I've edited this as it seems a bit discombulated!

Anybody elses kids have this problem? Its dd's commonest problem and seems to come and go....

Recently had a spell of slightly cheated double axels (she is trying to do single axel) - and my goodness - while she fumbles the landings or sometimes puts down a hand she is starting to stay on her feet rather than land on her butt. She says whenever she feels "stressed" she does this. (Astounding height as well).... and more recently - the double sal is almost a cheated triple sal. Its supposed to be a double sal but once again she is over-rotating.

She tells me this is not good and is very upset with herself. She says when she is relaxed (and not caring to much) the jumps seem to happen but feels this is something that she has no control over her.

Any ideas? Is there a way she could learn to count her way through parts of jumps? When she remembers she tries "pulling in" less tightly - and yes - one can see how quickly and tightly she pulls in!

Over-rotation can result from a lack of core strength, or just the body not recognizing the correct timing of a checkout. Does your rink have a harness? That can be a useful tool to help a skater feel the correct rotation. There are also some exercises to help with checkout of the freeleg

Also, if the freehip and left shoulder are not checked properly or in the correct position on takeoff, over-rotation can occur. That should be up to your coach to recognize, since we can't see it here!

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I am told by her coach that her take-off positions are very good and that the general jump technique is not bad other than the over-rotation and its impact on landings. My daughter feels she isn't sure when to check out the jumps and so far the comments on "relaxing" and "not trying so hard" aren't really helping at all. She says if she pulls in less it is better but she isn't sure how much to "not" pull in. She did say she wished she had a counting thing in her head that she could use or something she could chant to herself. (The in-air position is good with legs beautifully crossed and arms crossed and tightly pulled in. I'm hoping recent competition the photographer managed to

Double sals were good and she landed most until 2 weeks ago and the over-rotation is a completely new problem. Double loop is probably her best jump right now and she says for some reason its much easier not to over-rotate that one. (Apparantly also not over-rotating the double toe although she often falls during the backward glide afterwards).

Axel has always been a problem - particularly over-rotating it. She certainly describes it as her least favourite jump.

Her core strength is improving although not as strong as it could be although she is doing well as off-ice training. She has had a big growth spurt and has a very small frame/long legs which the coach says is a disadvantage. The off-ice coaches do say she needs to be patient about the impact of her growth spurt.

I will ask about a harness though - it is never ever used where dd trains although I believe it is meant to exist.

If she is unsure what her air timing in, she should do a BIG single and count 1-mississippi-2-mississippi-3 until she lands. That should help her determine when to check out on the next up jump (double sal, toe, loop, flip...)

Yesterday daughter had her best skating session in months. Not just landing axels but landing them with flow from speed... and combinations and at the end of a string of other jumps.

However - she had a much happier day today at school (in the mental toughness thread I've had discussions about my daughter's difficult time with another skater who is in her class at school). She did cross country running and basketball at school prior to skating. This other girl wasn't at the class.

My daughter said she just felt happy and relaxed and that nothing beats the feeling of landing an axel from high speed.

I guess what we need to work on now is the psychological side to things.