I am deeply, deeply offended.... I would never wear baggy clothes or a backwards cap.

I kept freezing on my salchow entry just before the take-off and had no idea how to fix it. One of the techniques my coach suggested was to do a 3-turn into a 1 foot spin, do a couple of revs and then instead of the exit do a little jump out of the spin. I think it helped, but I also think that at some point then your body "knows" that you'll be safe doing it, it just lets go - and you'd be surprised how nice and easy it is.

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My other car is a Zamboni

My dear girl, I've been skating for eleven years, give or take a few months, and I still can't do a 3-turn with any speed solo, and not a very great deal of speed when partnered (although it is improving). I can only just do a Mohawk without slowing down, and that not reliably. My 3-jump is more like a 3-step (sorry, waltz jump for Americans), and my salchow is so cheated that it doesn't have any rotation, but goes round on the ice and then hops backwards. Not that I do jump much, but for Interp you need the odd little hoppy thing. I saw a glimpse of myself on television last night, and I looked like someone who has been skating eleven days, not eleven years.

I am not an athlete!

But I don't let that stop me, and I've won competitions (against opposition, not just against the book) (okay, only "Interpretive", but still), and last season we even managed not to come last a time or two. Only just, and not reliably, but we did it! And we even beat our absolute greatest rivals in the last class of the last competition of the season, much to our joy.

So what I'm saying is, even though it's scary, keep on with it, because it's fun. You may or may not improve - I expect you will, as you have youth and slenderness on your side, unlike me - but who cares?

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm not addressing this to any specific individaul, anywhere, but just making a general observation.....

Over my 20+ years of skating as an adult, one thing I've seen many times is people who "expect" skating to come more quickly than it often does, because they were/are athletic, have dance backgrounds, or just never ran into something that was hard to learn. A lot of these people make up timetables in their heads for learning certain skills ("Okay, I've been working on a toe loop for six months, I should have it by now.") and then get frustrated when it doesn't happen on schedule. A lot of these people quit because they can't stand the idea of not progressing swiftly, especially when they see others around them picking up things before they do.

Me, I think that one of the joys of skating as an adult is that there is NO timetable for how quickly I have to learn something. I'm an incredibly slow learner it took me over 15 years to learn decent spins and it's only been in the last six months that I've understood HOW a backspin happens. The first couple jumps came easily but I struggled with the loop for years and I still can only do it from an inside three and not out of crossovers. The flip has come and gone - and now mostly stays gone - and the lutz terrifies me so much that I can't even work on it unless I've feeling very brave and reckless.

But it doesn't matter. My life will not end if I never land a lutz and I do have other skills that have improved over the years. When I get frustrated - and believe me, I do, I have to remind myself that when I started this adventure, all I wanted to do was learn how to stop, go backwards and maybe learn to go around corners (crossovers, although I didn't know what they were called then). I've done that and so much more. Everything else is whipped cream on my ice skating sundae.

Working on basics like edges and threes is never ending. I think that's one of the things that makes skating so challenging - even when you think you know something, as soon as you combine it with something else or put it to music or move it to a different place in the rink, it gets harder or disappears. It's the nature of the sport.

But it's also fun. And that's what keeps me coming back year after year - and fighting the fear and frustration. If one thing gives me trouble, well, thee's always something else to work on - and something new to learn.

Skating is a great sport because you can never really be perfect at it. There is always room for growth and you can always do things better or differently. With that in mind, you have a lifetime to perfect the sport.

As many have said some people come to the sport with greater ease than others, but...the ability to stick to it counts for a lot. While I am very athletic I am not built like a skater, it takes me years to get jumps, when I get frustrated I work on spins and moves or my dances. You just need to stick to it will all eventually come to you.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Hi, NOI,

I think I could have written your first post (minus the salchow), LOL!

I've been at this skating thing for four years now and still struggle with all of the three turns and mohawks at speed. I've finally JUST started working on a forward scratch spin and was struggling enough to get into it without tapping my freet foot down when I pop into the spin that my coach suggested I might do a better job with a backspin. Never thought I'd hear that!

I've come into this from a dance background and am surely NOT body stupid, just brain stooopid. I've been told that if you never looked at my feet, you'd assume I was doing everything perfectly because I really AM -- I just can't manage to do it all on one foot -- ever.

