptively, thank god, except the camel, the name of which may or may not be a corruption of the inventors' name, which may or may not be Campbell. (You begin to see the problem with terminology.)
Here's some more Xanboni on terms and skills:
Jumps
General skating terms
* I don't actually know Nancy Kerrigan. But if you know her, tell her Xan says hey.
Nov 7, 2010
Skating books
I know from my stats that the most popular posts on here are the "how-to's" (most beloved by people who are taking private lessons, making me wonder exactly what their coaches aren't teaching them), and there are a couple of books that you should know about.
My copy of Figure Skating for Dummies has mysteriously gone missing, (as has my copy of Coaching Hockey for Dummies, hmmm), so unfortunately I can't point you to any specific advice that I liked or didn't. It's great-- starts at "fall down, get up" and goes all the way through triple jumps. Unlike a lot of other "how to" books on skating it really is geared to people who do not already know the basic terminology, so you can follow it even if you've never been on skates. Ostensibly written by Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton, which I take with a little (okay, a giant) grain of salt. The overly-cute language and illustrations of these books can be grating, but the information is flawless.
I used this book a lot when I started teaching because it has a really good ordering of skills. Unfortunately, it has not been updated in more than a decade, so the sections on competitions and judging are outdated to the point of uselessness. It doesn't even show up on the Dummies.com website as a selection. There are always a few available on Amazon.
At the other end of the how-to spectrum is the book that is the closest thing to a technique Bible as you'll find, John Misha Petkevich's Figure Skating Championship Techniques, from Sports Illustrated. Petkevich also starts with swizzles, but his language is a little more technical and dense, and the illustrations (photos of skaters Brian Boitano and Tracie Brown) are hard to follow if you don't already understand the skill. He also sometimes arranges them from right to left, for some impenetrable reason, but not always. (I also believe that some of the photos are actually reversed, probably an editing error, where the editor put the transparency wrong side up, so that the skater appears to be jumping or spinnng clockwise instead of counterclockwise, again very confusing for someone who doesn't understand the skill.)
This book is laid out the way a coach thinks about skating-- with basic concepts, common errors, and standard corrections for hundreds of skills and variations. It also includes a lot of skills that are seldom taught anymore, let alone used in competition, like the open axel, double walley, and various flying spins.
Several years ago I found a marvelous little self-published gem in a remainder box at Rainbo Sport Shop. The Skaters Manual by Kenny Isely is part history of skating, part technical manual, and part diatribe against the United States Figure Skating Association, the clubs and various individuals, by name. I actually found 10 copies on Amazon this morning, although it's not always there. Includes wonderful information, not available anywhere else, on boot and blade mechanics and care. A truly unique and marvelous little book.
There is a terrific workbook on School Figures called "Figure It Out" which includes drawings, coaching, and execution tips for all of the old school figures. I had borrowed a copy from someone who made me give it back and then lost it. If anyone can find this book for me, I would pretty much mortgage my oldest child to own it.
Finally in the how-to is the mother of them all: Lynn Copley-Graves' The Evolution of Dance on Ice. There are usually a few on Amazon, and they turn up on Powell's Used Books as well. Hands down this is my favorite geek skating book; a comprehensive (to say the least) scholarly treatise,
it demonstrates how free figures from the late nineteenth century eventually became ice dance. It shows every single world championship free figure ever laid out, season by freaking season. It shows how the "European Waltz" morphed into the "American Waltz" and traces the controversy, which sometimes literally came to blows, over which one was more "correct." (A lot of dance coaches still roll their eyes over the 3-turns in the American. You gotta love ice dance coaches.) It also relates the history of clubs and explains their rise and eventual fall as powers in figure skating. If you ever wondered why they always announce the club that a skater "represents" at U.S. Nationals, this book tells you.
If you're a skating uber-geek, get this book.
My copy of Figure Skating for Dummies has mysteriously gone missing, (as has my copy of Coaching Hockey for Dummies, hmmm), so unfortunately I can't point you to any specific advice that I liked or didn't. It's great-- starts at "fall down, get up" and goes all the way through triple jumps. Unlike a lot of other "how to" books on skating it really is geared to people who do not already know the basic terminology, so you can follow it even if you've never been on skates. Ostensibly written by Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton, which I take with a little (okay, a giant) grain of salt. The overly-cute language and illustrations of these books can be grating, but the information is flawless.I used this book a lot when I started teaching because it has a really good ordering of skills. Unfortunately, it has not been updated in more than a decade, so the sections on competitions and judging are outdated to the point of uselessness. It doesn't even show up on the Dummies.com website as a selection. There are always a few available on Amazon.
At the other end of the how-to spectrum is the book that is the closest thing to a technique Bible as you'll find, John Misha Petkevich's Figure Skating Championship Techniques, from Sports Illustrated. Petkevich also starts with swizzles, but his language is a little more technical and dense, and the illustrations (photos of skaters Brian Boitano and Tracie Brown) are hard to follow if you don't already understand the skill. He also sometimes arranges them from right to left, for some impenetrable reason, but not always. (I also believe that some of the photos are actually reversed, probably an editing error, where the editor put the transparency wrong side up, so that the skater appears to be jumping or spinnng clockwise instead of counterclockwise, again very confusing for someone who doesn't understand the skill.)This book is laid out the way a coach thinks about skating-- with basic concepts, common errors, and standard corrections for hundreds of skills and variations. It also includes a lot of skills that are seldom taught anymore, let alone used in competition, like the open axel, double walley, and various flying spins.
Several years ago I found a marvelous little self-published gem in a remainder box at Rainbo Sport Shop. The Skaters Manual by Kenny Isely is part history of skating, part technical manual, and part diatribe against the United States Figure Skating Association, the clubs and various individuals, by name. I actually found 10 copies on Amazon this morning, although it's not always there. Includes wonderful information, not available anywhere else, on boot and blade mechanics and care. A truly unique and marvelous little book.There is a terrific workbook on School Figures called "Figure It Out" which includes drawings, coaching, and execution tips for all of the old school figures. I had borrowed a copy from someone who made me give it back and then lost it. If anyone can find this book for me, I would pretty much mortgage my oldest child to own it.
Finally in the how-to is the mother of them all: Lynn Copley-Graves' The Evolution of Dance on Ice. There are usually a few on Amazon, and they turn up on Powell's Used Books as well. Hands down this is my favorite geek skating book; a comprehensive (to say the least) scholarly treatise,
it demonstrates how free figures from the late nineteenth century eventually became ice dance. It shows every single world championship free figure ever laid out, season by freaking season. It shows how the "European Waltz" morphed into the "American Waltz" and traces the controversy, which sometimes literally came to blows, over which one was more "correct." (A lot of dance coaches still roll their eyes over the 3-turns in the American. You gotta love ice dance coaches.) It also relates the history of clubs and explains their rise and eventual fall as powers in figure skating. If you ever wondered why they always announce the club that a skater "represents" at U.S. Nationals, this book tells you.If you're a skating uber-geek, get this book.
Do you have a skating "how to" book that I don't know about?
Nov 4, 2010
Turn, turn, turn
My Wednesday night Gamma-Delta adults are a class with more ability than confidence ( what adult class isn't like that?). I went in last night without an idea in my head about what to do; there was a private on the ice working on Mohawks, so I thought, okay, turns "in the field."
Gamma and Delta classes, especially adults, spend inordinate amounts of time doing "patchy" little turns on half circles, in place. But once you start working on turns, especially once you've actually turned a few, you can start doing the fun stuff- moving across the ice and working toward those mysteriously effortless-looking transitions from forwards to backwards.
We started with a weight-shift warm up and then moved to turns on a Serpentine pattern (alternating half-circle lobes along a long axis). The trick to these patterns is to maintain flow (not necessarily speed) and to place the elements in the correct spot (push at the long axis, turns at the right place on the lobe, etc.)
Warm up: Forward wide-footed slaloms up the long axis, forward crossover to forward outside edge glide (or make it a spiral, if you like). Forward mohawk, repeat pattern backwards. Do this along a continuous axis, i.e. all the way around the rink.
Forward power 3 turns (from the Adult Bronze Moves in the Field test). Forward outside 3 turn on one side of the long axis, cross the long axis backwards, back crossover takes you around the lobe back to the long axis, step forward to outside edge and repeat. If you do a left 3-turn you do a right cross over. We then did this pattern substituting a Mohawk for the three turn (add an extra step after the forward outside edge-- instead of just a 3 turn, do forward inside edge, Mohawk).
Alternating three turns, inside and outside. Just what it sounds like, alternating 3-turns down a long axis.
