Page Lipe gives a camel spin lesson to an adult skater who struggles with the spin. Overall, the video offers a large number of ideas and tips that Page has found useful with this skater. Adult skaters often struggle with the camel spin for a variety of reasons. The demonstrator in this video lacks flexibility and has a problem with the free leg flying out to the side on the entry.
Page starts at the beginning by looking at the skater’s forward spiral. With skaters of all ages, it’s important to start with the spiral. For adults that tend to bend the back leg, Page offers and exercise that includes a strong push with the body down into the spiral position. The focus of the drill is both keeping the body down and getting full extension of the free leg before it even comes up in the spiral.
Next, Page has the skater do a backward spiral on a straight line. The goal is to get the skater to balance correctly while traveling backward (the blade moves backward in a typical spin) while gliding on flat. If the skater does not glide backward in a straight line, it suggests a balance issue that will cause significant problems in the camel spin. Some skaters will drift onto an outside edge like the demonstrator while others will fall to an inside edge. Both problems must be corrected.
In the first camel attempt in the video, the skater shows the common error of letting the free leg drift to the side at the hook of the spin. The solution is to have the skater try to pull the free leg back behind the skating leg throughout the entrance and hook. Once the free leg drifts to the side significantly, the skater must “adjust” the position in order to prevent falling, and this takes the skater out of position to do a camel.
Page offers another tip where the skater keeps the free toe pointed down, rather than pointing it out or up. The idea is that some skaters are more willing to keep the free foot behind the skater foot if the hips are closed and pointing the toe down closes the hips. Another trick is to have the skater put the right hand on the left hip on the entry and the spin. This tends to balance the skater more over the skating side (which is the left side for most spinners).
Page also shares a three turn drill while keeping the free foot behind. She also demonstrates a more difficult version of this drill with both hands behind the back.
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