Okay, this might be slightly OT, but I thought I'd ask it in this forum because I thought participant skaters might have some insight on this...

Have you ever noticed that TV commentators for freestyle skating events will point out the 3-turns in a routine sometimes, especially when they're an entry for a jump, but they don't point out or even mention mohawks at all, even when they're used for jump entry?

Why is that? Is it because 3-turns are more visually noticeable? Is it because TV commentary for skating tends to focus on the jumps and spins? (e.g., they wouldn't point out an ina bauer by name but would tell viewers when the skater has just done a triple lutz?)

I don't think the commentators here point out either turn. I do remember once Haig Ouindjen, a NISA high-up, commented that a certain dancer, who had better remain nameless, was just doing Mohawks while his partner did all the difficult bit and Sue Barker, the tennis-player turned sports presenter, said innocently, "Oh, is that difficult?".....

But we get so very little skating coverage that even stuff like that is better than nothing. Oh, why did ITVDigital have to go bust so we can't get Eurosport any more???

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Mrs Redboots
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Ok, that's the lightening bolt out of the way Let me say in my defence that I DO Free skate so I am not being anti Free skaters here ..... honest ....... BUT ..... technically 'perfect' turns etc just aren't as highly regarded in Free skating! (Ok, I've said it ). The jumps especially but also spins are much more highly regarded than the footwork. YES you need to have a step sequence but there is less emphasis on technically correct footwork. There are an awful lot of free skaters out there (including some of the elite and pros) whose basic skating is pretty awful but this is partly because (IMO) the big jumps are needed so early on in a skater's career that there is little time (or it is felt that there is little time) to concentrate on getting good basic skating techniques mastered.

It also doesn't matter which entry skaters use into a jump as long as it takes off on the correct edge so the turn before the jump is somewhat insignificant, it is the EDGE that is important not how you get onto the edge.

I won't go off onto a tangent here ..... phew say them all but you've probably realised that poor basic skating is one of my bugbears! (guess it comes from having a perfectionist nature and and equally perfectionist coach!).

L x

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The best whisper is a click

Jump entries aren't usually pointed out unless they're unusual or unique. Most of the time, the skater will do either a 3 turn or a mohawk (usually the 3 turn) into the jump, but occasionally you get skaters who experiment more and do more unusual entrances (e.g. Irina Slutskaya's consecutive 3s into the loop, and Tim Goebel's spread eagle into the axel and hydroblade into the loop). In these cases the commentator might point them out (Robin Cousins has done before). They wouldn't usually commentate on 3 turns and mohawks throughout the routine because they are basics compared to the rest of the stff they do, every skater does them, and they are used so much.

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.