July/August 2003

Good Jammin' News

PAIRS SKATING, Single Hand RST - How would you define the difference between couples skating and pairs skating? BB - When they use the term couples, couples and pairs is really the same thing, it's just that when you refer to it as couples only it's usually a boy and a girl.  Pairs, more or less forward skating, is for 2 guys, 2 girls or a guy and a girl as opposed to couples.  Usually the word couples or couples only means slow skating and that's usually a boy and a girl.  They don't say “pairs only”.  Even if they did say pairs only it would be o.k. on a slow number, it still means a boy and a girl.  I usually refer to pairs as a forward skate whether it be any gender... RST - What is the hardest part of becoming a good pairs skater? BB -  The signals, how to give and receive [them].  Because of the music being so loud, you don't have time to tell anybody to do a particular thing, so it's no longer pairs, it's chaotic skating and who needs it. That means you have to learn how to signal your partner, like a rudder on a boat, you have to know how to make it happen, so you have to learn how to signal your partner, when to come up, around or when to slow down.  These things you have to learn, but that means, it also brings about camaraderie because you can't be switching around with different people.  You've got to skate with the same person consistently so you don't have to go crazy every time you skate with somebody You have to be able to read the position from the back because the music being as loud as it is, there's no talking.  It's imperative that everybody knows what everybody knows. You shouldn't jerk your partner, skate with your head up, watch where you're going, the lead can come from any direction.  Think of it as left leg, right leg per person, learn to skate both sides, the lead (the front), or learn to skate in the front and the back - it is two different things, you have to learn both. Do not grab your partner, caress your partners hand, don't grab it, don't have a death grip, do not grab any of the fingers or the thumb. Always work from the palm of the hand, if you do, you will always be in position, meaning the way the body is designed. Ultimately you want to learn to skate pairs but before you can do that you have to be able to skate period so you can understand pairs.  Pairs single hand, we'll talk about double hand next time, learn to use single hand. RST - What is the difference between single hand and double hand? BB -    Single hand is exactly that, single hand, and it must be dealt with by the palm of the hand.  If it's not done by the palm that means people are trying to grab everything but the hand, i.e.,  the arm, squeezing your finger, twisting your arm, pulling it out of the socket, things like that. You have to be gentle, because you are skating with a person, and both have sockets and if you jerk on it, eventually it's going to be bad news.  It happened to me, that's why I know.  You have to be gentle, you shouldn't know, other than the fact that you're skating with this person, there shouldn't be any other information given by pulling or jerking on this person, there should just be connection between the two hands. You must learn how to skate with both hands, single hand, left and right.  You have to learn how to receive and give signals with both hands.  That's why I said we are going to discuss single hand this month and next month we'll discuss double hand so that people don't get confused by way of thinking they can just up and grab someone and start doing it.  Anybody can do it who takes their time and studies how it's done because the learning process comes from both people, that's why I say there has to be camaraderie.  It can't be sporadic because once sporadicism goes into it, there's too much information lost in between skating time, so you've got to skate with the same person a lot or the same group of people has to be together a lot.  That's what I'm trying to do, there's a form of segregation going on by virtue of people that look at it and say ‘I want to do that’ because you say to them, ‘no, I don't want to skate with you because you don't know how’....You’re just trying to let them know that you've spent X amount of time learning this so you're not just skating with any and everybody, you're skating with people who know what you know. RST - How are two people hooked up in pairs, single hand? BB -   It can be considered right and left leg and you've got to remember, signals must be given by either skater from the front or the back, that's why we don't have to worry about who is leading who.  Anybody can be leading at any time, it can be two girls, two guys or a girl and a guy. Let's say the right leg is leading, that means the person in the left position (or the left leg) is like shaking hands.  So [the person on the right's] left hand is in the person in the back's right hand - it can't be left hand, left hand - it's got to be left hand right hand. Let's say the left leg is moving up into a lead position in front of the person that's now in front, now the person in the back, their left hand is in the other person's right hand so it's a reverse process.  In the interim of coming up, you can come up from the left side (coming across like you were sitting down in a chair and crossed your left leg over your right leg).   It's just like this person is skating across you so when they do they release their right hand from your left hand, they give you their left hand as they pass by in front of you. So the transition has to take place in that fashion, but you've got to be watching where you're going, putting your hand back there for that other person to grab, gently, not snatching.  That means you have to keep the momentum up, you can't know that this other person is back there by virtue of dragging him around the rink, they have to have their own power, so don't think they're a little pulley.  Some people don't get the message, when you go by like that they think they're waiting on a train.  You've got to grab that person and keep up the momentum so it is a gentle connection, not that the other person is dragging. We'll discuss trios two months from now, next month we'll do double hand pairs.  First you've got to learn how to skate by yourself, then you have to learn pairs single hand, then pairs double hand, then trios triple hand.  It gets more complicated, but it's not complicated if you follow the steps one to the other. A person that is reading this cannot be a novice, this is not for beginners, it is for people who have been skating and know what's up. Back to Top

QUESTIONS Q. Can you recommend a good indoor Jammin wheel? I've been looking at a Bones Super Elite wheel with the inserted hub and was wondering if Bones are really the choice for your style given all the new products out today. A. If you want a good Jammin wheel, you'll find either one of two wheels: The old (not new) orange rental wheel which everybody thinks is ugly because it is orange but the point is the wheel works and that's what you should be wearing, if you are fortunate enough to find it. or the hardest wheel you can find. Bones makes a very hard wheel, durometer 101A.