hi everyone

i've been hving a really bad problem at the moment with my spins....i recently got my 1 foot spin back after ages but now i travel alot and i have no idea how to stop this and my coach wants me to do a crossfoot spin next week.....dying for help on how to stop travelling on my spins and tips would be much appriciated from me

Hmmm..I think your balance is off. Usually when you travel its because the spin isn't centred. Make sure you are spinning on the ball of the foot not the toe. Also look at your body position. Is it square? Make sure you aren't twisiting your body or trying to force the spin.

Also, make the entrance edge very round and wait longer before bringing the free leg through and starting the spin. I find it always helps me to start from a T position on a line and make sure my ice marks show that my entrance edge came all the way back to the line before I started the spin.

Doubletoe: I h te that exercise but I do find that it helps.

hmmm.. .my advice is ... dont screw up! naw, im just kiddin. i have the same problem. I stopped skating for about 4 months, (i know! its awful!) but i had to, something came up. so when i went back on the ice, my one foot spins always traveled, and i found out that i was spinning mainly on my toe ... bad! i need to practice more. lol.

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~Best of luck in Skating~
Lauren

Ditto - this is how I learned it.

When my spins are off, I am usually able to fix them by going into it like a regular spin, but then freezing before bringing my free leg all the way around, just holding it in one place out to the side for a couple rotations - as long as I can. For whatever reason, working out balance issues is far easier to do that way, and then once that's more comfortable, my regular spins are much better.

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"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
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Should the hip be open or closed? This might be why my spins are crapping out lately....I think my hip is open. I know I've been rushing to bring my free leg in... and still hunching my shoulders (sort of hard to un-hunch when you have chronic shoulder spasms). Although in lessons on Sunday I did some beauts!

I'm almost ready to give up... Maybe I should just work on my sit....couldn't get any worse.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

thanks for the help my spin is still travelling but not as much and i have been able to acomplish a crossfoot spin/scratchspin

I use (and teach) upright spins with a closed hip - think of extending the free leg up in front, not off to the side. Keep your shoulders even - don't let one side droop.

The side extension and shoulder drop tends to make skaters "travel" in their spins. That's the looping you see on the ice. When you've centered the spin, the blade draws circles on the ice on top of each other.

Do a "spin 'til you stop" drill by doing the spin completely open - extend leg to the front and keep your arms rounded, but extended in front. (Think of holding a big barrel - your hands don't reach around it all the way to touch.)

After a few of these, you'll realize that holding the first spin position is easier and you'll rush less to close it up. Makes those three-rev-minimums much less challenging.

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That's one thing I have started doing...."holding the barrel" position with my arms. It has helped a lot.

I do believe that my leg has been out to the side instead of the front so now I have to fix that. I've been making lots of loops on the ice, rarely are my spins centered lately (maybe 1 in 15 and only for 1-3 revs at that ).

Thanks for the advice!!!!! Now it's back to spin-school......(sigh)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Hang in there. (((hugs)))

I teach my students to "present" their free foot - basically just a keyword to remind them to turn their toe out and stretch the leg to the front. Think about "closing your legs" to present the foot at the spin start.

I use this technique for sit spins, too. Getting your legs together helps you balance easier.

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Oh boy, I remember pulling my hip flexor doing that! When I was first doing scratch spins, I would try to power them with my free leg instead of just waiting until my entrance edge curled all the way around. As a result, my free leg would get stuck out to the side (I have open hips, too) and I would pull my right hip flexor forcing it around to the front in a wide arc.
I now understand that the trick is to let the free leg trail behind the skating leg as long as you possibly can, even letting it cross behind a little like a tail. Once you have done a complete half circle (which needs to feel like a full circle because we always think we're holding our edges longer than we really are), your edge will be "finished" and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to gently bring your free leg to the front without opening your hip out. And the bonus is that doing a full half circle on the ice before bringing the free leg to the front will center your spin, too!
Try it on a line from a T position and try to make the smallest, roundest circle you can with your entrance edge. Look at your ice marks to make sure your entrance edge comes coming all the way back to the line before you bring the free leg through and start the spin.

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