SOYOUWANNA LEARN ABOUT EDGE JUMPS IN FIGURE SKATING?

Edge jumps - this is when the skater takes off from a specific edge of a skate without the benefit of help from the other skate. A toe pick push-off isn't allowed.

When talking about edges, skaters get very specific, saying things like "left back outside edge." In order to understand the edge terminology, you just need to break that statement down. "Left" refers to the foot . . . so there can be right and left edges. "Back" refers to the part of the blade near the heel, while a "Forward" edge is the part near the toe. "Outside" refers to the side of the blade facing away from the other leg. We hope that "Inside" would then be self-explanatory.

A single, double, triple or quadruple jump refers to how many times the skater spins in the air between the takeoff and landing. These jumps can be done in combinations, meaning that two jumps are done right in a row, without any extra steps taken in between.

1. Salchow: This jump takes off from the left back inside edge. Typically, the skater turns counterclockwise on the ice, standing on the left leg, settles into that left back inside edge, and then scoops the right leg up and over the left to initiate the jump rotation. Being able to swing the right leg around to gather momentum helps to make this the easiest of the edge jumps.

2. Loop: The Loop (not to be confused with the Toe Loop) is one of the most difficult jumps, edge or toe, because the right thigh has to do all the work without any help from a toe pick or a swinging free leg. In this jump, the skater starts by skating backwards on two feet, with the left foot crossed in front of the right. Then, the skater simply (yeah right) springs off of the right back outside edge, keeping the feet crossed, and rotates to the left.

3. Axel: The Axel is probably the most identifiable of all of the jumps because it is the only one with a forward takeoff. In all of the other jumps, the skater both starts and ends gliding backwards but the Axel takes off from the left front outside edge. Since it ends backward like all the others, a triple Axel is actually 3 rotations, making it more difficult than the other triples.

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