Changing blades? Struggle with spins on the Gold Seal

[miruku297]

Hi everyone! I really need some opinions here... I have been skating with my Gold Seal for about a year, and I feel like I made no improvement on my all my spins. Honestly, I think I struggle with spinning even more than before.

Some examples: with my back spin, I tended to fall back on the heel A LOT, and it was so hard to actually stay on the rocker. (Everyone warm up their back spin before doing axel. I rather going straight to jumping tells how inconsistent it was) Camel was a whole battle of itself... I was rarely able to get into the spin without the constant rocking back and forth on the blades no matter how strong and straight I tried to hold it.

Good spin still happened sometime, but it was so little I don't even know if this is worth it anymore... I don't want to blame the blades cuz l'm not the best spinner either. Maybe my ankles are just not strong enough for the Gold Seal?!

Side note: on the Gold Seal, it took more effort for me to roll off the toe pick into my axel. I've heard my coach told me that I took off from my heel a couple of times as well...

I'm considering changing blades but I don't know if I should do it?! Or maybe I just need to trust the process and keep trying?! Will MK Phantom a better option for me. I'm up for other recommendations too (My previous blades was MK pro)

 

[Diana Delafield]

Hi everyone! I really need some opinions here... I have been skating with my Gold Seal for about a year, and I feel like I made no improvement on my all my spins. Honestly, I think I struggle with spinning even more than before.

Some examples: with my back spin, I tended to fall back on the heel A LOT, and it was so hard to actually stay on the rocker. (Everyone warm up their back spin before doing axel. I rather going straight to jumping tells how inconsistent it was) Camel was a whole battle of itself... I was rarely able to get into the spin without the constant rocking back and forth on the blades no matter how strong and straight I tried to hold it.

Good spin still happened sometime, but it was so little I don't even know if this is worth it anymore... I don't want to blame the blades cuz l'm not the best spinner either. Maybe my ankles are just not strong enough for the Gold Seal?!

Side note: on the Gold Seal, it took more effort for me to roll off the toe pick into my axel. I've heard my coach told me that I took off from my heel a couple of times as well...

I'm considering changing blades but I don't know if I should do it?! Or maybe I just need to trust the process and keep trying?! Will MK Phantom a better option for me. I'm up for other recommendations too (My previous blades was MK pro)

I've never used Gold Seals, but when I switched from MK Pros to MK Phantoms the only brief problem I had was the entry to flying camel spins. The first few times I came down on the Phantom's pick that was longer than I was used to, and did a face plant. Experimented a bit using my pairs partner and jumping from one of his hands to the other, after smaller experiments using the boards, just to get the feel of where to land, and have had no problems since. But just a warning that making that particular switch in blades caused a problem with a spin that I'd never had before. Good luck!

 

[IceM]

I would probably take those Gold Seals to an experienced tech, and ask them to move the touchpoint further back from the toepick.

That way you can learn a bit about what works for you, instead of just trying different blades, which can become kind of a crap shoot.

And who knows, even a slight adjustment could make those Gold Seals really work for you. Which might be much easier than just trying different blades altogether.

If you've been on the Gold Seals for some time already, I wouldn't necessarily go with Phantoms. Unless you want to go back to 7' rocker. But if that's the case, maybe you could just go back to MK Pros then? If you do want to go with a different blade, then Pattern 99 would probably be the first to option try.

I wish you good luck in solving your blade woes