Skate On The Edge

Every jump starts on an edge, not in the air.

A loop jump is built on a clean back outside edge held with control. A flip needs a true back inside edge and a clean toe pick entry.

When I see a skater land a jump on an edge that was never correct in the single version, I know we will eventually have to strip that jump down and rebuild the takeoff from scratch, which takes far longer than teaching it properly the first time.

Spins follow the same logic. A fast spin means very little if the entry edge is off center or if the skater was never taught to find their own axis.

I would rather spend an entire season on edges, checkouts, and centering than watch a skater plateau once the technique underneath the tricks runs out.

The foundation is what allows everything built on top of it to last.

Do you agree with this?💬👇

Had this ever happened to you?🙃

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Nobody tests your edges. There’s no element card for it, no box to check off, no moment in a program where a judge says “now show me your edge quality” the way they would a jump or a spin. It’s easy to treat it like it doesn’t matter because nothing on paper says it does.

But edges are underneath every single thing you do on the ice.

You can usually tell within seconds which skaters have real edge quality. It’s not the jumps or the spins, it’s what happens around them.

Getting in and out of elements smoothly, carrying speed through a turn instead of losing it, changing direction without a visible reset. Skaters without that foundation tend to skate in pieces, element, recover, element, recover. Skaters with strong edges skate in one continuous line.

It also changes how a program feels to watch. Transitions stop being the thing you get through on the way to the next trick and start being part of the performance. The whole thing looks more mature & more controlled.

Mastering edges will always be a priority in my skaters journeys ✨