Goal 8: Learn a Few Figure Skating Jumps

One of the 10 goals in 10 months was to learn a few figure skating jumps.

I’ve done figure skating on ice since I was 19 so I was determined to nail a jump that rotated a full 360 degrees. I picked the flip jump because that’s the one I’m most comfortable with on ice. It turns out it’s a touch more difficult to do in derby quad skates! Here is a clip of what it’s supposed to look like (keep your eye on the girl in the blue leg warmers):

If you don’t give a shit how it’s done but you want to see me fall on my arse, skip forward two paragraphs.

For those with a technical interest, if you want to achieve this jump on derby quads you need two modifications. First, you’ll probably find you need to enter the jump from a mohawk. On ice, I enter off a three turn as it gives you a nice edge but I just can’t do nice, edgy three turns on my derby skates.

Secondly, you need to loosen your truck. The flip jump is off an inside edge. If you push off on one leg and the only way you can make it curve in (on the inside two wheels) is to bounce your foot around then your truck is too tight. To be honest, I never achieved a good inside edge off my Reidell R3s. Now I’m skating on Vanillas and they’re much more responsive.

As for the result? Well, it’s not pretty (was a mouth guard really necessary?) but here is my flip jump:

The verdict: goal 8 achieved – just!

Tagged: difference between ice skating and quad skating, flip jump on quad skates, ice skaters who become derby girls, loosen your truck, Reidell R3s, Vanilla quad skates

Posted in: 10 Goals in 10 Months