Now you relate this timing to the other types of turns. In defining timing, they now know the sequence of events that will create proper turns. The first action is relaxed, the timing of the hips begins, and the second action is a quick and strong snap of the shoulder and hips. Once again, I’d like to stress to you that timing is pulsating. It goes from strong to weak and vice-versa; weak to strong. It is NEVER stagnant. You don’t do a bracket turn stiff to stiff. Its a pulsating motion. It may be relaxed going in and strong coming out. Don’t get your students so wrapped up in stiff positions, or bent positions, that they cant have any flexibility when they are skating.
Now, flexibility and bending are two different things. The most bending I will do is before the take-off. There is only a slight bending on turns. I explain it this way: “I want you to bend so that you can feel it, but I can’t see it.”
The shift of weight on turns is done by the tilt of the pelvis. For instance, let’s take that ROF three – turn; the weight is toward the heel, pelvis is tilted backward. Just before the turn, the knee bends slightly and the pelvis tilts forward slightly, enabling you to shift your weight to the ball of the foot. On back turns, the weight is on the ball of the foot and shifts toward the back on the turn (pelvis tilted backward) as you knee bends slightly. On bracket turns, the first motion is relaxed and initiates the movement of the bracket. The second motion is the stronger motion and the key to the turn. On brackets and threes, I use the cone theory so students don’t shift their weight outside the circle on turns.
Next, it helps to point out to students both the similarities and the differences in the turns. For instance, your bracket and counter timing are very similar in many aspects. they are functions that are known to the skater so that by the time you get someone high in the tests, they should know the relationship of the free leg and the skating knee are exactly needed and that they are important to the concept of the turn. They should know the use of the skate. Going into a forward turn the weight is generally in the heel, and that going into a backward turn, the weight is again into the ball of the foot. They know the concept of the cone; they know their body transfers. They have to make sure that weight doesn’t shift during that turn; in the upper torso and the work is done in the hips. The main difference in the counters and brackets is that brackets have a scissoring motion in the hips; as the free foot come forward, the skating hip goes back, and that as the free foot finishes the movement and returns to is assigned position, the skating hip moves forward out of the turn. You have a scissoring motion in the hips.
Now in counters, the hips move thru the turn parallel. Another difference is in brackets. The weight is generally stopped before the bracket and in counters, the weight will be transferred thru the turn.
In taking the turns off the circle for your students, the inside rockers and outside brackets will have similar timing, also the outside rockers and the inside brackets. If students can relate to having already done a movement, they you will find your teaching is much easier. In other words, we are taking a stair step approach to the teaching of turns. Don’t isolate your timing of the turns for they are not all different.
Now, the last part of the seventh block is the teaching of loops. I will use the same general rotation idea for all four loops. The timing:
The skater keeps the free leg back until the first third of the loop, then it initiates your rotation of the loop. The skater stays down on the skating knee until the second third of the circle where the knees rise, followed by the shoulders and hips reversing.
In teaching loops, you can go back to your original cone theory of outside and inside edges. You can then go one step further and say that on outside loops you rotate your free side first, and on inside loops, you rotate your employed side first. You must impress upon them the importance of rolling loops evenly without whipping or kicking the exits.