Coach and choreographer Kate Charbonneau continues her presentation on the USFS Bronze Skating Skills test (formerly USFS Juvenile Moves in the Field Test). In Part 1 she discussed Forward Crossover Power Circles and in Part 2 she offered insights about the second pattern, Stroking: Backward Power Circles. In Part 3 she discusses the Eight-Step Mohawk Sequence. In this video she shares insights for the Forward and Backward Free Skate Cross Strokes.
She begins by having her demonstrator show the full pattern. On the forward cross strokes Kate likes the speed across the ice and the skater’s “sound as she accelerates to each foot.” She notes that the “back ones have a little bit of a big motion on them” meaning the body is rocking a bit too much, and the skater didn’t lose too much speed on the second side.
Kate takes a moment to explain that she likes the free skate to come across in a pigeon toe manner (internal rotation) to step on an outside edge immediately. To address the issue of having the hips behind too much on both the forward and backward cross strokes, Kate has the skater place her hands on the lower part of her back to help feel her posture. She has the skater do half of each side with the hands behind the back and half with them out while trying to maintain the same posture and feeling. Rather than bending at the hips, Kate reminds us to bend into the tongues of our skates (at the ankles and knees).
Kate says, “Once a skater is coming 2, 3, 4 times a week, in their warm-up exercises I add power pulls and cross strokes right away, even if they’re really not that great just to give them an earlier understanding of these things. Then it’s kind of fun once they get to these test levels, they get to say, ‘Hey, I already know how to do that.'” In other words, Kate does not wait until the test to work on these kinds of skills.
Most skaters find back cross strokes significantly harder than forward cross strokes. The necessary foot turn-out is difficult as is the necessary edge pressure. To help skaters learn this skill, Kate uses back power pulls into the cross stroke to learn how to generate power.
