Charyl Brusch
Charyl Brusch has been coaching for over 30 years in Northern California. Charyl is one of the most respected spin specialists on the West Coast of the United States. She has been specializing in spins since the late 1990’s. Charyl is very willing to share her knowledge and she has presented at a number of skating seminars including the 2009 PSA World Conference in Orlando, Florida. Charyl works with skaters at all levels, from beginners to national and international competitors. She is also a Regional Technical Specialist.
Charyl began specializing in spin coaching at the recommendation of Scott Brown. Scott and Charyl taught together in Dublin, California and Charyl initially focused on spins with Scott’s students. At this time, Charyl works with the students of about 25 to 30 coaches in the Bay Area, helping them to increase the quality, consistency, and speed of their spins. Charyl is currently working regularly with approximately 80 skaters on their spins. Charyl also has a number of her own skaters and she continues to teach all other aspects of figure skating as well.
Charyl grew up skating in Southern California and she was trained by Barbara Roles and Ronnie Robertson. (Ronnie Roberson was one of the greatest spinners of all time and had the title of “the fastest spinner in the world.” Ronnie was actually studied by NASA for Vertigo.) Charyl skated professionally with Ice Capades and performed in “Nutcracker on Ice” at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, as well as in several local shows in the San Francisco Bay area. She also skated in several Charles Schulz shows in Santa Rosa, California.
Most recent videos at the top…
In this short video, figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch begins a spin lesson with an advanced skater. All of the spins in this video are relatively basic spins which this skater has already mastered so we don’t get too… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a lesson with a skater, focusing on the camel sit position change. Prior to this, Charyl worked on this skater’s camel spin and sit spin independently. On the first attempt for the camel… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a basic camel spin lesson. The skater already has some experience with the camel spin, and the issues covered are very common for skaters trying to master this foundational spin. This skater drags… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works through some basic spins with a skater. After the first forward upright spin Charyl tells the skater, “You’re sticking your booty out just a little bit.” This is a fairly common error, where… Continue reading
In this very short video, figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch has a very young male skater demonstrate some spins for the camera. This video is valuable from a coaching perspective, as Charyl shows an honesty that many coaches shy… Continue reading
In this very short video, figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a lesson with tips on the bullet sit spin (also called cannonball or Fratianne) and overhead arms in upright spins. (See Part 1 of this lesson here.) To… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a lesson on forward and backward upright spins. On the forward upright scratch spin, this skater has unusual arm positions and movement so Charyl makes her aware of it. Some skaters use their… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her lesson working with a skater on a relatively new camel spin. See the initial part of this camel spin lesson here. In this video, the initial focus is on the camel catch… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater on a relatively new camel spin. After watching an initial camel attempt, Charyl has this skater do a forward spiral down the ice to work the camel position. She mentions… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson, covering camel spin, introduction to layback, and combination spins with camel and layback (and sit spin). This is a continuation of this lesson. Starting with camel, Charyl focuses on keeping… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a sit spin lesson covering the pancake, bullet (or shotgun), basic sit, and back sit (from sit change sit). They begin with the pancake and Charyl wants the skater to maintain a… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a lesson with a young skater. In the previous part of this lesson, the focus was on the forward upright scratch spin, while this video focuses on the forward sit spin. As discussed… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater on improving a forward upright scratch spin. Charyl addresses several important points throughout the video, including entrance step direction, head position during the spin, free foot movement, and overall alignment… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a young skater on the beginner backspin. This short video is a continuation of a beginner spin video focused on basic forward upright scratch spin, sit spin, and camel spin (see Part… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a young skater on basic spins, including the basic forward upright scratch spin, sit spin, and camel spin. Charyl notes that, “It took forever to get this one to spin, but… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here) and Part 3 here) by introducing a back camel and back sit spin. In the previous parts of the lesson, this skater… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here) with emphasis on an upright attitude position as well as the hair cutter position. In the previous parts of the lesson, this… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson (see Part 1 here) with emphasis on a sit back position or mushroom and the basic camel spin. In the previous part of the lesson, this skater worked on the… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a spin lesson, focusing on upright scratch spin and sit spin. For very calm and gentle skaters, coaches often struggle to get strong pushes and aggressive edges. The primary solution is to keep… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater who has learned the basics of a sit spin and a camel spin but is working on improving them. (The previous part of this lesson focused on the backspin.)… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater who has learned the basics of a backspin but is focusing on improving it. The errors seen at this level are nearly universal, with common struggles being rocking on the… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a spin lesson, covering one sit forward variation she calls the bullet and one sit back variation she calls the mushroom. This video is the final part of this lesson, and the previous… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a spin lesson, covering a combination spin and the pancake. The combo spin is a camel sit change sit, and the focus is on improving the sit and back sit positions. For sit… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a skater a lesson on the layback spin. Charyl shares a lot of information in this video, and coaches can see how she explains it to a skater and what exercises she uses… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares some helpful tips for skaters working on sit-change sit combo spins. She begins by focusing on free leg positions and movement of the arms during the entry to maximize rotational energy for the initial… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares some helpful upright spin tips during a spin lesson. The lesson starts with a forward upright spin, and the skater is not waiting long enough on the entrance edge so the spin is traveling. Charyl… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson with a young skater. In the first video from this lesson, Charyl covered upright spins and sit spins and in the second video she focused on the forward camel spin and a… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson with a young skater. In the previous videos from this lesson, Charyl covered upright spins and sit spins. In this video, the focus is on the basic forward camel spin and a… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a spin lesson with a young skater. In the previous part of the lesson, Charyl focused on the upright forward and back spins. In this part of the lesson, Charyl starts with the sit spin.… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives one of her skaters a lesson on improving a forward upright scratch spin as well as a backspin. This kind of lesson is important because once a skater develops some competence with these spins, the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her thorough discussion of the sit spin. In Part 1 she talked at length about important fundamentals of the sit spin. In this video she shares tons of tips and insights and problem solutions. Charyl… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares important details and tips for the sit spin. This is a great summary of common teaching errors, and how Charyl thinks about this spin. The sit spin is still often taught to skaters with the… Continue reading
In this short video, spin specialist Charyl Brusch talks about a variety of toe concepts for spins. She begins the video by addressing where to step into a backspin from a forward spin and noting that she does not typically… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch offers a short discussion on dizziness and spinning. As Charyl notes, basically EVERYONE gets dizzy while spinning. So the goal isn’t to try not to get dizzy, but figure out ways to deal with it after… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. This is a continuation of the previous video in the series on the camel spin (Part 4). In the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. In the previous 3 videos of the series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) Charyl covered general helpful tips… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. She offers many tips for working with adult skaters to help them improve their spins. See Part 1 here… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. She offers many tips for working with adult skaters to help them improve their spins. See Part 1 here.… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch begins a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. She offers many tips for working with adult skaters to help them improve their spins. Charyl notes that in… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch discusses the strategy and processes she uses to help her skaters develop spins to maximize IJS points in competition. This process focuses on quality over quantity, and Charyl builds upon the inherent strengths the skater already… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches the upright spin variation called the Y-spin (sometimes also called the “heel stretch spin”). This video contains tons of important observations and insights to help anyone working on this upright… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains and demonstrates how she would teach a front layover camel to a proficient spinner. Obviously, skaters need a consistent front camel spin before they can really work on this. Charyl describes an initial… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares how she teaches a change edge camel spin. This is a forward camel spin (blade skating backward, technically on an inside edge) that switches edge and skating direction (blade skating forward, technically on… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains and demonstrates the process of teaching a Hamill camel to a skater who can already spin well. The move was popularized by 1976 Olympic Champion Dorothy Hamill and it’s not so much a… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch teaches an illusion. The illusion falls under the “windmill” type spin in IJS language and is performed as part of a backspin. (A similar-looking spin done using the forward spin is called “bounces.”) Charyl… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her presentation on the butterfly spin entrance. This video clarifies some of the concepts covered in Part 1. Charyl discusses leg fanning, second leg timing (starts up before second leg drops), a strong