I have THE hardest time centering my forward spins! (I'm CCW) I'll get one good one out of every 10 or so I attempt, but in all of the other ones, I can feel my weight shifting over to my right side, and then off I travel. My backspin is sooo much easier to center!

I usually enter them from an RFI 3-turn, since the dropping free hip problem is exacerbated tenfold when I try it from a windup. I've seen skaters do a high kick up with their freeleg when they hook, and it's helped a little with the dropping free hip, but something about my entrance is throwing me off most of the time. I think that when I hit a good one, I just get lucky, LOL...

So, any tips for getting a consistent entrance?

i also have trouble centering my forward spins. my coach is always telling me its because im either dropping a shoulder or leaning forward. i realize that if i bend alot on the entrance and then pull my arms slowly in in front of me and then pull them in i tend to stay centered better. also looking forward helps as well. but my advice may not work cuz my spins still wont center very well! so try it and see if it works for you!
good luck!
~kittie

Same problem.... My coach tells me to raise my leg up as high as I can on the wind up but to not stiffen my arms(because if you do you might have them lopsided etc) Then, once you're centered, you can just bend the leg at the knee and then slowly lower it for a scatch. The only problem is I can never tell if i'm centered or not while I'm spinning AND it's kinda hard to hold my leg up there. But this has proven to be the only way I ever get centered spins.

Two tips.

1) Turn your free hip OUT. It helps 'lift' your hip in a very subtle way, and it won't make you fall the other direction, like going crazy with the 'raise that free leg higher' thought may. It also helps 'set' you properly into the spinning hip.

2) Be sure that your free leg and free arm are coming around together. Think of a inflexible rod tying them together, so one simply can't come around ahead of the other.

And then practice. It took me years to get a reasonably centered forward spin (I'm more of a jumper), but these two things are what finally helped me the most.

I just read these tips, and the rink is closed today, LOL (Merry Christmas everyone!) but I did go yesterday and I tried to think of other ways I could be doing it funny. And then I realized - I tend to hook really early, or the timing is off so that the hook-in does not occur at the same time with the freeleg going around. (I think that the freeleg should turn to the front at the same time as the skating leg hooks in, right?) No wonder I was having so much trouble trying to fix the freeleg position AFTER I had started spinning, LOL...

Try a deeper bend in your skating leg, and think of pushing yourself around your own left shoulder instead of pushing out and then around. And think of leading yourself around with that left arm/shoulder.

Also, hold the edge until you *have* to start the spin. Hold it longer than you think you should, and don't bring the free leg through until the edge is completely skated out and you've started to turn into the spin. All of these things work together to minimize forward motion, and that's what centers the spin.

I consider myself a spinner with very good speed and centering ...

I would say to keep a spin centered, you need to keep tension in your arms and shoulders. This is what keeps the spin from losing steam. Also, I think it's best *NOT* to hold the free leg out to the side with an open hip. The free leg should be held high (this requires good leg strength) and in front with a *closed* hip. I see some beginning skaters leaving the leg hanging out to the side. Like the arms and shoulders, there should be a tension in the free leg. To fight the force in the spin, some try to open the hip to relieve the force. But this is one of the causes of traveling in spins.

However, the best bet is to do a couple million spins, and you'll get it. I sort of figured out what works best for me by tweaking my entrances, my arm/shoulder/leg positions, and by watching others.

Good luck and happy spinning!

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I found that I used to keep my free leg out to the side too much, not by choice, but because I couldn't seem to bring it all the way to the front because of the centrifugal force working against it. Then my coach told me that resistance only happens when you try to bring the free leg around too soon. He said that if I would just hold the entrance edge longer and not bring the free leg around until I had done a full half circle on the edge, I would not get that resistance. He was right! The next step is to hold the free leg out in front of you until you don't feel any resistance against it, and then bring it in.
In other words, if you feel that resistance, you're rushing the spin too much!

Thanks for the tips! Will try them tomorrow. I do struggle with keeping my leg in place on the entrance, maybe rushing is the problem.

I'm still at the stage when I get my weight in the right place about once in 100 tries - not quite sure where the "right place" is. However, I do find that if I'm going to get a good spin, it's almost invariably off a back outside edge, rather than the traditional bi-step-into-the-circle entrance. I either do an inside 3, or, more usually, anti-clockwise crossovers, hold the RBO edge, then step perpendicularly into the spin. It seems to work better for me - maybe it would for you?

(Not that I've skated since Thursday, as we've been away).

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Hm...this is so hard to tell, rather than show! Maybe what I mean isn't what I said. I'll try again. What I do is bring the arm and leg around together to about the 2-o-clock position, not lolling out to the side (the 3 or 4-o-clock position). Once my free leg is about to the 2-o-clock spot, I turn the instep of my foot up, but turn from the hip, not the ankle or knee. So, at this point, if I wanted to cross my free leg over, I wouldn't have to move my thigh at all, I can just bend my knee (leaving my thigh right where it is) and voila, the leg is crossed, and I can just push it straight down from there.

Of course, once you're past the hook and in position, you want to remember to keep your upper body 'square', meaning that you aren't dropping hips or shoulders, or letting one get behind or ahead of the rest of you. (Torquing isn't fun, and you'll travel to China!)

Ha! Yes, it is really hard to describe spinning in a clear, concise way. But I see what you're saying.

"... bring the arm and leg around together to about the 2-o-clock position, not lolling out to the side."

Yes, yes, that is crucial.

I was helping someone spin at the rink yesterday, and she was trying to explain what she was doing. I then had to tell her that what she was doing was NOT what she was explaining!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
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Since the rink was so crowded today, I decided to really dedicate myself to taking apart my forward scratch. Holding the entrance edge really helped, but I also found that I wasn't keeping a bent skating knee through the hook. Instead of letting the turn happen by flipping the hip and keeping the free leg swinging around, I had been forcing the free leg around and was probably tipping myself over in the process. I've got a long way to go, but at least I'm getting somewhere! w00t!

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Hi,
Also, on the entry make sure you ease out of the toe and not pop out. Once the spin is centered with your leg extended, keep it there and bend your free knee, and bring your foot into position and slide it down the skating leg. When pulling in, many people bend and raise the knee. The lifting of the knee also lifts the free hip which can throw off the center.