Please don't think I'm a nut on the topic of Mohawks

I have been lucky enough to borrow the PSA Moves tapes from a coach friend. The tapes break down each move into its component parts, and in the Senior Extension Spiral Step move there is a BI Mohawk that is unlike any Mohawk I have ever heard about, as it would have you toe to toe if you could keep both skates on the ice at the same time.

Because it is isolated, I was able to see it quite clearly. I really think this turn needs its own name. On a BI edge, the free foot is held at the heel of the skating foot, pointing down. The upper body is faciing out of the arc, pre-rotated for the turn. With very quick rotation of the hips and completed rotation of the upper body, the free foot takes the ice on a FI edge with the new free foot coming forward off the ice. When this turn is done in sequence with a FI open (heel to heel) Mohawk, the skater is steadily rotating as in consecutive threes. I think I must have seen this in competition and never recognized it as it is done so very quickly. If the narration did not specifically say "teach the Mohawk at the wall" and walk through each step, I would never have known that this was a BI closed Mohawk, or even that there was such a thing.

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This is one of my favorite mohawks, it's difficult to learn without tripping yourself. It has to be done quickly with sort of a pumping of the legs.

Tara Lipinski and Scott Hamilton do them regularly in their programs.

It's easy to forget how many mohawks there really are.

Lara

I told my daughter, and she said "So that's what those things are! I could never figure it out."

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