Spins wearing down the blade?

[twinskaters]

I just got my kids' skates back from the sharpener, who is well-known and the only person who has ever touched their blades. He included a note that said for one of them "tone down the amount of spins, she's wearing the blade down terrible."

OK, she's been working on spins a lot in the past month or so and he didn't mention anything at their previous sharpening, about 8 weeks ago. But she's still only skating 3-4 hours a week. Could she really be wearing the blade down just from spinning or would you think there's something in her technique that's causing issues? Her sister has been working possibly harder on the same spins (scratch, very beginner back, very beginner sit) and he didn't comment on her blade. Also, her sister is a better spinner at the moment, which leads me to the technique hypothesis.

Obviously I will discuss with their coach tomorrow morning, but I don't want to lose out on potentially obsessing about this overnight. ;-)

[Query]

I haven't watched her practice, and I'm not a great spinner myself. But:

If you only work on the things that already work well, you don't improve much.
Maybe your sharpener was joking?

Is she doing things, unrelated to proper spin practice, like deliberately scraping around as she spins, or spinning off ice on her blades?

I'd ask the sharpener for a clarification of the comment (and ask where the extra wear shows up), and ask the coach too.

[twinskaters]

I haven't watched her practice, and I'm not a great spinner myself. But:

If you only work on the things that already work well, you don't improve much.
Maybe your sharpener was joking?

Is she doing things, unrelated to proper spin practice, like deliberately scraping around as she spins, or spinning off ice on her blades?

I'd ask the sharpener for a clarification of the comment (and ask where the extra wear shows up), and ask the coach too.

Good questions. She's working on the spins a lot because she's not very good at them. She's not one of this kids who keeps whipping off amazing scratch spins. She's trying to get past 3-4 revolutions and exit cleanly and it's been frustrating lately, which I suppose could be due to the recent blade wear? She's not on a high level blade, just Mirage, and they're about 8 months old.

Oh, and he's not exactly known for his sense of humor. I'm certain he wasn't joking!

[DressmakingMomma]

My first thought is, that seems a bit nuts, I can't imagine a sharpener dictating practices. Also, I'm always proud of my girl for working on the skills she is most struggling with, developing her ability to persevere through difficulty.

My daughter had mirage blades and her spins were instantly better when she moved into a coro ace. she never did like the mirage - it felt clunky to her. She still struggled with her backspin though and then we switched techs who worked on getting her balanced in her skates with her pronation. Maybe have her blade alignment and balance checked out just to be sure she isn't fighting with her equipment. We were surprised with the instant improvements once our kiddo could easily hold both her inside and outside edge without fighting against her pronation.

[twinskaters]

I am sort of tempted to try the other well-regarded guy around here and have him check out her blade alignment as you suggested. The guy we use is the same person most of the coaches use, and he's really well-known, but I also know a couple of people who've had complaints that he doesn't take their issues seriously. But also, it's just hard to get these darn spins so I will give her a little more time and see. It's funny, their previous coach wanted to put both kids in a coro ace but our tech talked him/us into the Jackson Elle/Mirage combo. I appreciate that he does not want to overboot/blade kids, and he also doesn't want to spend my money indiscriminately, but sometimes I wonder if he's overly conservative. Then again, they took a while to break in this boot, and it's not all that stiff!

Coach wasn't all that concerned about his note. She said it's just the way she skates, and didn't try changing anything. And she certainly didn't recommend she lay off spin practice!

[DressmakingMomma]

Never hurts to try a different tech. We also had been going to somebody well known, and while he did a pretty good job fitting her boots, he never took her complaints seriously and always came back to that she must be tying her skates wrong. Turns out it had nothing to do with how she was tying her skates and that she was pronating so badly that she actually popped the heel counters inside the boots. In her next pair of skates, our new guy added cork wedges that he custom shaped for her, and whala - everything felt better to her.

It could a skate problem or it could be that she needs more time - I thought dd was NEVER going to get her back 3-turns on a circle (pretty sure that isn't the technical name) and then one day it just all came together. i love the natural life lesson of hard work and perseverance that comes with figure skating.

[twinskaters]

Yes! As frustrating as it can be, pushing through these hard things and finally getting them to work is such a great lesson to learn. My other daughter was in tears 2 months ago because she just could not get that scratch spin to work. I mean, Not. At. All. She worked her little rear off, doing terrible spin after terrible spin for weeks, even spending her "play" skating time at a Girl Scout event working, and now she's the better spinner of the two! It's taken a while for them to come around to that realization, but it's really gratifying to see it from where I stand.

[nicklaszlo]

I would not worry about it.  She should outgrow the blades before the spins wear them out.  I think sharpening technique and walking in the blades off ice would have a much bigger impact.

[Query]

I am sort of tempted to try the other well-regarded guy around here and have him check out her blade alignment as you suggested...
It's funny, their previous coach wanted to put both kids in a coro ace but our tech talked him/us into the Jackson Elle/Mirage combo.

I think it's so cool that you have TWO well regarded skate techs in the same area!

Coaches and skate techs both tend to go with what they know - and skate techs tend to go with what they have in stock, or make more profit from. AFAICT, the equipment that works best is always a very personal thing, which coaches and techs can only guess at.

I'm still be curious of the skate tech's explanation of his remarks, but, assuming equally good skate tech and coach, I would trust the coach first.

Chill! A month at 3-4 hours/week isn't much time at all to master a difficult skill like spinning! Even most really good athletes take a few months to a few years. I'm still not very good at spinning myself, but I think it requires an order of magnitude more muscular control, strength (control requires strength), and timing, than any skating skill she has worked on before.

If you try the other good tech, maybe trace the old tech's blade mounting positions on the bottoms, and keep the old insoles if he changes them, so you can bring the skates back to original configuration if desired.

[Doubletoe]

I would not worry about it.  She should outgrow the blades before the spins wear them out.  I think sharpening technique and walking in the blades off ice would have a much bigger impact.

^ Exactly.  To be honest, my first instinct was that the sharpener must have accidentally removed some of the rocker on your daughter's blade and was looking for something else to blame.  But if this person is the pro you say he is, then that must not be it.  I've just NEVER heard anything like that before, and spinning 3-4 hours a week--even if it was all she did--is nothing compared to a lot of skaters.

[twinskaters]

^ Exactly.  To be honest, my first instinct was that the sharpener must have accidentally removed some of the rocker on your daughter's blade and was looking for something else to blame.  But if this person is the pro you say he is, then that must not be it.  I've just NEVER heard anything like that before, and spinning 3-4 hours a week--even if it was all she did--is nothing compared to a lot of skaters.

I wondered if maybe he had messed them up at the last sharpening, too. Everyone makes mistakes, right? But I remembered that sometime after their prior sharpening, I actually traced both kids' blades, to see if that could be causing her to have spinning problems. They were 100% identical, just like their owners, haha.