Getting Started Roller Skating – Part 15 – Doing a Waltz Jump

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In today’s episode, I talk about the second artistic roller skating jump that everyone learns – the Waltz Jump. This jump is a 1/2 revolution (180 degrees) and is done jumping off the left foot rolling forwards and landing on the right foot rolling backwards.

If you are having a hard time roller skating, be sure to check out my page all about How to Roller Skate. On that page you will find videos of yours truly skating. You can see me doing the jump on the Roller Skating Tricks page.

Episode 32 Transcript

[0:00] Hey everybody, Welcome to the roller skate Dad podcast.
This is episode # 32.

[0:10] Let’s get started.

[0:13] Welcome to the roller skate Dad podcast.
The show that covers everything and anything in the wonderful world of roller skating.
Now, here’s your host, the roller skate Dad himself, Jeff Stone.
Hey everybody, I want to welcome you to the roller skate Dad podcast. I’m so glad you guys could join me today.
We’re going to continue today, the getting started roller skating series and we’re going to discuss doing a waltz jump.
So this is the final artistic skating jump that I’m going to be teaching you in the in this Getting started roller skating series.
And before we get started, I want to do a quick recap.
I’m not sure it’s gonna be quick because there’s a lot of episodes, but I’m gonna do a quick recap of the getting started roller skating series.

[1:09] And so over the last dozen episodes or so we’ve discussed getting in the right skaters mindset, you know, believing you can do this, that you got this, that you can learn how to skate so many adults out there scared to roller skate.
I’m telling you you can do this. Then the next couple of episodes, I talked about how to pick out your first pair of roller skates, what to look for.
We went over all the skate parts, we talked about boots and plates and bearings and wheels and toe stops and toe plugs and all that good stuff and then I gave you some recommendations on some skates that are good for beginners.
Then I talked all about getting the right safety equipment, like helmets and pads and things like that to make sure you don’t get hurt.

[1:52] Then we talked about how to fall down because you’re probably going to fall down when you first start out.
And then we talked about how to get up properly from the ground so that your, you know, fingers don’t get rolled over.
Then it went over 10 different ways to stop on roller skates and there’s a whole different, whole bunch of different ways to stop and there’s a few in there that are really good for beginners.
And then there were some more advanced techniques in there as well.
Then we discussed skating forwards without falling down and then I talked about balance, standing on one ft and doing forward crossovers.
Next we discuss skating backwards for the first time.
Then we talked about going and doing backwards crossovers.
Then we talked all about doing two ft turns, that was fun.
Next, we discussed how to do one ft turns, that was super fun.
And then last week we did a whole bunch of bunny hops right, the first artistic skating jump that most people learn how to do.

[2:55] And that leads us to today where we’re going to be talking all about the waltz jump.
So this is the last jump I’m going to be covering in this series, and this is the next to last podcast on actual skating techniques, at least for this series.
So next week we’re going to close out all the skating techniques with a two ft spin.
So this is the last jump, we taught every skater in the advanced group lessons at my old skating rink,
shout out to form roller world and you know, we did this before you moved into private lessons with an art,
instructor coach and moved into art competition.
So, so it’s a cool jump, it’s fun to do. I don’t want to say it’s easy because for those of you who have never jumped before, it’s not easy and it takes practice, but this is something that I still do,
almost 50 and it’s not that hard of a jump, you don’t have to do that many revolutions in the air, it’s just a half revolution.
You go from skating forward on one ft jump up in the air escape backwards, landing on the other foot, that’s pretty much the jump that we’re going to talk about, but.

[4:10] Let’s dive in. So when you’re preparing for the waltz joan, it’s probably best to try this without skates on.
That’s what I would recommend. So what the waltz jump is is it’s a jump where you skate forward on your left leg, on an outside edge.
So that means as we talked about with the one ft turns, that means you’re pushing into your pinky toe right, and this jump is always done off the left leg, usually, unless you’re left handed, then you do it off the right leg.
I know that sounds funny, but that’s the way it works.
Most artistic skaters are right handed skaters, they will do this and you do this off the left leg and then your right leg is outstretched behind you.
Then you jump up off your left leg, You turn 180° counterclockwise, and you land on your right leg going backwards.

