HP #13 - Life in 5-8
Usual disclaimer applies: this is an old event I'm recounting. See my first HP post for the full notes on these.
Background: I'm now up in the 5-8 class with David as the group coach.
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Following in the footsteps of his forebears, David was yet another enthusiastic and friendly coach - clearly these are the traits of UK, male coaches! Furthermore, for a sport so heavily populated by women then the coaching gender demographic at my rink is comparatively very balanced between the sexes.
One of the funny things about moving up to the 5-8 class was that, while there was an extra layer of nuance on top of many of the skills I'd done before, Ashley and Jason had worked with us quite a bit on the 5-8 skills instead of moving us up sooner so we were reasonably able to keep up with the standard of the current 5-8 people. They were obviously still better than us, but many of the things we were struggling with (*cough* 3 turns and backward crossovers) were the same issues that the 5-8 members were working on too.
There were a few new bits though and forward cross rolls were one of the new moves on the menu. Seemingly simple enough at first: glide on an outside edge on either leg to begin, then bring the free leg over the front of the skating leg and enter an outside edge glide on that foot, taking the previously skating foot off and bringing it round to cross over the front again.
Those reading at home can give this a go now by placing one foot (let's say your left foot) on the floor straight in front of you then turn that foot 45° clockwise (if using your right foot first then you need to turn 45° anticlockwise. Your weight should be more on the outside of the foot. Now, place the heel of your other foot just past the toes of your first foot, angled 45° in the other direction to your first foot. Then pick up the first foot and place the heel of that one at the toes of the other and reverse the angle again. Repeat. This is essentially the beginner style of cross rolls. Each time you put the foot down you'd be gliding forward on that outside edge, but of course, those at home are likely standing on carpet so won't go much of anywhere. Make do with your imaginations!
As you get more adventurous with these, instead of bringing heel to toe you can take deeper leg lunges bringing the free foot much further past the skating foot, making your legs look awfully contorted but weirdly graceful all at the same time. It's a bit like forward crossovers, except instead of constantly curving one direction around a circle you're making nice lobes one way then back the other so you move in, essentially, a straight direction even if you're not making a direct straight line.
Forward cross rolls fast became my new favourite move. David kept insisting I needed to more gracefully "sneak" the free foot right in front of the skating leg before placing it down (rather than swinging it widely round) to make it look more finessed, but I favoured the (in my opinion) flashier, but incorrect, wide swing and deep leg lunge as I transitioned from one foot to the other. The deeper the lunge, the better. I liked to see how wide I could go while still holding the outside edge on the skating foot. As you get better at them then you can push off on the skating foot as you transition to the free foot, known as an underpush.
We started doing forward cross rolls into 3 turns and I found it made it much easier to do the 3 turns coming out of the cross roll, so much so I was getting some really deep edges coming out of the 3 turns because it was all going so smoothly. Very satisfying! Give it a try if you're struggling with your 3 turns!
Background: I'm now up in the 5-8 class with David as the group coach.
-------------------------
Following in the footsteps of his forebears, David was yet another enthusiastic and friendly coach - clearly these are the traits of UK, male coaches! Furthermore, for a sport so heavily populated by women then the coaching gender demographic at my rink is comparatively very balanced between the sexes.
One of the funny things about moving up to the 5-8 class was that, while there was an extra layer of nuance on top of many of the skills I'd done before, Ashley and Jason had worked with us quite a bit on the 5-8 skills instead of moving us up sooner so we were reasonably able to keep up with the standard of the current 5-8 people. They were obviously still better than us, but many of the things we were struggling with (*cough* 3 turns and backward crossovers) were the same issues that the 5-8 members were working on too.
There were a few new bits though and forward cross rolls were one of the new moves on the menu. Seemingly simple enough at first: glide on an outside edge on either leg to begin, then bring the free leg over the front of the skating leg and enter an outside edge glide on that foot, taking the previously skating foot off and bringing it round to cross over the front again.
Those reading at home can give this a go now by placing one foot (let's say your left foot) on the floor straight in front of you then turn that foot 45° clockwise (if using your right foot first then you need to turn 45° anticlockwise. Your weight should be more on the outside of the foot. Now, place the heel of your other foot just past the toes of your first foot, angled 45° in the other direction to your first foot. Then pick up the first foot and place the heel of that one at the toes of the other and reverse the angle again. Repeat. This is essentially the beginner style of cross rolls. Each time you put the foot down you'd be gliding forward on that outside edge, but of course, those at home are likely standing on carpet so won't go much of anywhere. Make do with your imaginations!
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| A rough example, my Paint skills continue to know no rival! |
As you get more adventurous with these, instead of bringing heel to toe you can take deeper leg lunges bringing the free foot much further past the skating foot, making your legs look awfully contorted but weirdly graceful all at the same time. It's a bit like forward crossovers, except instead of constantly curving one direction around a circle you're making nice lobes one way then back the other so you move in, essentially, a straight direction even if you're not making a direct straight line.
Forward cross rolls fast became my new favourite move. David kept insisting I needed to more gracefully "sneak" the free foot right in front of the skating leg before placing it down (rather than swinging it widely round) to make it look more finessed, but I favoured the (in my opinion) flashier, but incorrect, wide swing and deep leg lunge as I transitioned from one foot to the other. The deeper the lunge, the better. I liked to see how wide I could go while still holding the outside edge on the skating foot. As you get better at them then you can push off on the skating foot as you transition to the free foot, known as an underpush.
We started doing forward cross rolls into 3 turns and I found it made it much easier to do the 3 turns coming out of the cross roll, so much so I was getting some really deep edges coming out of the 3 turns because it was all going so smoothly. Very satisfying! Give it a try if you're struggling with your 3 turns!
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