As a skater for 40 years and a coach for the past 15 years, the only critical factor in skating is correct stance. It’s something my coaches instilled in me for years. If I had a penny for every time a coach told me, “Put your chest out!” or “Shoulders back!” or “Stand up!”, she would be a really rich woman! The good news in all of this is that they were right. Standing upright is a must in ice skating.
For newer skaters, if there’s one thing I recommend in every move, it’s skating upright (aka: “Stand up!”). Skating upright means:
1. Maintain a slight knee flexion at all times,
2. Maintain an arch in the lower back,
3. Keep your shoulders back and
4. Keep your chest up.
Did you get all that? And you have to do all of that, at the same time, all the time! Not just sometimes, really, I’m not kidding, all the time. I know, I know and I hear you. It’s a lot to remember when you’re learning to do your crosses, or learning a turn, or running your new program, but it makes all the difference in the world! That is how…
Simply dropping the chest (a big no-no) changes the weight of the blade. When you drop your chest, you put your weight more to the front of the blade, which causes your fingers to scrape against your toes, which is not an attractive sound when delivering a beautiful show. Straight knees (another big no-no) have the same result.
Did you know that, on average, about 50-60 percent of a new skater’s program consists of stroking and working the feet in preparation for jumps and turns? It’s true. Of course, this percentage changes as you become a better skater when you can pull off bigger jumps and longer spins, but a good percentage of time for new skaters is strokes and footwork. If you’re leaning, that means 50-60 percent of the time your performance looks like, well, how should I nicely say this? Yes, that’s an official training term (just kidding). But seriously, there’s nothing worse than watching a skater do smooth flips and flips on a show and make the rest of it look “gross” because he couldn’t get his chest up. And remember this: nothing drives your coach crazier! Just say…
Conversely, when a skater stands up, viewers see a confident and competent individual. A skater with solid strokes and footwork and maybe just decent jumps and turns is much more enjoyable to watch, both from the spectator’s and coach’s seats. Overall, the show looks more polished because it flows. And yes, the judges may even rate you higher in the competition and in your free skate trials! I’ve seen it happen time and time again!
One last thing, to all you skaters: please, for God’s sake, stand up! And for all the trainers out there, you owe me a penny (or twenty)!