Forward alternating ½ swizzle pumps, in a straight line -
across width of ice

what on earth is this and how do you teach it
We don't do it in canada and my son is competing in the states and needs to do this- The coach and I can't figure out how to get him to do it and why do they learn this anyways- what skill does it progress to?

Thanks

I LOVE teaching Forward Alternating Pumps.

Warmup: Start by doing pumps (1ft swizzles) with the outside foot only, on a circle. (2x around) Reverse the direction. (2x around) This just gets their weight in the right place, even though it's going in a circle.

Go to a hockey line and have him glide with both feet on the line.

Bend knees, shift weight to one foot and let the other foot swizzle off and back onto the line.

Back to 2-foot glide, then shift weight to the other side and let the non-weight bearing foot swizzle off and on.

Now, get tricky: have the feet alternate with barely any double glide - just bring the feet back together and swizzle with alternating feet.

Don't get away from the line. Both feet have to come back onto it before starting the next swizzle.

I keep the arms even and open to the front, telling students to "keep those hands where you can see 'em." Shoulders tend to shift, which is fine and expected.

It teaches how to shift weight and push with one foot without letting the other foot "get away" from the skater's control. Also strengthens the knees because you can't do it well without deep knee bends. Using them in this exercise builds up the muscles needed for the crossovers.

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In addition to Isk8NYC's excellent advice, I sometimes tell my students, when on that line, to "drop one knee". Thinking of it as dropping a knee instead of swizzling out with the other foot sometimes works when other things fail.

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I've seen coaches draw alternating arcs on either side of the hockey line. Problem w this is the kids might just play dot-to-dot w the lines rather than swizzle. In my exp, by the time they get to this level, they understand and can do basic swizzles. I give them a demo and say "one foot, together, other foot, together". I do this b/c the kids don't really know left vs right. They catch on pretty quickly. Then I move on to 1 foot swizzles in a circle.

Kay

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my humble opinion is that half pumps on a circle is a lot harder to do than forward alternating half pumps (almost like slalom). That is why the pumps on a circle is in Basic 3. I agree with everything said above except that you can not always use the half pumps on a circle as practice. Some kids perfectly capable of doing the straight alternating pumps can not pump around the circle yet.

I am editing my post to add that the actual "forward slalom" is in Basic 3. The element described in Basic 2 is not as "fluid" going from left to right, meaning the two feet glides are allowed in between the swizzle pumps.

That's okay: you're entitled to your opinion.

This teaching technique works for me and I've been using it for years with great success. (As long as they BEND THEIR KNEES, lol.) Never had a skater miss this element on a test session.

I often teach isolated movement by focusing on one foot at a time. It helps strengthen skaters who favor one side over the other and lets me make individual corrections.

If the skater is only using one foot to pump, they SHOULD be turning, so use a circle for an orderly line. They don't have to master the pumps, but it does make it easier for them to learn the next-level skills too.

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It's sort of on Canskate, somewhere between badge 2 and 3. Forward push glide to bubbles (swizzles) to two foot slaloms, one foot slaloms. One foot slaloms are not power pulls! a common misconception, they are really these half foot swizzles, so that shows you the progression : two foot "skiing" to just have one foot skiing. It develops balance and power (knees).

I line up little cones, those little flat ones on either side of the blue line (any line) and as the kids skate bubbles down the line, they have to keep one foot on the line and slide out one foot more to be able to "carve a scoop of ice cream" out of the container.

They'll then get to do more with their "scoop" when they get to crosscuts.

funny how most of my canskate drills involve food analogies, hmmmm.

Thank you for clarifying that - I wondered why "slalom" came up when this is a straight movement.

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Thanks everyone- it won't be his best element but I think he's got it-less than 2 weeks to go now until the competition

Don't worry about it- in my experience, that's the weakest Basic 2 element for most kids.

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It's also difficult to start them doing one-foot swizzles on a circle for those of us teaching in coned off "lanes".

"One foot, together, one foot, together" works pretty well for me.

We usually just "borrow" a circle from another group for a few minutes or I draw one on the ice with a marker.

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Hi coach teaches him to do circle thrusts not pumping on a circle so his is a new thing. He has a great 1 foot glide but it isn't straight- he does a full inside edge circle. Oh well he'll be cute!