Friday, November 11, 2016

Spanish Three Turns, Salchows, and the Canadian Half Flip

There are group lessons where I'm totally lost.  Maybe it's because I'm always standing behind the coach so I can't make out what she's saying, or in my old age I'm losing my hearing, but I have no idea how all this stuff ties together. The coach had a lesson plan, and there was a coherent thread of skills development, I just have no idea what it was.



We start off with 'Spanish Three Turns'. A Spanish three turn is where you do a double clap on the entry glide, bring your hands to your chest for the turn, then do a double clap on the back glide. I think this is to teach you to bring your hands to your chest during a turn and to help with timing. Honestly, I just liked the fact that the double clap made me work on holding my back glide. In case you don't know how to double clap, I found a training video.

Yeah, I know, there's a lot of weird stuff on the internet.

Then we did the Salchow. There was a lot of turning, arm positioning, head positioning, use of the core, etc. There's an arm I'm supposed to keep forward, or maybe back. Five minutes after the lesson is over I forget.

But during the class  I could step through the Salchow. That means my feet don't leave the ground, let's leave it at that.

I did get a pat on the back for my upright posture on the back glide into the jump entrance.  Woohoo!

Finally we learn the half flip. We learned the Canadian Half Flip--sadly I can't find any videos.  However, I can explain it. Back inside glide, toe pick in with the free foot, jump up with a half turn, land on the original skating foot.  Sort of an inside out half Lutz.

The American half flip, has like a mini-bunny hop at the end.

The American Half Flip

Anyway, it's my goal to learn all the half jumps. One down! Sorry, it has to be Canadian!


Spreading knowledge of their non-USFSA half flips


4 comments:

  1. WARNING!!! Do NOT attempt the double-clap without watching the ENTIRE video! I skipped straight to double-clapping right after step four and now everything is on fire. Please help!

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    1. Tsk, tsk. You failed to warm up your joints properly didn't you?

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  2. Definitely bookmarking the double clap video for careful review and slo-mo frame by frame study. So kind of you to share this little known skill!

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    Replies
    1. I understand the Ministry of Clapping and Rhythmical Activities is producing an HD 3D version.

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