no matter what i cant spin!! two foot spin, yeah fine. 1 foot spin, perfect. but when it comes to a scratch spin, im a mess.
1. i cant pull my leg in or i tip over.
2. i travel ALOT
3. i usually dont finish the spin, i lose my balance.

oh yes, my backspin is a mess too.
i think its because i dont spin on the ball. i spin on my toe. HELPP

this is really making me mad and my coach dosent help one bitt!!

please help me please!!

You don't type very well, either. Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

(I say if you want to be taken seriously, then take the time to type seriously. It's really not that hard. )

I don't understand this:
"1 foot spin, perfect. but when it comes to a scratch spin im [sic] a mess."

To most folks, a 1-foot spin is a scratch spin.

Maybe you could also provide some more info, such as: how long you've been skating, your relative age, what type of boots/blade you are using, how many hours per week you skate, what type of coach you have (someone I know was trying to learn spins from a dance coach ), your relative ability at jumping (some skaters are much better jumpers than spinners), and maybe if you are a roller skater making the transition to ice skating. Most rollers I know find spinning incredibly hard.

Best of luck in the meantime!

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Sorry, NoVa! Not this gal! I think what she's having trouble with is that she has no trouble spinning on one foot, but when she tries to cross over her leg, she loses her balance and totally loses the spin.

If so, I have the same problem. I would ask your coach to show you how to enter into a spin correctly, this should help you to get you to the point where you can balance. Also, have you tried keeping your free leg in front of you and then just bend your free knee across the spinning leg? Also, make sure your shoulders are at the same level or "squared." (If you don't know what I mean, ask your coach to show you how to keep your shoulders squared.) This works for me occasionally, but it's better than not at all.

Good luck with it!

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11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Sorry... Double post

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Hi Kit Kat

I think your tippin is purfick, cant understand wot the problum is, afterall this is ment to be fum not an Inglish lessun.

Usually when you travel on any kind of upright spin it's because your balance is incorrect, dont look down, the weight of your head will tip your balance and as Jazzpants said keep your shoulder square.

Good luck you can do it!!
Samba

I've been working on the blasted scratch spin since September-it comes and goes......had about 10 beautiful ones and 1,000 really bad to non-existant ones (they travel, I fall over, I fall, etc). That being said, I also have a very nice one-foot spin.

My problem has been keeping my free leg up high enough (weak quads), so I don't have that nice 90-degree angle-yet.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

If you drop the right hip on the entry, it can send you flying. Try to think about lifting that hip as you enter and spin so you keep your axis over the left side. Also, really make sure those arms stay level and take your time!
Becca

Sounds like you aren't holding your entrance edge long enough or making it round enough. Stay down and do as much of a circle as you can before brining your free leg through and starting to come up. When you bring the free leg through, do it gently and keep the free foot low to the ice (don't swing it around powerfully, or high). Also, when you reach the end of that long, round entrance edge, pick a spot and make up your mind to do your spin there. In other words, stop the forward momentum and stay in that spot, turning all of your momentum into round movement. Never completely straighten your spinning knee during the spin. Keep it soft. Also, throughout the spin--from entrance to exit--check constantly to make sure both shoulders are level.

What she is talking about doing right is a normal upright spin before learning the upright forward scratch spin. She can spin with her freeleg next to skating leg but not crossed in front as in a scratch spin.

There are many different forward upright spins and a scratch spin is just one of them.

singerskates

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I finally (just recently) got my scratch spin after about 8 months of practice. The whole trick for me was when I finally got my hip up. That made all the difference. I knew all along what I needed to do, but I couldn't get it. So just keep thinking of raising your hip so high, that will put the balance where it needs to be.

A coach told me to pretend there is a big dog running under my leg and I need to lift my leg over the dog. Sounds completely insane (especially when I am 22 and that is something my coach usually tells the little kids), but the visual and thinking of it really helps the hip get up.

Also, I got new skates with a bigger toe pick. That forced me to not spin on my toe like I was doing with my old skates (my new skates wont't allow me to lean so far forward on my blade).

Good luck and keep practicing! It took me 8 months but I am so happy now that I finally got it!

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Sasha Fan
Supporter of Alissa and Amber Czisny

My coach told me when you do a scratch spin pretend that your legs and arms are out in front of you.
yes, it sounds weird but when you do the spin and try to do that it doesn't really look like how it sounds.
It helped me keep my center
~cutie

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And don't be in a hurry to pull your arms and leg in-you should go around at least 2 revolutions. You will learn to 'feel' when it is right (after about 50 million times)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Spins are difficult for me too. On a good day, I can spin 4-6 revolutions in either direction (not scratch, just a plain regular spin).

Strangely, my spin technique is quite different between the different directions. Spinning counterclockwise, which I by far practice the most, I have a shorter entry, and the free leg prefers to stay out in front when the arms come in, it's difficult to bend the knee and raise the foot up a bit.

