Inspiration from the 2011 Men’s World Champion, Patrick Chan
Patrick Chan easily won the men’s event at the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow with two excellent programs that incorporated artistry and technical difficulty. His musical interpretation, footwork, and turns are all wonderfully executed, and he flows between each element flawlessly. The announcers said Patrick has taken ballroom lessons to improve his artistry. He likes to watch videos of great performers to get motivation as well. Notice how both of Patrick’s programs look easy as he completes his high-level jumps and spins with strength and great technique.
Patrick Chan – 2011 Worlds Short Program
Patrick Chan – 2011 Worlds Long Program
Keeping Warm on the Ice during Everyday Practice
Christina and Mark dressed for ice-dance practice at a cold rink in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ice rinks are cold places! That’s obvious. What’s not as obvious is how to stay warm while practicing at the ice rink.
Here are 5 tips to help skaters keep warm during everyday practice:
Beautiful Spin Positions
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!
Inspiration for Getting into Character
- Olympic Rings from the 2010 Winter Olymics Opening Ceremony (Photo by Liz Chastney)
All individuals need inspiration in different ways for getting into character. How you get into character may be completely different from how your friend, teammate, or co-worker gets into character. I love using movies and TV shows to inspire character!
Here are some that I love to use:
Figure Skating Spins
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.
Skating Etiquette
This week I’m sharing an article about skating etiquette. The article is written for coaches, but I think the information can apply to skaters as well. One thing I don’t agree with in the article is that the coach shouldn’t follow skaters in their programs. I think it can be useful to chase students to motivate them to skate faster and more aggressively.
At the Kroc center where I coach, the most important thing is for the skaters to give right of way to the skater who is in his or her program. Remember that the order in the music line is two coaches and then one skater. Also, try to be aware of the other skaters on the ice, especially when skating away from the boards. As in crossing a street, look both ways first.
Here’s The Forgotten Art of Skating Etiquette from Jimmie Santee at Over the Edge.
