National level coach Jackie Brenner discusses the idea of “floating” jumps as part of the development process when adding another rotation to a jump (typically doubles to triples, and single to double axel). After introducing herself and her skater, Jackie clarifies the issue. She says, “What happens sometimes when we go from double to triple development, or into double axel, the athlete starts to rotate too tight in the rotational position and they kind of lose track of themselves.”
As as description of the desired mechanics, she says, “We’re thinking about taking an elevator from the second floor to the fourth floor and then we float to the lobby. So there’s almost three lifts to every jump. The take-off, the conversion or air position, and right before we land.” A number of other coaches refer to these as the first up, the second up, and the third up. After the skater performs a single axel, Jackie discusses some of the things she’s looking for (strength and quickness). She wants the skater to be relaxed on the approach and have a “quiet” upper body. She tells the skater to increase the entry speed, adjust the pattern, have more explosive lift and conversion to rotation, and skate away strongly from the landing. She notes, “If the athlete can remember one of those things that would be fantastic.”
Getting more into the floating concept, Jackie says, “I remember when I was a young athlete my coaches would talk about ‘know where you are by the top of the jump.'” She explains that skaters should know what the top of the jump feels like. For the next attempt she asks for more entry speed (to help with jump height) and she notes, “I think it’s really important to have the athlete do correct repetition and give them an opportunity to work through the correction as well.”
The next attempt by the skater is mistimed and Jackie explains the value in such errors. Jackie then says something very important. She explains, “We always want to think about your lower body driving into your upper body.” To help attain this, Jackie prefers quiet arms where the arms stop at roughly the height of the bottom of the rib cage. She feels bigger arm movements are unnecessary and are more likely to be out of control with the adrenaline of competition.
The skater continues to pull in a bit too tight, but this is a normal part of the process of learning the double axel. Jackie says, “It’s really important to work the single and the double and keep them quite separate.” She tells the skater, “You don’t have to work that hard in the air. You can float.”
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