Click Boom
I have a really bad (adult) skating habit: I do not make ankle contact in any of my jumps. While ankle contact isn’t needed for single jumps, it is almost essential for multi-revolution jumps. Take my nemesis, the double salchow, as an example.
My coach says that my takeoff has improved, and my setup is correct. The biggest problem for me is lack of ankle contact. My body position is too open in the air. As a result, I am not rotating quickly enough and cannot complete the revolutions before I land on the ice.
Because of this, my coach has me working on single jumps with ankle contact. We first tried it on a loop, and I am pretty sure I fell down with a BOOM. After a while, it became easier. I’ve been trying to get ankle contact on the salchow and the flip jumps as well.
Once this technique becomes more comfortable, I hope to apply it to the double salchow attempts. You’ll notice that my arms are not pulled in during these exercises. The reason for that is because once I pull in my arms, I over-rotate the jump. That’s apparently a good thing because I’ll need those arms once I attempt double jumps.
Have you tried these ankle click exercises before? They are HARD.
I hear the click–that’s an awesome skill! Glad that you are perfecting those singles, Eva!
Author
Yay- thanks, Jo! Clicking the boots together is SO HARD!!
Hey! That’s something I’ve hardly ever tried and definitely would not be able to do. Congrats!
Author
Thanks, Mary!
This exercise sounds really difficult but you make it look easy! I want to try this!
Author
You should definitely try it! Once you get the hang of it, it’s not too bad. 😄