Five-step Mohawk, another alternating pattern on a Serpentine along a long axis. Forward inside edge to mohawk, change feet to back outside edge, step forward to forward outside edge, slide chasse to forward inside edge; repeat on other foot on the other side of the long axis. You can fit five to seven lobes on a full size rink; if you can do this in four you're a superstar.
Adult Pre-Bronze inside-outside 3 turns. This one's a brain-freezer. Forward inside three turn from the long axis, step forward along the same lobe to forward outside three turn; back power cross over on the other side of the axis, step to forward inside edge, repeat from forward inside three turn (in other words, there's a cross over and a step on the second lobe, unlike the power 3- turn pattern, where you step into the three turn straight out of the cross over)
All of these patterns must be skated with as much confidence as you can muster-- make sure you are making these shapes, or it's easy to get lost.
These are not the only patterns you can do with turns. Make up your own, and see what combinations you can invent. If you have a cool one, share it here! I'll add it to the repertoire.
UPDATE: you can find all the Moves in the Fields patterns in pdf form at the US Figure Skating site.
Gamma and Delta classes, especially adults, spend inordinate amounts of time doing "patchy" little turns on half circles, in place. But once you start working on turns, especially once you've actually turned a few, you can start doing the fun stuff- moving across the ice and working toward those mysteriously effortless-looking transitions from forwards to backwards.
We started with a weight-shift warm up and then moved to turns on a Serpentine pattern (alternating half-circle lobes along a long axis). The trick to these patterns is to maintain flow (not necessarily speed) and to place the elements in the correct spot (push at the long axis, turns at the right place on the lobe, etc.)
Warm up: Forward wide-footed slaloms up the long axis, forward crossover to forward outside edge glide (or make it a spiral, if you like). Forward mohawk, repeat pattern backwards. Do this along a continuous axis, i.e. all the way around the rink.
Forward power 3 turns (from the Adult Bronze Moves in the Field test). Forward outside 3 turn on one side of the long axis, cross the long axis backwards, back crossover takes you around the lobe back to the long axis, step forward to outside edge and repeat. If you do a left 3-turn you do a right cross over. We then did this pattern substituting a Mohawk for the three turn (add an extra step after the forward outside edge-- instead of just a 3 turn, do forward inside edge, Mohawk).
Alternating three turns, inside and outside. Just what it sounds like, alternating 3-turns down a long axis.
Five-step Mohawk, another alternating pattern on a Serpentine along a long axis. Forward inside edge to mohawk, change feet to back outside edge, step forward to forward outside edge, slide chasse to forward inside edge; repeat on other foot on the other side of the long axis. You can fit five to seven lobes on a full size rink; if you can do this in four you're a superstar.
Adult Pre-Bronze inside-outside 3 turns. This one's a brain-freezer. Forward inside three turn from the long axis, step forward along the same lobe to forward outside three turn; back power cross over on the other side of the axis, step to forward inside edge, repeat from forward inside three turn (in other words, there's a cross over and a step on the second lobe, unlike the power 3- turn pattern, where you step into the three turn straight out of the cross over)
All of these patterns must be skated with as much confidence as you can muster-- make sure you are making these shapes, or it's easy to get lost.
These are not the only patterns you can do with turns. Make up your own, and see what combinations you can invent. If you have a cool one, share it here! I'll add it to the repertoire.
UPDATE: you can find all the Moves in the Fields patterns in pdf form at the US Figure Skating site.
Oct 1, 2010
To demonstrate or not to demonstrate
One of the biggest challenges a coach faces is how to convey skills that he or she cannot adequately demonstrate.
This is a more common issue than you might think; there are many coaches teaching above their abilities for many different reasons-- they've lost skills you had years ago (in particular jumps and spins); they've developed a roster of students that has passed the level they were at; new skills have been introduced since they stopped training, for instance, the quad jump; or old skills that predate their own training have been reintroduced. Right now we have a generation of coaches who never took figures now having to teach the loop figure for the new Moves tests.
So what should coaches do?
Don't teach above your teaching competence.
And remember that competence at teaching is not the same as competence at skating. (Many coaches skate better than they teach. I teach better than I skate.) How do you know your competence? Be a PSA rated coach. Don't try to vet your own coaching level; you're bound to get it wrong. Imperfect as it is the PSA ratings system requires that you have teaching competence at specified levels based upon national standards. Parents need to ask their private lesson coaches what their PSA rating is. If your skater is working on double jumps and your coach is not working on PSA ratings, think twice. I cannot tell you the number of coaches that consider PSA ratings and/or continuing education "bullsh*t." If parents insisted on only hiring rated coaches, we'd see fewer injuries and attrition among recreational skaters, because the teaching would be better.
Don't demonstrate a skill that you are not absolutely confident that you are doing correctly. This does not only go for low-level skaters like me. I see a lot of funky demonstrating from high level skaters. Remember that some students are very visual learners, and can copy your mistake perfectly. If you see a skater whom you know works visually making a new mistake after you demonstrate, have another coach observe your demonstration and be prepared to accept an honest assessment. This doesn't mean you can't teach that skill. It only means you can't demonstrate that skill. If you can't do it, don't.
Demonstrate pieces of the skill
I can't jump an axel, but I know how to do a step through and I know what the print should look like (the mark that the skate blade leaves on the ice). In fact because I can't jump an axel, I set about learning the pieces-- if a demonstration is not available, coaches have to have other tools at their disposal. If you can't do the whole skill, demonstrate the parts that you can. Chances are these isolated pieces are what is going wrong anyway. No skill falls apart all at once.
Know what you're looking at
Skills progress in sequence, from simple beginner skills like crossovers which start with strong edges and good alignment over the skating side, to complex advanced skills like triple jumps, which start with strong edges and, uh, good alignment over the skating side. Hmmm. Right. There are common errors, and most skills go wrong very early in the set up. Coaches should know these common errors and how to correct them.
Have a demonstrator
Every program has junior coaches with excellent, current skills. All of the younger coaches love showing off for the kids, and the kids love it too. Use your high freestyle skaters to demonstrate; just make sure that the skater is demonstrating the skill you want in the way you want it done.
As with everything in teaching, a good coach needs not only to use all the resources available, but also to understand when which resources are appropriate.
--------------------------------
The day after I wrote this I had an adult skater ask me to show him how to do alternating three turns down a continuous axis. So I showed him-- badly! This is something that I can do rather well, but there I was botching it! I regrouped and executed it properly, but it forced me to really think about what I was doing, and to make sure that I had everything lined up-- brain, skating skills, body and blade. We had a good conversation about it, and I just thanked my lucky stars that it was an adult with a good attitude and not a kid with a parent watching!
Lesson learned-- Practice what I preach!
This is a more common issue than you might think; there are many coaches teaching above their abilities for many different reasons-- they've lost skills you had years ago (in particular jumps and spins); they've developed a roster of students that has passed the level they were at; new skills have been introduced since they stopped training, for instance, the quad jump; or old skills that predate their own training have been reintroduced. Right now we have a generation of coaches who never took figures now having to teach the loop figure for the new Moves tests.
So what should coaches do?
Don't teach above your teaching competence.
And remember that competence at teaching is not the same as competence at skating. (Many coaches skate better than they teach. I teach better than I skate.) How do you know your competence? Be a PSA rated coach. Don't try to vet your own coaching level; you're bound to get it wrong. Imperfect as it is the PSA ratings system requires that you have teaching competence at specified levels based upon national standards. Parents need to ask their private lesson coaches what their PSA rating is. If your skater is working on double jumps and your coach is not working on PSA ratings, think twice. I cannot tell you the number of coaches that consider PSA ratings and/or continuing education "bullsh*t." If parents insisted on only hiring rated coaches, we'd see fewer injuries and attrition among recreational skaters, because the teaching would be better.
Don't demonstrate a skill that you are not absolutely confident that you are doing correctly. This does not only go for low-level skaters like me. I see a lot of funky demonstrating from high level skaters. Remember that some students are very visual learners, and can copy your mistake perfectly. If you see a skater whom you know works visually making a new mistake after you demonstrate, have another coach observe your demonstration and be prepared to accept an honest assessment. This doesn't mean you can't teach that skill. It only means you can't demonstrate that skill. If you can't do it, don't.
Demonstrate pieces of the skill
I can't jump an axel, but I know how to do a step through and I know what the print should look like (the mark that the skate blade leaves on the ice). In fact because I can't jump an axel, I set about learning the pieces-- if a demonstration is not available, coaches have to have other tools at their disposal. If you can't do the whole skill, demonstrate the parts that you can. Chances are these isolated pieces are what is going wrong anyway. No skill falls apart all at once.
