BIS Skills 1

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The first of the eight National Skills tests, and the one that decides whether everything above it is built on anything. Its subject is the edge: four forward edges, four backward ones, and the pushes and steps between them.

The skater has to turn backwards before the extended position, and the test leaves the method to them: a three turn or a mohawk, their choice, with an optional turn of the same kind halfway through the crossovers. Until 01/10/2026 that was all the turning Skills 1 asked for. Since then a fifth exercise makes forward outside and forward inside three turns compulsory, which brings the first required turn in the syllabus down from Skills 2. The edge still comes first: each outside three turn exits onto the back outside edge that the second exercise has already asked the skater to hold.

What the test is really asking is whether the skater can hold a curve without help. A sustained edge, an extended position held for a third of a circle, a slalom that keeps its speed: each of these fails the moment the skater’s weight is not over the biting edge, and none of them can be faked with effort.

Exercises

1. Forward edgesThe four forward edges, joined by chassés on one side and crossovers on the other.
2. Backward outside extended positionBackward crossovers into a sustained back outside edge, held in an extended position for a third of a circle or three seconds.
3. Forward & backward crossoversCrossovers in both directions and both rotations, joined by an optional turn to backwards and a step back to forwards.
4. Slalomchanges 01/10/2026Power changes of edge down the length of the rink, forwards on two feet and one, and backwards on two.
5. Forward outside & forward inside 3-turnsnew 01/10/2026The first turns in the syllabus: forward outside three turns onto a held back outside edge, then forward inside ones.

Elements

Every element its exercises call for, gathered from them.

• Left forward outside edgeLFO: the left foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Right forward inside edgeRFI: the right foot travelling forwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Right forward outside edgeRFO: the right foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
• Left forward inside edgeLFI: the left foot travelling forwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
• Left forward outside chasséLFO to RFI: the free foot comes down beside the skating foot, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards on the same lobe.
• Right forward outside chasséRFO to LFI: the free foot comes down beside the skating foot, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards 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 forward inside step wideRFI to LFI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left forward inside step wideLFI to RFI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Left backward inside edgeLBI: the left foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
• Right backward inside edgeRBI: the right foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise 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.
• Extended edgeA plain edge held for a third of a circle, long enough to be a position in its own right.
• Right backward inside step wideRBI to LBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward inside push backLBI to RBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
• Two-foot change of edgeBoth blades rolled from one set of edges to the other, in one movement, without a step.
• SlalomBoth blades held parallel and swung side to side, drawing a wave down the ice.
• Backward slalomThe same wave, drawn travelling backwards.
• Right forward inside change of edgeRFI to RFO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right forward outside change of edgeRFO to RFI: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left forward inside change of edgeLFI to LFO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left forward outside change of edgeLFO to LFI: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left forward outside three turnLFO to LBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right forward outside three turnRFO to RBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right forward inside three turnRFI to RBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left forward inside three turnLFI to LBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left forward outside cross rollLFO to RFO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right forward outside cross rollRFO to LFO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.

Governing body source