Basic Concepts
Direction
Skaters tend to favor a natural rotation direction. Although, skaters may be called “righties” or “lefties”, rotation is not necessarily related to the hand the skater favors for writing.
Counter Clockwise
Most skaters rotate counter clockwise (CCW). They perform forward spins on their left foot, backspin on the right foot and land common rotational jumps on the right foot. These skaters have been called “righties”. Since CCW skating is most prevalent, the elements included in this glossary will be described for CCW skaters. If you prefer to skate clockwise (CW), simply mirror the descriptions in this glossary.
Clockwise
A smaller fraction of skaters rotate clockwise, meaning they perform forward spins on the right foot, back spins on the left foot and land rotational jumps on the left foot. These skaters are often called “lefties” though they are not necessarily left-handed.
Ambidexterity
The term “Ambidexterity” describes individuals who are equally capable of performing tasks with the right or left side of their bodies. While very few skaters perform jumps in both directions, there have been some who spin in both directions. However, footwork should include turns in both directions, which contributes to the difficulty of the sequence. The Ice Skating Institute of America (ISIA) requires participants to jump in both directions to pass advanced tests.
Edges
Each skate blade has two edges, an inside (I) and outside (O) edge, as shown on the diagram. Therefore a pair of skates has four blade edges as follows: right inside (RI), left inside (LI), right outside (RO) and right inside (RI). Skaters may glide on any of these four edges either forward (F) or backward (B). The edge and direction of a skater’s movement may be indicated by an abbreviation. For example, a skater traveling forward on the inside edge his left blade may be indicated by the following abbreviation: LFI. All other edges may be indicated similarly.
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The definitions provided in the technical glossary are offered in good faith for personal use. They are not necessarily official definitions.
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