Bracket exercise

Brackets on a figure of eight from a stationary start, two circles on each foot.

BIS Skills 5exercise 6New on 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.

New on 01/10/2026, and the document says outright that the pattern is a figure of eight like the old school figures. That is unusual in a modern syllabus, and it changes what the exercise measures: on a figure, the ice keeps a record. The tracing is there to be looked at afterwards, and a turn the skater steered round leaves a mark that says so.

Starting from standing removes the last excuse. Nothing carries the turn except what the body does over a slow edge, and a bracket at low speed is unforgiving in a way it is not at pace: everything happens slowly enough to be seen.

Two circles on each foot means four brackets on a shape that has to close. Getting back to the starting point is the check on whether the lobes were equal, and it is the part of old figures worth keeping.

Elements

Left forward outside bracketLFO to LBI: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Right forward outside bracketRFO to RBI: 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.
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.