International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna shares a crossfoot drill and insights for good crossfoot spins. This video is a continuation of a presentation Nick where Nick shows drills for helping skaters feel where their body is “on axis” when rotating in the air on jumps, although the information in this video can stand on it’s own.
He begins by demonstrating the crossfoot walk-around drill on the toe picks. He describes it as, “Just have them cross their feet and go up on their toes and walk around.” He acknowledges the difficulty of this drill, especially for adult skaters who tend to be uncomfortable on their toe picks and having their feet crossed. When done correctly, the arms are in tight to the chest (or any efficient rotational jump air position) and the skater turns in place by taking tiny walking steps from one foot (toe pick) to the other. Nick continues, “In order to do that, you have to keep your weight forward, you have to keep your legs straight. If anything gets bent out of shape or you start arching, you’ll lose the position and you won’t be able to complete the full circle.” He also explains how this then helps in the development of the flox air position, where the axis foot if flexed (not pointed) and the axis leg is locked (and the free foot is pointed and locked in place as well).
Next Nick discusses the crossfoot spin, which he notes is an old-school spin that is regaining popularity. Nick uses it because it helps skaters get comfortable with the foot position that has the toes pointed inward slightly for jump air positions. He describes the spin, “You’re going to have the heels apart and the toes touching and your body centered in the middle.” He continues, “Your weight is going to be on the heel of your left (non-axis) foot because it’s skating forward, and the right (axis) foot is going to be on the ball of the foot because it’s moving backwards. If you try to do it on the heels of both feel, the right (axis) heel will tend to catch and it will tend to flip you backward.” It takes practice to learn to make this spin efficient enough to get good speed and total rotations.
Sorry, this content is for members only.Click here to get access.
Already a member? Login below… |
Add to "My Favorites" (Beta testing)
