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Learn Better Figure Skating Edges – Passive Edges and Active Edges (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of passive edges and active edges. He initially defines what each is and offers a demonstration of each type. As Nick notes, a passive edge “is just coasting on a curve” and is balanced. Nick continues, “An active edge is an edge producing power.” An important insight that […] Continue reading →
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US FS Moves In The Field: Backward Inside Loops – (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson teaches backward inside loops. At the beginning of the video, Karen references the back outside loops, but she generally teaches the back inside loops first because they are easier to learn for most skaters. Karen shows how she uses a hands-on approach for getting a skater to build initial awareness of the movements […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Tips: Jump Class – Part 5 (Michelle Leigh)
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues with the fifth part of her multi-video on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2, On-ice jumps Part 3, On-ice jumps Part 4) In this video, Michelle focuses on double salchow with the class. She begins with more drills as the barrier to work on the skater head […] Continue reading →
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Skating Edge Power Tip: The Blurb Drill (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna gets back to first principles and provides more detail about what he calls the “blurb.” Nick uses the term “blurb” in many of his videos here at iCoachSkating.com. (He also calls it the “dip.”) In this video, Nick explains: “Essentially what we’re doing is we’re going to be bringing ourselves from a state of […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges: Backward Circle Eights Pattern – Pre-Juvenile Moves (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson explains the Backward Circle Eights pattern for the U.S. Figure Skating Pre-Juvenile Moves in the Field test. Karen demonstrates the moves and talks about it as she demonstrates it. Notice the technique used and strength of the pushes. Karen discusses the order of movements and how the movements should be narrow and controlled. […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Tips: Jump Class – Part 4 (Michelle Leigh)
Olympic coach Michelle Leigh continues with the fourth part of her multi-video on-ice jumps class to some young skaters. (On-ice jumps Part 1, On-ice jumps Part 2, On-ice jumps Part 3) In this video, Michelle focuses on axel with the class. She returns to a “twist” drill she used previously with the class on waltz jumps. Here Michelle adds […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edge Tips: Mr. Bill Drill (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In the first three videos in this series, Nick taught the Bread Drill, the Banana Drill, the Inside Crab Walk Drill, the Outside Crab Walk Drill, and the Propeller Drill. In this video, Nick teaches […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Figures: Figure Eight Pattern – Preliminary Moves (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson discusses the Figure Eight pattern for the U.S. Figure Skating Preliminary Moves in the Field test. When starting this move, Karen reviews the Pre-Pre moves edges patterns. She also draws the circles for the skater. Karen recommends using a “landmark” on the ice for the skater to return to center. Karen discusses the […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Jump Tip – Foundation Skills For Jumping – Part 2 (Audrey Weisiger)
Audrey Weisiger continues her multiple part series on important foundational concepts she has developed during her coaching career. In Part 1, Audrey introduced the “h and d system” and covered the neutral alignment she wants as a pre-requisite for the drill in the video below. In this video, Audrey explains the development of the “h-position.” Audrey gives […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Jump Tip – Foundation Skills For Jumping – Part 1 (Audrey Weisiger)
Audrey Weisiger begins a multiple part series on important foundational concepts she has developed during her coaching career. In this presentation, Audrey discusses her “h and d system” or the “alignment system.” The system is a series of drills used to develop body awareness, proper movement, and correct muscle memory of both moving and static positions. […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edge Tips – The Propeller Drill (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In the first three videos in this series, Nick taught the Bread Drill, the Banana Drill, the Inside Crab Walk Drill, and the Outside Crab Walk Drill. In this […] Continue reading →
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USFS Novice Moves In The Field Twizzles – Part 4: Twizzle Pattern (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson discusses the full Backward Twizzle pattern from the US Figure Skating Novice Moves in the Field Test. Karen initially teaches it on the line, even though the pattern is skated on the long axis. Karen demonstrates the pattern and offers details to focus on. Karen notes it is important to finish the […] Continue reading →
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USFS Novice Moves In The Field – Part 3: Backward Inside Twizzles (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson explains how she introduces and refines back inside twizzles. Karen teaches it much like a flip jump take-off. She uses same arm in front (same arm as skating foot). Karen notes that she uses twizzles to help reinforce ideas related to jumping. In this video she explains she likes the arms to […] Continue reading →
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Ice Skating Edge Training: The Crab Walk Drill – Outside (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In the first three videos in this series, Nick taught the Bread Drill, the Banana Drill, and the Crab Walk Drill (inside edge version). In this video, Nick teaches […] Continue reading →
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Ice Skating Edge Training: The Crab Walk Drill – Inside (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In the first two videos in this series, Nick taught the Bread Drill and the Banana Drill. In this video, Nick explains and demonstrates the Crab Walk Drill. Nick […] Continue reading →
