Coach and choreographer Kate Charbonneau continues a series of videos on the USFS Junior Skating Skills (Moves in the Field) Test. In Part 1 she covered the Forward and Backward Outside Rockers pattern and in Part 2 she introduced the Forward and Backward Inside Rockers pattern. In this short video she shares two more helpful tips for rocker development, particularly to avoid an edge change error just prior to the turn itself.
Kate begins by noting a common error for the rockers is not doing the turns going across the axis, and rather doing shallow lobes and going at a diagonal across the axis. She says, “This makes the turns unclean (unclear).” One trick to minimize this error is to exaggerate the lobes and the turns. She explains this as, “I’m going to do the deepest rocker I possibly can, almost with no hope of getting out of it. So I’m going to wait to turn until I’m facing back to the camera (starting direction) and then come out.” After demonstrating what she means, she continues, “I find this is a good tool to help skaters understand just how far they can push their edges.” This is also a way to allow skaters to temporarily ignore the overall pattern to focus on the turns in a fun way.
On rockers (and counters and brackets) many skaters struggle with edge changes prior to the moment of the turn. To address this Kate makes sure the free leg stays “as close as possible.” Free leg movement can be a significant factor in pulling “the skater off of where they want to be standing.” She demonstrates and says, “I like the free leg really really tight and I keep it tight after the turn.” This “gathered position” allows skaters to be stable and create more power on the next push.
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