Backward rockers

Backward inside and backward outside rockers, each followed at once by a mohawk, on both sides.

BIS Skills 6exercise 1In 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.

Rockers backwards, which means the turn now happens where the skater cannot watch the lobe they are turning onto. Skills 5 did them forwards with crossovers in between; this pairs each one with a mohawk immediately after it, so the exercise never contains a finished turn.

That pairing is the interesting part. A rocker keeps its edge and changes lobe, and the mohawk that follows changes foot on a curve that is already the new one. Nothing about it is difficult to describe and it goes wrong constantly: the rocker gets cut short so that the mohawk can be placed, and the lobe that should have been produced by the turn is made by the step instead.

Each side uses a different mohawk, open on one and closed on the other, which changes where the free foot goes and not much else about the tracing. Skaters usually find one of the two sides much stronger, and the exercise is arranged so that showing only that one is not possible.

Elements

Right forward inside mohawkRFI to LBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Left forward outside mohawkLFO to RBO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Left backward inside rocker-mohawkLBI → LFI → RBI: 2 turns on two feet.
Right backward inside rocker-mohawkRBI → RFI → LBI: 2 turns on two feet.
Right backward outside rocker-mohawkRBO → RFO → LBO: 2 turns on two feet.
Left backward outside rocker-mohawkLBO → LFO → RBO: 2 turns on two feet.
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.

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.