Any advice on Shoot the ducks?

[danibellerika]

I'm trying to learn them. There's this way that you have to squat on the ice to do it but it's hard to lean on the ball of my foot like that(on ice). I can do it off ice alright, but i'm kinda on my ball with my heels lifted(kinda like being on tippy toes, but not quite). Anyways, any advice?

[flippet]

Stretch forward as you go down, to avoid falling backwards, or overcompensating by ending up on the pick.

[Andie]

I recently began learning shoot-the-ducks, so I don't think I'm the best to give advice yet. But while I can do the actual shoot-the-duck decently, my biggest problem is not being able to bring myself back up. I just fall splat on the ice. :??

[danibellerika]

Originally posted by flippet
Stretch forward as you go down, to avoid falling backwards, or overcompensating by ending up on the pick.

Wow! I tried that off ice and I defintely noticed a difference! I was soley on the balls. The only problem now is that I can't even LIFT up my right leg when on my left foot(which is my spiral foot) and can only do it for my right. Hope I can do it best on whichever leg will be my dominant spinning lef. Thanks flippett! And good luck to you andie, you're better off than I am at this sec(still gotta go try it one ice;) ). Guess you just gotta build up that muscle control but it will come. :D

[singerskates]

One thing I practice for my sit spins is to do left forward spiral change to shoot the duck change to spiral then back to duck and then finally back to spiral. Oh, you need to skate at least a quarter rink to gain enough speed for this because you'll be covering the whole ice doing this.

Brigitte

[flippet]

Originally posted by danibellerika
Thanks flippett!

You're welcome. :D

Don't worry, andie--I can't get myself back up yet, either! I can do a mean slide, though. ;)

Something else that helped me practice these off-ice is that I had a pair of shoes that had a chunky heel about the same height as my skate boot heel, so the point of balance was very nearly the same. If you practice these off-ice in flat shoes or no shoes, your center of balance won't be *quite* the same, and so you'll be constantly having to adjust once you're on the ice again.

[Isk8NYC]

Make sure you stretch your arms forward, not down or onto your knees. It makes it easier to drop the hips below the skating knee. Think about keeping your hands where you can see them.