Flying Camel Spins
If you know me in real life, you know that I do not have any “flying” spins of any sort. I attempted a flying reverse sit spin at the ISU competition in Nashville and also tried one at my home rink’s competition last fall. Neither were executed very well, so I earn a total of 0 points for those two attempts.
There is just something about the fly that doesn’t agree with my body alignment. Perhaps it’s from my twisted/crooked spine, or maybe it’s a mental block. Whatever the root cause is, it yields a horrible, horrible spin. If and when I get it to work, my free leg is bent and looks ugly. Me and flying spins just aren’t friends.
However, I was able to get a few flying camel spins earlier this year. They have been OK recently, but not to the point where I’m ready to add it to a program.
While Kim Ryan was here in town, I asked her to take a look at the spin in person. She concluded that I needed more speed, so she gave me one generous crossover before I entered the spin (previously, I had been attempting these from a standstill, so I had no speed). This is what happened:
My spin actually flew! And my leg wasn’t super bent! (It’s still bent, just not as much as it normally is)
Then Kim had me try to bend my heel up, and this is what happened:
Kim suspected that as I bent my heel up, my entire leg/thigh would drop and I would not be able to spin. However, I proved her wrong. Yay!
The hope is that if I can make this consistent, then I can grab my blade with my hand and pull this up into a variation.
Whoo hoo!