Know what you're looking at
Skills progress in sequence, from simple beginner skills like crossovers which start with strong edges and good alignment over the skating side, to complex advanced skills like triple jumps, which start with strong edges and, uh, good alignment over the skating side. Hmmm. Right. There are common errors, and most skills go wrong very early in the set up. Coaches should know these common errors and how to correct them.
Have a demonstrator
Every program has junior coaches with excellent, current skills. All of the younger coaches love showing off for the kids, and the kids love it too. Use your high freestyle skaters to demonstrate; just make sure that the skater is demonstrating the skill you want in the way you want it done.
As with everything in teaching, a good coach needs not only to use all the resources available, but also to understand when which resources are appropriate.
--------------------------------
The day after I wrote this I had an adult skater ask me to show him how to do alternating three turns down a continuous axis. So I showed him-- badly! This is something that I can do rather well, but there I was botching it! I regrouped and executed it properly, but it forced me to really think about what I was doing, and to make sure that I had everything lined up-- brain, skating skills, body and blade. We had a good conversation about it, and I just thanked my lucky stars that it was an adult with a good attitude and not a kid with a parent watching!
Lesson learned-- Practice what I preach!
Sep 18, 2010
Landings
I love to quote an old coach of mine (imagine Russian accent): "Most important part of jahmp is JAHMP"
True. But I'd almost now say that most important part of the jump is the landing. You hear more masturbatory commentary at competitions about jump landings than about any single other issue in figure skating. The figure skating world has gotten so obsessed with the so-called "clean landing" that they actually have changed the rules to parse out the turns by quarters, so that good strong jumps get credit, even if the landing is not quite "clean." Essentially, an attempted triple that is a little short will now get credit for the attempt, rather than a harsh downgrade to the double, because the skaters were starting to go for the GOE on the lesser jumps rather than risk the point loss associated with downgrades (think Lysacek and the infamously nonexistent quad).
The parts of a jump are the entry (lift off), the creation of rotation, air position, and landing. Interestingly, one of the first things you teach a beginning free style student is not the entry, but the landing, starting with the touch down and the check-out position. A classic landing touches down toe first on a straight leg, free leg in front and head turned towards the direction of rotation.
That's right-- you land on a straight leg, with your free leg in front. The misnamed "landing position"-- bent skating knee, free leg extended behind-- is actually the checkout. That's the position you hit to stop the rotation as you glide out of the jump. If you don't land correct position, you'll pitch forward, digging your toe pick across the ice, in a spray of snow, kicking out a big divot. Snowy landings are dramatic, but they indicate technical problems. A clean landing is not just full rotation. It's also a light, snow-free touch down with no rotation on the ice.
There are lots of drills to teach that moment, and here's a few:
Backward pumps to backwards outside edge glide: Strong pumps on a circle, then back outside edge glide on a straight leg, free foot in front, pull the leg through to a back extension while bending the skating knee. Arms are in an L (skating arm pointing into the circle, free arm in front) and head turned towards the center of the circle. You should be able to hold this without letting the edge get tighter for at least halfway around a hockey circle. I make my students do this in both directions, no matter which way they rotate.
Moving hops: Once a student has mastered the above, add 5 short hops to the final glide: just up and down from the landing foot, pushing off the toe. Bonus points for staying on the curve.
Stationary hops: Skater stands in a neutral position, arms and head in landing position, then balances on landing foot and does several small hops, first in actual landing pose (free foot in front), and then jumping up in landing position and doing landing-check (extended free foot behind). Again, both these exercises should be done by all students on both feet.
Rotating hops: Otherwise known as back scratch-loop. Student enters a back scratch spin from any entry- inside three or back pivot- and then does a serious of increasingly rotated hops while still rotating- half way, single loop, double loop. Arm position is optional: in checkout position, or pulled in tight.
There are also numerous moving exercises you can do using turns and both two-foot and one-foot jump combinations and sequences to help you feel the sensation of full rotation while moving at speed across the ice.
True. But I'd almost now say that most important part of the jump is the landing. You hear more masturbatory commentary at competitions about jump landings than about any single other issue in figure skating. The figure skating world has gotten so obsessed with the so-called "clean landing" that they actually have changed the rules to parse out the turns by quarters, so that good strong jumps get credit, even if the landing is not quite "clean." Essentially, an attempted triple that is a little short will now get credit for the attempt, rather than a harsh downgrade to the double, because the skaters were starting to go for the GOE on the lesser jumps rather than risk the point loss associated with downgrades (think Lysacek and the infamously nonexistent quad).
The parts of a jump are the entry (lift off), the creation of rotation, air position, and landing. Interestingly, one of the first things you teach a beginning free style student is not the entry, but the landing, starting with the touch down and the check-out position. A classic landing touches down toe first on a straight leg, free leg in front and head turned towards the direction of rotation.
That's right-- you land on a straight leg, with your free leg in front. The misnamed "landing position"-- bent skating knee, free leg extended behind-- is actually the checkout. That's the position you hit to stop the rotation as you glide out of the jump. If you don't land correct position, you'll pitch forward, digging your toe pick across the ice, in a spray of snow, kicking out a big divot. Snowy landings are dramatic, but they indicate technical problems. A clean landing is not just full rotation. It's also a light, snow-free touch down with no rotation on the ice.
There are lots of drills to teach that moment, and here's a few:
Backward pumps to backwards outside edge glide: Strong pumps on a circle, then back outside edge glide on a straight leg, free foot in front, pull the leg through to a back extension while bending the skating knee. Arms are in an L (skating arm pointing into the circle, free arm in front) and head turned towards the center of the circle. You should be able to hold this without letting the edge get tighter for at least halfway around a hockey circle. I make my students do this in both directions, no matter which way they rotate.
Moving hops: Once a student has mastered the above, add 5 short hops to the final glide: just up and down from the landing foot, pushing off the toe. Bonus points for staying on the curve.
Stationary hops: Skater stands in a neutral position, arms and head in landing position, then balances on landing foot and does several small hops, first in actual landing pose (free foot in front), and then jumping up in landing position and doing landing-check (extended free foot behind). Again, both these exercises should be done by all students on both feet.
Rotating hops: Otherwise known as back scratch-loop. Student enters a back scratch spin from any entry- inside three or back pivot- and then does a serious of increasingly rotated hops while still rotating- half way, single loop, double loop. Arm position is optional: in checkout position, or pulled in tight.
There are also numerous moving exercises you can do using turns and both two-foot and one-foot jump combinations and sequences to help you feel the sensation of full rotation while moving at speed across the ice.
Sep 16, 2010
Using Features in teaching and practicing
Pre-competition season education has started! You want to be an informed fan, if for no other reason than that you can follow the tweets (and by the way, I'll live tweet every competition I can).
If you're a skater or a coach, one of the ways you can do this is by utilizing components of the IJS (ISU Judging System) in your teaching or practice. And, no, you don't have to be Yuna to be successful at this.
A feature is simply any addition or enhancement to a basic jump, spin, footwork, or spiral position that increases difficulty and uniqueness. Unusual or difficult arm or leg positions in spins, footwork and spirals; additional rotations; the length of time you hold a single position, etc. all are features. Here's some examples of features that you can add, at any level:
Spins
Simply spinning in both directions is a feature. In today's competitive world it's a really good idea to be able to spin both directions (ballet dancers have always done this). Start at Basic 5/Beta getting the kids to spin in both directions from a stand still. Add a feature to a one-foot spin by spinning with arms over the head or behind the back. Sit spins? Try "broken leg" (foot to the side) and "pancake" (foot folded under, or to the back). Spin with arms doing a windmill. Any variation you can come up with is fine.
Jumps
Believe it or not, you can add features to jumps. I'm kind of amazed that we haven't started seeing jumping in both directions yet. ISI high level tests have required this forever, so I'm not sure why USFS is so slow to pick this up. At the very least, every skater should be able to do all of the half-jumps in both directions (waltz jump, half flip/stag, half toe-walley, scissor or mazurka, half lutz, split, falling leaf, Russian split; what else am I missing?) Then there are alternative arms-- for very secure skaters, (VERY secure) try jumping with arms behind. Then there's the "Tano" jumps-- one arm over the head, and the "Rippon" jumps-- both arms over the head.
