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If we want to have a renaissance in the art of the ice and to reduce the tragedy of injured young skaters and international champions, one of the necessities will be to reintroduce school figures in some form, perhaps in a somewhat less extensive manner. The only way this can be achieved is through national and international regulation requirements. No coach or skater will spend 1 to 2 hours a day on school figures unless this is a requirement and their correct execution counts in the competition score.
School Figures
Why do skaters need school figures?
- School figures teach the skater the art of the circle. Every move on the ice is circular from the tiny loops of spins to the long almost flat curves of stroking. The circle is used continuously as propulsion from the curved to the flattened form. It is closely related to the impetus needed to jump, spin and to gain speed.
- School figures teach the skater to control going into the circle, going against it, thus out of the circle and changing from one circle to another thus from one direction to another on the same or opposite leg.
- School figures correctly taught and executed train the body as follows: position of the back, the head, the arms, the hands and fluidity of the skating knee action accompanied by the correct placement and synchronized movement of the free foot and leg in same way the barre of classical dance does in ballet for the dancer.
- School figures require a regular rhythm to be performed correctly since the moves must be done at a specific place on the circle each time. They could also be performed to music as with the barre movements of the ballet dancer.
- School figures train balance and control of the blade which is in itself curved and replaces the action of the foot on the floor since the foot is held in a boot with a rigid sole.
- School figures train the use of the ankle from side to side and its movement of flexion and extension. It should be added that to achieve this, the skating boot must be conceived as an extension of the lower leg. It must adhere to the lower calf muscles like a glove. To do this the leather at this level must be supple and the boot should be laced snugly around the leg, cut high enough to allow this. There is no boot today made in this way. The skater who achieves control of the foot and ankle in school figures will only need a slightly stiffer boot for free skating. He will certainly not need the present day boot which is cut too low and is so stiff that the ankle can never take a lateral movement nor can it extend to propel correctly the jumps. This alone is presently causing atrophy of the lower leg and foot and contributing to the plethora of leg and foot injuries: tendonitis, bursitis and bone spurs in skaters of all ages. It should also be noted that young skaters who have been training in these rigid boots have feet that are totally unable to fully extend in off ice movements.
Another result of the overly rigid boot is that the skater cannot use his ankle to press the edges of the blade on the ice. To obtain an adequate grip on the ice with the stiff boot the blade needs a much deeper central groove in the sharpening. The overly deep groove then makes the skater much less agile in fast and flowing steps because it literally sticks into the ice. All turns become less fluid and the scraping, grinding of turns is inevitable.
All the technique acquired through school figures can then be applied to “free skating” in the true sense of the expression the skater having acquired a control of the ice technique is free to expand the “schooled movement” to an enlarged and expressive one. It should be added that the terrible falls of young skaters who do not have any control over their body and blade would again become minor.
No change and amelioration to the present deplorable state of figure skating can happen unless certain regulations occur at top decision levels. I certainly hope that it will not take a terrible accident such as a young girl attempting a triple axel, colliding with the barrier and remaining in a coma for the rest of her days to bring about an awakening of authorities.
Copyright © Cécile Däniker Rüsch
Directeur Artistique
Danse en Ile de France
info@danse-en-ile-de-france.com
