International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna gives a lesson on double toe loop. He begins by asking for a double toe, but the skater never crosses the feet and lands the jump on two feet facing forward. Nick is reasonably happy with the jump take-off, and has the skater do some walk-throughs to feel how the jump turns over and the feet cross. Notice the focus on doing the actual number of rotations of the desired jump (double toe loop in this case) rather than simply adding a backspin to a jump take-off. He says, the double “is actually harder than a triple on a walk-through because once you get in the d-position it wants to keep spinning.”
Nick also takes a moment to improve the skater’s landing position, getting more over the skating hip and having more forward body pressure which also helps raise the free leg higher. Next, Nick has the skater do a “jump through” which is a very small single followed by a one turn backspin into landing.
When returning to actual double toe loop attempts, the skater again fails to cross the feet or land backwards. Nick asks for a double salchow to see if the skater crosses the feet on that jump, and she does. Before the next double toe loop he says, “Even if you fall on it, see if you can cross the feet” but she again fails to cross.
At this point, Nick recognizes this is likely a fear issue, so he suggests trying the double toe loop on the pole harness. On the pole harness, the skater does cross the feet and land backwards, but still notes it is “kinda” scary. Nick asks the skater what is scary about it but she doesn’t know. Nick explains that at this stage it’s really up to the skater to make a commitment to change. He finishes by noting that one of the hardest things for a coach to do is helping a skater get over the fear. And notice his wording as he explains it as the fear of “committing to something” and not actually the fear of falling.
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