Forward to Backward Turns
Once you know how to skate forward and backward - you need to know how to put them together!
The Two Foot turn is a great way to easily and quickly go from forward to backward skating.
You will be using the "rocker" of your blade for this skill, so it's helpful to know what that is: picture your blade as the bottom of a rocking chair. You blade has a curve to it so skills on the ice are possible. Both figure & hockey blades have a rocker - speed skates do not.
1) A turn is done on edges (the sides of your blades), so you first step would be to look at a hockey circle on the ice.
2) Choose a direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise). For this example, we will be going counter-clockwise.
3) Face your feet & body forward and put your right arm in the front and your left arm behind you. Bend your knees! Picture the circle as a giant cookie or pizza that you are holding up.
4) To turn, you will twist the lower half of your body into the circle and then to the back - you will not move your arms or you will drop your cookie! As you turn, raise your knees and rock to the front of your blade - gently! As your turn ends, lower yourself back to your original knee bend.
5) Once you are backward, you will now have your left arm in front and your right are behind you.
Congratulations to the following coaches for passing their ISI Judges Certification tests!