[5:05] So to start, I like to have people due to foot jumps forwards to backwards.
So let’s practice that first without your skates on.
So you want to head over to the carpet or the grass, you can do it on your tile too. It’s just a little nicer on your feet.
If you do it on grass or carpet, you want to bend both your knees, put your arms out to the side in a t position, and then you jump up,
And you turn your body 180° in the counter clockwise direction and land on both feet and.

[5:41] Going going backwards basically, but you don’t have skates on and keep your knees bent and your arms should still be outstretched when you land.
So when you do this jump even without your skates on, it’s important to remember to turn your upper body before you jump this drastically. Makes this easier to do.
So you want to turn your head, your shoulders and your waist and then jump and do the 1 80.
If you’re trying to do this without using your arms, it’s gonna be a whole lot harder to do, not even sure it’s,
it’s doable, you know, it’s probably still doable actually, and now I think about it if you don’t use your upper body at all, you know, because it’s only a 1 80 you know, you’re only doing a half a revolution.
But a lot of the more advanced jumps, you know, singles, doubles, triples Quads, they’re not possible without doing proper upper body rotation, you have to use your upper body.
So anyway, once you get that 180 nailed without your skates on, you did that okay, good, let’s move on, you put skates on and you just do the same jump on your carpet or grass without rolling, just.

[6:53] Get on two ft, jump up in the air, turn your body 180° land in the opposite facing direction, and then once you get good at that, then you add the ruling, so,
start by rolling, you know, get out on the, you know, get out on the floor.

[7:11] Start by rolling forwards on your two ft, put your arms out to the side t position, bend your knees jump up, You’re going to hop up, turn 180° in the air, land on both feet skating backwards and just again remember to turn your upper body.
Head, shoulders, waist, that’s kind of in that order. Head, shoulders, waist, it’s quick.
No don’t literally turn your head, wait a second, then turn your shoulders, wait a second, then turn your waist, wait a second, like that’s not gonna work, like it should all be pretty instantaneously together but just remember to turn everything.
So now that you’ve got the two ft jump down, let’s talk about the waltz jump because that’s where it gets more complicated because now you’re not jumping off two ft, you’re jumping off one ft and landing on one ft, so let’s let’s do it.
So you’re going to stand on your left leg and lean onto your outside edge, you know, that’s towards your pinky toe of your left foot,
and stretch your right leg out behind you just like we did with the two ft jump, make sure your arms are out in a t position for balance.

[8:18] Um however you can pull your arms back a little right, so instead of them being like just stretched out right right beside you, you can kind of,
hold them back a little meaning you kind of um.

[8:35] Mimic, you know, the right leg that’s jetted out behind you. So kind of pulling back a bow, your chest just a little bit, you know, don’t over exaggerate it.

[8:45] And then as you jump, what you’re gonna do is you’re going to pull your arms and bring your arms into your body close to you and in front of you to help you jump.
So by kind of out stretching your arms behind you, you’re kind of accentuating as you jump, you’re going to bring your arms in towards your body.
And again, this isn’t super important for a waltz jump, like this is just a 1 80 jump, but this is exactly what you do.
If you’re an artistic skater going for like a bigger jump, you you have to really bring those arms in tight and quick to be able to do,
not necessarily even singles, but definitely for doubles and triples, right uh revolution jumps and artistic skating.
So it’s good to just get to practice the technique of doing it the right way, you know, to learn the movement. Now, just, you know, remember not to overdo it or you’re going to over rotate, you know, and you can likely fall.
But I like to teach people this just because if you do decide, oh I’m going to try to do single revolution jumps, you’re going to need your arms and your upper body more to be able to do to be able to do the jump.
So you want to make sure you’re on your outside edge, on your skate, on your left foot, bend your left knee, then swing your right knee up and through the center to a little bit below waist high.

