I need help on my spin!!

[icenut84]

Hi all
I am having a heck of a time with my spinning. OK, set the scene. I do both dance and freestyle, and in freestyle I'm working on the loop. I only skate once a week (distance/transport), and I've just had new skates (a few weeks ago) because my old boots were a bad fit - the boots are mostly fine (apart from a few kinks that I need to fix, mainly consisting of my heels rubbing in the same place as in my last boots but mostly not as bad). They have not very good blades on them (they don't even have a company name or type written on, they're just cheapies that came on the boots). I should be getting new blades soon as possible.
Anyway, I've been thinking about asking my coach in my next freestyle lesson to basically start again with teaching me to spin. I either do my 2 foot spin from standing (doesn't get much momentum and doesn't always work) or from a kind of inside spread eagle entrance (when it works, I usually get a lot more speed but am not really in control and it travels a lot, also contributing to my losing balance). Don't get me wrong, sometimes my spins decide to show their face and they're better, but most often they're just not. I don't fall on the spins but often lose my balance and have to catch myself. I haven't learnt a one foot spin from the proper entrance yet (back crossovers etc) - I want to but I'm guessing my coach is waiting for me to be better on it first. When I feel balanced enough in a two foot spin, I lift my left foot (I'm CW) but I usually just feel like I'm pivoting slowly on my toe for a couple of revs. I've also tried a one foot spin straight from standing (right toe in the ice and right knee pointing to the left, pushing from left into it) - this is a bit better.
Has anyone got any tips for me? This is really really frustrating me. I always wanted to learn to spin - it's one of the things I wanted to learn most, in addition to backward crossovers and axels. Hopefully when I get new blades it will improve, but I often find it hard to get all my weight over my right side and keep it there. I don't know why this has been so hard for me to "get" - I don't have good blades and I'm quite tall ( 5ft8 ) so that could be a factor, but maybe I'm just making excuses, lol. I've tried out lots of tips before and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. How on earth do you get this thing?? :cry:

[Schmeck]

icenut, I can sooo sympathize with you! I just got my beginner scratch spin, after almost a year of effort. My 'magic cure' for the scratch spin was to press the toes of my free foot down into the skate, and miraculously, I had a decent scratch spin!

I still cannot do a two foot into a one foot spin. Something about transfering weight from two feet to one foot always throws me! Actually, just tried a two foot spin last night, and I couldn't really do a good one of those either!

I also like to do my one foot spin from a small spread eagle (I call it a spread duck... :roll: ) but I can do my scratch from back crossovers.

At my last group lesson, all we worked on were spins, so I have some of the instructor's directions still fresh in my mind. For all spins, remember to keep your head facing forward at all times, shoulders down, arms out straight to your sides to start. Most of the young kids either had their heads turned into the spin, were looking down, or had their arms out of position.

To get off of your toepick, try lifting the toes of your skating foot just a bit - I had the habit of doing this with both feet, so I had to learn how to do skating foot toes up, free foot toes down. :?

Schmeck, who knows that there a lot of more capable helpers out here for this topic, but hoping a helped a bit!

[lisabelle]

i would bet your blades could very well have a lot to do with it, you'd be surprised just how much difference good blades make.

a few months ago i switched from "no name" rec type blades (not meant for spinning OR jumping and yet i was doing up through lutz :roll:, ps i dont reccomend it :)) to coronation comets, and i couldn't believe how much better they felt. the first thing i told my coach when she asked how my new skates felt (i had to get new boots too, old one were WAY too big) was that i never knew how much my old blades stunk until i got the new ones. i was always a crappy spinner, could never center or balance right, but lately my spins have been improving sooo much and the blades have a lot to do with it.

oh and btw, i've got a scratch, backspin, sit, camel and back camel, but i cannot for the life of me do a two foot spin and my 1foot spin is crap. i guess i'm just weird :)

[NickiT]

You say you have new boots. I take it you had them correctly fitted. I say this because I spent literally years trying to spin with very little luck. I assumed I just wasn't meant to be a spinner. Then I got new fitted boots and found out my old ones were too big. Therefore the blades were too big as well and I was actually trying to spin and do three turns on the wrong part of the blade. Once I got my new boots and blades, spinning came easily to me. Just my experience.

Nicki

[icenut84]

Thanks for the replies! Lisabelle - was there really that much of a difference? Wow. I hope it's the same for me! :) I don't know what kind fo blades I'll get, possible coronation aces. My coach is meant to be finding out prices and stuff for me. He also mentioned some new kind of blade that's just come out, so I don't know. But I know what you mean when you say you thought you just weren't meant to be a spinner - that's how I feel! I really hope I'm proved wrong once I get new blades. Here's hoping! :D
Nicki - what do you mean by 'correctly fitted'? I wasn't measured, but I tried on about a million pairs of boots, different makes and brands, with the woman in the shop who seemed to know what she was talking about. I tried them out on the ice for a few minutes too. I had to get new boots because my old ones were too big, especially in the heel area, and sometimes my whole foot would move! The woman in the shop where I got my new ones looked at my old ones and told me I could have broken my ankles in them! 8O My new ones are a much better fit (though my feet are different sizes so I have an extra insole in one skate, and I need to do something for the heel of my other foot too). (Remind me to get customs nest time! :roll: ) It's an interesting idea about too big boots meaning too big blades too. My old blades and my new blades are different sizes - one set says 10 3/4 and the other says 10 2/3, or something like that.
Thanks all of you for the help and advice! :D It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's had this happen! And even nicer to know you've had your spins improve so much. 8) Yay! There's hope for me yet.

I'm gonna print this thread out before I skate on Saturday. :)
(Hope my coach rememberes the info for me!)

Thanks again
Rachel

[lisabelle]

coronation aces would probably be good for you, i think, they are curvier blades and are easier to center spins and get on the right part for spinning. i've got comets which are really pretty flat, but my old blades were flat as well, so it's more what i'm used to.

i dont know what blades you're on now, so i dont know if it's exactly the same, but yes, the blades really do make a big difference. not just for spinning, for holding and controlling edges, and they are much faster and easier to pick up speed. i dont think better blades can work miracles, but once you get decent equiptment there's not turning back :)

my old boots were also too big for me, which made my ankles very shaky and naturally it's hard to spin (or do anything) if you're shaking around too much. i dont believe there was much difference in blade size though, i think i went from 9 3/4 to 9 1/2 ? not sure. but my skates went from a 7 1/2 down to a 6, so that definitely helped. (yes, i have small feet i know :))

[lisabelle]

oh, and i just wanted to add that even if you have trouble spinning still after you get new blades, i wouldn't worry about it. my coach thinks i am a natural spinner (b/c i can spin fast w/o much effort) but i've been skating for a year (once/twice a week) and i am just beginning to feel comfortable spinning. so it could just take more time, which is really ok. i used to get soo frustrated though, and i think the best thing is just to relax and not worry about it, it'll come eventually if you keep practicing.

[icenut84]

[quote:f6a7f91c44="lisabelle"]i dont know what blades you're on now, so i dont know if it's exactly the same, but yes, the blades really do make a big difference. not just for spinning, for holding and controlling edges, and they are much faster and easier to pick up speed. i dont think better blades can work miracles, but once you get decent equiptment there's not turning back :)[/quote:f6a7f91c44]

I don't know what blades I'm on now either! lol. No name, no brand, nothing. They came on the boots and I haven't changed back to my old ones because my old ones weren't very good either! I thought I may as well see what the new ones were like anyway. I really really hope I can get new, good blades and that it really helps. I'll speak to my coach on Saturday.