Don Laws by Menke Beverly Ann;Hamilton Scott;

Author:Menke, Beverly Ann;Hamilton, Scott; [Menke, Beverly Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Every one of us learns differently, which is something to always keep in mind.

In a lesson, I’ll ask a student to show me a certain spin. The pupil may be having difficulty with that precise spin, so I’ll ask him, “Where was your right foot?”

“I don’t know.”

So, for each individual skater, we have to search for a learning method. Sensorial or feeling is the most important for me. If someone were to tell me that they feel their leg up to their neck, I would say, “You don’t want that, you want to feel your leg in whatever certain position you need it to be.” So, we focus on one thing that will produce the desired motion, because you are working to get an action to be a reaction and a superior one at that!

An example could be when I have a skater who wraps the leg too high. I want the leg in a lower position, so I try to get the student to feel the position of that leg, to recognize how high it is. As we work and succeed at getting the leg down, the student still may not feel the leg going down; instead, what the student feels is the positioning of her arms. So, that reaction to the action—although a little reversed—gives the student what she needs, to lower her leg into proper positioning.

The torque in a jump is the reaction to the action, and we work on it until suddenly, one day, the words “I get it!” come out of the student. That is just about all they say, and the action and reaction responses that we are seeking are met. It is all about being constant and, eventually, with some skaters sooner than others, you’ll see that it is the act of a reaction to an action, that when moving a certain muscle, other muscles react automatically.

Some still call this “muscle memory,” although this nomenclature has been discarded for some time now after scientific studies disproved it. Instead, the body reacts with reflexes, with spontaneous and unconscious reactions. In skating, when acquiring jumps, spins, and complex movements, we look for something similar.

Sometimes a student will have difficulty with rhythm of movement, or coordination. This has to be addressed if there is to be fluidity from the beginning, to the middle, to the end of a program—all connected, all united by rhythm. When working with a student, guidance and explanations don’t always sink in immediately; however, you tell them what they need to know and let them take it in at their own pace. Let the concepts mature in their minds. Skating must never be about how fast you can acquire something but always about how well you can acquire it.

In trying to master the many elements of skating, often students will work very hard at a determined item. That is when I step in and tell them that learning skating is not about working too hard and pushing oneself too much. Training, as in everything else, must be done in moderation and not in excess.

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