Spin specialist Charyl Brusch begins a short series of videos discussing adult skaters and their specific issues in terms of spinning. She offers many tips for working with adult skaters to help them improve their spins.
Charyl notes that in her experience adult skaters have more fear and less trust for their edges and positions, particularly in riding the entrance edge properly. She encourages adult skaters in particular to spend extra time developing the edge without putting so much focus on leaning. She says, “I don’t think you really need to think about leaning.” Knee bend gets the center of gravity lower and she wants them to get “their ankles working a little be more.”
To improve their entrance edge, Charyl has them start at a standstill on the line and push onto a strong edge that they ride back to the line where the three-turn and the spin happens. She does this repeatedly until they are consistent. She says, “Pretty much after a while they don’t need to even think about where that spin’s going. They just get that edge going the same place every time.” She shares more tips on knee bend and pushing with power as well as direction.
A very common issue with adult skaters and spins is they are typically uncomfortable getting forward on their blade to do the three turn and the spin itself. Charyl addresses this initially by simply doing 3-turns on a “little circle” without a spin. She also does an exercise where the skater glides backward on 2 feet and lightly “rakes” the bottom toe pick on the ice to feel the correct position on the blade. Once they master the drill on 2 feet, she has them do it on one foot, paying particular attention to making sure they glide backward in a straight line with the ankle “up straight” and with correct body alignment. Charyl also notes that she teaches spins on a “soft knee” which naturally pushes the balance point on the blade forward toward the correct spin spot. For centering, Charyl want skaters to pull the skating hip back as this also helps with alignment.
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