Viktor Kudryavtsev: Jump arithmetic: mistake correction. Conditioning exercises for learning single jumps.

[Fay]

This article is by a well-known Russian coach Viktor Kudryavtsev and is aimed at coaches teaching beginner skaters jump technique. While only tangentially interesting for Yuzu fans, it still highlights quite a few jump details and subtleties, so proved to be quite educational to me. The article is quite old (2013), so for the sake of Russian FS, I hope some things have changed.

This is my first attempt at translating a true technical article on FS, so bear with me. Any criticism  and corrections and questions are welcome!

The original comes from here

http://mosfigurist.ru/?p=1080

 

Jump arithmetic: mistake correction. Conditioning exercises for learning single jumps.

 

Viktor Kudryavtsev

 

When I watch children’s competitions, I see novice skaters execute single jumps with mistakes in the basic jump technique. That is a troubling phenomenon since technical mistakes can prevent these athletes from realising their potentials and showing their talent further on. Unfortunately, many coaches rush through teaching jumps and as a result, their students have faulty jump techniques which is unlikely to allow them to show good results. Coaches laying down basic techniques should take teaching single jumps more seriously and responsibly, and they don’t have to have extra qualifications, because figure skating contains full range of elements to condition young skaters for jumps elements. Today, we’ll speak about some typical mistakes and the ways to correct them (or better still, prevent them), in other words, we will speak about preliminary conditioning exercises which will help coaches teach good jump technique to their students.

 

One of the essential drawbacks of training skaters in Russia is that we do not have a standardised system of teaching skating skills. The trends of the world figure skating have more than once shown that basic skating skills should be laid down when a skater is making the very first steps on the ice, well before teaching students to jump. In Moscow, coaches' ideas go in the opposite direction: first, they teach their students to jump, and then they try to teach them to glide, inviting different skating skills instructors. They don't seem to understand that skating on blade edges is the basis of jumping technique as a whole, and the better skating skills are (on edges along curves or, as they are called, lobes), the more technically perfect multi-rotational jumps will be.

 

We aren't talking about component scores where we have been losing to foreign skaters for several years now, we'll just see the way our top skaters and elite Western skaters perform their jumps. First of all, our unfortunate distinctive feature is the lack of  powerful jump height and distance, since when approaching their jump, our figure skaters usually lessen their speed, and when exiting the jump, they have little flow due to their weak gliding techniques, which makes them gain speed again by moving their legs frantically (apparently they don't know that speed is gained not so much by muscular efforts as by gliding along curves of the lobe working with their knees and ankles).

 

There are no secrets

 

Gliding along lobes is characterised by a certain technique based on the correct posture and correct position of the angle of every joint (hips, knees, ankles) in relation to the ice as well as on the position of the shoulders and their twisting and untwisting movements. In general, in figure skating, every turn is executed by the head, shoulders, body, hips, free leg, and the blade is the last component in the movement. All these technical subtleties must be taught to the athlete at the initial stage of training, otherwise you won't get any good results.

 

The whole theory of technical execution of any jumps lies in the secrets of the entry lobe, that is, in the ability to keep correctly on the curve of lobe before the jumping phase. When a young athlete is taught to twist and untwist their body on the lobes, then this skill can be transferred to the correct grouping in jumps. It is not because skaters push themselves strongly off the ice that three or more rotation jumps are created, but because they have learnt certain techniques in both turns and jumps, they have learnt to create a rotation on the required leg.

 

More specifically, the position of the shoulders before jumping should be completely parallel to the blade of the supporting foot on the ice. Thanks to the release of the body and shoulders on the ice a torque movement, a rotational momentum will be created. Any jump, no matter which one is being executed, has an entry lobe (curve), at the end of which the skater's trajectory turns into an abrupt incomplete curve, creating rotational force a skater uses in their jump. It is clear that without acquiring the skill of making good lobes, a skater can't execute any jump correctly.

 

After the skating figures were cancelled as a competitive program, we made an unpardonable mistake by removing them from the training process, although the essence of figure skating has not changed and gliding continues to be the main criterion for judging in our days. A skater has to be able to do all the basic elements - brackets, rockers, counters, 3turns and loops - with both legs (left and right), in two directions (forward and back) and two edges (inside and outside). And while a skater has to be able to do each turn in their "favoured" direction, since they serve as an entry into their jumps, they have also to execute these turns in their "non-favoured" direction in their step sequences or for the overall development of the athlete's balance. Currently, many Russian figure skaters can't skate in the right (clockwise) direction, because coaches do not understand why they need this even though the answer is obvious. The careers of many athletes would have been different if besides multi-rotational jumps they displayed good skating skills including skating in both directions. Currently, only Moscow FS Federation has taken the trouble of bringing back teaching skating skills through mandatory testing of figure skaters, and many specialists have subsequently commented on better skating skills displayed in skaters’ steps, clusters and sequences, but all the other skating schools haven’t done that and still waste time and opportunities.

