Important Ice Skating Vocab Words

Hello ice skaters and welcome back to another post, today I am going to show you a bunch of important and common vocab ice skaters use, that you should definitely know as a beginner or if you decide to start ice skating. So lets get started

1. Edges- edges are not just a move but, edges are used all the time in skating. In skating there are two kinds of edges, your inside and outside. Picture this put your feet shoulder with apart then with your feet lean in, this is called your inside, now put your feet shoulder with apart again and lean to your outside, this is your outside edge. Edges are commonly used in moves in the field and dance sequences where you will be going from an inside to an outside back and forth in one kind of move, or there are moves practicing one of the edges.
2. Rotation-rotation is used for jumping in ice skating, NOT revolutions, which is used for something else! Rotations is the amount of time in the air such as a waltz jump is half of a rotation which means the skater takes off and jumps half of a full rotation, if you watch ice skating on TV, you will notice that most of them are doing triples if not quads also depending on gender, when they are doing triple they are doing three rotations.
3. Revolutions-revolutions are used in spinning, when you see someone spin each time they complete one full circle in a spin that counts as one revolution. Yet spins are hard to count by revolution unless you got a slow spinner at your rink, some spins like the scratch spin as soon as you wind up and start spinning 3-5 revolutions are pretty automatic. Some skaters even try to count how many revolutions they make it in a spin!
4.  Moves in the Field- moves in the field is a king of test referring to the USFS company, this test looks at your ability to do certain kind of moves involving edges (explained above). They look at your edge quality mostly, in moves in the field you are able to move up if you pass but note when taking the test you have judges and they are tougher on you as you go up in levels. There is also a freeskate which they look at your jumps and spins through out a program, you must pass the moves test before the freeskate.
5. Jumps/spins- jumps and spins may seem like an obvious vocab, but people who skate ask a figure skater can you do tricks once they see that the figure skater can do jumps and spins. Of course as the figure skater is thinking what tricks?, I am not a dog. So think of jumps as if you were just trying to to touch your roof from the ground well you got to jump to reach it unless you are tall or your roof is short. Same with spins if you see people turning around really fast in a centered position they are probably spinning of some sort. 
6. Traveling- traveling is defined as a spin that does not finish where it started, you can usually spot on ice because it leaves a trace that looks like a tornado, the opposite of traveling would be centered (defined below). When a skater travels you can see that they are moving away from their circle. Imagine standing right next to someone spinning if you notice they are moving away from you they are traveling. Even if you were a distance from someone spinning and they are getting close to you they are traveling. 
7. Centered/centering- centering is used as a term in spinning. A centered spin you can easily spot looking at the marks on ice. If you look closely, a centered spin should leave the marking looking like circles over lapping circles creating one big circle. You can also say that a centered spin is a spin that starts in one place and finishes where it started. You can see through person, if you watch someone spin, look carefully know where they start do they finish where they started or are they traveling? 

All right now that you have learned some of the most important vocab words in iceskating and the most commonly used/talked about, you are all prepared, so next time a coach says one of these words you know exactly what he/she means. So happy skating.

Introduction to Iceskating

Hello ice skaters and welcome back to another post, today I am going to teach the basics of iceskating such as the levels you will go through (ISI) and explain the basics into (USFS). In this post I will also  be explaining what moves, jumps, and spins for each level, and most of all the life of an ice skater, for my next post i will be talking about what it takes to be an ice skater, so don't forget to check that out! So lets get started.
First of all ice skating is one of those sports that take a lot commitment, remember ice skating is not an easy sport, of course as a person who does not skate you don't think about the edges, the strength, and the balance you need for that sport, but guess what you can learn the tricks ice skaters use them selves at your local rink, now heres what I recommend as a beginner, depending on your age you may want to consider wearing a helmet if you are 3-5. Definitely as a beginner and you are not comfortable on ice then I would recommend elbow and knee pads, even I sometimes wear them when working on jumps and trust me they are life savers if you take a hard fall. One thing you absolutely  need is a pair of skates. Maybe if you are starting in the first few lower levels but heading towards around freestyle one you will want to buy your own pair of skates. This is because when you reach about that level you start jumps and you will need the support in your feet, and the rentals are not very well made and do not support your feet very well. I would suggest start with the very beginner kind of skates, usually the skate shop guys who are in charge will ask what level you are at or what kind of stuff your working on, and they will know what kind of pair is right for you. Now lets look at the levels you will go through before you start besides the pads and maybe the helmet you will want to get a pair of gloves, and SOCKS VIP, and of course wear warm things.
The first level if you are about 5 or under you will start at tots. This class may be divided into different kinds for example you may be going from tot A to tot B or something like that. In that class you will learn the basics such as how to fall and get up, learn swizzles which is moving your feet in a diamond like shape across the ice, imagine seeing a line of diamond like shapes all lined up across the ice. Anyway you will learn forward marches, and they may ask you just to do a tiny hop right in place, and lastly you will learn dips/tea pots which is just gliding on two feet in a imaginary chair position..
The next level or you may start at this level is pre alpha, in this level you review and practice somethings you did in tots such as the falling and the swizzles but you will learn how to go backwards. You will learn a one foot glide which is when you glide on one foot. You will learn wiggles forwards and backward you may even learn them in tots any way to. Finally you will learn or do exercises that teach you how to do a crossover!
This level is alpha, in alpha, you learn how to do forwards stroking, crossovers, and snow plow stops. A crossover looks like someone who crosses one foot over another while the stroking is just when people push of a leg and extend there leg out back and forth. The snow plow stops are stopping with one foot doing the stop. You may also do exercises for doing back crossovers. Which leads to our next level.
The next level you will complete is beta, in this level everything is basically the same as alpha but backwards. You will learn how to do backward crossovers, t stops which is stopping in a t position. You are going to learn backward stroking but this time you are basically doing half backward swizzles the same leg you used for the half swizzle.  Now you are ready to attempt your first real mini jump.
In this level most people at least at my rink have their own pairs of skates. In this level you will learn how to do a bunny hop your first jump which is almost like practicing the take off for waltz jump. you learn how to do a mohawk, three turn and in delta edges. But in gamma and delta is almost the same thing. Now you are entering the freestyle mode! Yes all these levels it's self is hard and a lot of work but if you stay committed and keep working you will get it. Check back for my individual posts for the freestyle levels!

Facts About Ice Skating

Ice skating is harder then it looks and when most people see ice skaters they don't think about how much balance, strength, and flexibly it takes. But for most skaters like me I don't think about those things, I mainly focus on how to land a new jump or how to improve a spin. What's even more amazing is the levels of boots and blades which is very important for skaters because as they level up skaters will need thicker boots and more powerful toe picks to carry them into the air this is also one thing people don't realize. This is one of many reasons why ice skating a very interesting sport!
Did you know people believed skates were made out of bones once? Also did you know the jumps we know no as salchow, axel... were named after people invented those jumps. Same goes for spins Sasha Cohen spin and the Fratianne spin (cannon ball spin.) In fact some of these people like Linda Fratianne teach others today.
Today ice skating has vastly changed and improved and should be appreciated because who knows what would have happened? Maybe it could have vanished. As history should be appreciated because of it changes  effected us today in away on the way we live. History has invented us!
Now today I enjoy ice skating the way it is. Like most skaters I enjoy jumping and spinning and over all my favorite move is the split jump. As I improved I took that improvement and skated in different rinks mostly for competitions. But today I still currently skate at Toyota a famous rink. Whats even more amazing is remember when I mentioned Linda Fratianne well, when ever I skate at Toyota I take lessons from her!  She is great coach and hope to learn her Fratianne spin!