No but I see all the time skaters crossing over with the wrong foot! And I see them trying to go backwards with a straight upper body, no twist. I tried helping this man because he clearly had the feet down and I showed him how to hold his arms and turn his torso and he made some stupid gesture like, that's gay, I just rolled me eyes and said there' nothing effeminate about that! Then I told him either look over his shoulder or stop going backwards because he was going to hurt someone, this was a BIG man. :-)

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Don't feel too bad. I learned crossovers about a year or so ago, and my one side is still pretty rusty, but my other side is pretty decent. But still I need to work on them, says my coach. Don't be so hard on yourself, especially since it doesn't seem to be long since you first tried.

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Andrea

I'll add my two cents - For the first two years I skated, I wouldn't do crossovers until I'd skated for at least 15 minutes - just to warm up my body - my knees were so stiff. Even now, after almost 6 years, I still don't do crossovers the first lap or two.
Also, a lovely man I see at the rink at least twice a week always does exercises at the boards before he does anything fancy. He just calmly holds the boards while he steps through crossovers and three turns, for about 5-10 minutes.
And, count me as another who used to do crossovers while going up four flights of stairs at work every day. It helped!

Good Luck

I'm skating so little these days that my B CW crossovers have deteriorated. To try to fix them, I did the B power crossovers very slowly, paying attention to the feel of the CCW one and trying to "copy" it to the CW one that followed. It worked!

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Are you keeping your inner leg (leg near the centre of the crossovers circle) too straight? The knee needs to be slightly bent.

By the way, once you have mastered beginner crossovers, and passed your test, you then have to forget them and learn advanced crossovers (where the crossing foot does not lift over the other foot, but just crosses in front) - but that's another story ....

I didn't have class this week because of Valentines Day but I did go to practice on Friday. I spent alot of time at the boards stepping over and over and over just like you said. Eventually I got up the nerve to try it again while I was moving. It wasn't pretty but I didn't land on the ice like I did the week before. I think I am starting to get the feel but I am not sure I am getting my foot over as far as I should either. One question-when I step my right foot over should that foot be on an inside or an outside edge? I think I was landing on the outside edge. I also skated quite awhile trying to stay on one foot to help my balance for quite a bit before I started trying the crossovers. I only have 2 more classes. I think I better sign up for the next session too!

The foot that you pick up to cross over when going forward should come down on an Inside edge. Think of yourself gliding with both feet together, and curving to the left. Your left foot would be on an Outside edge and your right foot would be on an Inside edge. Same thing with crossovers, except that you pick up the right foot to cross it in front of the left.

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Thanks, I'm going Wednesday to practice and I'll make sure I do that. I sure wish I lived closer to an ice rink than 80 miles away! I would go everyday if I could!

Two things that will help you get/keep your crossing foot landing on that inside edge are KNEE BEND and HUGGING YOUR CIRCLE.

It's hard to keep everything straight and remember all the little tips when you're just beginning and just trying to avoid falling, I know! But everything gets better with practice, and you sound like you're on your way!