Coach and choreographer Kate Charbonneau continues a series of videos on the USFS Junior Skating Skills (Moves in the Field) Test. In Part 1 she covered the Forward and Backward Outside Rockers pattern and in Part 2 and Part 2a she discussed the Forward and Backward Inside Rockers pattern. In this video she focuses on the Power Pulls pattern.
Kate begins by having skaters just do plain power pulls on the diagonals, to get used to the speed and flow and end pattern steps. She cautions against adding in the quick turns too early as they often cause the pattern to slow down dramatically. Kate uses a power three turn on the end pattern to help maintain flow. She has one of her skaters show what this stage of the process looks like.
When adding the quick turns in (quick rocker turns), Kate wants her skaters to perform 3 sets of turns on each diagonal, although four is acceptable. Although four sets of turns on each diagonal is what the diagram in the rulebook shows, Kate wants skaters to master this pattern with more power (which is listed as the primary focus for the pattern) until it skates easily with just three. The Senior test diagonal patterns only allow three full sets of turns, and Kate says by stressing only three sets of turns on the Junior test, “To me it’s setting my students up for success, not only to pass the Junior but to really excel at the Senior as well.”
Next Kate shares her approach to the intro steps for these diagonal patterns to maximize speed. She uses a left forward outside three turn “and three really fast crossovers.” She notes that she uses this same entry for the Junior choctaw pattern, the Senior power pulls and sustained edge patterns. Kate then proceeds to demonstrate the full Junior Power Pulls pattern. She explains that ideally a skater has so much power and flow during this pattern that the judges should be “nervous you’re going too fast” in a way that seems like a collision with the wall is possible. She suggests a trick of starting the pattern a bit further up ice (within reason) as a way to ensure this perception.
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