International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna continues an axel development class for young skaters at a camp, introducing the early concepts as they relate to waltz jump. A significant percentage of this class is not really ready to work on the axel, but as Nick demonstrates it’s never too soon to teach important concepts that will make axel development dramatically easier down the road. In Part 1, Nick shared important waltz jump tips such as getting under the jump, stepping onto a controlled forward take-off edge while “kicking the butt” with the free shoulder back, and narrow arm movements.
In this video, Nick begins by talking about the desired arm swing in more detail. He says, “I don’t teach the arms bent. I find that when they bend they sometimes go into jug handles or coffee mug handles.” Instead Nick teaches the arms relatively straight, going from touching in front to behind as narrow as possible. To keep the hands narrow and close while in back he thinks of clapping the hands behind the back.
Again Nick emphasizes the importance of keeping “the chest up like someone is reading something on your shirt.” He also reminds the class of keeping the non-axis shoulder back, the head up, and the free leg bent to “kick the butt.” For the next phase he says, “We want to bring our hips under before we bring our leg through.” He describes and demonstrates this concept in detail. To help the class understand, he compares the motion to swinging on a swing set. Additionally, when the leg comes through Nick wants the leg bent with the free foot flexed. He says, “You’ll get a higher jump if you flex the foot as it comes through.”
When troubleshooting waltz jumps for the class, he talks about head anchoring with a number of skaters, highlighting just how important it is to notice and correct at this level. He describes this as “it just wants to stay put.” He encourages these skaters not to “yank the head around.” He continues to monitor the class while offering individual feedback.
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