Inside rockers

Forward and backward inside rockers, alternating down the full length of the rink, six at a minimum.

Not checked yet. The requirements 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.

This is the first turn in the guide that keeps its edge. A 3-turn changes edge and stays on its lobe; a rocker does the opposite: the edge is held all the way through and the skater comes out on a new lobe, turning in the direction the entry curve was already going. Everything learned about checking a 3-turn has to be re-learned, because the body is now rotating the way the curve is taking it.

That is why the exercise gives the skater nothing else to do. Two rockers, repeated, for the length of the ice. It is the most exposed exercise in the first four tests: there is no crossover to build speed back up and no held edge to reward, so a rocker that scrapes or loses the edge is visible six times over.

Inside rockers before outside ones is the syllabus’s choice and not an obvious one. An inside edge gives the shoulders less to check against, so a skater who has spent two levels checking outside 3-turns has to find another way to hold the exit still.

Elements

• Right forward inside rockerRFI to RBI: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.
• Left backward inside rockerLBI to LFI: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.
• Left forward inside rockerLFI to LBI: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.
• Right backward inside rockerRBI to RFI: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.

This page lists which elements the exercise calls for and what it is working on. It does not reproduce British Ice Skating's sequence, pattern or wording. For the exercise as published, go to their own document.