International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna continues his important and overlooked discussion that good figure skating jumps are actually vaults. In Part 1 he introduced the basic concept of vaulting and explained how a good loop jump vaults up into the air. In Part 2 he described how vaulting happens on most of the major jumps, and especially on the axel. In this video, Nick talks about knee bend in relation to vaulting, as well as how and when to introduce vaulting to a skater.
He begins this video by explaining that a good axel jump does not need a deep knee bend. He says, “If you’re vaulting correctly, the knee bend can be very little.” Obviously this vaulting take-off on axel requires quickness rather than pure strength, and it minimizes squatty axel entrances that are not effective and do not look good.
Coaches have historically demanded a deep knee bend loading phase for skaters going into jumps. A deep knee bend does occur, but as Nick explains and demonstrates, this is not to provide a stronger jump from the bent leg (load/explode) but rather the deep knee bend puts the skater’s body into a position that allows vaulting from the other leg which is typically not very bent. Nick demonstrates this with flip and says, “They’re not doing this knee bend (non-axis knee) to create a bigger jump. They’re doing this knee bend to create a better vault angle.” He continues, “In order to increase that vault angle or the reach of that pole, I have to bend this (non-axis) knee.” He then demonstrates how this applies to the loop jump and the salchow.
Nick says, “I feel this vaulting concept is so important that I actually think we should stop calling jumps ‘jumps’ and start calling them ‘vaults.’ We are vaulting more than we are just bending and jumping. These are vaults we’re doing, they’re not just standstill jumps.” Nick notes that off-ice jumping is typically not vaulting, and is therefore “typically used not for height… it’s not even used for take-offs. It’s used for quickness of rotation and alignment so you can get the proper air position.”
Next, Nick talks about when to introduce the vaulting concept to skaters. He explains that beginners are not ready to think about vaulting, so he teaches the jumps in a standard way of controlling the edges and pick placements and jumping from that. For beginners he says, “I do go to typical jumping methodology there, where they’re learning to use the edge properly and they’re bending and they’re jumping up in the air.” Only after a skater has mastered this basic jumping and is going faster into the jumps and has bigger jumps does Nick introduces the concept of vaulting. He says, “If they can do good singles, I start talking to them about vaulting. Usually by that point they understand that if they can do less work it’s beneficial for them. They don’t have to work as hard in their program, they can get more repetitions in without getting tired, and they usually really like it.”
Some other vaulting videos on iCoachSkating:
Good Jumps Are Actually Vaults – Part 1 (Nick Perna)
Good Jumps Are Actually Vaults – Part 2 (Nick Perna)
Loop Jump Tips – Creating Edge Pressure Properly (Michelle Leigh)
Does Loop Jump Use Pole Vaulting Technique? (Trevor Laak)
Axel Edge Pressure – Part 1 (Nick Perna)
Axel Theory – Pole Vault and Edge Pressure Concepts (Trevor Laak)
Jump Theory: How Elite Skaters Create Lift (Chris Conte)
Salchow Theory – Creating Rotational Energy and Height (Michelle Leigh)
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