2011 US Men’s Champion Ryan Bradley gives a skater a lesson on double loop. This skater already has a consistent double loop, but she needs to improve it for combination jumps as well as for preparing to triple. Ryan begins with backspins, and the focus is on getting the feet together as this skater is most comfortable with the feet apart, both on the backspin and the double loop. Notice the reminders to avoid raising the shoulders during the backspin and maintain pressure on the front of the blade.
After a single loop attempt, Ryan encourages this skater to jump with more rhythm. It’s hard to create jump power from complete stillness. He also asks for ankle contact on the single, but the skater doesn’t really attempt it here. As he notes, keeping the free hip high can be helpful for keeping the free hip closed which then makes it easier to make ankle contact.
After a successful double loop, Ryan focuses on raising the front arm on the setup to try to keep the upper body more vertical throughout the jump take-off. He says, “You want to keep everything as controlled and level as possible so when you bend and you go add the momentum, things are already set. If you’re [forward] and you go to add the momentum, our natural instinct is to overcompensate.”
Ryan asks the skater’s coach if she has the left arm low and across on purpose and she says she does. Ryan replies that he also does that, but just not to an extreme where it affects the shoulders so much. After another double, he explains the need to keep pressure right over the skating hip throughout the jump set position and take-off movement. Ryan notes at the end that a good double loop has power and quickness without a lot of excess movement.
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