 

General guidelines

 

A child skater can learn single jumps only after they have learned to do lobes and 3turns correctly. You can teach double jumps only if the skater performs single jumps without errors.

 

Spins either on the left or on the right foot have been and are the preparatory conditioning moves for all the jumps, because they develop the athlete's vestibular apparatus. A skater with a stable vestibular apparatus will be able to perform triple jumps, while if a skater has problems with spins they will never jump well.  The main basic conditioning movement for jump elements is the backwards scratch spin, and before you start jumping any jump, you need to master this type of scratch spin. The scratch spin is executed through a forward inside - back outside 3turn, and the rotation starts from the back outside lobe, by creating a rotation momentum with the right shoulder, with the right arm being brought closer to the left. It is very important to learn to hold the arms correctly during the spin, because their position is the key to balance. Usually children spin in a whole variety of way, but most do their spins with their shoulders tense, whereas they should be relaxed. Coaches usually tend to overlook their students’ arms' position, although they create a balance and form the axis that will hold the athlete.

 

For those skaters who cannot keep their balance on their right foot during a spin, I recommend one more exercise: start spinning in the backward scratch spin, then hop and continue to spin.

 

The back is the crucial body part for any figure skater. Some skaters have strong backs genetically, but more often it has to be strengthened by special exercises, but these exercises should be avoided with children, since they can get serious injuries. When children only just start figure skating, coaches shouldn't try to strengthen and gron any muscles, but should instead make them do general conditioning exercises for all muscle groups that will create a good body build, the balance and the growth of overall muscle mass. Now when everyone is getting involved in the jump race, you can see children with weak backs and sluggish postures jump triple jumps only thanks to their slight build. However, later, when they reach puberty, this ability to jump will start to crumble, they will stop landing triple jumps, which means their coaches will look for new young skaters and start their production line anew, instead of teaching these young skaters more competently.

 

The Axel

 

The axel is considered the basic jump in figure skating and is usually learned first. A skater's general technical competence can be judged by their ability to execute it, so the axel is both the simplest and the most difficult jump at the same time.

 

During novice competitions, I often see that when performing 2A young athletes exit the jump not forward along the trajectory of the jump, but backward, that is, they nearly get back to the place of the entry lobe. This typical error indicates that these skaters are not trained to transfer the centre of gravity from the push-off leg to the swing-up free leg. Pushing themselves into a jump, they perform a rotating movement around the push-off leg, while the spin in the air must be performed around the swing-up free leg. If the swing is not wide enough, then you cannot move ahead, but you go only backwards and you'll have a lean. The important step is a waltz jump in which the skater should learn how to transfer the centre of gravity from the lift-off leg to the swing-up leg in the air.

 

Also in this exercise, you should pay attention to the work of the arms, which play an important role in the axel. Usually children do not make a swinging move with their arms, but they almost immediately group them, bringing them closer to the body thereby triggering rotational acceleration. You can visually see in this case that during the jump their shoulders rise and the neck gets drawn in while the jump itself is low and their body has a lean. The athlete should be taught not so much to do the swing as to move his arms and his swing-up free leg forward together, which will ensure the flow and the time for transferring the centre of gravity from the supporting leg to the swinging leg, and only then does the skater proceed to do the grouping. This aspect had better be exercised through an "umbrella" spin where at first the arms are stretched in two sides, and only after a while does the skater start to tuck them in to get acceleration.

 

Coaches usually overlook this aspect because children are able to lift themselves into the air even without a swinging move, rotate their jumps easily because they have a great centrifugal force, and coaches in their chase of triple jumps at an early age overlook the way they lift off in the jump. In every jump, everything starts with a supporting leg: first, there must be a push-off from the ice, which is picked up by the shoulders, arms and the grouping.

 

The next aspect is the work of the swing-up free leg. While some coaches pay attention to the work of the push-off leg, they often forget that the work of the swing-up free leg is just as important during a jump because apart from height, any jump, not only Axel, must have a forward progression. A properly executed jump has a flying trajectory, so the coach should have the student use their free leg in the jump, because it is through this swing-up of the free leg that the skater gets the momentum and the flow into his jump. The ideal jump is the one in which the athlete makes a long exit curve similar to the exit of the female partner after a throw in pair skating. I recommend coaches and athletes to develop a balance of coordination in the moves of their push-off supporting leg and swing-up free leg, because they are both responsible for the jump.

