Figure Skating Flying Spin – Death Drop Details (Charyl Brusch)

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 popular flying spins in recent years thanks to the changes in the rules brought on by the IJS. But many skaters and coaches are still struggling with the death drop as there are many aspects of the spin that are not “natural” to many skaters.

This is a long and detailed video providing clarifications on lots of death drop details:

1. Death drop should fly high (although this aspect of the flying spin has been largely overwhelmed by the IJS need for total revolutions so most skaters compromise height for rotation)

2. Back leg should go over the skater’s head (Charyl demonstrates drill at wall)

3. Body stays up on the entrance so it doesn’t block the free leg from flying upward

4. Free foot kicks ‘up’ (toe pointed up)

5. Both arms start back and come forward over the free leg (not in front of skater’s body)

6. Land with landing arm back and snap into rotation

7. Land on tip of toe

8. Continuous “up-down-turn motion” needed to get into back sit spin without pausing

9. Arm movement is also continuous but skater should use landing side arm for rotation and not free side arm

10. Skater should land with “belly button over the skating foot”

11. Create more rotation in the air using longer entrance edges (hold the arms and leg back longer)

12. Build the death drop gradually to minimize fear (nothing underneath skater in air is scary)

13. Take the time to learn the death drop correctly from the beginning as it will be very hard to fix later

14. Legs need to be relaxed but straight to get a nice scissor action (Charyl recommends pointing toe to straighten leg)

15. A common error is anticipating the landing even before the take-off (solve by keeping body up on take-off)

16. Momentum of the free leg in the air automatically pushes the body down (body is not “dropped” consciously by the skater)

This is a great video and all coaches should review this information. Video evidence of good death drops confirms what Charyl describes in this video.