Spirals
Edge changes (without an additional push), then variations on the 3 basic spiral positions (belly button facing the ice, the wall, or the cieling)-- waving or windmill arms, grabbing the knee or the blade, "haircutters" (blade pulled to the back of the head). Plus the Sasha spiral, leg pulled up in front, although the judges are discouraging this (get an image of this position coming straight at you on a forward glide and you'll understand why. The position has a very crude alternative name.) For low level skaters do catch foot with an upright back rather than a true spiral position, or moving between spiral, lunge and shoot the duck in various orders.
Footwork
This is the hardest thing to add features to at high level competition, because the requirement for footwork is so complex in and of itself. But you can use this for intermediate skaters, simply to get them used to the concept of "features." Have them do all the basic turns (through counters) with different arm positions, or have them jump the turns (in a jumped turn the edge and/or foot change occurs in the air, so these are essentially half-jumps). With twizzles (moving spins) no so important, and part of the Moves in the Field tests, you can easily add features-- alternate arm and foot positions, or catch foot. You can also do two-foot "twizzles" (not really twizzles but again, it starts to familiarize even beginning skaters with the terms).
In other words, get yourself and your students ready to understand what you're seeing by doing it/teaching it yourself. How fun would it be to be watching skating with an 8-year old PreJuv and have her say "Hey-- I did that thing that YuNa just did!"
If you're a skater or a coach, one of the ways you can do this is by utilizing components of the IJS (ISU Judging System) in your teaching or practice. And, no, you don't have to be Yuna to be successful at this.
A feature is simply any addition or enhancement to a basic jump, spin, footwork, or spiral position that increases difficulty and uniqueness. Unusual or difficult arm or leg positions in spins, footwork and spirals; additional rotations; the length of time you hold a single position, etc. all are features. Here's some examples of features that you can add, at any level:
Spins
Simply spinning in both directions is a feature. In today's competitive world it's a really good idea to be able to spin both directions (ballet dancers have always done this). Start at Basic 5/Beta getting the kids to spin in both directions from a stand still. Add a feature to a one-foot spin by spinning with arms over the head or behind the back. Sit spins? Try "broken leg" (foot to the side) and "pancake" (foot folded under, or to the back). Spin with arms doing a windmill. Any variation you can come up with is fine.
Jumps
Believe it or not, you can add features to jumps. I'm kind of amazed that we haven't started seeing jumping in both directions yet. ISI high level tests have required this forever, so I'm not sure why USFS is so slow to pick this up. At the very least, every skater should be able to do all of the half-jumps in both directions (waltz jump, half flip/stag, half toe-walley, scissor or mazurka, half lutz, split, falling leaf, Russian split; what else am I missing?) Then there are alternative arms-- for very secure skaters, (VERY secure) try jumping with arms behind. Then there's the "Tano" jumps-- one arm over the head, and the "Rippon" jumps-- both arms over the head.
Spirals
Edge changes (without an additional push), then variations on the 3 basic spiral positions (belly button facing the ice, the wall, or the cieling)-- waving or windmill arms, grabbing the knee or the blade, "haircutters" (blade pulled to the back of the head). Plus the Sasha spiral, leg pulled up in front, although the judges are discouraging this (get an image of this position coming straight at you on a forward glide and you'll understand why. The position has a very crude alternative name.) For low level skaters do catch foot with an upright back rather than a true spiral position, or moving between spiral, lunge and shoot the duck in various orders.
Footwork
This is the hardest thing to add features to at high level competition, because the requirement for footwork is so complex in and of itself. But you can use this for intermediate skaters, simply to get them used to the concept of "features." Have them do all the basic turns (through counters) with different arm positions, or have them jump the turns (in a jumped turn the edge and/or foot change occurs in the air, so these are essentially half-jumps). With twizzles (moving spins) no so important, and part of the Moves in the Field tests, you can easily add features-- alternate arm and foot positions, or catch foot. You can also do two-foot "twizzles" (not really twizzles but again, it starts to familiarize even beginning skaters with the terms).
In other words, get yourself and your students ready to understand what you're seeing by doing it/teaching it yourself. How fun would it be to be watching skating with an 8-year old PreJuv and have her say "Hey-- I did that thing that YuNa just did!"
What features do you like to practice or teach?
Sep 15, 2010
WHAT is he talking about?
As we move into the competitive season, I'm starting to think about the phrases you hear from the commentators. "Features" "Clean landing" "Extension" "Wrap" "Run of the Blade" When I hear these I know what I'm looking for, because I'm a figure skating expert. But what about the non-skater casual fan?
When I watch hockey or football, I find the comments make me more, not less confused. It took me quite literally years to figure out what a "hat trick" is, and I'm still not entirely convinced I've got it right. I'm so confused by football terminology that I can't even come up with an example of a phrase that confuses me. So here's a little lexicon, and this week I'll add short posts on how to apply these to your own skating or teaching as well.
Features
Features are extra difficulty added to specific skills. Every skill has them, but you most commonly hear about them in spins because it's probably been the most obvious change in what figure skating looks like now. A feature is any variation to the basic position or rotation. So if you're doing an upright spin and wave your arms (creating a helicoptor effect), that's a feature. A different foot position is a feature, as is changing the spinning edge. (Different from a position change-- that's a thing in itself. There are four basic positions-- upright, sit, camel and layback. Features occur within each basic position.) A classic "forward" spin is actually on a back inside edge, but you can do any spin on any edge, and changing from one edge to another without losing speed or center is difficult, and gains points. All those "haircutter" contortionist postitions are a feature. You can only use any given feature once per program, which is why you get these awful can't-keep-my-eye-on-what's-happening flailing spins. I was happy to learn that there is a new feature this year-- 8 rotations in one position-- and you can use it as often as you want throughout the program. So we'll be seeing longer spins this year. And because extra rotations take time up in the program, you're also going to see some warp-speed rotating. Nice.
Clean landing
This is probably the most commonly used, and abused, phrase in figure skating commentary. It has come to mean a landing that is fully rotated, but originally it meant just what it sound like-- a landing that didn't kick up any snow or spray, i.e. "clean". Perforce, an underrotated landing won't be clean in this classic sense. The underrotation itself scrapes and gouges the ice. Other things to watch for that make a clean landing are a straight, upright back position (no pitching forward or twisting) and a held edge. Fussy choreography following a jump is often the coach's "fix" for a jump that the skater can't check (i.e. stop the rotation). Michelle Kwan was a genius at the saved landing. Watch her free leg cross behind her landing leg sometime-- she's having difficulty checking the rotation.
Extension
Just what it sounds like-- using the full range of motion of arms, hands, legs, feet, and neck, especially in held positions. The classic extension move is the arabesque or spiral, of course, but the best skaters will demonstrate good extension on everything. That blurry tight back scratch spin is a function of good extension, with all extremities pulled in and as tight as they can go. Watch for better expression in this as well this year. The ISU Judging System has changed the spiral sequence to encourage long full extension rather than a series of fussy features. As one judge said to me "we got tired of ugly spirals." Spirals will now be 6 to 8 seconds in a single position (with edge changes) or two positions of 3-4 seconds each. Hallelujah.
Wrap
A wrap is actually an error. While not specifically wrong, it affects rotation and ruins the beauty of the air position. Watch for a very high free leg with the knee sticking out during the jump's air time. It's very difficult both to spin fast and to land cleanly when you "wrap" during a jump.
Run of the blade
This skill comes to the fore in the men's Moves in the Field skills, the women's spirals, and in footwork. It means smooth, snowless glide. Watch for skaters whose glides don't stutter or wobble, have no loss of speed, and for footwork sequences with clear, obvious, snow-free curves and turns. Since I picked on Michelle Kwan for her questionable landings, I'll pull her out here as the queen of the glide. No one demonstrates this ability better. It's created through the skaters' understanding of which part of the blade to put in contact with the ice. Since a blade is a rocker, i.e. curved on the bottom, you can press the back, middle, or front of the blade, plus either the inside or outside edge, to create different turns, to aid acceleration, and to emphasize flow.
Underrotated, formerly known as "cheated"
Jumps are scored based on the difficulty of the entry, and the number of rotations in the air. An underrotated jump is more than 1/4 of a turn short of full rotation, and almost always has to be reviewed by the live video in the judges' station. It is the main cause of delays in announcing the scores, as the judges review selected jumps.
When I watch hockey or football, I find the comments make me more, not less confused. It took me quite literally years to figure out what a "hat trick" is, and I'm still not entirely convinced I've got it right. I'm so confused by football terminology that I can't even come up with an example of a phrase that confuses me. So here's a little lexicon, and this week I'll add short posts on how to apply these to your own skating or teaching as well.
