My almost 8 year old dd does some pretty impressive things these days with her feet- and sometimes her arms look right, but lots of times, they flop around like chicken wings! LOL

Her coach has been working on it with her, but she says in her program she just cannot think of all those things. Normal still for not quite 8 years old?

Normal for many skaters of any age!

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My husband still does this, and he's fifty years older than your skater!

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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!

Then I guess she shouldn't feel too badly!! LOL

Maybe adding a ballet class would help with her arms.Or you could try those cords that some skaters use to help with arms.Think they are called champion cords.
My daughter has wobby arms when she was younger too. Just grew out of it.
Good luck!!

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She takes ballet some, but hates it- LOL She calls it stinky stoopy ballet.

She says that she is thinking so hard about her legs, she forgets about her arms.

Totally normal for almost 8!

My 8 year old has finally got control of her upper body, but I'll never forget the day last fall when her coach made her skate with a hockey stick across her shoulders so she would keep her arms out while she was dancing - quite the sight I must say. I should also add that she does a lot of ballet and has worked very hard at it. Without that, I'm sure she would have been 10 before the floppyness stopped.

Ballet really does help a lot. I'm not sure where you are, but maybe she just hasn't connected with her teacher. Is there another ballet studio you could try?

She likes the teacher fine, she just finds it boring! They haven't been doing it recently, but should start up again soon. She has advanced her skills very quickly (jumps and footwork and spins) and I think her upper body is lagging behind- LOL!

Did you try filming and showing it to her?

I remember I used to drop my elbows playing the piano. Every time I did, I'd get a slap on my hand from my teacher. Worked very quickly. Maybe you should yell at her every time she does the chicken arms in training?

ummmmm nope

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hmmmm, I'll second that nope!

Yes, I leave training to her coach

Completely normal, especially at that age.

Once your daughter gets the technical aspects and strong basic skills of skating down pat, she'll be able to incorporate a stronger focus on her arms and presentation. Most skaters that young have yet to be "groomed", or refined, in terms of artistry and presentation. That will all come with time. For now, as long as she's enjoying skating, I wouldn't worry too much about this.

This makes sense- The child passed from Basic 6 to and through Freeskate 6 in under a year, so she has been moving quickly through the basic skills and now is working on more refinement. Thanks

Interesting ... our coach won't pass them thru levels until the entire package is "there" including arms, upper body, and feet, and it is consistent ... the idea as she has explained it is, as they get further along, having to go back to correct problems with arms, etc., becomes frustrating. There are different ideas around this ... just thought I'd throw this in. It does mean that the "speed" later gets faster, because the start was "slower" as the fundamentals that you need to succeed at the higher levels in terms of skating skills, presentation, and achieving higher quality jumps (and higher level jumps) are drilled from the start, even at LTS ... for example, my 6 year old is working just as hard on her posture and arm position as she is on her edges, turns and jumps, and no new skills get taught until the old ones are covered on all bases. Very old school I think???? I do know that I regularly see skaters with lower "level" jumps and excellent posture and skating skills get placed in competion ahead skaters with higher "level" jumps that don't have the same polish - which gets hard to explain to the skater with the more difficult jumps.

So, we video the kids, at the coach's behest, and make them see the difference from their "flapping" arms/poor posture/2 foot skating and what it looks like without (i.e. another skater) - and it helps to reinforce the need to practice and focus on that part of skating and delay moving on. As they improve, sequential videos reinforce how much better they look on the ice, and it becomes a self-motivating goal. The power of the video camera is amazing!

(Please don't jump on me for posting this; it's just a different perspective that I'm putting out there).

Our lesson program implemented stricter test standards this year. Since the sessions are only 8 classes long, students will definitely repeat the same level more than once in those situations. Those repeats could be discouraging to the skaters/parents. I have beginners this session, so I'm not too worried about it, but for the higher levels, it's definitely going to happen.

Champion cords and video review (esp. "correct" technique videos) are useful at stopping the flapping, lol.

Or, just let her skate to the "Chicken Dance" song.

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Oh, she doesn't do it when she is just doing the one element in the basic skills, it is when it is put together in a program.

If you ask her to do a lutz, the arms are fine, but you put lutz, toe loop, loop and it starts to get more sloppy.

I think this also comes from thinking ahead too much. When she is doing the lutz she starts to think about the toe, but the time she is at the loop she is thinking about what comes next rather than the loop. We actually train kids in life to be this way. We want them to anticipate what is going on around them in the school yard, in class etc. Unfortunately with sport, you need to focus only on what you are doing right now. That is why Bjorn Borg always said he was just out there keeping his eye on the ball. That's what he was doing - one shot at a time. He was a fairly successful tennis player

My dd is a very quick thinker (not always terribly deep, but quick ) She tends to think way ahead in her program and when that happens her arms go all to pot.

Age, video, constant reminders, and ballet will all help. Your dd has learned a lot in the last year. I wouldn't worry too much at this point - it will all come together.

Ah yes I can see that- add to that the program she just did (and won the gold by the way- it was an unrestricted tots- 7 and under category- just no axels and no doubles) was learned only 3 weeks ago.

See?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kdPs_9mN8M

That was a lovely skate. Her costume is beautiful.

When you said chicken wings I was expecting something far worse! I think with some continued ballet training you will see a big improvement in her posture and back strength and that will translate into more polished arms. It takes a lot of back and core strength to keep everything aligned and the arms out while still looking relaxed. It will come together with time.

Thanks, she still isn't 8 years old, and she only had that program for 3 weeks so yes I do suppose it will come together more! She adores skating. Isn't the music cute?

I agree!

To me, it seems as though her "chicken wings" don't flap so much when she's acutally skating as they do when she jumps, as she tends to let her right arm/side fly up and open in her jumps, especially the combinations.

Perhaps her coach should work--or maybe she already is working on having your daughter focus on a more controlled in-air position. The combination jumps are patricularly chicken-wingy because she appears to be anticipating the following jump and her body happens to think ahead like her brain.

I tell my students to think of making a big round circle with their arms in their singles: soft, relaxed, rounded elbows outstretched as if to hold their arms around an oversized beachball. When they check out of their jump, or land, the right arm just needs to open a bit to the side while the left stays in place (granted the skater is a CCW skater). Maybe thinking of that analogy will help.

Still, like I said earlier, don't sweat a few bounces and bobbles too much. She's a lovely skater and her abilities will only mature with time.

In addition to the champion cords, maybe try using a theraband? They're really good for staying aware of your arms. In her case, I would probably suggest she hold one end in each hand and let it stretch across her back. It should help her be more aware of when one arm is flying up and the other down because of the changes in tension she'd feel. Have her hold it in a proper position for a bit, let her get used to it, then have her start jumping with it. For footwork, she should hold it across her chest and focus on keeping her chest open and shoulders pulled back.

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Yes, that is exactly what they are working on right now