Spin specialist Kim Ryan teaches the flying reverse sit spin to a class of advanced skaters. She begins by having the skaters perform the basic movements at the wall. These movements start with a jump and a straight kick through in front, followed by “kick yourself in the butt” with the take-off foot (the tuck) while in the air, and finish with a snap into the back sit spin position. She says, “You’re going to get to the top forward, and then turn on the way down.” She has the skaters in class try it at the wall and common errors are lack of tuck (kick in the butt), jumping out too far, and kicking the axis foot too far to the side.
Next Kim has the class do a “baby walk through” away from the wall with the basic movements and a small hop. She says, “Success in this spin is having tension in your arms forward.” The non-axis arm starts in front and stays there and the axis arm “comes to it.” Both hands should be in front, and “your anchor has to be in your belly button.” A common error is letting the arms fly over the head or be too far to the sides. Kim reminds the class, “A flying reverse sit is a jump first and a spin second. So no crazy arms.” She continues, “No arms, all legs. Edges, kicking, snapping, skating.”
When it’s time to start attempting the actual flying reverse sit spin, Kim has the class start with a very subdued and simple wind-up to avoid getting too twisted. After some initial attempts, Kim addresses the major errors she sees, including letting the non-axis arm open and trying too hard to “spin” the take-off. She prefers jumping from the edge with less focus on spinning, at least until the snap and descent. To reduce the tendency for the non-axis arm to drift or pull into the rotation, Kim has the skaters place their axis arm under the elbow of the non-axis arm. This effectively removes the arms from the spin entrance, fly, and snap. Kim also addresses the tuck error where the landing foot flairs out to the side rather than staying underneath.
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