Figure Skating Spins Video: Stars Spin (Bobbe Shire)

Bobbe Shire explains how she teaches “stars.”  Stars is one of those spin entrances that’s been slowly disappearing.  Fewer and fewer skaters are doing them, and fewer and fewer coaches are teaching them.  But they can be an incredibly effective way to generate a huge amount of rotational energy for long and fast spins.

Bobbe shares the big secret concept for good stars.  It’s important that the free leg is high while the skater is gliding forward.  Poor attempts at stars (which Bobbe humorously calls “space junk”) tend to have the free leg kick high after the 3 turn while the skater is gliding backwards.  Bobbe generously calls this “awkward looking.”

Bobbe shows exactly how she develops this skill at the barrier.  Notice that she says “There is really no back inside glide on it.  Theoretically there is none.  All the glide is on the forward edge.”

Here’s another helpful tip.  “The trick is to get your skating leg in the middle of the see-saw.”  Bobbe talks about the common problem of having a toe “going in heavy” which relates to standing up too straight and having “too much weight on the back end of the see-saw.”

Bobbe says that when you do stars right in the beginning, “if feels like you’re going to do a face plant.  But nobody’s ever done one.  It’s really a pretty safe move.”

When she moves it away from the barrier, she has the skaters do it slowly until they get the proper feeling and rhythm.  Her demonstrators show the tremendous speed and power stars can generate for a spin.  Bobbe has her skaters figure out the upper body on their own at first and then she’ll step in to help them feel the twist if they don’t get it.

This is a great video.  Let’s all bring stars back!!

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