Flying Sit Spin Development, Figure Skating Spins

Flying Sit Spin Development, Figure Skating Spins – Part 2 (Kori Ade)

Kori Ade continues her demonstration of how she introduces the flying sit spin. In the previous video, Kori used one-foot waltz jumps, one-foot waltz jumps with a tuck and a walk-through exercise into a back shoot-the-duck to prepare the skater for the flying sit.

In this video, Kori begins by working on the arm movements. Notice that Kori teaches the arms out and symmetric. (Some coaches teach both arms over the free leg for flying sit, although that makes the take-off somewhat less stable.) She does not want the arms to come forward and she explains why in the video. Next she ads the tuck to the arm exercise (very clever).

To actually try the first flying sit, she has the skater start from a standstill. Notice the space between the legs. The wide leg position in the air helps keep the free side up and assists with overall stability and balance, prevents excessive rotational speed in the air (which makes landing much more difficult), and allows the skater to snap in tight to accelerate the rotation when they come down onto the ice. Kori adds a forward outside three turn entrance prior to the entry edge. She uses this as a way to add some speed and energy without adding too much. This entry also helps many skaters with their alignment prior to stepping into the spin.

At the end Kori discusses the common error of dropping the free hip. She shares an exercise based on rond de jambe kicks that helps the skater “feel the whole circle of her leg staying lifted.” She also uses “around the world spirals” to develop strength, flexibility, and range of motion. Both are demonstrated nicely in the video.