International coach and jump specialist Chris Conte continues a short series of videos on important concepts and drills for developing jump landings. In Part 1 Chris introduced important foundational ideas and talked about single jump landings, including free leg placement and alignment over the landing hip. In Part 2 he discussed landings for waltz jumps and other single jumps (not including axel). In this video he begins addressing landings for multi-rotation jumps.
Chris shares a new drill which he explains is an update to his “snizzles” idea that was part of his Russian Twist series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) and his Jump Development Exercises series (links to all 11 parts here) on iCoachSkating. The drill consists of a forward inside three turn while dragging the free foot on the entry but lifting it in front during the turn. The basic drill has one full rotation, starting forward on two feet and ending forward on two feet. Notice the arm position Chris uses in this drill. The axis elbow is down while the non-axis elbow is up.
As an aside, Chris takes a moment to talk about the concept of “not checking” a take-off, because some coaches still teach checked take-offs without the axis side coming through. Chris says, “You check before take-off in the setup (for control). During take-off you release the check.” He then notes that the axis side should come through on the drill, even if the shoulders get ahead of the hips. This is not a problem as long as the head stays anchored properly as the skater will naturally “snap back.”
Next Chris has the skater add another half turn to the drill that crosses the legs automatically and sets the skater up backwards to simulate the remaining landing movements into the final stretch position. He notes that this also creates the desired “brace” position. He slows the movement down for us to see how turning into the non-axis leg with the axis leg creates the brace position with the free foot pulling up and back (with the whole axis side). Chris says, “This is something you might hear me do different than some other coaches. As the leg is lifting up and the arm is lifting up in that last half turn check, everything is pulling away from the ice. I want the skater to feel like they’re taller and they’re locking position, not bending.” Chris does not like the idea of bending or squatting for the brace since it compromises the position and strength it will require to resist the vertical impact.
Chris then clarifies that this bracing of the leg is happening in the final moments as the skater is “coming out of the air.” At that moment “the skating (landing) leg is still locked and she’s pulling up and away (from the ice).” He then shares another drill which is just standing on one foot with the feet crossed and then performing a quarter turn while pulling up into the brace position. Chris explains that the upper body will come forward after impact and you can see this quite clearly as the skater demonstrates.