I dream of skating; in my dreams I skate fast, smoothly, and with great confidence. In reality, I am an adult skater working very hard to not look choppy and wobbly. I'm just now to the point that my synchro team doesn't have to slow down to my speed to keep in a straight line, thankfully. That was actually my goal for the year -- to NOT stand out on my team.

I get frustrated because I'd be a champion wall skater (as in I skate really well on the wall and would medal if I could bring the boards out as my partner), but I can't seem to find any courage to go solo. It's getting better, bit by bit. And some things I do surprise me -- we've included two foot twizzles in our new synchro program and these were so easy for me the first time I tried that I was exiting them with as much speed going into them and having to put on the brakes to avoid teammates who slow down through the turn. This could be why my coach thinks the backspin will be easier for me than a forward spin...

It's just dumb the way I need to use two feet -- I drop my free foot AFTER completing a three turn, AFTER doing the mohawk, AFTER getting into my forward scratch -- when I actually have to go out of my way to get myself off balance. Duh!! Grrrrr!!!

Anyway, NOI, I'm right there with you. And I'll keep plugging away until I can't any more. My dream move is a camel spin -- I've got a gorgeous position off ice… And a Bielmann -- also good position off-ice (If I hold my shin instead of my blade, I can get a complete straight-legged split)... Someday......

Here's the tips that helped me with the salchow:
-count your 3-turn; as you turn from your back crossovers (or other method that turns you forward) you should say "turn, 1, 2, turn (flip the 3) hold 1, 2, jump, (land) hold 1, 2. Once you get your timing, it helps with consistency and you don't hold one position too long.

-watch your arms! I found that after I jumped it, it helped me to look hard over my left shoulder. Remember to keep a very strong check!

-as you enter your 3, bend! It helps keep it from getting too deep AND gives you something to spring up from! You can't get any height if you are already up in your leg (took a while to get this one!)

-Don't rush it! Your count should NOT be fast!!! It should be to the speed that you are skating (fast=quicker; slow=slower). As you build confidence, you will build speed!

When I was "re-learning" this jump, my coach wouldn't let me do the whole thing at first. We did the back crossovers to front, then added the 3-turn, then worked on the back glide of the 3, then added the jump. The whole process took a few weeks. Then one day, I was practicing it and I did it! It will happen!!! I'm hoping that the loop will happen the same way

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

Great post... thank you... and couldn't agree more!!!

You're probably turning way too far after the three-turn, and essentially taking off going forward (kind of like you were for your toe-loop, turning it into a toe-waltz). These are all common beginner-teaching-themselves errors, and can be corrected. (I say this as a skater who essentially taught herself the toe loop and salchow one summer--and then had to break down all the bad habits later.)

A salchow still takes off going backward. Check your tracings--your curve should be only about 1/8th of the way around by the time you see the pick mark, indicating take-off. Maybe think of it this way--if your entry edge (the LBI edge after the 3) is a line from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock, the hook should curve no more than to about 23 minutes past the hour. It won't be quite that straight, but that's the idea. (Draw a line from 12, through the center of the clock where the hands attach, then curve to 23 past...that's kind of what the hook looks like.)

Beginners almost always think that the leg comes 'around' in a salchow, as if you're spinning. It does not. Let's say--stand with your arms straight out in front of you. When you bring your knee through, you want to aim it towards your left hand. (Your left hand won't be there any more, since you're curving around slightly and should also be pulling the arms in, but you want to aim the knee where the hand would have been if you were standing straddling your entry edge before the hook comes into play.)

I hope I'm not just confusing things more. I wish I could show you personally...it's so much easier to explain things in person (especially with my funny little metaphors!)

Once again, I'd like to emphasize how awesome you all are. Not only do I have a bunch of new ideas and approaches to try, I feel so much more encouraged than I did when I wrote my original post. Thank you, everybody!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Salchow is not jumped off the pick but rather the edge... so preferably there shouldn't be a pick mark.

It is an edge jump, but the pick is the last thing to leave the ice. It's not a hole or divot like you might get with a toe loop or lutz, but there is definitely a mark left by the pick as it leaves the ice.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

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