Inside brackets

Forward and backward inside brackets, entered from crossovers, on a shape the skater chooses.

BIS Skills 5exercise 4In the syllabus both before and after 01/10/2026

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.

The fourth and last of the one-foot turns, and the one with nothing working in its favour. A 3-turn rotates with the lobe and changes edge; a rocker rotates with it and keeps the edge; a counter fights it and keeps the edge. A bracket fights the curve and changes edge, so both halves of it are against the skater at once.

What that means in practice is that a bracket cannot be got round with speed. The second learning objective says as much (controlling the speed to facilitate the turn), which is unusual in this syllabus, where nearly everything else is assessed on maintaining it. Arrive too fast and the rotation cannot be produced against the lobe, and the turn becomes a three with the wrong shape.

Entering from a crossover, as both sides do, means the body is already wound the wrong way for it. That is deliberate: it puts the skater in the position a step sequence actually produces. There is no long clean edge to prepare the turn from.

Elements

Right forward inside bracketRFI to RBO: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward inside bracketLFI to LBO: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left backward inside bracketLBI to LFO: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Right backward inside bracketRBI to RFO: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward outside crossoverLFO to RFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Right forward outside crossoverRFO to LFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Right backward outside crossoverRBO to LBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left backward outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.

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.