Toe Loop Jump Figure Skating: Introduction (Joan Orvis)

Joan Orvis shows how she introduces the toe loop to young skaters.  You’ll notice that Joan always starts them at the wall with a “toe loop exercise.”  This exercise is intended to eliminate any opportunity for the young skater to feel a toe waltz jump.  If all coaches had the same focus as Joan does on this, we’d never see another toe waltz jump or toe axel again.  And the reason is simple.  It’s not hard to do a correct toe loop and a skater introduced to the jump correctly is much less likely ever to do a toe waltz jump.

Here’s a few other important observations.  The skater needs to pivot on the toe and the other foot travels through in the direction of the jump (not around).  Also note that Joan makes a point of stopping to let you see that you take off of ONE foot (the toe pick).  Some skaters don’t like to balance on one foot so they tend to jump off two feet (wrong).  Also note that Joan keeps the take-off leg (toe pick leg) bent until facing forward to jump.  Joan also talks about the hips leading into the rotation and moving as a unit.  She references “the rectangle” to demonstrate how the shoulders move in the jump with respect to the hips.  Another interesting observation is that the feet remain pretty much parallel throughout the jump (as opposed to being open as some coaches teach).
 

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