Figure Skating Spins Video: Back Sit Spin (Bobbe Shire)

Bobbe Shire discusses the back sit spin. This video was shot on the second day of our time together and she introduces her demonstrators and reviews the basics of spinning. Here’s a quick summary of the first 3 steps (out of 5 total):

Step one: Presentation Edge – remember to curlicue the hips and bring edge around

Step two: Entrance Edge – push onto spinning foot

Step three: The Hook – it’s the most important step where we get our center and where we get the force that makes us spin, which Bobbe calls “George” a. Toe, knee, bellybutton lined up b. Arms and legs away from center to build energy (get “fat George”) c. Just after hook, stay down in the knee and open for 1 full revolution

In the first demonstration, Bobbe wants the skater to hang the free leg away for a little longer to build up the energy before “you turn the skating hip toward the free hip.” Bobbe makes a point to mention she does NOT teach bringing the free leg to the skating side. Instead she teaches turning the skating hip to the free hip.

In the second demonstration, she asks the skater to “press on George” to increase the spin speed. The skater misunderstands and “presses on George” to easily stand up and exit the spin. Bobbe says on the sit spin, George is “under your hands, between your ribs and your thigh, and also behind your back.” To increase the speed of the spin, she asks her skaters to press their hands down and flex the muscles of the abs and back. To easily come up from a sit spin, she has her skaters push their hands down, tilt their hips toward their hands, and lean back and “George will pop you right up.”

Bobbe talks a little about “swaying the back” or having “duck butt.” She says it feels ugly but it looks right. She shows how rounding the back let’s “George escape out the sides.” The final demonstration shows a great example of how to speed up a sit spin during the spin (for those IJS points!).