Skating skills and moves in the field specialist Karen Olson discusses and demonstrates important insights related to forward outside and inside consecutive spirals. As she notes, this pattern is part of the US Figure Skating Preliminary Moves in the Field test, although the details provided in this video are focused on how to perform and teach consecutive spirals to a beginner skater. Please also see Karen’s other videos (Part 1 and Part 2) introducing her approach to teaching basic forward spirals in a straight line.
Karen begins this video by discussing what typically makes this move challenging for skaters. The assumption is a skater working on this pattern already has mastered the basic spiral position (both off the ice and on the ice in a straight line), so the challenge here stems mostly from issues with core control, bringing the free leg down properly, and correctly initiating each spiral. Karen notes that the rules allow skaters to do the transition from one lobe to another on two feet so she has her skaters do it that way.
Karen says, “The other thing that I like to do on this move is teach skaters about lobes and how lobes always start going straight out from the axis and then come around.” She uses the letter D as an analogy for the lobe, and she discusses the “airplane concept” for spirals she introduced in a previous video.
She also notes that the forward inside spirals are “definitely harder” for most skaters because it’s easy to forget to stretch up before the spiral. To help with this stretch and to provide some tension in the upper body, Karen likes to use skate guards and hula hoops during these spirals to develop these skills. Opposite hand in front can also make controlling the inside spirals easier for many skaters.
As she mentioned earlier, the focus here is on creating strong lobes, as it’s a skill needed at higher levels. One trick is to teach lobes as squares (or rectangles) so skaters learn to skate directly perpendicular to the axis both when leaving the axis and returning to it. Karen says, “I’m teaching them spirals for them to understand how lobes work.”
For timid skaters, use a hula hoop or spend more time mastering the basic spiral position off the ice or at the wall. Having more speed is also helpful in many cases as it’s hard to comfortably glide in spiral position at very slow speeds. Karen emphasizes that it’s a waste of valuable ice time to work on basic spiral position strength or flexibility issues on the ice. These issues are more effectively handled off the ice, either in athletic shoes or in skates with guards on.
One final tip for improved consecutive forward spirals is to encourage skaters to take longer to get into the spiral, which tends to automatically mean they hold the spiral longer when gliding back to the axis. It may not change the total time in the spiral, but it does create a stronger spiral and more confidence to hold it longer when returning to the axis, and judges seem to like it better.
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