Improving jump landings

[cazzie]

I'm sure its been discussed here before - but - can't seem to find the thread.

My 11 year old daughter is "landing" most doubles - I'm not sure if I would call it that but she is rotating fully, landing on an edge but occasionally feet are stuck a bit crossed and sometimes she seems to bend her knee of landing leg too deeply. Coach was saying though that she needs to stay more upright on landing. Of course there are days where she has beautiful take off and seems to sink into the ice when landing (generally those days her legs are tired - not always from skating though - running seems to have disastrous results for her).

Would the general jumping off ice be a way to improve this? Some of it is thought by coach to be due to lack of strength to hold onto landings but I wonder if some of it is "bad habit" as well.

She is quite lean and leggy - we measured her yesterday (no wonder skating dresses not fit) and she has grown 4 inches since Christmas! I'm convinced she is not as strong as she used to be. She is very frustrated with this at the moment... And seems to feel that what she needs is more ice time! (Horrible mother that I am I think she needs a few days off).

[katz in boots]

seems to sink into the ice when landing

This is something I've seen a bit of, particularly when the skater is worried about having had enough height in the jump, they seem to 'sag' to make it look like it was higher. :lol:

It can also be a core strength issue. When landing a jump, my understanding is that you land through the toe-pick, then there is bend at the ankle, then the knee. After that it should stop, when you get to the hip, it doesn't soften or bend. Some skaters continue the bending through hip to upper body. If the skater holds their core firm on landing, it seems to fix the problem.
If it's become a habit, it takes lots of reminding to get them out of it.

For some reason, I've seen this mainly on edge jumps, the salchow & loop, and the two girls I'm particularly thinking of, were both lean & leggy.

[sk8rdad59]

ITA with Katz.... Core strength is critical to good jump technique especially landings. Since she has grown 4 inches in the last 8 months she is likely not a strong as she used to be. It takes time for the muscles to catch up with the rest of the bodies growth.

We used different off ice activities to help with core strength, Pilates, Ballet and some martial arts are all good off ice activities that improve core and also maintain flexibility.

[rsk8d]

Completely agree with other posters! With a four inch growthspurt, the core muscles have to relearn how to stabilize her body. Continue to work hard on our programs (as I recall you are using them) and she will continue to get stronger.

[cazzie]

Thanks - I'm telling her over and over that she needs patience and it will get better. She does off ice training at the rink and the coach has told me that she isn't as strong as a year ago but with so much growing and really slim build that she needs to be patient. A skating coach had recommended weights round wrists and ankles when skating and the off-ice coach said there was no "quick fix" and with such rapid growth her skeleton was at its weakest and that she needed to be patient. She has had to work hard not to lose her left-right splits.

She was great with the DVD's for a while and I think recently lost some hope - but - I''ll get her back to doing them.

Tonight (at her skating) I was impressed by the height on her jumps. Rotation never a problem (other than the over-rotated axel). Could do probably with a lot more control over landings though.

The other thing I noticed tonight (black leggings etc) was just how narrow she is compared to many of her peers. Of course they are all slim but think she is very fine boned and long-legged and less muscular which can't make it easy. (Not for lack of eating though!)