World and Olympic coach Robert Tebby gives a young skater a lesson on the single loop jump and the loop-loop combination. After having the skater perform a single, Robert suggests getting more h-position (knee up) and more arm drive to help the jump get more height. This can also help fix timing issues.
After the skater becomes comfortable with this, Robert asks for a loop-loop combination jump. Robert notices a loss of alignment and balance in the combo jump and shares a great drill for any combination with the loop as the second or third jump. The drill consists of skating slowly on the take-off/landing leg in an h-position on the back outside edge, then scooping the arms and jumping without any rotation, and landing again on the same backward outside edge. This drill is fantastic for teaching rotational control and alignment, especially during the critical moments of initial ice impact between the jumps.
On one of the attempts, the skater did not like the jump and therefore did not really try to put a solid landing position on it. Robert takes a minute to explain that skaters need to “fake it” by always putting a great landing on a jump. He says, “When you land you’ve got to pretend it was perfect… because if you can kind of fake it a little bit you’ll get some extra marks.” This discussion is often fruitless with young skaters, but it definitely carries more weight when an Olympic coach like Robert says it. He also offers great insights about moving on quickly from mistakes as the mistake itself is in the past and is no longer correctable.
As a final exercise, Robert has the skater perform as many single loop jumps in combination as possible. This is a great exercise for working on alignment and rotational control, and it also helps fix issues where skaters are blocked or not pivoting to forward properly during their take-off. As Robert notes, “more speed, but jump slower. When you jump slower you maintain your balance.”
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