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Dartfish Video Training: Using Video In The Development Process (Audrey Weisiger)
Audrey Weisiger continues her discussion of important keys to the development of all skaters (see also Development Process Reminders). In this video, Audrey notes the need for off-ice training and she suggests that skaters learn to play a musical instrument. Although this seems an odd suggestion at first, it highlights Audrey’s emphasis on the performance […] Continue reading →
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USFS Novice Moves In The Field – Part 2: Backward Outside Twizzles (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson builds on her discussion of backward outside twizzles by offering a valuable exercise to work on properly building rotational energy and timing. In this short video, Karen explains how to apply the circular power three turn pattern from the Juvenile Moves to build speed and rotation for twizzles. Many coaches teach the […] Continue reading →
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USFS Novice Moves In The Field – Part 1: Backward Outside Twizzles (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson explains how she teaches backward outside twizzles from the beginning. In fact, in this video Karen works with a skater that has never done these twizzles before. Karen starts with back pushes with the free foot pressing behind. She wants the skater to open the free side rather than stay stiff and […] Continue reading →
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Ice Skating Edge Training: The Banana Drill (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In the first video in this series, Nick taught the Bread Drill. In this video, Nick explains and demonstrates the Banana Drill. The drill gets it’s name because the […] Continue reading →
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Ice Skating Edge Training: The Bread Drill (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna begins a series of videos covering drills and exercises he uses to help his skaters develop power, agility, coordination, and edge control and awareness. In this video, Nick explains and demonstrates the Bread Drill. The Bread Drill is important because it teaches the skater to “push and pump off one edge and just […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges And Turns – Part 5 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte finishes his edges and turns class in Korea. This is the fifth and final part of a multi-part series. You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).We did not have wireless microphones for this class so at times the audio may be […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges And Turns – Part 4 (Chris Conte)
skating.com/site.php/spgs/read/chris_conte/”>Chris Conte continues with an edges and turns class in Korea. This is the fourth of a multi-part series. You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).We did not have wireless microphones for this class so at times the audio may be hard to hear. Throughout […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges And Turns – Part 3 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte continues with an edges and turns class in Korea. This is the third of a multi-part series. You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2).We did not have wireless microphones for this class so at times the audio may be hard to hear. Throughout these videos, Korean […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges And Turns – Part 2 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte continues with Part 2 of an edges and turns class in Korea. This is the second of a multi-part series. You can see the first part of this series here (Part 1). We did not have wireless microphones for this class so at times the audio may be hard to hear. Throughout these […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Edges And Turns – Part 1 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte teaches an edges and turns class in Korea. This is the first of a multi-part series. We did not have wireless microphones for this class so at times the audio may be hard to hear. Throughout these videos, Korean coach “Grace” Eun He Lee is translating Chris’s comments for her skaters and this […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Blades: Crazy Skates (Nick Perna)
This YouTube video shows Nick Perna skating on figure skates with the skate blades modified. This video proves that we primarily use the center part of the blade for the vast majority of skating on the ice. To demonstrate this, Nick cut off the front of the blade just in front of the middle stanchion […] Continue reading →
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USFS Intermediate Moves In The Field: Forward Inside Twizzles (Karen Heng Olson)
Karen Heng Olson covers the Forward Inside Twizzles from the USFS Intermediate Moves in the Field Test. (The forward outside twizzle video that Karen references is no longer published on the website.) Karen starts with the Preliminary inside three turns across the line. This helps the skater feel the rotation and get used to using […] Continue reading →
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Champion Cords To Improve Body Lean (Sheila Thelen)
In this very short video, Sheila Thelen offers a way to use Champion Cords to get a skater to lean into the circle they are skating on. Sheila shows how to attach the cords to the skater and she demonstrates how the coach can stand in the center of the circle and help create skater […] Continue reading →
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Improving Figure Skating: Learn To Skate – Part 7 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte finishes his discussion of suggested improvements to basic skills instruction (Part 7). You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6). In this video, Chris discusses how hockey lunges can be used to create spins, jumps, and turns. Notice […] Continue reading →
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Improving Figure Skating: Learn To Skate – Part 6 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte continues with Part 6 of his discussion of suggested improvements to basic skills instruction. You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5). In this video, Chris teaches back hockey lunges, encourages alternate arm positions, and shows how to use lunges […] Continue reading →
