International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna begins an important discussion of the concept of power angle and how it relates to good jumping. Power angle as a concept is closely tied to need to “vault” properly up into each jump and a full discussion of vaulting can be found in Nick’s earlier series (Part1, Part 2, Part 3). Nick begins this discussion with a description and demonstration of what power angle is. It is the angle from vertical that a skater is leaning back away from the jump as they leave the ice (on backward entrance jumps). Nick says, “You’re not going to be straight (up and down) and you’re definitely not going to be (leaning) forward.” This requires that the skater has a forward body lean away from the jump direction during the jump setup and initial movement into the jumping motion which translates into a backward lean as the skater pivots through the jump take-off.
Nick proceeds to demonstrate what a power angle looks like on loop, salchow, toe loop, flip, and lutz. He describes this as a “chicken on a rotisserie” and he demonstrates the angle of the axis with his glove. He also explains what power angle means for the axel, noting that the skater should not be leaning forward during a good axel take-off (although it might be more vertical) and instead needs to feel like the body stays back behind the skating foot.
Why is power angle important? Nick says, “If you don’t have a skater learning that from the beginning their jumps are just probably going to be in one spot, up and down nice and straight, but they won’t have any flow coming out. They won’t have any arc to the jump, and they won’t get the height that you need to get good doubles and triples and quads later on.”
Because flip and lutz take-offs have a wide variety of pivot, Nick explains that even those good flips and lutzes that take off more sideways have a power angle, and in that case it isn’t the skater’s backward lean but rather the sideways lean of the body away from the jump take-off. Nick continues, “As they rotate in the air, they’re going to be keeping that forward (power) angle as they rotate all the way through to the landing. And that’s why when they strike the ice they’re going to be slightly forward.” This avoids landings that “topple” over backwards.
Next Nick explains how a good jump or vault is created by driving the hips up into the air (see Nick’s vaulting videos – Part1, Part 2, Part 3). This hip drive explains how the power angle happens and why it’s important. He describes a good take-off as “leading with the pelvis.”
To help small skaters learn this, Nick sometimes uses a simplified version of a throw loop jump to help them get the proper feeling of “their hips leading and their head back.” He continues, “Once they feel that they kind of go ‘well that makes it easier.'” Nick closes by explaining that a proper power angle creates lift and jump height AND “the axis you need to come down safely and consistently.”
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