Spin specialist Charyl Brusch continues her thorough discussion of the sit spin. In Part 1 she talked at length about important fundamentals of the sit spin. In this video she shares tons of tips and insights and problem solutions.
Charyl begins this video by explaining that she wants skaters to bring the free foot and leg around high (hip height), leading with the toe (not the heel). Once it gets in front, the skater can start to drop it and lead with the heel. She also has skaters get their belly-button over their skating knee to align properly. She also shows a drill at the wall that helps skaters keep forward pressure, both when settling into the spin as well as lifting up and exiting the spin. She also encourages skaters to lift the arms up while they come up as it makes getting up much easier.
A big focus for Charyl is keeping the skater in the same spot on the blade, and having the skater think about spinning down into the spin as well as spinning up into the exit. The spin starts when you enter, and stops only when you exit. The common error is to think of the spin as being only the part in the sit position. Charyl encourages forward pressure with the upper body throughout the sit spin, as well as placing the free foot very close to the ice. Some edge change and alignment issues can be fixed by asking the skater to pull the skating hip back and getting the center of the body over the skating knee or skating side. One way to do this is to put both hands in front of the skating knee (rather than evenly between the legs).
One often overlooked sit spin concept is the idea that skaters benefit by having the free foot slightly on the skating side in the sit position. This helps get the knees together and align the skater properly over the skating foot. To get the legs together she starts by talking about knees together, but if that doesn’t work she focuses on getting the thighs together. She likes having the free knee slightly below the skating knee in the sit position which makes it easier to get the knees together.
Charyl also notes that she tries to avoid a wrapped sit position where the free leg curls around the skating leg. She addresses this by telling skaters she doesn’t want the lower legs to be anywhere near each other. For skaters who drop one hip excessively, Charyl has them sit on a bench and feel their lap and she tells them they need to have a lap when in the sit spin as well. Pulling back the skating hip also helps with this issue. She also talks about the importance of keeping the chin and eyes up and she offers tips on how to do that. She says, “If they can see the ice, they’re looking down.” She addresses the common issue of raising the shoulders while in the sit position by having skaters press the hands towards the ice and pinching the shoulder blades together.
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