Joan Orvis
Joan Orvis is a National and International coach and has been coaching for over 30 years for the Braemar-City of Lakes FSC located near Minneapolis, MN. She is the head pro at Braemar and she’s also the Director of the City of Edina skating classes. Joan is PSA Master Rated in Freestyle and she’s also rated in Figures and Group Teaching.
Joan was a national competitor in singles and pairs and she is a recipient of the Jimmy Disbrow Award. She also skated for Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies and Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies International. She has been the coach of a number of high level competitors including Alex Johnson, the junior men’s bronze medalist at the 2009 US Championships.
Most recent videos at the top…
Joan Orvis continues her explanation of how she introduces the axel jump. Joan uses a common drill that is known by many names such as half-axel, once-around, and bell-jump. Notice the details of how Joan teaches this pre-axel… Continue reading
Joan Orvis explains how she introduces the axel jump. First Joan notes that the basic axel is similar to the basic waltz jump. Then she teaches an exercise on the line “where everything goes left to right” for… Continue reading
Joan Orvis discusses the extremely important aspect of head control on jump take-offs. This video was a result of our off-camera discussions regarding my observation about the head control of her skaters during their jump take-offs. Head control… Continue reading
In this short video Joan Orvis offers some additonal insights regarding the loop jump. This video is a continuation of her earlier video on on loop jump and loop jump details. In this discussion she starts by explaining… Continue reading
Joan Orvis continues her explanation of how she teaches the loop jump. This is a continuation of this loop jump video.
Joan Orvis explains how she teaches the loop jump. Joan begins with the same back outside edge she teaches in figures.
Joan Orvis finishes her four part description of the waltz jump.
Joan Orvis continues her multi-part description of the waltz jump.
Joan Orvis explains how she introduces the waltz jump. Notice the emphasis on the proper use of edges and ankle pressure.
Joan Orvis offers important insights about edges in figure skating. With the move away from school figures in the 1990's, more than a generation of skaters has now grown up without them.
Joan Orvis continues her discussion of school figures by covering double three turns.
Joan Orvis introduces one of the most basic school figures pattern. In this video, she focuses on the forward inside and forward outside edges.
Joan Orvis shares her philosophy of coaching. This is a very personal look into the attitudes and beliefs of a successful coach.
Joan Orvis shows how she introduces the toe loop to young skaters. You'll notice that Joan always starts them at the wall with a "toe loop exercise."
Joan Orvis explains forward outside and inside 3-turns. She starts with the left forward outside 3-turn because many skaters use it for flip and salchow.
Joan Orvis discusses how to generate power and maintain speed. This is a short video but it includes information that is a good reminder to all of us.
Joan Orvis discusses back outside and inside edges. At the beginning she stresses the importance of the back outside edge as it has implications for many jumps.
Joan Orvis discusses some common mistakes that skaters make when learning forward inside and outside edges.
Joan Orvis discusses forward inside and outside edges. Joan makes a great point at the beginning of this video that good jumping cannot happen in skating without good edges.
