Trying To Master Figure Skating Jumps? Take Some More Accordion Lessons
How do figure skating jumps get learned? Everybody knows that when it comes to figure skating, jumps are king. Is it inherent talent that propels the good jumpers? Is it all in their heads? Can it be a learned talent?
Going back to your grade school days there were always kids that were truly gifted in sports and then of course there were those that thought baseballs were square. Zero in on the kids in between, the jock wannabes. What was inside the jock that the wannabes didn’t have? There are probably a lot of books out there on how the brain works and I doubt that my little brain could even figure out what they’re talking about. But I have to believe that anything and everything can be learned and that the jocks had that kind of knowledge already in their brains. Heck, nobody was ever born already knowing how to play the accordion but if you gave ten kids an accordion they would all figure out how it works to some degree. Fortunately, for those that can’t quite “figure it out” there are always accordion lessons to take them from accordion wannabe to accordion jock.
OK, enough about jocks and accordions. Let’s get back to figure skating. (Am I rambling enough for you?) Who teaches figure skaters how to jump? The coach teaches them. Where did the coach learn how to jump? They learned from their coach (and in many cases it was years ago.) Is the coach a jock or is the coach a wannabe? It could make a difference. For as important as jumps are in figure skating shouldn’t somebody be coaching the coach especially if the coach was always a wannabe jumper? How many figure skating coaches are still a wannabes when it comes to jumps? What exactly are they teaching?
While I’ve never seen any book written specifically about improving figure skating jumps, I’ve seen many books written for basketball players about improving vertical leap. Maybe the best way for figure skaters (and coaches) to improve jump technique is to start thinking “outside the box” and look at how other sports teach jumping? Essentially, for figure skaters and especially figure skating coaches, maybe it’s time for some more “accordion lessons.”
Figure skaters and figure skating coaches read more about improving jump technique at http://www.jumpsareking.com
