practicing / games

[roller_wheel]

Hi

1st post,

I use to love skating just don't have the time for it anymore.

To get back into skating i have decided to make a university project linked to skating.

I wondered if anyone could tell me any tips on any practicing methods and products that help, and any games that you play to get better?

I also have wondered about my uni project, for the average skater, do they get bored of skating once they have mastered the balance and speed??? what keeps them skating..as i don't remember many games apart from races.

[ibreakhearts66]

We have a few games we play at our rink (and I'm sure they're played at other rinks as well).

One of them is "add-a-spin." It's basically what it sounds like. First person does a spin, next person does that spin then adds a new positions, next person does the two previous positions and another, and you go until you fall.

We also do jump competitions. We usually start with how many axels is a row can you do. Sometimes we'll do 2sal half loop 2sal half loop etc.

Also, we'll try to see who can hold a certain spin longest. That can be fun with shoot the ducks too.

[flikkitty11]

ahhh all the fun games at the rink. Add-a-spin is great, we also had add-a-jump (same principal as spins).

Anyway, a fun game 8 of us on a juvenile-to-senior (im intermediate) session played with one of the coaches was capture the guard (capture the flag). Basically, split the group into two and give each team a guard. Make the centre line of the rink (if they do hockey too) the boundry and the aim is to get the guard from the other team to your side without being tagged (you can only get tagged if you are in the other teams territory). Anyone who is tagged must stop and wait till a team member frees them. Just remember to ok this with everyone on the session so you dont bother people - its usually best to play in the last 10 minutes or so.

[winziped]

I had a coach course since some months ago.

must invent some games for but if are new at skating must first learn to fall and stand up , before of begin with learn to keep balances but with games that help to develop that

is not a good idea begin with axels and jumps if are new at figure skating but if have some experiences at figure skating is good begin with some jumps and spins

can make a game with a ball and throw the ball with the hands and the classmate catch the ball and send back to her/his classmate , the idea is that practice skating and learn to manage speed or their skates.

roller_wheel is cute your nickname , is due to the roller skates?

welcome to the forum and have a great stay.

[roller_wheel]

thanks, it was just randomly put together however roller blades did have a part in the thought process.

thanks for everyones response so far.

[Sessy]

What keeps you skating is that no matter how much you learn, there's so much more to learn!

The jumps you can learn:
waltz, toe-loop, salchow, flip, loop, lutz, axel
double toe-loop, double salchow, double flip, double loop, double lutz, double axel
triple toe-loop, triple salchow, etc... The world champions in men do quadruple jumps, but very few people ever learn the triple jumps. The further you get, the more time it takes, People can spend years trying to get just 1 jump!

The spins are even more fun. Once you've learnt a 1-foot spin, you want to learn a camel spin and a sit spin. Then you want to learn a camel-sit change-position spin. Then you want to learn the same one, but on the other foot, in backspin. Then you want to learn biellmann, laybacks, level 4 spins etc... And even when you do, there's always improving the speed and grace of positions!

Same for spirals. You can stretch years and years for certain spirals, the idea is basically to get that leg higher and higher, and get an edge-change or so in there. Again, this takes years easily.

As far as good edgework and moves are concerned, the fourth pillar of skating - well you're never done with improving that. It's all about control and you can keep improving on that all your life, even if you've tested all the moves tests you're not like "done".

And then there's improving power and grace! You're never done with that either.


Plus, there's the competitions and shows. For me, that's the main focus of my skating. All the practice goes towards those few minutes you have the ice to yourself. And you go like, I want this and this in my programme... But you can't always already do that, so that's how you get yourself a goal to reach.



For off-ice practice, there's many ways to go when you're not on the ice
- practicing the jump power and stamina, is often done with rope-jumping, jumping over hordes, running, etc.
- practicing the jump technique is done with dry jumps, in sneakers on the floor
- practicing the spin positions can be done on a device called a spinner (I've heard it named drehscheibe, rotational training disk /spinner and turntable too)
- practicing the moves can be done on a spinner (for the check)
- snow whites, pic skates, quad rollers and synthetic ice (plastic) help to build strength and some aspects of the technique can be practiced as well, for spins jumps and moves. On ice is better, but in many countries there are 6-month summer breaks where the skating rink closes, so you have to train on rollers.


My spinner I usually take with me on holidays, cuz it's so compact, and oftentimes little kids swarm around it to try it and then I hardly get any practice at all. They think it's great fun to try and spin on it, LOL!