How To Start Learning A Salchow As A Beginner | Figure Skating

Hey skaters, it's Stace here from Next Edge Tutorials. In this lesson today, I'm going to be showing you how to do a saucow jump. So if you don't know what a saucow jump is, it is one of our six jumps that we have in figure skating. It is an edge jump, so I'm not using my toe pick to jump into the air. I'm using an edge. It starts off on a back inside edge. We jump into the air and we land on a back outside edge on the opposite foot. So let's take a look at what a saucow jump looks like. So I have my three turn and here's that edge, and then I jump and I land on the opposite foot. Now how I like to teach the saucow jump is starting at the barrier. I feel like this is a great foundation to start the barrier to understand the concept of the jump. So I jump counterclockwise. So when I'm at the barrier, I'm going to be balancing on my left leg. So I have a left inside edge. My upper body is going to go left arm in front, right arm back. And I'm going to put this right arm on the barrier for some balance. Left arm is in front and I'm going to lift my right leg up and hold. So I feel very controlled at this point. Holding here, holding here. Now what's going to happen is I'm going to press this left back inside edge. Let the right side come around and I'm going to jump to the other foot. Now this is kind of cheating the jump at the barrier, but it's about understanding the concept and how it works. So I'm holding here. I let, I release that right leg. I press the edge, jump up and over. Remember, this is a very slow motion of how the saucow works, but if you can understand how that edge comes around and then you vault into the air, it's going to make it so much easier when you take it off the barrier. So let's do it one more time. I'm going to release my leg. As I release it, I press this edge, pick up the right, up and over and out. Okay, I feel really comfortable doing that. Now it's time to take it off the barrier. So before we look at this saucow jump again, I want you to click on the link below in the description for your free PDF guide on the 90 day hassle-free skating plan. This is going to go over finding your local ice rink to enrolling in skate school, finding a coach, helping you set up a training plan to advance your skating skills. So when you are ready, give it a click. All right, now that I've moved off the barrier, I'm still going to do my saucow from a standstill. I'm going to add the three turn before. So I'm already going to prepare my shoulders with right arm in front, left arm back to make it easier. So I'm not having to like maneuver my body all the way around. I'm already where I want to go. So I'm going to bend my knees. I'm going to push, turn, allow that side to come around and jump. So it's more about understanding the mechanics of the saucow. So I want to put my arms already in position. I'm going to bend my knees. I'm going to push onto that left outside edge first, make the three turn, allow that leg to come around, jump and hold. So that's starting to feel a lot more comfortable. I understand how the saucow jump works. Now I'm going to add a little bit more speed. So I'm going to go a little bit more speed. I'm going to push, turn and then jump. So before we add more speed, what I want you to be aware of that we've gone from learning the saucow at the barrier to off the barrier, doing the jump and now adding more speed. It's going to take longer than five minutes to learn a saucow. So I want you to be patient and take your time. Now I'm going to do a back crossover. I'm going to pull off, three turn, saucow. Now what I like to remember for my saucow jump is that when this right leg starts to come around, I'm going to keep that right arm back just a slight split second longer and then use my arm because I have a tendency to want to come down on that right side. So when I really think about moving my leg and then my arm, it really helps me out with this jump. Now let's do it one more time. Okay, back crossover. I'm going to pull up, set it, three turn and jump. Now this doesn't relate to the saucow jump, but whenever I land my jump, I like to for a split second, put my arms in front, get balanced and then open up. A lot of skaters have asked, why do I do that? That's just something personally I do that. I feel really confident after I land when my arms are in front. I get my balance and then I open my arms up. So next time you're on the ice, I want you to give that a go. So we know what a saucow jump is. You might be wondering, is there another entry that I can do? Because I do not like a forward outside three turn. Well, the good news is, yes, there is. You can do a mohawk or a C step into the saucow. You can literally push forward, C step and then saucow jump. Or there's also a back three turn C step where a lot of skaters use, where they'll do a back three turn, C step and then saucow jump. While there's different entries, there's also different free legs you can use. You've probably seen skaters drag their blade on the ice and then jump into the air. That might work for you. Or they put their foot down already on the outside edge and then they jump into the air. So you just want to find out what works for you personally. I'm old school, so I did not use the dragging of that free leg. I use it around and then lift it into the air. So give it a go. Play around with some different free legs because you might find that the one putting on an outside edge and then picking up in the air works for you. And that is perfect. All right, that concludes our lesson today on learning the saucow jump. What I want you to remember is that it might take you a couple weeks to be able to identify a saucow jump. Then another couple weeks to understand how to do it at the barrier. Then another couple weeks to doing it off the barrier. But what I want you to remember is that this is okay. It's all right if you can learn it in one lesson or it might take you three months. But you will get the jump down if that's what you want to do. Thanks for watching Next Ed Tutorials and looking forward to seeing you in our next lesson.