I've been playing w/ spins lately, w/ thoughts of testing bronze FS & I wanted some refreshing.....

Okay, so I've never been a good spinner, ever. I'm very tall & in dance blades which doesn't help, and any spin I've ever done that was centered was sheer coincidence or a result of Divine intervention. And I didn't do freestyle for very long, so I never had a ton of training on spin technique anyway.

So, a couple weeks ago I borrowed 2 Gus Lussi spin technique videos from a friend. In case you haven't heard of him (I barely had), he's the guy who invented a lot of the spins we do today, such as camel, any flying spin, & others. As well, he pioneered the technique of crossing your feet in the air during jumps & he based jump technique on spin technique to perfect mid-air positions. He was Dick Button's coach, among many others.

So I watched these tapes & have been playing w/ the techniques, most of which were totally new to my ears (but at the same time, relatively small adjustments). Today I played w/ scratch spins. Absolutely amazing results!! Once I got the pieces put together after a few tries, they were centered. Every. Time. I was so shocked, I kept doing them because I couldn't believe it.

Here's some shots of the tracings (shot about 10 minutes apart)--before:
http://phoenix.sk8rland.com/pictures...w&i=before.jpg

And after:
http://phoenix.sk8rland.com/pictures...ew&i=after.jpg

The tapes are a little expensive, but I highly recommend them if you struggle w/ spins!

ETA--my previous note was wrong, scratch spin is covered on the first tape, at the end after sit spins.

FYI: If you belong to a skating club, some of them have lending libraries for tapes.

Thanks for the recommendation!

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That first pic is some real good driftin there hehe. Good work on the 'after' pic.

Which tape has the camel spin on it? I'm about ready to try anything to get it better. What an spin.

The second tape is pretty much entirely camel spin. He does some very interesting things with it--that's above my head for the most part, but you should be able to implement the things pretty well.

*Interesting side note: the Camel spin was actually named for the first girl who did it--named Campbell. But everyone started saying 'camel' and that's the name that stuck.

Here in the UK, it's still called a parallel spin, which is a more logical name. "Camel spin" is used and understood, but most of the older coaches still call it a parallel.

I remember one time sitting in the pros' room with my coaches and the then club competition secretary discussing what elements to put in the club's "Hop, step and jump" competition. Coach1 was writing them all down - only when he got to parallel spin, he rather obviously couldn't remember how to spell "parallel" and ended up saying, crossly, "Oh, call it a camel spin!"

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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!

Thanks! I just got a nice STAR tax refund from the state of NY in the mail, so perhaps I'll invest some of that in these tapes.

So what were the specific techniques that helped you center your spins??

It was several little things that would be hard to describe in writing......both in the entrance & then once you're in the spin.

I suspect the biggest thing was that he says to lift the right knee (CCW spinner) and bend it as soon as the right leg has completed the swing around--I was taught to hold it out straight for a fews revs...instead you bend it & flex the foot so the blade is parallel to the ice, and *that's* the position you hold while you balance the spin. I think not having the weight of my full leg way out from my body helped in the centering.

That makes total sense. I recently started getting off-center in the transition from my sitspin to my scratch spin, and my coach fixed it by telling me to bend the knee of my free leg as I came up out of the sit into the upright position.

Here's the only one I taped, of course it was the worst one of the day but still way way better than I'd managed before. Still don't have all the pieces pulled together every time, but getting there.

http://phoenix.sk8rland.com/video/sc...pin%209-06.AVI

So phoenix, ante up with the video!

ETA - READ MY MIND!!!