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Improving Figure Skating: Learn To Skate – Part 5 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte continues with Part 5 of his discussion of suggested improvements to basic skills instruction. You can see the previous parts of this series here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4). In this video, Chris discusses hockey lunges, including why they are valuable to teach at the lowest skating levels and […] Continue reading →
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Lutz In Ice Skating: Correcting A Flutz – Part 4 (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna finishes his lutz lesson with Emily. In Part 1 of the lutz lesson, Nick did some preliminary analysis of Emily’s other jumps and her backspin and then started to address the flutz with backward power pulls. In Part 2 of the lutz lesson Nick focused mainly on an important wall drill to develop […] Continue reading →
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Lutz In Ice Skating: Correcting A Flutz – Part 3 (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues with Part 3 of his lutz lesson with Emily. In Part 1 of the lutz lesson, Nick did some preliminary analysis of Emily’s other jumps and her backspin and then started to address the flutz with backward power pulls. In Part 2 of the lutz lesson Nick focused mainly on an important […] Continue reading →
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Figure Skating – Balancing Exercises (Page Lipe)
Page Lipe shares three valuable exercises to increase body awareness. These drills are very effective in bringing out issues with alignment and core stability. Not surprisingly, these drills are harder than they look. The purpose of the first drill is to help skaters find their axis and it applies to all jumps. In this drill, […] Continue reading →
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Lutz In Ice Skating: Correcting A Flutz – Part 2 (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna continues his lutz lesson with Emily to fix her take-off edge. This video is the second of a multipart series covering the entire half hour lesson. In the first part of the lutz lesson, Nick did some preliminary analysis of Emily’s other jumps and her backspin and then started to address the flutz […] Continue reading →
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Lutz In Ice Skating: Correcting A Flutz – Part 1 (Nick Perna)
Nick Perna fixes an incorrect lutz take-off edge or flutz. This video is the first of a multipart series covering the entire half hour lesson. We get to sit in on a practical lutz lesson as Nick works with 9 year old Emily. The flutz is a mistake that is extremely common at low levels […] Continue reading →
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Champion Cords Figure Skating Training Tools Improve Posture (Sheila Thelen)
Sheila Thelen offers a great tip to help skaters keep their head up while skating. In this video, Sheila explains and demonstrates exactly how to attach Champion Cords to a skater to apply tension to help the skater remember to keep the chin up. As Sheila notes, this is a powerful drill and does not […] Continue reading →
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Improving Figure Skating: Learn To Skate – Part 2 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte continues with Part 2 of his discussion of suggested improvements to basic skills instruction. In Part 1, Chris discussed marching, swizzles, rocking horses, and rotating swizzles with some discussion of arm positions and posture. In this video, Chris begins by noting that rotating swizzles are a perfect way to teach basic spinning. He notes that […] Continue reading →
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Improving Figure Skating: Learn To Skate – Part 1 (Chris Conte)
Chris Conte offers insights into ways coaches can speed the learning process by focusing on skills that emphasize basic jump rotation and developing power out of edges. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Choreography Ideas – Part 6 (Tricia Offerdahl)
Tricia Offerdahl finishes Leah’s program. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Choreography Ideas – Part 5 (Tricia Offerdahl)
Tricia Offerdahl continues her development of Leah’s program. This is Part 5 in a multi-part series. In this video, you’ll see Trish make changes to the program. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Choreography Ideas – Part 4 (Tricia Offerdahl)
Tricia Offerdahl continues her development of Leah’s program. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Choreography Ideas – Part 3 (Tricia Offerdahl)
Tricia Offerdahl continues her development of Leah’s program. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Choreography Ideas – Part 2 (Tricia Offerdahl)
Tricia Offerdahl continues her development of Leah’s program. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Turns Advanced: Backward Inside Rockers (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma teaches backward inside rockers. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Turns Advanced: Backward Outside Rockers (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma teaches backward outside rockers. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Turns Advanced: Forward Inside Rockers (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma teaches forward inside rockers. Continue reading →
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Figure Skating Turns Advanced: Forward Outside Rockers (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma begins her discussion of rockers by explaining how she teaches forward outside rockers. Amy begins by making sure the skater has complete control and proper alignment of the entry edge. Continue reading →
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USFS Moves In The Field: Backward Inside Counters (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma finishes her discussion of counters. Continue reading →
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USFS Moves In The Field: Backward Outside Counters (Amy Brolsma)
Amy Brolsma continues her discussion of counters. Continue reading →
