Why do we need to practice our basic skating skills all the time?

Imagine you're building a big, tall tower out of blocks. If the bottom blocks are wobbly, the whole tower can fall over, right? Skating is the same way!

When you do jumps, spins, and fancy steps, your body needs to be super strong, straight, and in control. That’s called body alignment. To do that, you need strong, smooth basic skating—like gliding, edges, turning, and stopping. Those are your bottom blocks!

Also, when you push to go faster or to take off for a jump, you need to generate force—that means using your legs and edges the right way to get power. If your basic skating isn’t strong, your jumps won’t go high, and your spins won’t be fast.

So we practice basics a lot to:

• Stay balanced,

• Push with power,

• Spin and jump with the right shape and strength

A strong foundation in the fundamentals ensures that advanced techniques can be applied more effectively and safely

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Want exercises to keep your basics strong? The Skating Skills ebook gives you the drills that prepare every jump.

→ Get the ebook: Skating Skills for Figure Skating Jumps

Not sure where to start? Download the free guide: The 3 common mistakes skaters make in jumps