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NEWS - May/June 2010

The ISU changes the base value for a single Axel jump from 0.8 to 1.1 - HOOORAY!

Also exciting - NEW Under rotated jumps,  previously whenever a jump was more than a 1/4 turn short on the rotation at the landing,  it was usually downgraded,  which of course meant that you got close to nothing for it.  Now you may get 70% of the base value of the jump,  so for an under rotated Axel you would get 0.8,  this assumes that the GOE is not also effected by the under rotation,  this is not clear at this point.   But at least skaters will get more points for slightly under rotated jumps.  The downgrade of a jump now only comes into effect when there is 1/2 a turn or less of a cheat on the landing.   The idea is to encourage skaters to take more risk and attempt the jumps even if they are usually under rotated in training.

June 2010 - ISU comm 1619 is out,  download it from ISU.ORG,  here are some of the changes :-

1. Previously a jump sequence of Axel - half loop - double Salchow,  is now called a jump combo and the half loop is now given the same value as a loop,  this only applies to this sequence of jumps.

2.  Spiral sequences ladies (Senior) in the free skate, will be given a fixed level and only evaluated on GOE,  in the SP for junior and senior no spiral sequence can be included in the technical score.

3.  The second step sequence executed for men will be given a fixed level and evaluated on GOE only.

Read the notes on how to teach an Axel jump,  includes pictures, diagrams and videos,  click here.

The off ice jumping harness - every rink should have one! Click here.

Team Coaching 101

What is it, what guidelines should a coach follow if they are going to team coach?  Click here for more info. 

Parents

If your child is going to start lessons on the single Axel jump,  it is important that your coach is up to date with the latest coaching techniques, please ask your coach to look at the videos on icoachskating.com or at least the read Axel notes on this web site. 

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". 

Melodie's pictures and competition videos

Above - Tim's Princess   (i.e.. daughter)

More pictures and videos of Melodie,  click here.

Must see video

Melodie shows how to do the Dutch waltz and Canasta tango, well at least in a comedic way,  also lots of comedy and fun,  produced by Slav Boboshyn as a farewell to Australia, November 2008. Click Here.

Latest video

7th of August 2010 - Summer Sizzle competition

Melodie skates her new program to the music from Amelie for the first time,  placed 4th out of 12 skaters in the pre juvenile division,  right click here to download it.

20th February 2010 - Boston Pizza StarSkate competition

Melodie skated a clean program (no errors) and landed 1 double Salchow and 1 double loop (downgraded),  placed 1st out of 11 skaters,  right click here.

9th January 2010

Charles Dover invitational,  Grimsby 9th January 2010,  she landed 2 double Salchows and a double loop (on a cutback),  but look at the spins!!!       Right click here

Melodie lands her first double toe loop in competition,  19th December 2009,  right click here to see it.

KWSC Xmas club competition, December 19th 2009,  Junior Bronze division,  she finished equal 2nd,  landed 3 doubles out of 4, sorry about the shaky video, my hands were shaking,  right click here and select 'save target as'.

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!

Above : Sasha Cohen showing her wonderful spirals

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