[10:14] As you do this, jump off the left foot in turn, counterclockwise,
pull your arms up and in as you jump off the left leg And you’re going to be turning 180° in the air going counterclockwise,
both your arms and your right knee should be going up to help you lift up, lift up off the ground, everything is up,
right, and again, you have to do this with more force on single, double and triple revolution jumps.
You know, these half turn jumps, they don’t require a ton of force, and if you try to give it too much force, you’re probably going to over rotate, you’ll do like a three quarter jump and you’ll wind up falling.
So, so it takes a little bit of practice understanding like how much force do I need To be able to get up off the ground off one ft and turn 180°. And that just takes practice again.
This is why it’s important to understand how to do this without your skates on, because you’re a lot less likely to fall if you’re not rolling, you may still fall.
I’ve fallen before without my skates on when I’m practicing jumps.
So, uh next you, you know, land on that right leg on the outside edge, rolling backwards,
so your left knee will be about waist high when you land.

[11:37] And you’re going to then swing the left leg through the center as you land on your right leg, you swing the left leg back,
and you stretch it out behind you while it’s raised off the ground and you’re going to want to make sure your arms are outstretched beside you, that’s how you look like a cool figure skater.
You know, you jump up off that left leg, you land on the right leg, your left leg swings through, arms are outstretched, boom, just nailed that jump. Mhm. You did it.
So, if you’re struggling, um you know, no worries, jumps are hard, you know, this is one of the more difficult skills, at least that I’m going to show you.
I mean, if you can do all these things that I’m talking about here, You know, including next week’s episode about two ft spins,
you could have joined our artistic private lessons at least at the time, I don’t know if they still do them there or not, but these are all the skills that you had to know to be able to move into that, that private lesson mode.
So this is not easy, and it usually took people several months, six months, let’s say, to get through all this, and that was with weekly skate lessons and.

[12:50] You know, I’d say at least 23 days of practice a week, probably for most people.
So this takes an effort if you want to be able to do this kind of stuff, as you know, it just takes a lot of practice.
This is one though, that you can practice fairly easily without skates on, like we’ve talked about, you know, so just like with the two ft jump, you can move to the Carpenter grass.

[13:12] Without your skates on practice all those steps we just talked about, you know, then when you get comfortable move back to the floor.
And again, another technique to if you’re really struggling is you’ve got to remember to turn your upper body, head, shoulders, waist, hips,
I can hear my coaches screaming all the time, it’s still in my head, they used to.

[13:33] Come on, turn your upper body, you’re not turning your upper body, This was more when I was practicing doubles and triples never tried triples, but doubles, you know, it just it can really help with the rotation,
you know, it’s it’s really more important, you know, with those bigger jumps, but it can also just help to remind beginners, even with half revolution jumps that your upper body rotation, it’s critical to turning to jumping,
you know, you don’t want to be a Tin Man or a zombie, you don’t want straight legs,
you know, make sure that your knees are bent, you know, bend and rotate.
You know, one thing you can do with the waltz jump, this is 100% cheating the jump, I’m going to say that upfront, right, this is totally cheating the jump, but here’s how you can do that if you know, jumping is just not your thing.
Instead of jumping, you can stand on your left foot on your outside edge, rolling forward, And then you just turn your upper body 180° counterclockwise and you have your right leg, follow that direction.
So basically you’re almost you’re turning that right leg to where your left foot is still on the ground and your right leg, the toes of both of your left and right leg are almost.

[14:51] Parallel to each other right.
And then you simply hop to the right foot rolling backwards.
Now that’s cheating it, you know, it’s not going to help you really jump, but it may help you get the motion down of going from forward, skating on one ft to backward, skating on the other foot, you know?
And again, sometimes practicing this motion without skates on can help you know, for those of you who are struggling, you know, all jumps are really about sticking the landing, that’s the most important part.
Otherwise you’re just jumping and crashing, you know, and that’s no fun.
So, I mean, the jumping part is usually, I don’t want to say it’s the easy part, but it’s definitely easier than the landing part.
So, you know, one technique that can help those of you struggling is to jump off one ft and land on two ft instead.
So there’s nothing wrong with that, you know, that might be easier for some of you.
So, you know, to try this, you skate forward on your left foot on the outside edge, jump up, do the 180 degree turn and instead of landing on one ft land on two ft with your knees bent.