Features
Features are extra difficulty added to specific skills. Every skill has them, but you most commonly hear about them in spins because it's probably been the most obvious change in what figure skating looks like now. A feature is any variation to the basic position or rotation. So if you're doing an upright spin and wave your arms (creating a helicoptor effect), that's a feature. A different foot position is a feature, as is changing the spinning edge. (Different from a position change-- that's a thing in itself. There are four basic positions-- upright, sit, camel and layback. Features occur within each basic position.) A classic "forward" spin is actually on a back inside edge, but you can do any spin on any edge, and changing from one edge to another without losing speed or center is difficult, and gains points. All those "haircutter" contortionist postitions are a feature. You can only use any given feature once per program, which is why you get these awful can't-keep-my-eye-on-what's-happening flailing spins. I was happy to learn that there is a new feature this year-- 8 rotations in one position-- and you can use it as often as you want throughout the program. So we'll be seeing longer spins this year. And because extra rotations take time up in the program, you're also going to see some warp-speed rotating. Nice.
Clean landing
This is probably the most commonly used, and abused, phrase in figure skating commentary. It has come to mean a landing that is fully rotated, but originally it meant just what it sound like-- a landing that didn't kick up any snow or spray, i.e. "clean". Perforce, an underrotated landing won't be clean in this classic sense. The underrotation itself scrapes and gouges the ice. Other things to watch for that make a clean landing are a straight, upright back position (no pitching forward or twisting) and a held edge. Fussy choreography following a jump is often the coach's "fix" for a jump that the skater can't check (i.e. stop the rotation). Michelle Kwan was a genius at the saved landing. Watch her free leg cross behind her landing leg sometime-- she's having difficulty checking the rotation.
Extension
Just what it sounds like-- using the full range of motion of arms, hands, legs, feet, and neck, especially in held positions. The classic extension move is the arabesque or spiral, of course, but the best skaters will demonstrate good extension on everything. That blurry tight back scratch spin is a function of good extension, with all extremities pulled in and as tight as they can go. Watch for better expression in this as well this year. The ISU Judging System has changed the spiral sequence to encourage long full extension rather than a series of fussy features. As one judge said to me "we got tired of ugly spirals." Spirals will now be 6 to 8 seconds in a single position (with edge changes) or two positions of 3-4 seconds each. Hallelujah.
Wrap
A wrap is actually an error. While not specifically wrong, it affects rotation and ruins the beauty of the air position. Watch for a very high free leg with the knee sticking out during the jump's air time. It's very difficult both to spin fast and to land cleanly when you "wrap" during a jump.
Run of the blade
This skill comes to the fore in the men's Moves in the Field skills, the women's spirals, and in footwork. It means smooth, snowless glide. Watch for skaters whose glides don't stutter or wobble, have no loss of speed, and for footwork sequences with clear, obvious, snow-free curves and turns. Since I picked on Michelle Kwan for her questionable landings, I'll pull her out here as the queen of the glide. No one demonstrates this ability better. It's created through the skaters' understanding of which part of the blade to put in contact with the ice. Since a blade is a rocker, i.e. curved on the bottom, you can press the back, middle, or front of the blade, plus either the inside or outside edge, to create different turns, to aid acceleration, and to emphasize flow.
Underrotated, formerly known as "cheated"
Jumps are scored based on the difficulty of the entry, and the number of rotations in the air. An underrotated jump is more than 1/4 of a turn short of full rotation, and almost always has to be reviewed by the live video in the judges' station. It is the main cause of delays in announcing the scores, as the judges review selected jumps.
What commentator's phrase has confused you?
Apr 21, 2010
B is for Backwards
I've always liked the confluence of B-Beta-Backwards. Just my obsessive compulsive tendencies kicking in I suppose.
Beta is my favorite level to teach. For one thing, I think I'm really good at it. It also tends to hit at right about the ages of 7-9 when kids are old enough to carry on intelligent conversation, but still too young to have figured out what idiots most adults are. Plus, not one of them ever believes that backward crossovers are actually possible, so it's fun when they get it. (Don't get me started on adults and backwards crossovers. That's a whole alternate universe right there.)
One of the first things I did when I started teaching was to work out a weekly lesson plan for every level through Freestyle 3. This really helped when I was an inexperienced teacher, because it kept me on track and gave me a prop around which to organize my lessons. I worked in drilling and games, to keep the kids interested. Here's the Beta lesson plan (in practice, it varies from this considerably depending on the class):
Week one
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; Straight line backward swizzles with glide; straight line forward and backward pumps, L & R, straight line pumps alternating (slalom); introduce back 1-ft glide from slalom and on circle
Week two
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; review back slaloms with one-foot lift/glide, introduce stroking concept (foot held forward); back pumps & I/O edges on circle; start cross if class is ready. (You're ready for the cross if you can hold the one-foot back glide, foot in front for 2wce your body height, on a curve.)
This is the basic drill portion for backward crossovers, and I always go back to this lesson when kids are having trouble-- pumps and one foot glides on the circle.
Week three
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; back stroking review & refine; back pumps with 1-foot glide on circle; start crosses (most of class time). Reward skill.
Week three is the money week. To get at least some of the kids solid in Beta by Week 10, you have to start the crossovers by week three. A kid who isn't at least stumbling through them at this point is going to repeat beta without divine intervention. Don't tell anyone I told you. Most of the lesson will be going round and round and round in circles just throwing out terrible crossovers. I never try to get kids to bend, pump, or stay off their toe picks at this stage. I just want crossovers and continual backwards movement. Introduce t-stops.
Usually, because this is hard and boring, I'll throw in something fun, the "reward skill" for the last 5 minutes. Kids love learning shoot-the-duck, spirals, spins, and synchro moves at this level.
Week four
Review. Week five is often a mid-session evaluation, so in week four you want to review everything in Beta, let the kids know where they should be for the evaluation, and encourage them to come on their own and practice. I wish rinks would hand out discount or free coupons for public skating the week before evaluation, but they never do this.
Week five
Evaluation week. For mid-term evaluation, a coach with sense will always pass something and never pass everything, especially if it's the skater's first time through the level. Only the rare exceptional skater can step into the next level 5 weeks in and not be utterly lost, and only the rare exceptional skater can't spend an extra 5 weeks getting better at the level they're at. I think it is lazy and irresponsible of coaches to pass kids up halfway through a session; I almost never do it. If you're a skater that I passed halfway through, pat yourself on the back. You were really really good.
Also, coaches? Please never give a child only "needs improvement" marks. It's not going to kill you to make a little white lie and tell them they are good at ONE thing. I've seen more skaters quit at mid-term because the coach decided to be brutally honest. Really, what's the point? If worse comes to worse, I'll write "Alpha review exceptional!" on a struggling skater's evaluation form. By extension, don't pass everything, because it confuses the kid and their parent. They think they should now get to move up, and it isn't true. You can't drop a kid into the next level when they've missed the first five classes (unless you're using this as a marketing tactic-- "oh have him take a few lessons with me, I'll help him catch up").
One of the things I like to emphasize at midterm is that the test is not about how well the skater is doing, more it lets me know what the class, and I, need to work on as we move toward real evaluation week in a month.
Week six
Week six is a work week. First, review forward crossovers: start with 25 fwd XO each direction...
Okay, wait. What's with all the forward crossovers? I thought this was Beta?
Every skill a skater learns, right up through quad jumps, doesn't stop improving once you've "learned" it. Kids barely understand this, and it drives their parents crazy. But especially because class skaters seldom practice, it takes a lot of drilling to remind them to do prior-learned skills properly. I try to sweeten the pot by telling kids we're now working on "freestyle" crossovers, with improved rhythm, power, and body alignment.
After their 25 forward crossovers, we start just putting mileage on the backwards ones, starting with 25 bwd XO each direction. I watch for common and specific weaknesses (generally toe-pick dragging, and opening up the hip so that they face the circle when they cross) plus I'll introduce moving two foot turns & step forward, which they'll need on the first day of Gamma. Review stroking and t-stops.
Week seven
Here we go again: start with 25 fwd XO each direction, then 25 bwd XO each direction. Work on noted weaknesses, two foot turns & step forward; Review stroking and t-stops. Introduce freestyle skills such as spins, waltz jump, pivot for fun.
Because they've been working really hard and they deserve a reward.
Week eight
Another serious review week, because next week is The Test.
Week nine
Evaluation week! Expect tears, because some silly mother has told her kid that she's going to pass without consulting the coach first. (That's me crying; the kids are usually fine.) Review standards, practice the move, observe a demonstration, and then have them skate one at a time, attempting to keep all the ones not skating from getting bored and killing each other. Pry the adults who are ready out of Beta with a crowbar.