back, the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a step-by-step process for teaching and learning a butterfly. The butterfly is a relatively complicated skill to learn, so it’s hugely beneficial to see a presentation like this. The demonstrator in the video knows the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch offers insights regarding the side layback, and how to properly transition to the square or back layback position. She has the help of two talented advanced level skaters so we can observe how different skaters create… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches the upright straight spin. This spin goes by many names including the heel stretch, Y-spin, and shotgun. This is an advanced spin requiring significant flexibility. As Charyl explains, the key… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a skater a lesson on death drops and flying camels. Although this skater is challenged by these skills, this video offers insights into some of the drills Charyl uses to correct these problems. … Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater on her layback and layback variations (side layback spin, haircutter spin, and Biellmann spin). Notice how even with an advanced spinner, Charyl has the skater warm-up the back at the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a spin lesson to a skater with advanced spinning skills. Notice how even with her advanced skaters, Charyl starts the lesson with a basic upright back spin and works toward improvements (in this case,… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with a skater on her attitude spin. The attitude spin is a foundational spin that provides some basics to be used later when a skater learns a layback. The attitude spin is… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues with a spin lesson for one of her skaters. In the first part of this lesson, Charyl covered the forward upright scratch spin, the back upright scratch spin, and the forward sit spin.… Continue reading
In this video, spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a spin lesson to one of her skaters. The value in watching this video comes from seeing the errors (which are common) and the corrections and discussion. At the beginning… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives one of her skaters a spin lesson. Sometimes it can be helpful for coaches and skaters to see how other coaches give lessons. Some of the information in these kinds of lessons is… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives one of her skaters a layhback spin lesson, which includes the skater’s first attempts at a Beillmann spin. Throughout the video, Charyl shares tips and tricks for laybacks, side laybacks, the haircutter variation, and… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares her thoughts about common problems that adult skaters face when learning the sit spin. Because most adult skaters don’t want to fall, they often round their back, sit too far back, and have their… Continue reading
In this short video, spin specialist Charyl Brusch offers some insights and tips for the sit spin variation commonly known as the mushroom or “sit back.” This video is basically a continuation of the Charyl’s pancake video. She… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch offers some insights and tips for the sit spin variation commonly known as the pancake. She begins by helping the skater get into the position while providing support. Notice the detail of grabbing the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares some fantastic tips for doing the sit spin variation with the leg in front and the body forward and down. This sit spin is known by many names including the bullet spin, the cannonball… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch teaches a back sit with a body core change. Beginning at a standstill on two feet, Charyl has the skater work on the position which requires a strong forward body lean, placing the chest on… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she introduces the cross-foot spin. As she describes, the cross foot spin is a spin on two feet with the feet crossed. Just like any two foot spin, one foot is spinning… Continue reading
This is yet another fantastic video from spin specialist Charyl Brusch In this video, Charyl discusses the theory and technical details of doing change foot spins, from the front spin to the back spin. The specific spin under… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a lesson on the flying back sit spin from a forward inside edge take-off to a skater who has never attempted one. This spin entry has only recently become somewhat popular as… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives a lesson on the flying reverse sit spin to a skater who has never attempted one. The flying reverse sit spin is sometimes called an axel sit spin. It is characterized… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion of the flying sit spin. In this video, she works with another skater and shares additional insights to help those teaching and learning this advanced figure skating spin. Here… Continue reading
In this figure skating spin video, spin specialist Charyl Brusch teaches a flying sit spin from the ground up. To start the lesson, Charyl has the skater perform an upright flying spin from a standstill. This approach ensures… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shares a ton of information about how to do and teach the challenging backspin. Typically the backspin is an element that takes a long time to develop. Charyl notes that she often starts with… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a butterfly. This discussion contains further details from Charyl on this spin as she already discussed the butterfly here. The butterfly is often confused with an Arabian. Charyl explains… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch answers a broad array of questions regarding the death drop flying spin. This video is a continuation of Charyl’s previous video on introducing the death drop. The death drop has become one of the most… Continue reading