[15:58] And then you can extend the left leg after you land on two ft to get used to kind of landing on that right leg, landing on that right skate.
And so you get comfortable with this, you then move to landing just on the right foot going backwards.
So that’s those are the tips I would recommend if you’re struggling.
I think that last one in particular should really help because if you can do the two ft jump where you jump up And you turn 180° and you land on two ft, if you can do it,
Off two ft and land on two ft then.

[16:40] The next skill up would be to takeoff from one ft and land on two ft.
Then once you can do that jump off one ft, land on one ft.
So, so that’s kind of a progression for you that you can try out if you’re struggling. So let’s talk a little bit about falling.
You know, if I had a dollar for every time I fell as an artistic skater, I would be a rich dude, I would be super rich.
I know I’ve fallen more than most of you out there, I’m serious, I can promise you that as an artistic skater.
I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t a very good artistic skater if my sister is listening, I’m sure she would say, yeah, you weren’t a very good artistic skater, but you know, you’re doing.

[17:22] A lot of jumps and a lot of spins, you know, in practice and they require a lot of practice.
I mean a lot of practice. My sister and I used to practice four hours a day, 34 hours a day every day after school at the skating rink I’d say at least four times a week.
I mean, so we’re talking like this was a part time job, I mean it was almost 20 hours a week.
And then and then her and I would go skate easily go skate two sessions a week, so that’s another eight hours because we were Maybe not practicing that entire time, but each session was four hours.
So I mean we’re easily talking 20 hours a week that we were practicing when we were art skaters.
I should be better at this than I am. But but anyway it takes a lot of practice to do these kinds of things.
Now, not necessarily waltz jumps, I mean didn’t fall a ton except in the beginning with waltz jumps, but when we’re talking about practicing,
single revolution jumps like you know, a flip or a toe loop or a sow cow and it really gets into falling more when you’re practicing axles and doubles.
And those things just they really take a aware and terror even on a teenage body up.
So I can only imagine try and do.

[18:47] That kind of stuff. Now, I don’t do doubles or even singles that often anymore just because I’m older now,
and I don’t want to fall and get hurt, but I do still do some waltz jumps and some two ft spins and one ft spins and things like that because those are pretty fun and easy to do without,
worrying about getting hurt, you know, So for those of you though, who are just starting and you have not done any jumps and you’re worried about getting hurt, you want to make sure you got some protective gear on, you know, that’s what it’s for.
And you know, going back to when I was an art skater, I mean you never wear pads, I don’t know, maybe maybe some art skaters do today, but I never wore any pads as an art skater, I should have worn wrist guards because I used to sprain my wrist all the time.
And more importantly, I used to break the blood vessels in my hands because I constantly fell on my hands when I was practicing double loops and flips and practicing single axles and things like that.

[19:45] And you know, I just used to walk around with these little black bumps on my hands, which really hurt.
So anyway, don’t be an idiot like me wear your pads, it’ll help, that’s just if you’re falling.
I mean if you’re not falling and you’re like, I don’t want to wear these anymore, I’m I’m very good at balance with everything then, totally, totally get it, but I still have a set of pads, I use them, I always use them when I skate outdoors because you just never know when a rock,
is going to, you know, or a piece of debris that you can’t see is going to trip you up and make you fall down.
But in a rink, usually I don’t wear my pads just because I have very good balance. I don’t fall very often.
Now with that said, I’ve Broken a radio bone in my elbow before, I’ve given myself probably two concussions before, I can’t remember.
Ha ha, just a joke. So, you know, if those of you who are very safety conscious out there may be like, well, you would have never got hurt if you had your pads on, you were 100% right.
If I had been wearing a helmet and been wearing pads, I probably would have never hurt myself. But.