So what should proper Beta/Basic 5 backwards crossovers look like? Skater should be able to do 6 backward crossovers in a row with no extraneous pumps or wiggles in between. Skater should have a clear understanding of the first pump, with proper push and knee bend, and be able to cross fully either by lifting (ISI) or cut back (USFS Basic Skills) with a clear understanding of proper edges and weight shift, and strong arm position. Backward stroking should be smooth and continuous, and at least one T-stop should be mastered; a clear understanding of proper edge should be demonstrated on the "hard" side.
Because many rinks don't split Beta into Beta 1 and Beta 2, absolutely no toe pick dragging is allowed to pass, or you'll never get rid of it. Students should expect to go through Beta twice. I always call my second-timers "Beta 2" just to make them feel better, even though it's not a real level.
I also feel strongly that someone entering Gamma should understand moving rotation and be able to do a two footed turn from a glide both clockwise and counterclockwise. This is part of the Basic Skills, but not of the ISI curriculum at this level.
Week ten
Every damned rink in America calls this Game Day. I hate Game Day. I hate it with a passion. Please please please no more relay races on the ice. Or maybe ONE. They are boring, pointless, and leave out the kids who are intimidated by speed.
Here's some better things to do with Game Day.
Beta is my favorite level to teach. For one thing, I think I'm really good at it. It also tends to hit at right about the ages of 7-9 when kids are old enough to carry on intelligent conversation, but still too young to have figured out what idiots most adults are. Plus, not one of them ever believes that backward crossovers are actually possible, so it's fun when they get it. (Don't get me started on adults and backwards crossovers. That's a whole alternate universe right there.)
One of the first things I did when I started teaching was to work out a weekly lesson plan for every level through Freestyle 3. This really helped when I was an inexperienced teacher, because it kept me on track and gave me a prop around which to organize my lessons. I worked in drilling and games, to keep the kids interested. Here's the Beta lesson plan (in practice, it varies from this considerably depending on the class):
Week one
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; Straight line backward swizzles with glide; straight line forward and backward pumps, L & R, straight line pumps alternating (slalom); introduce back 1-ft glide from slalom and on circle
Week two
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; review back slaloms with one-foot lift/glide, introduce stroking concept (foot held forward); back pumps & I/O edges on circle; start cross if class is ready. (You're ready for the cross if you can hold the one-foot back glide, foot in front for 2wce your body height, on a curve.)
This is the basic drill portion for backward crossovers, and I always go back to this lesson when kids are having trouble-- pumps and one foot glides on the circle.
Week three
Review forward crossovers with 25 fwd XO each direction; back stroking review & refine; back pumps with 1-foot glide on circle; start crosses (most of class time). Reward skill.
Week three is the money week. To get at least some of the kids solid in Beta by Week 10, you have to start the crossovers by week three. A kid who isn't at least stumbling through them at this point is going to repeat beta without divine intervention. Don't tell anyone I told you. Most of the lesson will be going round and round and round in circles just throwing out terrible crossovers. I never try to get kids to bend, pump, or stay off their toe picks at this stage. I just want crossovers and continual backwards movement. Introduce t-stops.
Usually, because this is hard and boring, I'll throw in something fun, the "reward skill" for the last 5 minutes. Kids love learning shoot-the-duck, spirals, spins, and synchro moves at this level.
Week four
Review. Week five is often a mid-session evaluation, so in week four you want to review everything in Beta, let the kids know where they should be for the evaluation, and encourage them to come on their own and practice. I wish rinks would hand out discount or free coupons for public skating the week before evaluation, but they never do this.
Week five
Evaluation week. For mid-term evaluation, a coach with sense will always pass something and never pass everything, especially if it's the skater's first time through the level. Only the rare exceptional skater can step into the next level 5 weeks in and not be utterly lost, and only the rare exceptional skater can't spend an extra 5 weeks getting better at the level they're at. I think it is lazy and irresponsible of coaches to pass kids up halfway through a session; I almost never do it. If you're a skater that I passed halfway through, pat yourself on the back. You were really really good.
Also, coaches? Please never give a child only "needs improvement" marks. It's not going to kill you to make a little white lie and tell them they are good at ONE thing. I've seen more skaters quit at mid-term because the coach decided to be brutally honest. Really, what's the point? If worse comes to worse, I'll write "Alpha review exceptional!" on a struggling skater's evaluation form. By extension, don't pass everything, because it confuses the kid and their parent. They think they should now get to move up, and it isn't true. You can't drop a kid into the next level when they've missed the first five classes (unless you're using this as a marketing tactic-- "oh have him take a few lessons with me, I'll help him catch up").
One of the things I like to emphasize at midterm is that the test is not about how well the skater is doing, more it lets me know what the class, and I, need to work on as we move toward real evaluation week in a month.
Week six
Week six is a work week. First, review forward crossovers: start with 25 fwd XO each direction...
Okay, wait. What's with all the forward crossovers? I thought this was Beta?
Every skill a skater learns, right up through quad jumps, doesn't stop improving once you've "learned" it. Kids barely understand this, and it drives their parents crazy. But especially because class skaters seldom practice, it takes a lot of drilling to remind them to do prior-learned skills properly. I try to sweeten the pot by telling kids we're now working on "freestyle" crossovers, with improved rhythm, power, and body alignment.
After their 25 forward crossovers, we start just putting mileage on the backwards ones, starting with 25 bwd XO each direction. I watch for common and specific weaknesses (generally toe-pick dragging, and opening up the hip so that they face the circle when they cross) plus I'll introduce moving two foot turns & step forward, which they'll need on the first day of Gamma. Review stroking and t-stops.
Week seven
Here we go again: start with 25 fwd XO each direction, then 25 bwd XO each direction. Work on noted weaknesses, two foot turns & step forward; Review stroking and t-stops. Introduce freestyle skills such as spins, waltz jump, pivot for fun.
Because they've been working really hard and they deserve a reward.
Week eight
Another serious review week, because next week is The Test.
Week nine
Evaluation week! Expect tears, because some silly mother has told her kid that she's going to pass without consulting the coach first. (That's me crying; the kids are usually fine.) Review standards, practice the move, observe a demonstration, and then have them skate one at a time, attempting to keep all the ones not skating from getting bored and killing each other. Pry the adults who are ready out of Beta with a crowbar.
So what should proper Beta/Basic 5 backwards crossovers look like? Skater should be able to do 6 backward crossovers in a row with no extraneous pumps or wiggles in between. Skater should have a clear understanding of the first pump, with proper push and knee bend, and be able to cross fully either by lifting (ISI) or cut back (USFS Basic Skills) with a clear understanding of proper edges and weight shift, and strong arm position. Backward stroking should be smooth and continuous, and at least one T-stop should be mastered; a clear understanding of proper edge should be demonstrated on the "hard" side.
Because many rinks don't split Beta into Beta 1 and Beta 2, absolutely no toe pick dragging is allowed to pass, or you'll never get rid of it. Students should expect to go through Beta twice. I always call my second-timers "Beta 2" just to make them feel better, even though it's not a real level.
I also feel strongly that someone entering Gamma should understand moving rotation and be able to do a two footed turn from a glide both clockwise and counterclockwise. This is part of the Basic Skills, but not of the ISI curriculum at this level.
Week ten
Every damned rink in America calls this Game Day. I hate Game Day. I hate it with a passion. Please please please no more relay races on the ice. Or maybe ONE. They are boring, pointless, and leave out the kids who are intimidated by speed.
Here's some better things to do with Game Day.
Apr 15, 2010
Skating myths
An overheard conversation (okay, I was eavesdropping) made me think of misperceptions common among skating parents.
Myth #1: Skating is expensive.
Training for Nationals is expensive. Skating is one of the cheapest entertainments around. Park district skating classes are no more expensive than any other park district classes. Skates, even decent skates, cost less than a bicycle new, and can be extremely cheap used. It's easy to find kid's gently used skates. (More on buying skates.)
Myth #2: If my child start privates, it means I think s/he's going to the Olympics
I've said it before: no one avoids music lessons because the kid isn't destined for Carnegie Hall. No one thinks you believe your kid is ready for Manchester United just because you sign up for soccer. Like anything else, you can skim the surface or dig in deep. Skating lessons are not a lifetime commitment to second mortgages.