 

Another problematic point of the Axel is a lift-off into the jump from the entry trajectory, which can be carried out either through a skid or through a toe-pick. I do not train my athletes specifically for either of these movements, as I proceed from the proposition that skaters must find for themselves the method convenient for them. But I depend on their skating skills, since when going into an Axel, athletes make a 3turn through the toe-pick. So you need to make sure that the entry curve of lobe in the waltz jump and in the Axel is not straight or only slightly curvy, it should be a true curve of lobe the way it should be in a 3turn. At its end, the skater has to push off the ice so that the lobe itself creates a rotational motion. Young beginning skaters find it very difficult to make a skidding move, because they cannot make a push-off move with their foot. But in the future, in order to jump 2A or 3A, one should be able to perform a pre-push-off plough-like move in which the blade leaves a wide mark on the ice. Among the arsenal of initial conditioning exercises, there is such an element as "a plough-like stop", that is, a stop executed by using the full blade edge. The child should learn to skate on the outside edge and suddenly stop, turning their skate across the trajectory of their movement as dancers do. When skidding with the ploughing move, the speed decreases slightly, and it means that it will be easier to catch the moment of the lift-off into the jump. This movement is not carried out by the ankle, but by the whole body, and it has to be taught. The athlete will be able to perform a lift-off into the jump through the skidding ploughing movement, if their body keeps working and isn’t left behind at the moment of skidding, otherwise it will be impossible to lift off. For 2A or 3A, when plough-skidding, the skater has to bend the leg, then due to this movement a rotation momentum will be created which will be strengthened by the athlete using his hips, shoulders and arms movement.

 

Coaches and athletes should also be aware that when entering the axel, the centre of gravity before and after the 3turn has to be inside the circle, which means they have to be watch the hips' position. If the hips get out of the circle, the jump will have no exit.

 

The Salchow

 

The salchow is considered a fairly simple jump, and it’s no coincidence that the first successful quadruple jumps were the salchow and the toe-loop. However, the salchow can become impossible to execute if you learn it wrong. The main mistake is that the skater starts to make the twisting rotational movement with the shoulders while still on the ice, that is, before hurling themselves into the jump, while they should do everything in the reverse order: first lift off and then twist their body. An acquired wrong skill can be very hard to eradicate.

 

The conditioning move for the salchow is three or five forward outside 3turns in succession on one leg, while the free leg is extended, not tucked in to correctly shift the centre of gravity from the push-off leg to the swing-up leg. Such jumps as the axel, the salchow and the toe-loop are made with a wide swinging transition move from the push-off leg to the swing-up leg. The loop, the flip and the lutz belong to a different group of jumps, because in them, the centre of gravity is transferred to the push-off leg. In order to do multiple 3turns correctly, the skater should sit lower in the skate so that the speed of movement remains the same, i.e. they shouldn’t not slow down. In order to achieve this, the skater should work with the knee of the supporting leg, and their free extended leg should go from the hip forward into the swing-up. Children usually sit low in the leg, but during the execution of the 3turn they tilt their body forward instead of drawing their hips in, so they are go forward on the toe-pick and make a diving move. Moreover, when turning, young athletes usually make another mistake: they sit even more deeply in the leg instead of rising up on it by straightening the knee.

 

The Toe-loop

 

At novice competitions, I sometimes see a skater jump a toe-loop as if it were an axel, although it would seem that there is nothing in common between these two jumps. Their error is that the child puts their foot down for the push off, then turns the body along the trajectory and makes a swing, which is not typical for either the Axel or for the toe-loop. Besides, by turning face forward along the trajectory of the jump at that moment, the athlete cheats half a turn and jumps half a turn less. To avoid such a mistake, you need to have the skater do a simple half-turn toe-loop jump which is a good conditioning exercise. They should do the following: at the push-off moment, when the supporting leg is on the outside lobe, the skater should put the lift-off leg down the way it’s done in the toe-loop jump, and do half a turn without twisting the body around in order to learn to jump from the push-off leg while being aware that, during the jump, the leg shouldn't just be put down but it should be used to lift off into the jump.

 

It is also important to ensure that the shoulders before the push-off be turned inside the circle while at the moment of the lift-off they begin to work on twisting out of the circle.

