2011 US Men’s Champion Ryan Bradley gives a skater a double axel lesson. The lesson begins with a double axel attempt, and after that Ryan immediately observes that the skater needs to get more energy from the legs (more jump height). He wants the skater to load the take-off leg more prior to jumping (quad muscles). To work on more height, Ryan reverts to single axels. After a couple nice singles where the skater uses the knees “more efficiently,” the double axel attempt lacks the same energy.
Ryan then discusses the need to keep the skating shoulder forward and the non-skating shoulder back on the take-off edge. Interestingly, this can sometimes immediately improve axel height as this position helps the skater control the edge, and it also provides more snap as the axis shoulder has “somewhere to go when it’s time to accelerate through.” Combining the deeper knee bend and the fully checked shoulders is helpful to most skaters at this stage of development. After some good attempts, Ryan then discusses getting to a tight rotational position earlier and maintaining this tight position on the way down to the ice. The focus here is especially on the ankles/feet in the air. Ryan says, “Feel those ankles tight to the end.” He also says, “Feel those ankles collect at the top of the jump, on the way to the top.”
Many skaters struggle with alignment on the back outside preparation edge. Ryan wants the skater to keep the body up “nice and tall” and be “fully over the right (axis) foot so that when you switch you can really be over the left (take-off) foot.” On one double attempt Ryan notes that the skater’s left arm (skating side) got stuck. This is a relatively common issue when skaters are trying really hard to keep the skating shoulder forward on the take-off edge. Notice the discussion at the end about alignment, as a common error is dropping the free hip (or popping the skating hip into the circle) on the step forward.
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