Figure skating spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a broken leg sit spin. This sit spin has gained new popularity recently with the recent rule changes that give credit for a “sit side difficult variation.” The… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how to create a layover camel from a standard back camel position (from various entries including flying camel). She explains in detail the transition and movements needed by the skater. She notes, “Ahhh! It’s scary.”… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she teaches a flying camel. In her introduction to the flying camel, she worked directly with a skater on the basics of learning the spin. In the second video… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she teaches a flying camel. In her introduction to the flying camel, she worked directly with a skater on the basics of learning the spin. In the second video… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she teaches a flying camel. In the previous video in this series, she worked directly with a skater on the basics of learning the spin.… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she teaches a flying camel by working with a skater and discussing common problems and their solutions. There’s actually a huge amount of information in this… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how to change feet in a spin, from a backspin to a regular “front” spin. Charyl shows how to do this without changing centers or traveling. The basic concept is to… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch offers some troubleshooting tips for layback spin problems. This is the third video in the layback series from Charyl. In the first part, Charyl simply had the skater do various attitude… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion of the layback spin. See how she initially introduces the layback in the first part of this series. In the first part, Charyl simply had the skater… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch shows how she initially introduces the layback spin. Charyl starts with an attitude spin where they go in like a scratch spin, put their skating hand on their skating hip, and the free… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch gives an excellent presentation on the death drop. When introducing the death drop, Charyl starts with a drill she calls the “kick turn.” Notice the drawing on the ice to encourage the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a flying camel. She always has the skater start on the wall in a T-position. The wall drill she shows is a pretty common way of introducing the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she introduces the butterfly spin entrance. Many coaches don’t teach this spin entrance at all as it is challenging to get the correct positions and timing. Charyl and her demonstrators do a… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion of the camel spin. For skaters having trouble with the basic position, Charyl likes to use back spirals to work on the position. She wants them to do the back spiral… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches the camel spin. She starts by talking about the desired spinning position. One of the keys to a good camel spin is having the free hip on top of the… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch works with several skaters on the back sit spin. At the beginning of the video, Charyl discusses the issues associated with the common problem of spinning the back sit on the wrong edge (forward inside).… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion of the sit spin. In the previous sit spin video, Charyl explained her philosophy on sit spin and how she teaches it. In this video, Charyl shares some drills for developing… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a sit spin. Right from the beginning, Charyl focuses on the position and she uses a 4 step process: press down on the hands, stick out the butt, press on… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch finishes her discussion of the back spin. Previous videos in this series were Backspin Part 1, Backspin Part 2, and Backspin Part 3). This short video has a couple demonstrations and Charyl’s comments regarding… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she introduces the back spin (Backspin Part 1 and Backspin Part 2). This video contains some additional information about the backspin and it also covers the overhead arm position on… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her explanation of how she introduces the back spin (Backspin Part 1). This video is packed with valuable information. In this video, Charyl introduces the forward inside edge entrance to the backspin. As she… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she introduces the back spin. Charyl notes that initially a backspin is more difficult to learn than the forward spin, but over time they become easier than the forward spin to the vast… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion of the forward inside three turn entrance to forward spins. She introduces a new demonstrator who attempts. Charyl provides helpful feedback that we can all learn from. The value… Continue reading
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch discusses the forward inside three turn entrance to forward spins. She explains that she teaches it in a fairly straight line and has the skater do the three turn “out of the circle” and… Continue reading
Spin coach Charyl Brusch begins this video by covering the back crossover entrance to a forward scratch spin.
In this short video, spin specialist Charyl Brusch builds on her previous videos and discusses centering of a forward scratch spin.
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a forward scratch spin from a one-foot spin.
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her discussion on centering spins.
Spin specialist Charyl Brusch explains how she works on centering spins with her students.
Charyl Brusch explains how she teaches a beginner how to spin. Initially she starts with a forward pivot with the left arm in front into a two foot spin.
Charyl Brusch introduces herself and offers some basic insights about spinning.
