"A teacher should quit teaching if they ever quit learning. It's so difficult to remain original with each skater and their program that you must remain constantly enthused in order to remain creative."
- Bev Schien
"It wasn't like our parents said 'practice, practice, practice' with the whips and chains. They let us go, they let us enjoy ourselves and they made us love the sport."
- Paul Price
CanAmCrew.com offers a new web experience called "Skateology." An online experience for those willing to do the work. To go foward into the future you must know your past. For those who skated in the era of US dominance, it's a time of reflection. For those skating today it's a chance of inspiration. Watch and read from those who took part in arguably the greatest era in US skating history. A time many of us wish our sport would get back to. If only we could find the road map . . .
Please feel free to with feedback, questions, suggestions or requests. |
"I think our goal was winning but i wouldn't say it was the dominant theme. We always wanted to skate better, perform well and have a good contest."
- Tina Kneisley
"I've heard other skaters talk about how they sacrifice for the sport. Not me. I'm in college part time, have my evenings free to socialize as much as I want to, and enjoy being at the rink so much that it's never occurred to me to consider my skating a sacrifice."
- Tony St. Jacques
Problems with US Artistic Skating?
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| "YOU GOT TO WANT TO" BY BEV SCHIEN |
That's our club motto. The Rollhaven artistic
club knows that if you want clean jumps,
you've got to want to make them clean. In
30 years of teaching, I've been fortunate to
teach many excellent jumpers, including
Paul Jones, Joe Irving, Rick Elsworth, Dennis
Logan, Tim McGuire (three-time world
champion), Todd English, and David Cox.
Each had his own jumping style. It is
important to bring out the best of each,
instead of developing carbon copies. Some
of the skaters were high jumpers, some were
low, some rotated fast, and some slow. Most
imporantly, though, their jumps had clean
take-offs and landings.
Not only must the coach and student work
together, but they must also have the desire
to teach and learn a technically correct jump.
Don't settle for second best by skipping over
the fundamentals. Developing correct
jumping skills takes time. Teachers must
remember to teach for the future.
Ready, Set, Jump
Getting ready for the jump involves the
attitude that you can do the jump. It also
requires a good, upright position, and proper speed and momentum. Check that
you have the correct edge for take-off, and
are in the correct floor position for the jump
you are doing.
To set up the jump, cross the left arm in front
of the body with the right arm pulled back to
the three o'clock position. Don't turn into your
jump on the take-off or slow down before
jumping. Keep your head up and stretch by
extending the arms and free leg. Right before
jumping, bend your employed knee to signal
the jump and to gain height.
Jump when you are at a square position -- hips
and shoulders square to your employed foot.
Wrap the free leg in front of the employed leg
in a low wrap position. Keep your head and
chest up to help stay over your skate and pull
your arms in tight to your body to gain a faster
rotation. Never force the stretch.
You need maximum height to complete the
rotation necessary to land the jump on one foot
and on the correct edge. To achieve maximum
height, use your legs to jump from the floor and
pull your chest and arms up in a high arm wrap.
Check the rotation of the jump on the landing. A
jump checked too soon will be short of the
rotation and will usually result in a fall. A jump
checked too late will result in over-rotation,
creating a fall or step-out. It is important to learn to fall because in
the process of learning to gain the
necessary height and rotation to complete
the jump, a skater may fall a lot. Work
to make the take-off correct: the ending
will develop in time.
The coach should encourage skaters to
learn how to peform the skills so they
are technically correct. Encourage your
skaters; have faith in them. It is up to you
to teach the skater.
Skaters, you must give 100 percent in
every lesson and practice session.
Practice at least 50 minutes every hour.
Take notes during lessons to use while
practicing. You must work for the jump,
don't just wish for it.
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"The music tells you what to do with
choreography. In selecting music, I think
about the individual and what suits them best.
The skater has to like the music or they won't
be able to skate to it. Often, my biggest
problem is getting the kids to try something
different. They all want to skate to the same,
familiar music."
"I'm afraid we have lost a lot of the
fundamentals of skating. Skaters at this
year's Nationals were much less consistent.
In some events, the winner was the skater
who managed to stand up through the
routine. And I think it's the pros who are
at fault. Too many teachers today want
overnight success and to attain it they are
pushing the skater too fast into too difficult
of content. Some of these younger skaters
are attempting jumps they shouldn't even
consider. This isn't fair to the skater. Kids
lose their self-confidence so easily, they
should never be subjected to a routine they
can't handle."
"With figures, you have to love them to do them,
and it's easy for the skaters to get discouraged.
I would encourage pros to try and make them
more interesting. For example, my skater,
Rick Elsworth, has found that he enjoys
skating figures more if he does them while
listening to pop music."
"Let me grab those butterflies"
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