The first video shows a young skater entering from a back inside pivot, pushing with her left back inside edge while her right toe pick rotates in the ice. This is an important step toward learning back scratch spins, as the pivot helps skaters learn to align themselves over their skating leg; notice how she keeps her weight over her toe pick while pushing. She then attempts to cross her legs into the back scratch position, and lastly pushes into a landing position.
In the second video, a more experienced skater demonstrates the same spin, this time entering from a forward inside edge, holding her left arm in front of her throughout the motion and maintaining her weight over her skating side. The inside edge helps create momentum for the spin; and at the end of this hook, the skater performs an inside three turn and initiates the back scratch spin. Her left arm stays in front of her as she establishes the ‘h’ position with her left leg. Then, she pushes her left leg downward and pulls her arms to her chest to accelerate her rotation speed. Finally, she exits with a power-pull on her right leg and holds a check out position, extending her free leg behind her and her arms to either side.
