Cross strokes on a circle

Also called Cross stroking

Cross strokes round a circle in all four forms: forward outside, forward inside, back outside and back inside.

Not checked yet. The drill details 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.

The run Forward outside cross strokes round the circle, then forward inside, back outside and back inside

Not drawn in the body frame yet: the cross strokes are drawn on their own page; the circle of them is not.

A cross stroke pushes from the edge of the foot that has just crossed, rather than from the inside edge behind you. Round a circle, in all four forms, it teaches a push that starts underneath the body.

The knee does the work: down as the feet cross, the push as it rises. Coaches look for the rise and fall to be even from stroke to stroke, and for the shoulders to stay level while the legs cross under them.

The inside and back versions are much harder than the forward outside one, and they are the ones that build control for the turns and the jump entries that come off those edges.

One coach adds a full one-foot circle after every three strokes.

This drill trains

• Cross strokesA push from the outside edge of the foot about to leave the ice, the legs crossed above the knee.

Found in 5 independent sources: coaches' public teaching and published skating-skills tests, taken as base guidance and written for the guide.