Cammie & Alex's adventures in Skateland: Edges rule

A new skating book is out called Cammie and Alex's Adventures in Skateland. Written by Olga Jaffae, it tells the story of Cammie and Alex, two young figure skaters who want to compete in the annual Skateland competition. Disappointment sets in when their coach tells them that they cannot compete in the event because they have not been practicing their edges, the foundation of skating. The duo take matters into their own hands and decide to go to Skateland anyway by following a magic Zamboni. According to Alex,

All rinks in the world are connected. You can get to any rink if you don't step off the ice....Skating is like a country of its own. Those who skate are all linked together by a secret bond. Every rink in the skating world is yours.

So the two set off on an adventure to Skateland and encounter witches and other creatures along the way. To escape the witches' spells, Cammie and Alex must perform perfect figure eights, three turns, and other edge work. The two also learn lessons about pride and humility at the end of the trip. Do Cammie and Alex make it to Skateland? Do they get to skate in the competition? You'll have to read the book to find out, but here's a hint: All their edge work during their journey did not go to waste!

I had a chance to chat with Olga (see right) about the inspiration for her book, and not surprisingly, it all started when she took up skating two-and-a-half years ago, at the age of 46. Although she skated a little as a child growing up in the Ukraine, she began taking lessons and learning the fundamentals about edges, jumps and spins during the last few years, while living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with her husband. The more she learned about skating, the more excited she became about the sport, and the thrill of learning something new each time she stepped on the ice. That seems to be a universal trait among us adult skaters. During a plane ride to the Ukraine to visit her mother, Olga outlined the story for Cammie & Alex's adventures in Skateland and within a month, the book was written and soon illustrated.

Olga said that the idea to include witches as part of the story was something she felt was natural to the world of skating.

I feel that figure skating is very much like a fairy tale, like magic. You have pretty dresses, fairy tale music [Cammie's music that she skates to in the book is The Nutcracker], and in fairy tales, you have witches! So these witches try to discourage Cammie and Alex and test their ability and confidence, and they meet the challenge.

This is Olga's first skating book for children and she is working on an outline for a sequel, where Cammie and Alex are a year older and encounter new adventures. When not on the ice at the Regency Ice Rink or Lancaster Ice Rink, Olga, who has a degree in linguistics, teaches Hebrew at the Jewish Community Center.

Advice from a pro: Using tracings to analyze your edges

Our guest columnist is Rikki Rendich Samuels, an instructor at Rockefeller Rink in NYC for over 25 years. As a four-time USFSA national competitor, Rikki received her gold medals in figures and freestyle, and is a former two-time Middle Atlantic Senior Ladies Champion. As a professional, she has been awarded the highest awards from the Professional Skaters Association (PSA), a master's rating in figures and freestyle, and a master's rating in program administration.

Tracings left on the ice make figure skating unique. Only figure skaters can study a written record of every move they make by looking at the tracings they leave. Your tracings will tell you exactly what you did right what went wrong. No other sport makes it so easy for the student and the coach to work together.

When compulsory figure eights were a part of competition, judges would get down on their hands and knees, studying the ice to see if an edge was clean. Skaters lost points if they were skating on the flat of a blade. The blade is only 1/8 of an inch wide. Just as the judges used tracings to study the precision of a move, you can use your tracings to improve your skating skills. The ice always tells the truth clearly and objectively.

An expression used often by instructors, professionals, and television commentators is the "quality of a skater's edges." When they say this, they are talking about how well the edges glide over the ice. There should be no scraping. Scraping is the sound of a skate sliding sideways on the ice; it will leave a little pile of snow on one side of the tracing as a sign that something wasn't quite right. In freestyle skating competitions, both in singles and in pairs, judges today still look closely to see if there is a scrape before a turn, lift or a jump.

As a skater, you will develop several very acute senses. The first will be the sense of balance. Second is the sense of feeling a lean. Next comes your sense of hearing. You will learn to listen to the sound of your blade gliding over the ice and you will become able to analyze that sound. Good quality edges are quiet. Silent skating means that the skater's body is aligned over the blade's edge and the skater is moving at a good speed. When you find yourself using these senses, you can pat yourself on the back and say, "I'm a skater now."

