Camel Spin help?

Hi there,

I am an adult skater for more than 15 years. I can do all spins except a good camel. The problem is feet tend to come to the side when I got into the hook. I can do a spiral position without any problem, but I don't get the holding of that position in the spin. Some coaches teach going into the spin with left arm in front, some said you need to change the arm before going into the spin ( right arm in front ). I then tend to concentrate too much on the arms and not sure where my leg is. Some said hips need to be stacked, is this correct? My problem number one my free foot tend to flow to the side and not at the back. Also, My spin tend to be slow and also the camel position seem to be not parallel to the ice. I just don't get the camel spin. Where are the speed and momentum coming from to keep the camel going?

Also I can't do a back camel... there is no speed at all, because I don't know where the momentum is coming from to generate that speed that makes the back camel going.

Thanks so much for all help..

Peter

On a camel spin entrance edge, you need to have your weight over the left side (assuming you do your forward camel on the left foot), and your right leg extended behind you and almost crossed behind the left leg. In order to achieve that, you need to go in super low on the entrance edge (think of getting your skating thigh parallel to the ice) and curl the entrance edge on a tight circle while staying really low. Lead with the left shoulder while keeping that leading shoulder high and looking up and a little over the left shoulder. Also, stay down longer than you think you need to. Keep the knee bent until you've hooked the spin and don't straighten it until you've completed the first revolution in the spin. When you fail to do any of these things, you will end up with your free leg to the side and you will fall out of your circle.

Like you, I have had tremendous problems with my camel. I recently started taking lessons from a different coach and my camel is now a camel!
Here is her wisdom:

1. Go in on outside edge with a deep knee bend. Arch your back, PULL SHOULDERS BACK. The upper body should be upright, like an entry to the scratch spin, but a much deeper knee bend. The free leg- straight behind you. You can even try to over correct by pulling it more into the entry circle. KEEP it there, DO NOT release. This takes a lot of force!

2. On the entry edge, keep the arms together in front or your body and keep pulling them outside the circle on the entry edge. This is key! The pulling the arms outside the circle keeps you on the outside edge, so you can make that 180 degree turn before hooking the spin. As you are hooking, the left arm goes to the side.

3. When you hook the spin, IMMEDIATELY, pull the arms back and arch even more. Do not drop the upper body- it does not change from the entry edge. RAISE your free leg a bit more and tighten the quad.

4. The goal is to balance on the bent knee until you find the spinning spot, then GENTLY rise on the knee.

Some common errors:
-going on the toe. This results from not pulling the shoulders back far enough. You upper body is upright on the entry. In fact, when you do the entry, people around you should not be able to tell what spin you are entering.

-leg to the side: keep the leg behind you , do not let it drift. The camel takes a lot of effort- once mine starting working, I was surprised at the amount of effort they take while you are in the spin.

You can stack the hips or keep them level. I think for you stacking is better, since you tend to have the leg to the side.

To get speed you have to have a really deep outside entry edge and arch your back. Once you are in a camel, it is very hard to gain speed. Most of it comes from the entry edge. However, if you pull your head more back and arch and lift the back leg, you can gain a little more speed. The key is to be rigid, not soft in the knees.

Hope this helps.