 

The Loop

 

The Loop is a difficult jump because it is based on a complex element - outside backward power 3turn, that’s why before learning this jump, children should acquire this type of 3turn and perform it correctly. The correct execution of the outside backward power 3turn is with two legs crossed and kept close together, then the work of the shoulders during the turn will be carried out correctly. If the free leg is away from the supporting leg, the shoulders will follow this leg and the jump will fail. It is also important that the centre of gravity should remain in the circle before and after the 3turn, and the turn itself should be executed through the heel part of the skate.

 

I recommend not starting to jump the loop until you make sure that the 3turn has the correct technique and your students have mastered this turn. If the backward power 3turn is mastered by the student, a single jump will be executed easily at once, because the lobe itself will throw the athlete into a jump. The coach must fix these feelings in the athlete's mind. If the jump does not work, then you need to return to the basics, start over again, and not to try to push on with the faulty technique.

 

The Flip

 

The main cause of the wrong edge on the flip is the wrong work of the shoulders at the time of its execution. When on the inside back lobe, the athlete should shift their weight on the supporting leg towards the centre of the circle and only then begin moving the shoulders. But athletes usually rush to make a rotational motion with their shoulders, and the body is imbalanced, and then the edge is changed. In order for the judges not to find faults with this jump, it should follow this routine: first, a lift-off, then start working with your shoulders.

 

Coaches should teach their students the flip and the lutz only after they have mastered the lobes. Even after 3-4 years of training many beginner figure skaters can't hold their inside edges in an inside back lobe after a 3turn. Usually they all lean forward on their toe-pick after the 3turn, because their centre of gravity is shifted forward as they were not taught to straighten their leg after the 3turn. Teach the young figure skater to stand upright during the turn after the 3turn, then their centre of gravity will be on the middle part of the blade, and they can glide smoothly and beautifully and jump a flip off the supporting leg. To do this, all the skater has to do only is to go down in the leg along the trajectory of sliding, and then transfer the weight onto the push-off leg. Coaches should spend time on working out the transition onto the push-off leg and work on executing the jump with the back unturned – thus they will  ensure the lift-off before involving the rotational motion with the shoulders.

 

As a preparatory movement, I advise coaches to train multiple back inside - forward outside 3turns so that there is a steady progression. It is important that the free leg should be extended and crossed from behind. When this movement is technically correct, you can begin to work on the transition onto the push-off leg, to make sure that the skater does not lean forward, but goes backwards, with the back inside the circle. To do this, the 3turn must be done through the heel, then the turn will be made inside the circle, the body will remain steady and the entry onto the push-off leg will be correct.

 

The Lutz

 

Victoria Volchkova jumped the lutz wonderfully . She jumped it not just from the outside edge, but entered it from the back outside lobe, so there were no questions about the edge in her case at all. The way Victoria did this jump was the specialty of my school, its technique, because not every coach can teach how to do it and not every skater is able to twist themselves so with their shoulders while on the outside lobe, although this technique shows all the beauty of the lutz. Now almost everyone makes their lutz this way: at the very last moment, they change the edge and jump, because the shorter and steeper the curve of the jump entry, the easier it is to perform it. If you just go  backwards on the outside edge, the lobe itself sets a big general lean and holding the shoulders and turning in the opposite direction prove to be quite difficult for most skaters.

 

If you want your athlete to jump a lutz correctly, then teach him first to do back outside cross-rolls. This exercise will train the correct transition from foot to foot with the transfer of the centre of gravity. Besides, the shoulders will also be involved the same way as during the jump. It is also good to use cross-rolls as a preparatory movement, because there is a rhythm in them. One, two, three - and then the skater jumps half a turn without a rotational movement to learn to lift off from the supporting leg. Skaters must learn to first push and then make a rotational movement with their shoulders. At least I teach all my athletes this way.

 

Also, a good conditioning exercise is the back outside counter because in it, the position of the shoulders is the same as when entering the lutz: they are opened outward from the circle before the turn.

 

Attention tasks (Conclusion, sort of - Fay)

 

I am sure that many mistakes will be corrected if the coaches pay attention to the basic skating skills and will take the technique of jumping in the technique of performing lobes and turns. The coach should be able to split each jump into phases and, in each phase, to highlight which moment is important, that is, to teach the jump in parts, even without jumping it completely. The coach's skill is in the ability to see the error and know how to fix it, how to prepare your athlete for the performance of a technically complex element.

 

 

 

[meoima]

This is just amazing!! Thank you so much!

[Fay]

2 minutes ago, sublimeskating said:

@Fay amazing translation and information!!!

i can't skate myself but this is wonderful reading and thanks for sharing it with us!  

You're welcome!