Technique question: deep edges.

[Aussie Willy]

i suppose g/g's early training with zhuk (unconventional as it was like running over rocks) served them really well in the longterm, didnt it?

In one of Christine Brennan's skating books Elena Valova commented that their training ice was so poor that when they competed at top competitions they just flew on the good ice.

[BittyBug]

Figures I think are a bit more upright and whilst show control, I am not sure contribute to depth of edge.

What figures help you with is getting on the right part of your blade, which is a necessary but not sufficient skill for depth of edge. So it can definitely help, but depth of edge doesn't automatically follow doing figures (otherwise all of us who skated in the era of figures would be mini Chans, LOL). So I think your conclusion is probably right - he's just a freak.

[Mafke]

Yes, AFAIK figures aren't about deep edges per se, they're about _control_ of edges from the ankle down and holding an edge mo matter what your upper body is doing.

So many turns now seem cheated by contorting the body into making the turn happen rather than controlling the edges in and out of the turn. Wrongheaded scoring guidelines don't help here.

[smileyskate]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXJqsoFwUic

Thank you for posting the John Curry vid. I haven't seen it in some time and it's beautiful and unique.

[magnolia]

This is a great thread, and the explanation that there can be two ways of defining good strokes, one that uses edges and one that uses the flat part of the skate right behind the toe pick, has really clarified things for me.

As far as Mao's stroke goes, I heard that she is exceptional at doing figure eights, which shows that she may not necessarily be (or have been) the best power stroker, but she is able to control her edges very well.

I guess Mao is like G/G, and I think this is probably right because you can tell that Mao's posture is really good just by looking at her. Also, I went to a chiropractic for a while and he showed me how to correct my posture, and told me that people whose neck is perfectly aligned with their vertebrae and pelvis will have a double chin even if they are slim. And Mao has always had a slight double chin.

Since going to Mr. Sato, I think Mao has learnt to generate speed more efficiently, and I heard that what he most corrected was her 'bouncy knees'. He apparently said that Mao had the habit of using her knees to instinctively slow down, and so he instructed her to just keep her body consistently low when stroking.

[Aussie Willy]

Magnolia - thanks for that information. Very interesting.