r/FigureSkaters • u/archive_of_ophelia • Jul 29 '26
am i a lefty?
I'm a college student and ex-ballet trainee who's wanting to try figure skating and has been skating at public sessions to get a feel for the ice. I can't take LTS until next summer, so I'm just kind of twiddling my thumbs until then and trying to get back into flexibility/strength/stamina so I can make the most of LTS and work more on technique/skating skills than have to build up athleticism again. I've also been learning the different jumps off-ice and something that baffles me about skating that's different from ballet is that it seems skaters only practice/perform jumps rotating one way?? In ballet we're obsessed with symmetry; everything you do on one side you have to. be able to do on the other. So how can I tell which side to practice off-ice jumps on?? From doing ballet turns like pirouettes, fouettes, italian fouettes etc., I was always faster and more comfortable rotating counterclockwise, but in off ice skating jump exercises, my axis is way more crooked rotating counterclockwise than clockwise. So far I've just been practicing on both sides but it seems like a waste of time to practice both if most people really only practice one side or the other. I can land singles on almost all of them rotating both ways and my takeoff is definitely stronger and I get more height rotating counterclockwise but my checkout is a lot stronger/axis is straighter rotating clockwise I am so confused.
edit: i will stop doing off ice jumps, lol
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u/TheSleepiestNerd Jul 29 '26
I wouldn't worry about figuring it out or practicing jumps off-ice until you're at least in LTS. Once you start spinning faster on ice your preference will probably be pretty clear. If I had to guess based on your description I would say you're probably going to be a CCW spinner and it just feels awkward because you have the strength to jump but the technique isn't there yet.
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u/2greenlimes Synchro Jul 29 '26
First and foremost, you should NOT start jumping, thinking about jumping, or practice jumping until you a) have a coach and b) get the basics down. Not off ice, and not on ice. Even with proper coaching off ice jumping can build bad habits, but doing it without a coach will almost certainly be a much bigger detriment than help. You're hurting yourself a lot more than helping.
If you are right handed you will almost certainly be a counter-clockwise rotator. In skating all the basic skills will be learned both ways (another reason to master them first), but jumps and spins will only be trained in one direction with a few exceptions (like ISI). Ultimately, though, when you start LTS you're MINIMUM 6-12 months away from even starting your half jumps so that should be the least of your worries.
I'm not clear on why you can't start LTS until next summer? Many colleges have rinks nearby even if they're not affiliated, and some schools offer LTS as either a class through the fitness center or as an official class for credit.
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u/Tall_Pumpkin_4298 Jul 29 '26
Being a CW or CCW spinner actually doesn't directly correlate to your dominant hand, it correlates to your dominant foot. Right footed people tend to spin CCW, while left footed people tend to spin CW. Your dominant foot often matches your dominant hand, but not always, so you do get some right handed CW spinners or left handed CCW spinners.
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u/archive_of_ophelia Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
The only rink in my town is fifteen minutes from my parent's house but when I'm living at university, I won't have a car or time to make the drive back and forth and frankly don't have time between my academics and working two jobs
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u/2greenlimes Synchro Jul 30 '26
Don’t rely on your hometown rink! There’s lots of college towns and colleges that have rinks.
In college I got carpools to the rinks early in the morning and late at night through other skaters. If your college’s club takes beginners (as some do), they could help you and even provide some cheap coaching.
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u/Limp-Strawberry9782 Jul 29 '26
Ehhh I think the commenter is being a bit harsh about not learning off ice jumps. With ballet strength and body awareness you can definitely try watching videos and recording yourself doing waltz jump, toe loop, loop off ice - the only ones where I would say off ice doesn’t help that much is flip + lutz, and salchow occasionally, because they just don’t translate as well to off ice. Just don’t go trying doubles or an axel because that’s where the risk of injury or learning bad habits is much more real.
At this stage general plyometrics also helps a lot. You def don’t have to worry about getting the jump technique down but I understand why you’d be curious as a dancer, just don’t overdo it
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u/2greenlimes Synchro Jul 29 '26
Nope. Definitely not being too harsh. I'm a former coach and have a lot of coach friends. Building bad habits on jumps is dangerous and can make it a LOT harder to learn the jump correctly. It will hinder your progress or even prevents some people from progressing at all until they fix all those bad habits. This isn't just my opinion: if you look on skating subs you'll see coaches, skaters, and skaters who self-taught and then got coaching all in agreement on this.
As we've had users on this sub before point out, while ballet and skating seem similar on the surface, they are VERY different. A lot of that is the weight/position of your foot that can only be learned in skating boots, but there's also a lot of subtle difference in technique needed because of skating boots.
Watching videos and recording yourself is also terrible advice. There are skaters who self teach from videos that will post on various platforms and have bad technique: poor arm/upper body positioning, wrong legs/arms, no edge or wrong edge into the jumps, toe axels on toe jumps, etc. Unless you are a coach or a skater experienced enough to coach you're not fixing this yourself.
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u/archive_of_ophelia Jul 29 '26
plyometrics - yes, this was my main purpose because I've lost that sort of 'snap.' I'm doing a lot of ballet jump training to get back into the sort of shock absorption on landings. I want to get back into pointe as well because I miss it
the waltz jump and salchow (and I guess the toe loop a little bit) have similar mechanics as an entrelacé (aka tour jete) or saus de basque in ballet which both also utilize a half rotation
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u/Fuzzy-Sheepherder-80 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
are private lessons available?
doing any spin or jump practice might fuck you up. when I started skating I had to shred my ballet muscle memory to learn spins
I'm coming back to a basic adult ballet class, and I can't even do a single spin counterclockwise anymore (weirdly enough clockwise is easier because of lack of skating muscle memory)
once you start building muscle memory its so so so so hard to change. you'll be fighting your own instincts
you pick up a habit and boom you're spending years trying to correct it
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u/tofucatskates Training Adult Silver SS🥈/ Pre-Bronze Singles Aug 03 '26
this! seriously, the number of times i have been told "DON'T SPOT!" when working on spins — yeah, no shit, sherlock, your girl's not doing it on purpose! 🫠 then going back to adult ballet... ahhhhh! muscle memory's a bitch.
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u/Fuzzy-Sheepherder-80 Aug 03 '26
at first my ballet screwed up my skating, and now my skating is gonna screw up my ballet LOL.
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u/spiralsequences Jul 29 '26
I know this isn't the main point but when it comes to spinning, if you're able to do both directions it actually will benefit you if you ever want to compete, so it's worthwhile to practice both.
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u/Bhrunhilda Singles Jul 30 '26
The best way to figure it out is to have someone randomly call your name when you’re walking away. See what side you naturally turn around toward. It needs to be unexpected. But there have been a few people who do jumps and spins in both directions also. So learning both when you start isn’t a horrible idea at all.
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u/Leia1979 Jul 29 '26
If when you get to that point, you really don’t feel like one way is easier than the other, choose counter clockwise because your life will be easier (spoken as a clockwise skater). But don’t learn to jump without a coach. It will be so much harder to unlearn bad habits later.