Jump Lesson – Importance of Patterns (Kori Ade)

Olympic coach Kori Ade gives a young skater a lesson aimed at improving the single axel. The lesson begins with a backspin and progresses to a waltz jump and then a single flip. Notice the focus Kori places on using a consistent pattern to enter the jumps. Kori says, “I really believe in fundamental patterns. I don’t believe that any skater should just go out and pull off a [jump] randomly because I think you have too many factors at play.”

On the axel, Kori is working with this skater to keep the arms in on landing. And much of the rest of the axel lesson is focused on the pattern. She talks about “finishing” the back outside entry edge. Notice that unlike many top coaches, Kori likes the arms to swing wide around the skater on the backward outside edge setup (and she explains why), but like almost every top coach, she wants the arms and body to come to a complete stop before stepping forward into the jump.