Many World and International coaches believe that teaching jumps off ice in classes and in warm ups helps accelerate on ice performance,  skaters get their jumps faster and stronger if they do off ice jumping on a regular basis.

What skills should be taught and to what levels,  follow this link for further info.

Melodie lands her first clean Double Axel in competition,  watch the video.  This was the short program from the Scarborough Skate competition on April 26th 2013,  Melodie placed 4th.   The jump itself was fully rotated,  but it was a 2 foot landing which meant some -2 and -3 GOE marks.  But great going for a first double Axel landed in competition.   Click here for report card.

Coming soon - double Axel notes,  in 2008 I wrote some detailed notes on how to coach a single Axel,  many coaches and skaters have benefited from these notes.  Soon I will write some notes on the 2A given what I have learned in the last few years.

Above - Melodie Grafton with Alissa Czisny (left) , picture taken October 2011 at Skate Canada.

More pictures and videos of Melodie,  click here.

Talent;  what is talent?

Skate Canada research has shown that talent is not just a natural gift but rather a product of some natural “ability” plus “opportunity”.  Opportunity in this case refers to quality coaching and skating experiences,  and quality training.

Often when a skater starts to do well,  perhaps in competitions or starts to land their Axel jump clean,  that's when parents will start to say "Oh your son/daughter has talent",  What they are seeing is more than just natural ability,  the skater has had "opportunity",  for example the parents of the child took him/her to the ice rink for plenty of ice time and lessons,  purchased good quality skates,  the skater most likely has had "quality coaching". 

Off Ice jump classes & Training

Many World and International coaches believe that teaching jumps off ice in classes and in warm ups helps accelerate on ice performance,  skaters get their jumps faster and stronger if they do off ice jumping on a regular basis.

Many clubs have started to implement off ice jump classes,  but there is room for improvement in these classes as there is no off ice jump curriculum or standards,  Skating associations should be striving to develop an off ice Jump class curriculum.  Many coaches do not support their skaters attending off ice jump classes,  few coaches have any experience or training in off ice class classes.   please follow the link to off ice jump curriculum that I have developed over 7 years,  please feel free to use it.

Off ice jump classes & training is 'Worlds Best Practice". 

It is not just for competitive skaters,  recreational skaters who want to land their jumps sooner and stronger can benefit.

Many sites and coaches talk about the benefit of off ice classes for figure skaters,  but very few give details on what should skills should be taught in an off ice jump class.  Click the link and download it for FREE.  Includes videos of all the skills.

Dartfish software

What is it?

The Dartfish software was used by Kristy Krall in the Kathy Casey / Kristy Krall seminar Sept 2008 to great effect,  to analyse jumps.  Here's an example of what it can do :

Capture video and play it back in slow motion or frame by frame just like a VCR and a video camera,  measure the air time in a jump which helps determine if the skater has enough height to rotate the jump,  compare a skaters jump side by side and frame by frame with an Olympic skater doing the same jump successfully,  this then shows where our skater went wrong.  It can also superimpose two images on top of each other so you can compare skaters doing the same jump.  You can also draw lines on top of the image to illustrate correct alignment.

By measuring jump flight/air time,  and other benchmarks during flight time,  goals can be set and monitored,  for example if a skater is working on a double Axel they need at least 0.46 seconds of air time, 0.5 if they have a more open takeoff,  if they only jump about .42 then they need to gain about .08 in air time.  Once this is known, targets can be set for gaining air time and a training plan can be set in place to meet those targets. 

I am not endorsing it's use and I am not selling it,  but it is worth looking at if you teach doubles or triples.  It really takes the guess work out of teaching these jumps and dumms down the process.

Here is the web site http://www.buydartfish.com

Anti-solicitation

Parents - coaches are not allowed to approach you to offer you lessons if you already have a coach!

What is solicitation by a coach?

This is when a coach approaches the parents of another coaches student and offers them lessons or entices them to change coach,  in some cases this coach may criticize your coach.   If this occurs to you it is a breach of the coaches code of conduct,  you should inform the approaching coach that you already have a coach and if they persist record details such as what was said and when,  then give this to your coach and/or the rink manager.   For more details on what constitutes solicitation click here,  this is from the PSA USA web site.   Other forms of solicitation include a coach approaching you and offering to team coach your child,  often they will say such things as your son/daughter is talented and needs a coach of his/her caliber,  perhaps not in those words,  but they may go on about their skating achievements.  This form of solicitation is also a violation of the coaches code of conduct in most countries.

Solicitation is a serious offense,  solicitation destroys skaters careers, coaches careers and clubs!

Hunter Ice skating club - Australia's best ice skating club web site!

Ready to use music for programs

You will need the latest Adobe shockwave video player to see videos on this web site,  click on this link http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/

If your child is at or going to compete at levels above skate school,  for example Preliminary and up,  then a good knowledge of the International Judging system ( IJS ) by the coach is important.

Click here for more info