Books / videos on skating technique

[jjane45]

How does everyone's technical collection look like, if any?

I own and love the following:
Sports Illustrated: Figure Skating Championship Techniques by John Misha Petkevich
ISU Figure Skating Elements 5 CD-ROM Set

Loaned the following from library and enjoyed them:
Conditioning for Figure Skating: Off-Ice Techniques for On-Ice Performance by Carl Poe
Laura Stamm's Power Skating by Laura Stamm

Youtube is also a wonderful resource nowadays, but quality varies. I vaguely remember there is a subscription-based website offering new videos monthly ($$$ but costs less than <30 minutes private lesson so if the quality is good it may be worth it).

Recommendations or reviews please? Of course these references are not meant for self-teaching, but they supplement lessons fairly well and sometimes provide a different perspective IMHO

[MimiG]

I have a ton of skating technique books and manuals, but the two that really stand out in my mind are the John Misha Petkevitch that you mentioned and Skate Your Personal Best by Sandra Foster and Tracy Prussack. I find myself referring to those two books more than any other.

[Isk8NYC]

I have a ton of books and videos, but my favorites are:

Petkevich's books (I have two)
Figure Skating with Carlo Fassi
The Complete Book of Figure Skating by Carole Schulman (most current book on technique afaik)

PSA Moves in the Field booklet and videos
USFSA Basic Skills Test Standards video

Ann-Margreth Frei's Magic of Style Booklets and Videos


I've borrowed the Fassi videotapes in the past.  They're okay if you can commit to his techniques.

[jjane45]

As the result of a shopping spree I now have these books on skating technique:

- Figure Skating Championship Techniques by John Misha Petkevich
- The Complete Book of Figure Skating by Carole Schulman
- Figure Skating with Carlo Fassi
- Skate Your Personal Best by Sandra Foster and Tracy Prussack
- Figure Skating School by Peter Morrissey and James Young
- Basic Ice Skating Skills by Robert S. Ogilvie

They cover different topics (Fassi book goes over figures extensively, some books cover more of turns and pairs elements etc.) and have different highlights (I liked the jumping patterns / setup for jumps from Foster and Prussack).

I plan to post some cross-comparison book reviews based on my very biased and superficial opinion, focusing on freestyle technique. If you don't own the books above, what do you want to know about them?

[Query]

I have just been looking over the ISU Figure Skating Elements that you jjane loves. They look wonderful! They aren't a very comprehensive "how to" manual, but they show what is considered to be proper form.

Most of the jumps are way beyond my level, but they even show a proper waltz jump (evidentially I don't use my leg right), in the Axel section.

The spin section looks fabulous too.

I wonder if ISU's other publications (isu.org, click on publications) are good too... They look like they might be the sort of thing I have felt that the USFSA lacks.

I have no idea how well ISU standards apply to USFSA test and competition standards. But where USFSA publications ambiguously uses words like "good form", the ISU videos are much more specific.

The Ogilvie book is probably long out of print. I was warned that some of the skating techniques are out of date - even basic forward strokes. You can get the book used, very cheap, on eBay. I think there were multiple editions - get the latest. It is clearly written, though as with Schulman's book, I wish there were videos to supplement the reading. I met Ogilvie a long time ago at a club session in Baltimore. He said something the USFSA once published (an early the USFSA Basic Skills Instructor's manual?? I don't remember.) was partially written by him, based on an early edition of his book. He also said that the Russians had re-published his book without permission.

[jjane45]

Glad you enjoy the videos, Query. If I manage to tape myself, it's nice to do side by side comparison. Observation: deep knee bend for jump take off as seen in the video is extremely difficult.