Myth #3: Ice dancers can't jump/ice dance lessons detract from "real" skating
Let's explode this one. Ice dance is one of the best ways to learn power and body alignment. Ice dance is not full of skaters who bombed at singles; it is full of skaters who wanted the greater emotional and artistic range tolerated in the discipline. Many ice dancers, my own daughter included, have the full range of double and even triple jumps. Yes, when you get to the higher levels you stop training the other disciplines. But that works both ways. Might as well say "singles skaters can't dance."
Myth #4: Synchro skating ruins your technique
Like ice dance, synchro skating uses different techniques, not "bad" technique. Synchro skating, far from depleting the world of strong singles skaters, is the single most important discipline in skating right now because of the number of kids who now stay in skating so that they can be on the synchro team. Kids that used to quit in high school are now sticking with the sport. In fact, write to the NCAA right now and demand that Synchro be added as an NCAA sport!
Myth #5: Skaters are cliquish and mean
This one actually has a basis in truth, but not because of the skating. It's because middle school girls in general can be cliquish and mean. In fact, skaters, because of the independence and physical discipline required of the sport, tend to be more emotionally mature than their peers. I actually use this myth in teaching, because of a remark my daughter once made, when she said the good skaters looked so snotty. This is because when they skate, they have their noses in the air-- it's not arrogance! It's technique! I now tell kids "let me see 'snotty skater girl' posture!" They all know what I mean.
Myth #6: Figure skating will make my son gay
Just. No. Figure skating, like other artistic disciplines, sometimes attracts gay youth, but trust me, they were there already. Good news is, your gay son won't get married and move away. And he'll go shopping with you.
Myth #7: My coach will make my child starve herself
If your coach is doing weigh-ins and/or checking your child's eating habits, she or he is abusive. It's one thing to note when a child is losing or gaining weight inappropriately. It's fine to instruct a student in healthy eating for athletes and other human beings. Other than insisting on only healthy snacks at the rink, it's entirely wrong for the coach to make eating habits an issue, in the absence of any direct knowledge that the child has bad eating habits. You, as the parent, may concern yourself with the child's eating habits, and I hope you're teaching them how to eat healthy, whole, seasonal foods. But it's your business, not the coach's.
Myth #8: Taking class with a different coach will ruin the primary coach's technique.
Your coach's technique should be strong enough to withstand a once or twice a week class from another perspective. There are lots of different techniques; they all work and the skater should be aware of them all. Knowledge of other techniques does not "ruin" a skater; in terms of life lessons, it's a powerful one to learn that people who respect and get along with each other can disagree.
UPDATE Myth #9: If the skater does not have all the double jumps by the age of 10, it's too late to be competitive.
There are lots and lots of successful skaters who did not start until age 9 or later. Dorothy Hamill started at 9. Kurt Browning started at 13*, and he's Canadian! (How did his parents avoid jail time!) The correlating myth is that there is a specific level a skater "should" be at by a certain age. If your coach is telling you that your skater is behind simply because "at her age she should be in Free style already" or "all my students have an axel by age 7" well, that's about the coach not about the child.
*UPDATE/CORRECTION A reader did some research and learned the Kurt Browning had won some competition at age 11, so he couldn't have started skating when he was 13. He did hockey too, so he wasn't exclusively a figure skater until he was 15 or 16. The source of my information was an old bio-pic on him, but I did not confirm my memory of the statement.
UPDATE (thanks to reader Gordon) Myth #10 I can't skate, I have weak ankles Yeah? How's that walking thing working out for you?
Myth #1: Skating is expensive.
Training for Nationals is expensive. Skating is one of the cheapest entertainments around. Park district skating classes are no more expensive than any other park district classes. Skates, even decent skates, cost less than a bicycle new, and can be extremely cheap used. It's easy to find kid's gently used skates. (More on buying skates.)
Myth #2: If my child start privates, it means I think s/he's going to the Olympics
I've said it before: no one avoids music lessons because the kid isn't destined for Carnegie Hall. No one thinks you believe your kid is ready for Manchester United just because you sign up for soccer. Like anything else, you can skim the surface or dig in deep. Skating lessons are not a lifetime commitment to second mortgages.
Myth #3: Ice dancers can't jump/ice dance lessons detract from "real" skating
Let's explode this one. Ice dance is one of the best ways to learn power and body alignment. Ice dance is not full of skaters who bombed at singles; it is full of skaters who wanted the greater emotional and artistic range tolerated in the discipline. Many ice dancers, my own daughter included, have the full range of double and even triple jumps. Yes, when you get to the higher levels you stop training the other disciplines. But that works both ways. Might as well say "singles skaters can't dance."
Myth #4: Synchro skating ruins your technique
Like ice dance, synchro skating uses different techniques, not "bad" technique. Synchro skating, far from depleting the world of strong singles skaters, is the single most important discipline in skating right now because of the number of kids who now stay in skating so that they can be on the synchro team. Kids that used to quit in high school are now sticking with the sport. In fact, write to the NCAA right now and demand that Synchro be added as an NCAA sport!
Myth #5: Skaters are cliquish and mean
This one actually has a basis in truth, but not because of the skating. It's because middle school girls in general can be cliquish and mean. In fact, skaters, because of the independence and physical discipline required of the sport, tend to be more emotionally mature than their peers. I actually use this myth in teaching, because of a remark my daughter once made, when she said the good skaters looked so snotty. This is because when they skate, they have their noses in the air-- it's not arrogance! It's technique! I now tell kids "let me see 'snotty skater girl' posture!" They all know what I mean.
Myth #6: Figure skating will make my son gay
Just. No. Figure skating, like other artistic disciplines, sometimes attracts gay youth, but trust me, they were there already. Good news is, your gay son won't get married and move away. And he'll go shopping with you.
Myth #7: My coach will make my child starve herself
If your coach is doing weigh-ins and/or checking your child's eating habits, she or he is abusive. It's one thing to note when a child is losing or gaining weight inappropriately. It's fine to instruct a student in healthy eating for athletes and other human beings. Other than insisting on only healthy snacks at the rink, it's entirely wrong for the coach to make eating habits an issue, in the absence of any direct knowledge that the child has bad eating habits. You, as the parent, may concern yourself with the child's eating habits, and I hope you're teaching them how to eat healthy, whole, seasonal foods. But it's your business, not the coach's.
Myth #8: Taking class with a different coach will ruin the primary coach's technique.
Your coach's technique should be strong enough to withstand a once or twice a week class from another perspective. There are lots of different techniques; they all work and the skater should be aware of them all. Knowledge of other techniques does not "ruin" a skater; in terms of life lessons, it's a powerful one to learn that people who respect and get along with each other can disagree.
UPDATE Myth #9: If the skater does not have all the double jumps by the age of 10, it's too late to be competitive.
There are lots and lots of successful skaters who did not start until age 9 or later. Dorothy Hamill started at 9. Kurt Browning started at 13*, and he's Canadian! (How did his parents avoid jail time!) The correlating myth is that there is a specific level a skater "should" be at by a certain age. If your coach is telling you that your skater is behind simply because "at her age she should be in Free style already" or "all my students have an axel by age 7" well, that's about the coach not about the child.
*UPDATE/CORRECTION A reader did some research and learned the Kurt Browning had won some competition at age 11, so he couldn't have started skating when he was 13. He did hockey too, so he wasn't exclusively a figure skater until he was 15 or 16. The source of my information was an old bio-pic on him, but I did not confirm my memory of the statement.
UPDATE (thanks to reader Gordon) Myth #10 I can't skate, I have weak ankles Yeah? How's that walking thing working out for you?
What are some myths that you want exploded?
Feb 17, 2010
A tutorial
As always, every four years, everyone's talking about figure skating. I won't even dignify the "it can't be a sport because sequins" haterz. Icemom said it pretty well already anyway.
This is the first games I've watched with the world, so to speak, via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Skype and the SM links on the Olympic site. And it was quite a revelation. I spend my days around figure skaters, former figure skaters, parents of figure skaters and people who work at skating rinks.
We all know a LOT about figure skating.
What I didn't know is that other figure skating fans don't know a lot about figure skating. I always figured that if you're a fan you know the difference between a lutz, a loop, a toe loop and a flip. I figured you could tell when a spin is slow, or when a skater has superior edge quality.
But if Twitter is any guide, this is not the case. People are utterly mystified by the scoring because they really don't think of it as sport-- they think of it as art, and everyone knows, as the old joke says that with art, you don't have to understand it, you just have to know what you like. And people LIKE Patrick Chan. They liked some of the also-rans who scored low.
So here's a quick tutorial on the FAQs from last night. You can really train yourself to spot these subtleties, and it will help you understand that, yes, it's a sport.