Spinning clockwise, my entry (when I say entry I mean the part before the 3-turn) is longer because it takes me longer to find proper balance, but then as my arms come in, my knee bends instinctively and the foot comes up like it should. I found today that it was actually fairly easy for me to go into a scratch spin this direction, which I failed miserably at when I tried it counterclockwise.

I practice counterclockwise (regular direction) spinning about 5 times as much as clockwise, so I don't know why my clockwise spins remain generally better. I can barely jump clockwise, though I have managed the toe loop and salchow clockwise a few times - jumping is definitely easier counterclockwise for me.

I think my body is just in a better position when I spin clockwise, as an effect of generally skating the other direction and having a tendancy to lean one direction or something...I don't know. I feel when spinning clockwise that my free leg is much more controllable, I can lift it, lower it, cross it, uncross it...no problem. But when I try shifting the free leg when spinning counterclockwise, it throws my balance off...

And the blasted back spin is right out. I can't get more than one stupid revolution so something is very wrong there...

I second (or third?) the suggestion to extend the entrance edge as long as you can before turning. It'll feel really slow, but that's what you have to do. Look at the spin tracings of skaters on TV - they have an entrance edge that lasts about half a circle, but they're going so fast you think it's shorter.

Hold that freeleg straight back until you get to the cusp of the turn, and then let your freeleg swing straight across. Your body then turns to meet it at the proper position, skating knee still deeply bent. I'm not sure if this is what my body is actually doing, but that's what I have to think of to get it to stay centered, LOL. My scratch spins was always off-balanced and travelled badly until I learned that little tip. Do NOT force that turn by heaving your freeleg and body into it. That's more than likely to throw you off balance. Just let it happen. I've seen skaters go into whizzing forward scratches from a standstill and a sloooow entrance. It's all in the position.

I still much prefer the backspin though. It's harder to learn, but it's also harder to do wrong IMHO because if I miss the entrance, the spin is gone. It's either a bail or a really good spin, LOL. Right after you wind up, you extend your left leg (for CCW spin) and twist your hip straight across your left side. It's really a twisting feeling, I think, and the harder you twist, the faster you go. It's REALLY fun when you get that down.

It's important to feel the position first, so I'd suggest taking it slow for a while and feeling how your body has to be in order to stay on the sweet spot. I would do a toe loop entrance then use the pick to starting rotating. For me, it feels like my weight is a little bit over my right pinky toe, where the ball of the foot meets the base of the toe. Before I can cross my left leg over, it has to feel like it's pushing against a wall on my left side, between a 10 and 11 o' clock position. Oh, and the skating foot also has to be pointed forward, or else my upper half will be rotating before my lower half.

Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to think about, but those are just some tricks I picked up playing around with these spins...I can get about 6-8 revs on a good forward and back scratch, even though I still have problems closing up tightly on a forward scratch. I hate those buggers! I can close up pretty easily on a backspin though. Bodes well for doubles, if I ever get there, LOL..

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I happen to be a "righty" that skates lefty. Years ago when I started learning how to spin, I was naturally learning it righty, and failing miserably. One day I decided to try spinning clockwise and realized "wow! that's so much easier". From that day forward, I only worked on spinning clockwise. At the time, I hadn't started jumping, so when I did start, I only worked on clockwise rotational jumps. Now, I can't even imagine being a righty skater!

One thing I realized years later, is that when I was learning 3-turns prior to spinning, I got the FRO 3-turn before the left, and that had been a surprise to the coach. Right then and there, I should've realized I should skate lefty. Consider basing your spin direction on the strength of your moves. All goes hand-in-hand. If your LFI and RFO 3-turns are stronger, then consider being a lefty skater, otherwise stick with the masses and spin and jump counter-clockwise. Whatever you do, I do not recommend spinning one direction and jumping the other!

Good Luck!

[B]I hated spins untill i got a spin program!!!! Weird HUH!!!!!!!!!

You know eveyone thinks spinning is so easy, but I find it much harder than jumping and much more demanding. I always make at least a 1/2 circle on a deep inside edge, I step w/ my hips and shoulder square and the place my foot onto my rocker ( for me about 1" behind my toe picks) then slowly pull in making sure I am on an outside edge. Once I learned to master the slight weight variations of the different entries spinning became easier. It took me about a year to get a nicely centered scratch and almost 2 years for a good centered camel, the key is practice and not to get frustrated, and to continually work on them everyday. Being neat, and practicing in a very set manner has helped me a lot. I love to spin but it has taken a long time and a lot of work to become a good spinner, and I still need more work.

la

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Very well said, coskater64! I ditto that, and thank you for lending us all hope for spin struggles.

while were on the subject of spins,I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice on keeping good center and square shoulders in a camel and layback . In a camel my arms seem to be leaning one way or the other .As for my layback I think all I need is advice on how you get the spin correctly.
Thanx
~cutie

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Skating is suppose to be fun , no PRESSURE at all

~*Courage*~*Confidence*~*Consistance*~

I'm having trouble keeping my leg UP--but it might be weak quads, so I'm hitting the gym this summer. I did some spins yesterday and noticed that my leg stays up for .0001/second before it drops so . . .

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!