Extreme Skating Moves

[sadya]

I ran into these clips of extreme skating. I've never seen this kind of skating before. Some of it looks exciting:

One of the clips shows skating on head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCPcuFI7Bzs

All this led to a performance which I quite enjoyed (it even had the forbidden Candeloro spin I think):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotat...&v=vdV2TEgD4LE

Some people were loving these vids while trashing figure skating in the comments section, claiming it's always Carmen with 6 jumps and some arms waiving in between, sounds like they haven't properly watched skating. Perhaps they should watch people like Beacom. Besides, the amazing 'Patin Libre' still do have 'normal' figure skating moves too, even the Candeloro spin. Is that spin still forbidden in ISU competitions by the way? What was it all those years ago? It wasn't allowed in competitions anymore because it was on the knees if I remember well.

Anyway, another clip from days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eki6g...ynFJcw&index=2

[aliceanne]

I have seen guys on public sessions do those huge aerial moves that break dancers do, in both hockey skates and speed skates. Not lately though, but back when break dance was a big deal and all the high school kids were doing it (or trying). People who crossover from rollerblading do a lot of fast edgy footwork, but it is mostly two-footed so it wouldn't fly in figure skating competition. They also prefer hockey skates as it is easier to turn quickly.

[DaiKozOda]

What about this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2SFt...ture=fvwp&NR=1
From 1m08 onward

[orientalplane]

What about this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2SFt...ture=fvwp&NR=1
From 1m08 onward

That must be a faked video, surely.

[sadya]

What about this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2SFt...ture=fvwp&NR=1
From 1m08 onward

Thanks for the video. That was amazing. Perhaps there could be a separate Euros and Worlds for this kind of skating. I'm sure it could draw lots of crowds.

That must be a faked video, surely.

It's real imho, because back in the 80s people used to do that in the streets while break dancing. It was so popular, often people would just start doing these moves anywhere, crowds would appear and some people joined in showing their moves. Nowadays it's mostly skate boarding or wave boarding or whatever it is they do, exciting too sometimes, but for me not as exciting as break dancing.

I have seen guys on public sessions do those huge aerial moves that break dancers do, in both hockey skates and speed skates. Not lately though, but back when break dance was a big deal and all the high school kids were doing it (or trying). People who crossover from rollerblading do a lot of fast edgy footwork, but it is mostly two-footed so it wouldn't fly in figure skating competition. They also prefer hockey skates as it is easier to turn quickly.

Thanks for the info. It must have been wonderful to actually see that live. I wonder why it didn't become more important or more popular at least. It would be something to have championships for them.

[aliceanne]

Ice time is expensive. It is much easier to do it on the floor or street. Plus ice skating is so rule bound it doesn't leave a lot of room for innovation.

[gkelly]

The sport of figure skating is based around what can be done with the edges of the blades (attached to the bottom of the feet) on the ice.

In ice shows, in theory anyway, anything goes.

Maybe there could be a separate sport of ice tricks that don't necessarily rely on the techniques of directing the blade edges with the feet. Right now it's just having fun playing with all the possible moves that an athletic human body can do with a slippery surface. If they want to make it a formal sport, they'll have to make rules about what kind of equipment and what kinds of moves are required, allowed, or forbidden. Those rules would be very different from the rules of figure skating.

How did snowboarding evolve? First it was just athletes having fun doing tricks on snow with their boards, and eventually they formalized it into an Olympic-worthy sport? How did that process work?

[aliceanne]

The sport of figure skating is based around what can be done with the edges of the blades (attached to the bottom of the feet) on the ice.

In ice shows, in theory anyway, anything goes.

Maybe there could be a separate sport of ice tricks that don't necessarily rely on the techniques of directing the blade edges with the feet. Right now it's just having fun playing with all the possible moves that an athletic human body can do with a slippery surface. If they want to make it a formal sport, they'll have to make rules about what kind of equipment and what kinds of moves are required, allowed, or forbidden. Those rules would be very different from the rules of figure skating.

That is precisely what they don't want. Rules about equipment, moves, team uniforms, and drug testing. The snowboard community is divided on this topic. The old school accuses the Olympic competitors of selling out.

[Marge_Simpson]

The Iron Lotus!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7dr6PCeW4c

[Aussie Willy]

The Iron Lotus!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7dr6PCeW4c

[dinakt]

The Iron Lotus!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7dr6PCeW4c

Magnificent.

[Lainerb]

The sport of figure skating is based around what can be done with the edges of the blades (attached to the bottom of the feet) on the ice.

So, what happens if someone is able to perform say a side aerial taking off from a forward R outside edge and lands on a L back outside edge?

[gkelly]

Well, that's probably a waltz jump with an extreme -- inverted? -- air position. Not much different from the arabian/butterfly type of move that's legal and doesn't count as an element (but could be a difficult entry into a spin). Even better in that the takeoff and landing aren't on two feet.

I'd have to check whether the current rules specifically prohibit backflips or inverted jumps in general. If it's not explicitly illegal, then it wouldn't be penalized. It would only be rewarded as a transition.

If there's 1 1/2 revolutions around the long axis of the body as well as the inversion, then it would be an axel and count as a listed jump and quite possibly earn +3 GOE if executed well. But it would still be worth fewer points than a decent double axel.

I think it's more likely that the rules would be tightened to forbid a completely upside-down jump than to reward it, because TPTB wouldn't want skaters trying moves likely to land on their heads if they go wrong when the skills necessary to achieve the position are gymnastic skills rather than edge-based skills.

At least rotational jumps, triples and quads, even though the hardest parts happen in the air, rely on converting the rotation that already exists from the curve of the edges, not working against it.

[sadya]

I guess they'd have to take gymnastics classes instead of ballet classes.

[Aussie Willy]

All this led to a performance which I quite enjoyed (it even had the forbidden Candeloro spin I think):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotat...&v=vdV2TEgD4LE

Just got to watch this. Wow that was really good and very cool.

[aliceanne]

I guess they'd have to take gymnastics classes instead of ballet classes.

A lot of them do martial arts. I've seen martial arts schools do break dance type performances on tv.

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