The sweet spot (spinning)

[Skatergirl22]

Hey all i'm new to this forum, i've been obsessed looking online for ways to find your "sweet spot" while spinning and ugh!! its driving me craaaaaaazy So I have about 8 months skating and so far i can do a couple of jumps and i seem to have good edge but when it comes to spinning....i find that sweet spot once every 30 times:disapp: i attempt to do a scratch spin!! HELP

 

[mskater93]

We'd need more information with exactly what is wrong to be able to diagnose your problem as "I can't find the sweet spot" isn't a good description. Are you too far forward? Too far back? Off axis/center? Have you asked your coach?

 

[vlaurend]

A very common problem people have when first learning to spin is that they come up from the entrance edge to try to start the spin too soon.
Start on a line, in a T position (i.e., your spinning foot in front, with your other foot behind it, turned out so that the instep is behind the heel of front foot). Bend your knees, then push off very gently with the back foot and draw a very small, round circle with the spinning foot, keeping the other leg extended behind you, and looking in the direction you're going. Lead yourself around with a very gentle sweep of the left arm (assuming you are spinning CCW to the left). Keep your skating knee deeply bent until you have completed a half circle and come back to the line. To see if you *really* came all the way back to the line, check your tracings on the ice. You'll probably find that you didn't really come back to the line, even if it felt like you did.
Once your entrance edge has completed a half circle and you are back at the line, straighten your knee just a little and lift up onto the bottom pick (the very first pick, just in front of the ball of your foot, so that you feel it scrape just a tiny bit), and pass your free leg through to the front, lifting the thigh once it's in front. Hold your arms at chest level, rounded like you're holding a beach ball. You should be spinning on the round part of the blade just behind the bottom toepick. It's OK if your bottom toepick actually scrapes the ice a little during the spin.
You also might want to check your blades to see if the shape has been altered from bad sharpenings. The part of the blade right behind the toepick should be round, not flattened. Compare your blades to a pair of brand new blades of the same type and see if there's a difference in shape there.

 

[feraina]

Great advice from vlaurend. I'm a natural jumper, not a natural spinner. I worked long and hard on my spins to get them decent, and they are still the first to go when I take a break. I think with spins, you just have to practice, practice, practice. I did all that start-in-a-T that vlaurend described. In addition to what's already said, you really want to try to get your left outside edge to tighten so that the tracing looks like it's spiraling down to a point. And I do mean "tighten", so that your core is really strong, your left shoulder/arm is reaching around to the left, and your right leg/arm/shoulder checked behind yourself. When you can tighten no more, you can let go of your right side. But you want to keep your left side open or you can fall off of the inside edge. And keep your left knee flexed. Good luck!