Starting Off - Skating Backwards

 
Just as with forwards, you can start 'off ice', so that you can concentrate on what you want to do rather than simply trying to standing up. Firstly stand with you toes turned in and touching and your heels apart, at about '20minutes past eight'. Then simply change your body weight from one foot to the other in a slow rhythmical way. When you are comfortable doing this start to move the foot that you have lifted, half a step behind you, so that you place the toe of your free foot into the instep of the foot on the ground. Throughout this move both knees should be relax and your head held upright. Try to get used to the feeling of your weight changing behind and moving backwards as this is not a feeling or movement that we use in daily living, we don't walk backwards to the shops.
 
Once you feel OK with this, it is time to move onto the ice and try to do exactly the same.

As with forward do not initially try to push, simply allow the transfer of weight to carry you backwards. Once you start to move backwards, try to stand longer on each foot. Firstly starting with a slow count of ones, then increase it to two counts on each foot and finally three counts on each foot. At this stage you should try to get the correct knee action, which is to bend both knees on the count of 'and' before changing weight from a bent knee to a bent knee. Again as this gets easier you should then try to extend your free leg straight in front of you so that the heel of your extended leg is over the tracing (the line that your blade leaves behind on the ice). Then once you have changed feet you should slowly rise on the skating knee during the rest of you 3 counts until both feet are brought together, then bend both knees on the count of 'and' once more so that your new skating foot can be placed on the ice half a step behind the other foot, this should help you to transfer the direction that you wish to skate.
 
When you start it is usual for skaters to skate only on inside edges, however as soon as possible you should try to ensure that you skate on outside edges and simply let the edge change to inside as you commence your 'strike' or 'push'. As you improve then try to maintain your weight as long as possible on your pushing foot while you push from one foot to the other.
 
At first this backward skating seems very strange and often difficult to get the hang of, but eventually most skaters prefer backwards to forwards as it is much easier to keep good style. The final step is to try and face inside of each circle so that you weight transfers backwards from one hip to the other causing a rotation of the whole body from one edge to the other. 
 
From this you can develop chasse and crossovers.