Extended edge
A plain edge held for a third of a circle, long enough to be a position in its own right.
Not checked yet. The mechanics 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.
A plain edge, held. Time is what turns it from the gap between two elements into an element: British Ice Skating asks for a third of a circle, or three seconds, before anything else is allowed to happen. Three seconds is a long while to do nothing on one foot.
There is nothing to hide behind. On a turn a mistake arrives and leaves again; here it accumulates. The edge either holds its depth or runs shallow, the free leg either stays extended and turned out or it drops, and the shoulders either keep their check or come round and take the edge with them. That is the exercise: holding the position.
Watch the free hip. A foot that drops has almost always been given away by a hip that opened a second earlier.
Derived
RBO is three letters (foot, direction, edge): right foot, backwards, outside edge. Every edge in the guide is written that way, so RBI is a right foot travelling backwards on an inside edge.
RBO traces an anticlockwise lobe seen from above the ice. Change any one of the three letters and it curves the other way; change two and it curves the same way again.
A skater who rotates the other way does the same thing from LBO. Same element, mirrored.
Build on
- Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
- One-foot glideAn extended edge holds one foot for a third of a circle. The one-foot glide is where holding one foot starts.
Off the ice
- Balance on one legStanding on one leg with the ankle correcting all the time, as every edge asks.
- Hips and turnoutHow far the legs rotate outward from the hip, for the free leg, mohawks and the spread eagle.
From RBO
- Right backward outside crossoverexits LBI · changes foot, the edge changes, the direction holds, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside change of edgeexits RBI · same foot, the edge changes, the direction holds, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside cross rollexits LBO · changes foot, the edge holds, the direction holds, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside choctawexits LFI · changes foot, the edge changes, the direction reverses, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside three turnexits RFI · same foot, the edge changes, the direction reverses, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside mohawkexits LFO · changes foot, the edge holds, the direction reverses, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside bracketexits RFI · same foot, the edge changes, the direction reverses, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside crossed step behindexits LBO · changes foot, the edge holds, the direction holds, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside chasséexits LBI · changes foot, the edge changes, the direction holds, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside counterexits RFO · same foot, the edge holds, the direction reverses, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside loopexits RBO · same foot, the edge holds, the direction holds, the lobe continues
- Right backward outside rockerexits RFO · same foot, the edge holds, the direction reverses, the lobe reverses
- Right backward outside slip chasséexits LBI · changes foot, the edge changes, the direction holds, the lobe continues
Clusters from RBO
- Right backward outside three-mohawkRBO → RFI → LBI
- Right backward outside double threeRBO → RFI → RBO
- Right backward outside counter-threeRBO → RFO → RBI
- Right backward outside rocker-mohawkRBO → RFO → LBO
- Right backward outside bracket-counterRBO → RFI → RBI
- Right backward outside counter-mohawkRBO → RFO → LBO
- Right backward outside counter-2½ twizzleRBO → RFO → RBI
- Right backward outside rocker-choctawRBO → RFO → LBI
- Right backward outside rocker-counterRBO → RFO → RBO
- Right backward outside choctaw-three-rockerRBO → LFI → LBO → LFO
- Right backward outside double three-mohawkRBO → RFI → RBO → LFO
- Right backward outside rocker-counter-double twizzleRBO → RFO → RBO → RBO
- Right backward outside 3-turn-change of edge-double twizzleRBO → RFI → RFO → RFO
- Right backward outside triple threeRBO → RFI → RBO → RFI
Appears in
In the UK's grades
None of the British level lists in this guide name it outside the Skills tests below.
- BIS Skills 1BIS · level 1
- BIS Skills 3BIS · level 3
- BIS Skills 4BIS · level 4
- BIS Skills 5BIS · level 5
- BIS Skills 7BIS · level 7
- BIS Skills 8BIS · level 8
- BIS Skills 1, exercise 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.
- BIS Skills 1, exercise 5: Forward outside & forward inside 3-turnsThe first turns in the syllabus: forward outside three turns onto a held back outside edge, then forward inside ones.
- BIS Skills 3, exercise 3: Backward cross rollsA forward 3-turn into a held back outside edge, rolled from there into backward cross rolls on both feet.
- BIS Skills 4, exercise 4: Forward inside twizzles & backward outside twizzle movementOne and a half twizzles forwards, exited in an extended position, and single backward outside twizzles rolled on into cross rolls.
- BIS Skills 4, exercise 5: Backward choctawsA held back outside edge into a closed choctaw, an open mohawk immediately after it, and crossovers between the lobes.
- BIS Skills 5, exercise 2: Forward rockersForward outside and forward inside rockers alternating with crossovers, finishing on a held back outside edge.
- BIS Skills 7, exercise 2: Backward outside choctaws & forward inside countersAn extended back outside edge into a closed choctaw, with a forward inside counter and a change of edge on the way out.
- BIS Skills 8, exercise 1: Section 1Rockers on both feet, a one and a half twizzle in the direction the skater chooses, a bracket into a cross roll, and a pivot movement to close.