International coach and jump specialist Jeremy Allen shares many insights related to the salchow jump and how to teach it effectively. He notes right from the beginning that there are several ways to do a salchow, and coaches will naturally gravitate toward the method that seems to work best for their skaters.
One method Jeremy describes as “the classic one-foot style while pushing through with the inside of your right foot.” In this method, the right foot stays off the ice “most of the time.” Another method has the skater set the right foot on the ice, but the skater still pushes through the take-off with the inside of the right foot, almost with a “scraping the ice” movement. The final method has the skater resting the right foot on the ice (slight inside edge) and then gliding the right foot backward to a slight outside edge so the take-off closely resembles that of a toe loop (coming off the heel of the right foot).
Jeremy talks at length about the third method, and notes it is not a “two foot jump” because you are not leaving the ice off two feet (just as a toe loop does not leave the ice off two feet except in rare cases or as the second or third jump in a combination). One of the advantages of using this technique is balance, as it keeps the skater’s upper body comfortably inside the active take-off edge with full control (rotational check). As an added benefit, Jeremy says “With the right foot coming down, it allows your left foot to fully pivot out of the way so you can jump forward off the left toe.” He notes that the amount of weight skaters put on the right foot varies a great deal, and will be mostly a personal preference for that skater.
As with most great jump coaches, Jeremy notes that not all skaters will feel comfortable doing the salchow the same way. Therefore it’s important for coaches to become comfortable teaching the various techniques, as they will work better or worse to varying degrees depending on the individual skater. He says, “You have to experiment a little and see what’s going to work best. I teach a lot of things (techniques). There’s not one thing I teach and that’s all I teach. You have to be very flexible.”
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JamesLeous Thank you! This is excellent, succinct, and exactly what I needed. I have lots of experience with the traditional technique on the salchow, but I haven’t come across much discussion of the different versions of the takeoff in my education. Very much appreciated.
NancyHorton I was always was taught to believe that if you jumped/turned forward on a jump like the Loop or Salchow it was cheated. At my lesson I told my teacher but no offense but isn't that cheating the jump. She like you and my coach have shown me I have been in error for along time. Thanks! Again on your technique on different ways I thought that would not be counted as a clean jump unless it was the classical way to do a Salchow! Thanks!