One-foot glide

The same glide with the other foot lifted, which is where balance stops being shared.

Also called forward one-foot glide. Other names.

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

From a glide on two feet you lift one foot and keep going on the other in a straight line. The free foot is carried beside the skating leg with its toe pointing down; Ice Skating Australia places it at the inside of the knee and asks for about a metre on each foot. Learn to Skate USA has it at its second level, on either foot.

On two feet the weight was shared. On one it all sits over a single blade, and the glide runs straight only while that blade is flat: British Ice Skating defines a flat as a straight tracing on one foot. New Zealand’s KiwiSkate teaches the straight glide and then assesses it on a curve, which is the blade tipped onto an edge and the next tier of this guide. Australia keeps the free foot at the knee for its backward one-foot glide and its first one-foot spin.

Build on

• Two-foot glideThe same straight glide with one foot lifted and carried at the inside of the skating knee.

Off the ice

• Balance on one legStanding on one leg with the ankle correcting all the time, as every edge asks.

Leads to

12 elements in the guide are built on this one.

• Swing rollA swing roll is a one-foot edge held for several beats while the free leg swings past, so it rests on holding one foot that long.
• Bunny hopThe bunny hop springs off a glide on one foot and returns to it, so the glide has to hold first.
• DragThe drag is a glide on one foot with the skating knee bent deep and the free leg extended behind, turned out.
• PivotIce Skating Australia teaches pivots at its last level, long after the one-foot glide. The circling foot glides on an inside edge.
• Power change of edge pullsEvery change of edge in the pulls is made on one foot, held for the length of the rink.
• T-stopThe T-stop starts from a one-foot glide, the other foot set down behind it.
• Left forward inside edge, Left forward outside edge, Right forward inside edge, Right forward outside edgeThe one-foot glide runs on a flat. New Zealand teaches it straight and then on a curve, which is the blade on an edge.
• Extended edgeAn extended edge holds one foot for a third of a circle. The one-foot glide is where holding one foot starts.
• SpiralA spiral is held on an edge, the free leg stretched out behind, turned out, and raised to hip height or higher.

Appears in