World and Olympic coach Audrey Weisiger teaches a toe loop class of advanced skaters. All of these skaters have consistent double toe loops, and some can do triple toe. But Audrey challenges this class with a difficult entry for the double toe loop, which takes a while for these skaters to become comfortable with.
Audrey begins with some motivational concepts. She discusses her quote, “You become what you practice the most” and notes this applies not only to skating but everything in life. She says, “If you have the mindset that you will be successful in life, you’re practicing becoming more and more successful. Practice the right things.” This means creating good habits, taking responsibility, moving on from mistakes, and having grit and determination. She also says, “Sometimes it’s not about winning, it’s about being courageous.”
The toe loop exercise Audrey has this class perform starts with a forward swizzle, jumping from forward on two feet to landing backward on the axis foot with the free foot in front, followed by reaching back into a single toe loop landed on two feet in the alignment position. She then shows the class video of a skater doing the same drill with a triple toe loop instead, and narrates with various tips and clues to make it easier (arms, head anchoring, etc). Audrey then asks the class for the same exercise with a double toe loop with a standard landing (without the alignment landing).
Many of the skaters struggle with this and inadvertently change the exercise to land on two feet prior to the double toe loop, rather than the desired one foot only. Audrey also notes that many in the class are not jumping up after the forward twizzle from two feet and instead are doing a sort of waltz jump, which is not the drill. She gently chastises the class and tells them, “You have to be honest with yourself, so if you’re not doing it right, do it the way you’re supposed to.” She continues, “Now I’m getting into philosophy of life… When you do things and you don’t do them 100% correctly and you know it, you’re kidding yourself. You’re just kidding yourself. And that’s not how you become a champion.”
Sorry, this content is for members only.Click here to get access.
Already a member? Login below… |
Add to "My Favorites" (Beta testing)
