Parts of the Skating Blade

So every once in a while, I like to post an 'educational' post. Today, I want to write about the parts of the figure skating blade.

Naming conventions seem to vary widely between coaches, parts of the country, and even between the US and UK. The only universal seems to be that the smooth part of the blade is called 'the blade' or maybe 'the rocker' and the pointy end is called 'the toepick'.

This is not what I was taught. Somewhere along the line I picked up a lot of names for parts of the blade. I don't know if this is useful to recreational skaters, but I think it's certainly handy to have a grasp of specific skating terminology.

Ladies and gentlemen, the blade.

This is from a UK site,  and I only have a couple of comments aboutvariations I've learned.

First off, I always heard the 'drag pick' referred to as the 'drop pick'.

Secondly, the vertical supports that attach the blade to the plates, I always read about being called the 'stanchions'.

Thirdly, the blade itself has two edges separated by a hollow between them. The measurement of this hollow is called 'the radius of hollow.'  I've heard the 1/2" ROH called a 'recreational hollow.' It's what I use, although I've also had 3/4 and 3/8. Some sharpeners will make a recommendation based on the type of ice you skate one--hockey ice is much colder and harder so it needs a different cut.

Source: Bill Schneider's skating pages

The radius of hollow has a 'bite angle' associated with it, but that's too technical even for me.

 

The Sixth Sense

Everyone knows about the five senses: Sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell. We use these everyday. But we have a sixth sense, and not the one that pops up in horror movies. It's the sense of where the various parts of your body are. It's called 'proprioception'. Broadly, it's the ability to know even with your eyes closed, where the relative position of your body parts are to each other. For example, close your eyes and ask someone to move your hand. Do you know where it is? Of course you do. That's proprioception.

When I used to ride horses, I wore spurs. I had a trainer who told me to wear them because  "You always know where your heels are." That's praise in riding circles. I never jabbed the horse with them, I just used them for subtle cues when doing equitation. It's an art to ride with spurs.

You'd think with skillz like that, knowing where my feet are when I skate would be easy. It turns out, that  I have no clue.

More than once I've had a coach say, "Your free foot is in the wrong place." I cheerfully confess that especially in mohawks, I know that the free foot is pointing inside the circle.  Where it is relative to my skating foot--no idea. Ahead at the toe, back at the heel, where? Where?

So Coach Cruella has me doing exercises where I get on a strong inside edge, then move my free foot to mohawk position (while simultaneously going deeper in the knee) then hold it.

And hold it. And then hold it some more. But not do the turn. This is a position exercise, not a turn exercise.

She does the same for my free leg with the three turn exercises. I stroke, hold the leg in the extended position, then go down in the knee, again, again (for the outside 3), but again, and again (for the inside 3).  My job is to hold that edge, hold that posture, hold that extension.

This is pretty effective, especially with someone there the first few times  to point out where the free foot is going wrong.

After about 10 minutes of this work on threes and mohawks, I have a much more refined sense of my foot position. It's hardly a miracle cure, I'll need to practice this many times for it to become second nature, but it shows that focused practice can have immediate effects on my basic skating skills.

Whoa! Too far back on the heel! Bend the knee!