World and Olympic coach Kori Ade continues with a lesson for two young skaters. Part 1 of the basic skills lesson focused on blade awareness and usage, and some introduction to jumping. In Part 2, Kori focused on fundamental jump drills. In this part of the lesson, Kori focuses mainly on building edge awareness and landing positions.
Kori begins by having the skaters practice slaloms on lobes across the ice. Skaters at this level will really struggle with any power generation from their edges, so doing this kind of 2-foot drill can be very helpful. Next, Kori wants to transition to one-foot edges on lobes, but these little skaters need some help to understand their edges. So Kori does a hands-on drill where she pulls the skaters around on lobes/circles and has the skater focus on naming the edge, inside or outside. Notice that Kori has the skater say “inside” or “outside” out loud, so she knows the skater understands and so the skater uses the “speaking” learning mode to cement the concept. One tip for this drill is the skater needs a firm core but relaxed arms. Another plus: this drill is fun for skaters.
To end the lesson, Kori has the skaters work on their jump landing position by starting at the wall and pushing back with both arms into the position. This also requires a firm core and a firm but gentle push to prevent complete loss of alignment. Kori has the skaters perform this drill on both legs to build athletic symmetry.
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