[20:51] I don’t like wearing them, they’re bulky, they keep me from being able to do certain things I want to do.
If you really are going to go into art skating, you won’t be wearing pads, you might wear some wrist guards, but you’re not going to be wearing other pads. I’ve never known an art skater who does.

[21:07] Maybe somebody out there who is an art skater can send me a video if they do wear pads when they’re doing it, but I would find it really hard to do harder jumps with knee pads on, that would be I think be pretty hard to do.
So, you know, the important thing to remember though.

[21:25] And I had to tell myself this a lot is, you know,
just dust it off, you know, if you fall down, just get back up, dust yourself off,
and you know, just hop up to your feet and you just keep going right, that’s what they teach you when you’re an art skater, you know, you go into the jump, you do the jump or you go into the spin, you do the spin, you fall down, what do you do?
You don’t cry, I mean unless you really hurt, right, you don’t cry, you don’t you know, you don’t look sad, you just jump up and you act like you you hit the jump,
you act like you just hit the spin right, and you keep going on, you know, in this case with art skating, it was like you just keep going on with your routine,
and and that’s the same thing with this, you know, everybody falls.

[22:13] Well, that’s just the way it goes when you’re trying to learn something.
So really the most important thing, I hope that you guys are getting from all these episodes is that it’s really about trying right, you know, it’s all about trying. That’s the most important part.
That’s the most important part with learning anything in life is you have to try first.
Then, as Yoda says, there is no try, there’s only do right, you have to do it to, you know, you have to keep practicing it.
So, you know, don’t let that negative self doubt and that bad energy, you know, creep in.
Just remember, you can do this, it just takes practice, takes effort and I believe in you, I know you can do it because if I can do it, anybody can do it. I mean that.
So, so let’s talk real quick about lefties.
If you’re a lefty, I’m a lefty, but I don’t skate like a lefty, I skate like a right handed person, but everything I’ve taught you is how to do the jump as a right handed skater.
So as a right handed skater, you do the waltz, jump off your left foot and you land on your right foot turning counterclockwise.
But if you’re left handed then you’re going to reverse everything. I just said, you’re basically going to jump off the right foot on the outside edge and you’re going to land on the left foot turning clockwise right.
So you you do everything backwards basically.

[23:42] Like those folks in Britain who drive on the wrong side of the road, just to just to dig at all my british listeners out there who who drive on the wrong side of the road,
just teasing y’all, I’m just teasing you.
So even if you’re not left handed, right and you don’t, you know, you know, if you’re not left handed basically, you know, it’s a great way to practice this jump, you know, go in both directions. And I think for these easier jumps, that’s.

[24:14] A worthwhile thing, you know, learning how to do a wall jump on your left foot and then jump to your right foot and going counterclockwise and then learning how to do it off your right foot,
clockwise to your left foot, you know, those are useful things if you do decide to go further with artistic skating,
and you’re going to do single revolution and double revolution jumps,
Those jumps are hard enough to perfect going one way, trying to perfect them going the other way, I’m sure there’s people out there who can do that, I’m not one of those people, nor do I care to be.
Usually once you progress you kind of just learn how to do it one way.
So anyway, that’s the waltz jump, It’s fairly basic, it’s fairly simple, I think most of you listening to me should be able to do it with some practice and that’s the reason why I’m teaching it.
I’m not gonna go into you know, singles and doubles and axles and all those things, at least not in this series because I think those are things that require a lot more practice a lot more effort and a lot more time.
This is something that with, you know, a few weeks of practice practicing it all the time, you know, a month or so a practice, you can, you can do this jump.

[25:27] So alright everybody, I think that’s all I have for today’s episode, I hope you enjoyed it.
I did as you can tell and we really just have one more episode on skating techniques and that’s next week When we’re going to be talking about two ft spins.
So stay tuned.

[25:47] If you want to see a transcript of today’s episode or you want to get more information about some of the things that I discussed today, then check out the show notes.
You can get those at roller skate dad dot com slash 32.

[26:03] Alright, everybody, I think that’s a wrap until the next time. Get on out there and skate.

[26:09] Thank you for listening to the Roller skate dad podcast at www dot roller skate dad dot com.
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