Figure Skating Tips for Advanced Skater Part 4 – Triple Loop (Nick Perna)

Nick Perna continues his lesson with Isabelle. This is the fourth part of a 5 part series (see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). In this part of the lesson, Nick takes a look at Isabelle’s triple loop. Right from the start, Nick makes a correction to the skater’s initial position on her walk-through. Notice that Nick wants the skater’s body more forward for double and triple loop. If you watch a lot of jump video, this is exactly what you’ll notice about elite triple loops.

Background: Prior to this lesson, Isabelle had not jumped in over two weeks. Naturally she popped the first one. Notice that Nick offers encouragement in terms of what he liked about the jump, helping the skater relax and trust her mechanics. On the triple, Nick focuses on air position. I asked Nick to comment on the skater’s foot positions throughout the jump. His explanation begins at about 2:05 into the video. This is one of the most important aspects of proper loop jumps, yet so many skaters and coaches get it wrong. Here’s the main points: 1. Setup has the skater on straight or nearly straight legs with crossed feet and BOTH skates on OUTSIDE edges, and 2. The free foot should stay crossed throughout the take-off movement, up into the “h” position. Why? This helps the skater stay over the skating side. Nick mentions and demonstrates the “old way” of doing it that is still the most common method taught at lower levels. But Nick is right, all the top skaters are using the technique with the feet crossed, as it’s more efficient and properly aligned. Since all top skaters are doing this, we need to make sure all skaters are doing it this way on double and even single loop jumps as well. Stay tuned for the final installment of this lesson (with Nick using the pole harness)…