o/a 540

I can do hs 540 and ts 540 very easily as I can also do scarecrow and roll2revert easily. Everytime I try an off-axis spin, it turn to a flip to revert. My coach tried to correct me a few time by telling me 1. to be patient 2. pull hard 3. try to keep your upper body over the rope. I can do off-axis on the tramp up to ts o/a 900 no problems. I would really like to lan my o/a spins this summer so if anyone can help me, I would appreciate.

(Message edited by jpbray on April 12, 2007)

How do you get your o/a spins down on a tramp? i tried for like 30 min a couple of weeks ago, by doing a butt out raily to 180, then trying to combine them, and i ended up doing a weird krypt type thing. then I was like F it i'll try a oa 3 and i spun w/ my hips away from the handle, but i couldnt get my feet to spin around me, i just kind of spinned like a pencil. So it seemed easy enough to fix, stick my legs out, but i just couldnt. could you give me any advice, if you could before 6 p.m. central time tonight, i'll get another chance to try today.
thanks.

Jean, on your ts dont trip it as much as your scarecrows. I would also chock the first dozen tries of a OA spin to just setting the rotation and getting used to where you are in the air. IMHO the handle pull sets the axis, this its just like any other ts 5 until you pull that handle. Once that handle is YANKED, it should be below your butt as your spinning with the nose of your board drawing a rainbow behind you.

Once you get the feeling of how its supposed to be, you will know.

I have only done a OA 3 for HS, but it seemed almost identical to the trampoline. Simply edge in hs like a regular 3 or 5, then at the very end give it just a hair of backroll progressive edge, once your in the air, yank the junk out of the handle similar to TS above. Once you pass the handle its gravy.

Off-Axis spinning take a little bit of a different strategy than on-axis. First let's talk about practicing it on the trampoline. I'm regular so any foot or hand references are left foot forward. For a HS FS OA 540 get a little bouncing going while squared up to the rope and imaginary boat. When you bounce for the trick make sure you don't try to do anything off the tramp but instead just bounce up. Once you are almost to the peak of your jump, Float your hips out at about a 45º angle away from the boat to your left. As your feet and hips float away pull the handle into your right hip with both hands. This is the most important part because once you get to the boat the handle will really want to pull away from you. Only let your hips float out to about chest level and make sure your upper body stays relatively upright. If you dont stay upright you'll end up doing an invert. Look over your left shoulder as you spin. It helps me to suck my knees into my chest a little. I also try to wait and make the first handle pass a lot later than I would on a 3, this seems to help with consistency. Finally pass the handle in front of your body and put the handle in your backpocket for landing.

Behind the boat this trick will be pretty similar to on the tramp. The big difference comes with line tension and how you leave the wake. I try to take a pretty soft edge with my legs bent more than usual. As I ride up the wake i add just a little bit of edge to help with height and floating the board away from me. As soon as I leave the wake I keep the handle tight to my body with both hands and slowly rotate the first 180 on my way up. This part is exactly like an off-axis 180 (a good pre-requisite.) Once you get the axis set, you just have to pull the handle in and finish it like an on-axis 5.

I'll try and write some tips on the toeside version later, but let me know if this makes sense. Thanks-

Yes I've no problem to do them on the tramp. As I said I can do them both ts and hs, sw and regular, handle pass or osmosis and also all four fs o/a 720 and switch and reg ts o/a 900. I can also do ts o/a 540 very easily off a kicker probably cause I can start a little bit to spin on the jump.

I must say that my toeside cut for my w2w or scarecrow, or ts backroll or batwing is not very good. I'm way to tuck and when doing a ts 540, I let go my front hand before leaving the wake so this might be the reason why there is too much tension when trying o/a.

The season should start in less than un month so I'll be able to try your tips on the water. I'll give you some news.

I just want to know if it's normal that I can do almost any tricks on the tramp regular and never miss one such as : whirly 5, tootsie roll, dum dum, KGB 5, pete rose, g-spot, blind pete, moby dick, crowmobe 5 and can't do any of these tricks on the water. Maybe I didn't pass enough time behind the boat and my problem of being unable to land blind does't help me. My coach can land roll2blind, tantrum to blind, whirly, crowmobe, pete rose on the water has difficulty to do them on the tramp.... who's strange : me or him?

Jean, everyone has holes in their riding. Trampoline training helps when you cannot be on the water; but nothing replaces the actual ride time. Are you using a gymnist trampoline or the regular costco style? When I am personally working out on the trampoline I try to make it as realistic as possible. By this I mean I usually jump a little less and spin everything a little faster to replicate the boat (since the wake doesnt actually "bounce" you, lol.)

Keep us posted how it goes. Be patient it will come around.

Most of the time, I use a regular trampoline but I used a real gymnist trampoline a couple of times.

Zane in a video said all you have to do is bring your front knee up and that will take you off axis. With that being said I cant do off axis spins so dont know how true that is.