Jumps
There are 8 basic jumps, in order of difficulty- Salchow, Toe Walley, Toe Loop, Loop, Walley, Flip, Axel, Lutz. No one does walleys anymore, and I haven't seen a toe walley in decades, so don't worry about them. Skaters love it when performers do walleys, and the announcers will go crazy if someone does one.
Edge jumps lift off the gliding edge. Toe jumps use the toe of the free leg as a vault. On an inside edge the skater's upper body will be facing into the circle he or she is on. On an outside edge the skaters body will be facing out of the circle he's on.
All jumps described for clockwise skaters (only 1 in 15 or so skaters are ccw, Johnny Weir being one). For CCW, same edge, other foot.
Salchow is an edge jump off a left back inside edge. Toe Loop: toe assisted jump off right back outside edge (RBO). Loop, edge jump RBO. Flip, toe assisted LBInside. A footwork sequence into a flip is a required element in singles skating. Actual back flips ala Michael Weiss, Surya Bonaly and Scott Hamilton are illegal (and I once saw someone faceplant out of a back flip, so I'm with them on this one). Axel, edge jump with forward take off, LFO edge (everyone recognizes this one because of the dramatic forward launch). Lutz, toe assist, LBO. Lutz is a "counter jump," that is it changes rotational direction at the launch. The edge traces a clockwise circle, but the jump rotates CCW. Lutz is the jump with the long entry edge.
It matters if the skater takes off on the correct edge, because it changes the difficulty of the jump. It matters if the jump is underrotated. It's not a triple if it doesn't go around 3 times, just like a touchdown doesn't count if it doesn't cross the goal line, no matter how long the run or the pass was, or how elegant the player.
If you get good at watching, you can tell what jump is coming up by the skater's body language and positions. One of the wonderful things about YuNa Kim is that you cannot tell what jump she is going to do, in fact sometimes you can't even tell that she is setting up for a jump. Kwan had this ability as well; it's one of the things that makes their skating look so "easy."
A jump combination is two or more jumps in a row with no connecting steps. A jump sequence is any number of jumps with connecting steps between any of them. The little half and whole rotation hops that skaters do don't get points for jumping, but are counted as footwork and transition.
Edge quality
Edge quality refers to the skater's control of their blade. Someone with good edge quality skates with minimal snowy curves, no ankle wobble, and steady-as-a-rock upper body. You can really see this on the ladies' spiral sequences. Good edge quality also gives you clean turns and steps (no scraping sound). Edge quality is the defining skill of a high level skater. You don't get the big jumps without the edge quality. As I like to tell my little skaters, my 90-year-old granny can jump, but she can't hold a back outside edge all the way around a face-off circle on a single push.
Quickie on spins
There are three basic spin positions: upright, camel, sit. Upright inludes those leg stretchers, and Biellmans (the upright backbend). That hideous spin where the skater bends at the waist FORWARDS and grabs a foot (butt is now sticking up in the air) is actually an upright spin, as is a layback. The camel is the one in the arabesque position. Skaters wave their arms around and keep changing the g*ddam position because the scoring system gives them points for multiple "features" i.e. waving their arms around and changing positions.
The other disciplines
Pairs skating is mostly singles skills with the addition of lifts, which makes you wonder why so many failed singles skaters switch to pairs. Man, if you can't do the singles, you're not going suddenly be a genius at pairs.
Ice dance focuses on partnering and edge quality, and believe it or not is the most demanding from a training standpoint, because dancers have to master four programs a year-- 2 compulsories, a short program (the Original Dance) and a long program (the Free Dance). The ISU chooses which compulsories will be skated; everyone trains the same ones. Don't get me started on how Code of Points has ruined ice dancing, we'll be here all night.
Twitters' a blast-- come follow me and all my "tweeps" during all the skating. If you're really into it, you can watch the skaters that NBC doesn't care about, or that they're apparently blocking on the west coast, on Bulgarian National TV, here, in real time.
This is the first games I've watched with the world, so to speak, via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Skype and the SM links on the Olympic site. And it was quite a revelation. I spend my days around figure skaters, former figure skaters, parents of figure skaters and people who work at skating rinks.
We all know a LOT about figure skating.
What I didn't know is that other figure skating fans don't know a lot about figure skating. I always figured that if you're a fan you know the difference between a lutz, a loop, a toe loop and a flip. I figured you could tell when a spin is slow, or when a skater has superior edge quality.
But if Twitter is any guide, this is not the case. People are utterly mystified by the scoring because they really don't think of it as sport-- they think of it as art, and everyone knows, as the old joke says that with art, you don't have to understand it, you just have to know what you like. And people LIKE Patrick Chan. They liked some of the also-rans who scored low.
So here's a quick tutorial on the FAQs from last night. You can really train yourself to spot these subtleties, and it will help you understand that, yes, it's a sport.
Jumps
There are 8 basic jumps, in order of difficulty- Salchow, Toe Walley, Toe Loop, Loop, Walley, Flip, Axel, Lutz. No one does walleys anymore, and I haven't seen a toe walley in decades, so don't worry about them. Skaters love it when performers do walleys, and the announcers will go crazy if someone does one.
Edge jumps lift off the gliding edge. Toe jumps use the toe of the free leg as a vault. On an inside edge the skater's upper body will be facing into the circle he or she is on. On an outside edge the skaters body will be facing out of the circle he's on.
All jumps described for clockwise skaters (only 1 in 15 or so skaters are ccw, Johnny Weir being one). For CCW, same edge, other foot.
Salchow is an edge jump off a left back inside edge. Toe Loop: toe assisted jump off right back outside edge (RBO). Loop, edge jump RBO. Flip, toe assisted LBInside. A footwork sequence into a flip is a required element in singles skating. Actual back flips ala Michael Weiss, Surya Bonaly and Scott Hamilton are illegal (and I once saw someone faceplant out of a back flip, so I'm with them on this one). Axel, edge jump with forward take off, LFO edge (everyone recognizes this one because of the dramatic forward launch). Lutz, toe assist, LBO. Lutz is a "counter jump," that is it changes rotational direction at the launch. The edge traces a clockwise circle, but the jump rotates CCW. Lutz is the jump with the long entry edge.
It matters if the skater takes off on the correct edge, because it changes the difficulty of the jump. It matters if the jump is underrotated. It's not a triple if it doesn't go around 3 times, just like a touchdown doesn't count if it doesn't cross the goal line, no matter how long the run or the pass was, or how elegant the player.
If you get good at watching, you can tell what jump is coming up by the skater's body language and positions. One of the wonderful things about YuNa Kim is that you cannot tell what jump she is going to do, in fact sometimes you can't even tell that she is setting up for a jump. Kwan had this ability as well; it's one of the things that makes their skating look so "easy."
A jump combination is two or more jumps in a row with no connecting steps. A jump sequence is any number of jumps with connecting steps between any of them. The little half and whole rotation hops that skaters do don't get points for jumping, but are counted as footwork and transition.
Edge quality
Edge quality refers to the skater's control of their blade. Someone with good edge quality skates with minimal snowy curves, no ankle wobble, and steady-as-a-rock upper body. You can really see this on the ladies' spiral sequences. Good edge quality also gives you clean turns and steps (no scraping sound). Edge quality is the defining skill of a high level skater. You don't get the big jumps without the edge quality. As I like to tell my little skaters, my 90-year-old granny can jump, but she can't hold a back outside edge all the way around a face-off circle on a single push.
Quickie on spins
There are three basic spin positions: upright, camel, sit. Upright inludes those leg stretchers, and Biellmans (the upright backbend). That hideous spin where the skater bends at the waist FORWARDS and grabs a foot (butt is now sticking up in the air) is actually an upright spin, as is a layback. The camel is the one in the arabesque position. Skaters wave their arms around and keep changing the g*ddam position because the scoring system gives them points for multiple "features" i.e. waving their arms around and changing positions.
The other disciplines
Pairs skating is mostly singles skills with the addition of lifts, which makes you wonder why so many failed singles skaters switch to pairs. Man, if you can't do the singles, you're not going suddenly be a genius at pairs.
Ice dance focuses on partnering and edge quality, and believe it or not is the most demanding from a training standpoint, because dancers have to master four programs a year-- 2 compulsories, a short program (the Original Dance) and a long program (the Free Dance). The ISU chooses which compulsories will be skated; everyone trains the same ones. Don't get me started on how Code of Points has ruined ice dancing, we'll be here all night.
Twitters' a blast-- come follow me and all my "tweeps" during all the skating. If you're really into it, you can watch the skaters that NBC doesn't care about, or that they're apparently blocking on the west coast, on Bulgarian National TV, here, in real time.
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