My Skating Progress

Hello, readers! Since last writing to you, I have been busy breaking in my new skates and practicing my axel. I am pleased to inform you that my new skates are broken in! It took a few 30-45 minute skating practices to get them to a comfortable point. My first lesson with my coach this season was in my new skates. She had me exaggerate the bend of my knees in all of my moves to break them in. This resulted in rubbed off skin on the outsides of my ankles, but after that lesson my skates started to feel comfortable. So, having my new skates broken in and a few lessons under my belt, I want to tell you about the exercises I have been completing towards landing my axel.

I started preparing for axels with huge waltz jumps. The take off for a waltz jump is exactly the same as for an axel. Skaters perform backward crossovers in a circle pattern moving counterclockwise (for right jumpers) and step forward onto their left foot and jump. This is the take off for both axels and waltz jumps. The difference comes in the jump.  For starters, a waltz jump is only half of a revolution; skaters start forward and end backwards. The single axel consists of one and a half rotations; starting forward and completing and additional rotation to land backwards. Practicing the huge waltz jumps prepare me for the amount of height and knee bend I need for an axel.

Waltz jumps to back spins are exercises I have been doing for many years in preparation for axels. Before this year I have only ever started from a stand still position. I start with my feet in a t-position so that my left foot is facing the direction I want to jump. I then do a waltz jump, land in the waltz jump loop position, and pull in to a back spin. The loop and back spin may sound foreign to you, so let me introduce the ‘d.’ The d is actually a position. It is used in jumps as well as spins, hence why putting the two together in this exercise make some sense. In the d-position, one stands on one leg, crosses the other over, and touches the foot and leg to the other. This is the position used in the back spin portion of this exercise. A loop is an edge jump that takes off backwards. Skaters complete their back crossovers and take off with one foot in front of the other and jump to the outside. The point is the one foot in front of the other part. That is essentially how I land the waltz jump in this exercise, so I can pull in to a back spin.

Mao Asada of Japan in the d-position completing a triple axel.

I will now go through the steps of an axel to hopefully help you understand the purpose of these exercises. Using the same take off as a waltz jump, I jump into the air, swinging my right leg through to an H, which means it is in a sort of 90 degree angle from the knee but a little lower. I then SNAP into a d. The snap to a d is the only part of my axel I am missing. Snapping causes me to complete the first half rotation, having me (hopefully) completing a whole revolution before landing backwards. The waltz jump back spin exercise helps me practice the H, snap and d position without jumping.

An H-H waltz jump, also known as a frog jump, helps with the H positioning and snap. In a normal waltz jump, the first H position from take off is not very strong and the second H is nearly unnoticeable. When I practice my H-H jumps, I think about the initial H, then I snap back and put my left foot in the H position. So, the breakdown is take off, H, snap, H, land. This exercise can also be used to help get the height needed to complete the axel.

Lately I have been practicing axels more than the exercises, but if I begin to have a rough time, I complete one of the exercises discussed above to remind my brain and body of a certain aspect of the axel. Lastly, I want to tell you all that I have been falling on my axels! Yes. This is something to celebrate for a few reasons. First off, it means I am not as tentative going into them, which will allow me the speed and height I need to actually land an axel. Also, when I completely rotate my axel, I should have too much energy to control that I fall. I have been trying to fall consistently on my axels for years, so I’m actually improving. YAY!

~Tegan