In ice dancing, tracings have extra importance. The steps of each dance follow a pattern of tracings on the ice. There are about 20 different ice dance patterns, and each one has it own set of required tracings.

Throughout your skating you will look for your tracings. By studying them, you will learn to recognize the shapes that are made by the various skating moves. Look for consistency in shape, size and curvature. With practice, you will train your eye to learn the lessons of tracings at a glance. When you can do that, you will learn the skill of reading your tracings and be very grateful that they are there for you. Without tracings you would not be able to see your mistakes. Get in the habit of reading your tracings to analyze and improve your skating moves.

With practice, you will hone your sense of balance, sense of feeling a lean, and sense of hearing. You will learn to listen to the sound of your blade gliding over the ice and you will become able to analyze that sound. Good quality edges are quiet. Silent skating means that the skater's body is aligned over the blade's edge and the skater is moving at a good speed.

[Rikki has also written a book called Kids' Book Of Figure Skating: Skills, Strategies, and Techniques which contains information on: proper technique, how to purchase skates, warm-up exercises, rink rules and skating etiquette, how to be an informed fan, skating clubs and associations, and many other relevant topics. You can also check out her website at RikkiSamuels.com.]

Edges revelation

Recently I was chatting with Rockefeller Rink regulars, Esther, who is 78 years old, and Joanie, 76 years old, and the two of them are as exuberant about skating as, well, me! I love talking to people about why they skate and what they enjoy most about skating (as well as what they enjoy the least). You get a bunch of us skaters together and believe me, it's wild! :)

I asked Esther if she started to skate when she was younger and the hobby simply carried over into adulthood. She responded that in fact, she started skating well into adulthood and became addicted to it when an instructor showed her what an edge was. She said she was "completely floored" at this thing called edges and from that point on, she was hooked. I also asked Esther what her favorite part of skating was, and like a lot of us, she said, "When I'm on a great edge, I'm on Cloud 9." Joanie agreed that she became fascinated by skating when she was taught about inside and outside edges several years ago. Aren't skaters of all ages simply timeless?

Below is a great demonstration of how edges work and how they are truly the foundation of everything we do in skating:

Outside and inside edges - a love/hate relationship

“Practice your edges.”  Are you tired of hearing that repeatedly?  It wasn’t until recently that I realized I was guilty of saying it to my students several times at every lesson at Rockefeller Rink.  And it always arose out of their frustration that they couldn’t do a proper spin, or an inside spread eagle, or any move that they particularly wanted to do.  (Isn’t there always one move in skating that we have on our wish list?)

Now I take a slightly different approach to the “Practice your edges” speech.  I always explain why, for example, practicing forward outside edges is important.  Regardless of their level, I fast forward a few lessons, or maybe a few months of lessons, to explain that in order to have the proper entry to a spin, or to have a nice outside spread eagle, it’s important to be able to glide on deep outside edges.  And I demonstrate the “before” and “after” to illustrate the difference.  It’s been very eye-opening, particularly for my beginner adult students, and at some point, they say to me “I need to practice my edges.”

Know your edge terminology

Each skate has two edges, called the inside edge and the outside edge. Remember also that each skate can go forwards and backwards. It’s important to understand how your skates can move. Here’s an example of what I mean. “Right back outside” means that your right skate is going back and on an outside edge. There are eight ways that your skates can move on an edge and they are:

• “Right forward outside” (RFO) which means right skate is going forward on an outside edge.
• “Right back outside” (RBO) which means right skate is going back on an outside edge.
• “Right forward inside” (RFI) which means right skate is going forward on an inside edge.
• “Right back inside” (RBI) which means right skate is going back on an inside edge.
• “Left forward outside” (LFO) which means left skate is going forward on an outside edge.
• “Left back outside” (LBO) which means left skate is going back on an outside edge.
• “Left forward inside” (LFI) which means left skate is going forward on an inside edge.
• “Left back inside” (LBI) which means left skate is going back on an inside edge.

Finally, when your skate is not on an edge, we say that you are skating on a flat.

It’s important to have these terms be second nature to you. You may be learning a sequence of steps, a jump, etc. where your coach may be telling you “right back outside” and it’s nice to not have to think about it and just have your body react. Also, your coach may draw our certain turns and patterns and will likely use these acronyms.