How do I "hook" my spin in figure skating?

You cannot learn a spin entrance with shallow edges or big circles. The entrance edge has to be small and tight. Basic forward edges aren't enough. You should be skating small circles around 4' in diameter. Circling around a hockey dot is a good idea. You need to be able to hold the left arm and leg behind you and keep your upper body aligned over the skating foot, facing into the curve. Press down on the RFO edge.

Once that's comfortable, start tracing a spiral-shape, like a snail's shell. Start on the outside, hold the check and increase pressure on the blade to make the curve decline into the center of the circle/hockey dot.

At a given point, you'll start to feel like you "gotta turn." That's a good sign: you've almost found the hook spot for yourself. Using that same small spiral, practice doing a sharp turn at the center without moving your shoulders or free leg. The key to a strong entrance is locking the body into the entrance position and building up power. Don't turn your head - keep it facing forward over your skating foot. Ditto for the shoulders/upper body, and keep your shoulders down. It feels like you've twisted your body at the waist - you'll feel the tightness below your ribs.

Then, when you make the turn, bring your free arm around to the front at the same time you bring the free leg around at knee height. This interrupts that turn and initiates the spin.

A very good drill is to stand on a hockey line, facing the end of the rink. Assume a t-position with your right foot in front, your right arm in front and your left arm behind you. Slide your right foot forward and backward a little to make sure you're on the outside edge, not a flat. Push off onto that right outside edge, keeping the free leg/arm behind. The blade should curve in a half-circle back to the line. The radius is no more than 18" from the line. Keep the knee bent, press down on the edge and keep your upper body/free leg checked. When you cross the line, turn and bring the free arm/leg around so that you stay in the same spot to spin. Don't straighten the spinning knee immediately - go around once on a very-slightly bent knee so that you can balance and align your body. Popping up onto a straight knee right away causes the blade to rock up onto the toepick and the spin starts to loop or travel.

"Hook" has a double meaning: It's the point where the turn is interrupted by bringing the free arm/leg around strongly, beginning the circular spin tracing. You can actually SEE the hook in your spin tracing - it looks like a fish hook accompanied by small circles. However, when someone says "You need to hook that spin," they mean you need to bring the free leg/arm around with more power.

There's a great drawing of the tracing here: http://www.skatejournal.com/spin.html

You can see that a good spin has the circles right over a tiny hook mark. This is a skater who has proper entry alignment, a good entry and can get into the correct position/blade spot instantly. It takes a lot of careful practice to get to that level.

Good luck!

I don't really understand what you mean by hook? After you wind up for a spin, you have your right forward outside edge, then a small three turn into the spin. Is that what you mean?

Anyways, working on forward outside edges is a good idea. Make sure you work both feet too. As for the push and hold as long as you can, that's not really a good idea. It becomes a bad habit, and when you get into more difficult spins like sits and camels, you'll really find you're wasting time on the edge that you could be using in the spin. Don't force the edge to be too long or too short, but make sure you get into the spin fairly quickly. You want to still have some speed left when you start spinning.

Other tips and things to work on would be getting power from your back crosscuts (stay off the toe picks!) and on the push forward into the three turn. Make sure in the spin you're standing up straight and have the toes of your left foot stuck to your right ankle. Arms should come in nice and tight when you're spinning too.

I can't see what you're doing, so it might be best to wait for your coach to try and fix errors that may or may not be there. Good luck and I hope this helps!

OMG i am a lefty skater too! Well the main thing is to get a really deep knee bend. When you step forward start with you knee slightly bent, then go even deeper. If you are having trouble doing it from the backwards crossovers, just start from a forward position. The way you can tell if you have hooked your spin is by the mark you make on the ice if it goes out into a long line and then makes a tiny curve, that means not enough knee bend. When the mark goes in a spiral then that means that you have a great knee bend

Also remember to not bend at the waist, only from the knees.

As for the wind up, when you step out your right arm should be following your foot, then your left arm. You want to whip your arms out, but it needs to be done at the same time your feet come together...its hard to explain in words:) And dont forget to keep your arms out like your holding a beach ball then pulling in!

Hope this helps and happy skating

I usually did my 2-foot spins from a forward pivot. Using a tradional spin entrance, you're probably not going the feel the hook as much as on a one foot spin. A spin is basically a unchecked 3-turn. You ride your outside edge and press on it so the curve becomes smaller until it "hooks" on it's own onto the inside edge and into the spin. The long edge helps build tension for the spin and you need to catch a little bit of the toe pick on the hook. Working on your edges in the meantime is a very good idea. It might be kind of boring but you can never do enough edge work.

Honestly, if you're about to start working with a new coach, then don't try and fix it now. Wait for her. You might find she'll take one look at it and go, "This is what's wrong and how to fix it." That happens sometimes.

On the plus side, really work your outside edges for now.

I don't remember ever being told about a hook. I just know that you go faster if you swing your arms around then pull them in quickly.