Competition Makeup Tips

February 10, 2012 by

When you compete in an event that is judged, appearance is typically taken into consideration. Even if there isn’t a mark for appearance, your appearance in how you present yourself can affect how the judges perceive your ability.

As much as it would be nice to believe that only ability is judged, the human eye tends to be drawn toward those who are well presented. If you’re in a sport such as figure skating and you’re female, makeup should be an important part of your competition regimen.

Here are competition makeup tips for figure skaters or anyone in a similar sport or art.

Read the entire article.

Filed Under: Basic Information, Competition Tips, Performance Tagged With: , , , , ,
February 10, 2012

Beautiful Spin Positions

April 16, 2011 by

This week, I have videos for you of some of the great female skaters performing beautiful spin positions. Watch how they perform different variations of the same basic spin.

Here is the 2010 Ladies Olympic Gold Medalist, Yuna Kim. Notice her great control of positions.

Here is the 2006 Ladies Olympic Silver Medalist, Sasha Cohen. Notice the excellent arch in her back.

This is a fun example of the fastest spin in the world!

Filed Under: Basic Information, Inspiration Tagged With: , , , , ,
April 16, 2011

Figure Skating Spins

April 1, 2011 by

Sasha Cohen

This week I’m talking about the different types of spins – upright, sit, camel, combination, and flying spins. There are different variations for spins and at the higher levels of ice skating, you can get even more credit for difficult variations than in the past.

With the new judging system, the IJS, you get more credit by doing a variation of position, difficult entry to the spin, or a change of edge. I don’t usually link to Wikipedia. However, this article describes the positions well and has good pictures of the various spins: Figure Skating Spins.

Photo Credit: Sasha Cohen by Ryosuke Yagi at Flickr Creative Commons.

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April 1, 2011

Christmas Show Pointers

December 10, 2010 by

2007 Viejas Christmas Show

2007 Viejas Christmas Show

Christmas ice shows are a fun way to celebrate the holiday season! There are many different types, ranging from full-blown productions with spotlights, professional skaters, and full storylines and themes to a recital of Christmas numbers with music and costumes.

In San Diego, there are a number of Christmas shows. In November, I starred in a show up at Viejas Casino. There are also shows at Horton Plaza and San Diego Ice Arena. I am getting ready for the Kroc Center annual Christmas show on December 15! Many of my students, my sister, Chrissy, and I will be skating in it.

If you have a Christmas show coming up, here are some Christmas show pointers:

  • Remember your skates and costume.
  • Girls, wear makeup and do your hair.
  • Be at the show early enough to find parking and to check in ahead of time.
  • Once you arrive, find your assigned locker room to warm up and get ready in.
  • Most of all, have fun, smile, and enjoy! 🙂

Chea and I (and my whole family) received a special gift this holiday season – my sister, Chrissy, and her husband, Tom, will be living in San Diego! Chrissy moved here on Wednesday, and Tom (who is British) is visiting until his visa is ready for him to move here in January. Chrissy will be joining Chea and me at ChitwoodSkating.com starting in January. For now, we’re all taking time off from writing blog posts to enjoy some awesome family time together!

Happy Holidays!!!

Filed Under: Basic Information Tagged With: , , , ,
December 10, 2010

How to Perform Basic Figure Skating Jumps

November 24, 2010 by

My last blog post was How to Recognize Figure Skating Jumps. Here are some more interesting articles and videos about skating jumps. The articles and videos cover the main technical jumps in skating. There are also other jumps that are used in choreography such as split, stag, and ballet jumps for presentation.

Here’s an article from XanBoni on Jumps.

Jo Ann Schneider Farris at About.com: Figure Skating has an article on the Top 7 Basic Figure Skating Jumps Every Ice Skater Must Know.

Here’s another article on Figure Skating Jumps from Skating Fitness. It also has information on the origins of the jumps.

If you have a question about jump terminology, check out the Jumps Glossary from Figure Skating Journal.

Here’s a great video with Michael Weiss on How to Perform the Six Basic Jumps. This page has more detailed videos with Michael Weiss on each of the six basic jumps.

Filed Under: Basic Information Tagged With: , , ,
November 24, 2010