Audrey Weisiger continues her discussion of how to introduce spins to young skaters. She relies heavily in the beginning on what she calls the “washing machine” to get the skaters used to rotation and to help them get comfortable with their inside edges. Again, Audrey encourages self-discovery and provides very little in terms of technical information to the skater.
She builds upon the basic washing machine by having them spin all the way around, and then encourages them to try it on one foot. She also uses a forward outside three turn into the 2-foot washing machine. She builds on the washing machine with 2-foot rotating pumps.
In this video, Audrey also mentions head position and how we just need to make sure they aren’t doing anything funny with their heads. She offers several suggestions to eliminate this potential problem.
Probably the most important concept in this video is the idea of pointing the toes inward on a 2-foot spin. This “pigeon-toed” position allows the skater to use the edges properly rather than scraping and grinding the edges with the feet close together and parallel.
Audrey suggests using a hula hoop and Champion Cords to help those skaters that don’t have good body awareness and aren’t engaging their core. For those skaters that just “flop around” these tools can speed the learning process dramatically.
Before moving on to one-foot spins, Audrey wants her skaters to be able to glide backward under control on one foot. If they can balance comfortably on one foot going backward while not spinning, gradually adding rotation is very straightforward. She offers ideas to help them discover their balance on one foot while rotating.
Audrey is an Olympic coach and we are very lucky to have her contributions to iCoachSkating.com. Please leave a comment for Audrey or other members below.
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3 responses to “Figure Skating Spin Tips For Beginners – Part 2 (Audrey Weisiger)”
Thanks Audrey! I love the washing machine and the football. I do get the wild heads, so your tips will help me a lot! Thanks for sharing all of your great tips!
My favorite dizziness remedy is having them stare/focus on their hand. If it’s a chronic problem, choreograph it into the program after the combo spin. Students of mine like to turn once or twice the other way to “balance it out.”
Thank you so much this is great love the washing machine! I had been saying pretend your a pencil in the pencil sharpener but I like washing machine better. The only thing I’ve found is that my kids really don’t like getting dizzy on the ice – I’m sure they do off ice as many kids do spinning around like a helicopter then trying to walk straight. But on ice they seem a little freaked by the feeling so I tell them to turn their head quickly to one side and focus on an object eye level. Do you have any other quick remedies for dizziness. In time I tell them that they will get used to it.