World and Olympic coach Robert Tebby teaches a flip jump drill and offers important insights about the flip jump. He references his earlier discussion of the toe loop here. The first critical aspect of the drill is the arms. Robert wants the axis-side arm to start moving early to the front and make connection with the free-side arm at the wrists/hands before or at the same time as the toe pick goes into the ice. The core begins moving/rotating with the axis-side arm. He makes a point of noting that the toe pick goes into the ice as the skater is already lifting up into the jump.
Finally, the drill finishes with a pivot on the toe pick to forward (“a half turn”), and if the skater can control it, a backspin or twizzle to simulate the rotations in the air. In reference to adding the backspin to this walkthrough, Robert says, “That is a bit of a life-threatening moment on the flip and the lutz exercise, but if you’re getting good at it… then go ahead and do the backspin too.”
Robert simplifies the description to “touch, toe, turn” or “wrist touch, toe tap, body turn.” He recommends thinking through the exercise, but when it comes to actually performing the jump a skater should only think of one thing.
[Editor’s note: Many coaches from the United States will be puzzled by Robert’s presentation. In particular, many US coaches are so concerned about “pre-rotation” that they rarely discuss proper axis arm and core timing. Instead they focus on maintaining the check, then reaching back as far as possible and placing the toe pick into the ice and “drawing” the feet together while the arms begin moving. This “old fashioned” method of teaching the jump creates severe problems with timing and it causes the flip to be “heavy” or have excessive downward energy during the picking movement. Instead, the description provided by Robert is much more accurate and produces better results most of the time. Notice how the toe pick goes into the ice almost right under the skater and right next to the gliding foot and the arm timing ensures the jump rotates freely and is not stuck.]
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