page_title: Figure skating spins
section_title: Sit spin
hierarchical_section_title: Figure skating spins / Types/positions of spins / Sit spin
caption_attribution_description: Dick Button describes the figure being skated for the TV audience.
context_page_description: Spins are an element in figure skating in which the skater rotates, centered on a single point on the ice, while holding one or more body positions. They are performed by all disciplines of the sport, single skating, pair skating, and ice dance, and are a required element in most figure skating competitions. As The New York Times says, "While jumps look like sport, spins look more like art. While jumps provide the suspense, spins provide the scenery, but there is so much more to the scenery than most viewers have time or means to grasp". According to world champion and figure skating commentator Scott Hamilton, spins are often used "as breathing points or transitions to bigger things"
  Figure skating spins, along with jumps, spirals, and spread eagles were originally individual compulsory figures, sometimes special figures. Unlike jumps, spins were a "graceful and appreciated" part of figure skating throughout the 19th century. They advanced between World War I and World War II; by the late 1930s, all three basic spin positions were used. There are two types of spins, the forward spin and the backward spin.
context_section_description: The sit spin, invented by figure skater Jackson Haines, "represents one of the most important spins in skating".  It is executed in a sitting position, with the knee of the skating leg bent and the free leg held in front. It is difficult to learn, requires a great deal of energy, and is not as exciting to perform as other elements, such as jumps, but it has variations that make it more creative and pleasurable to watch.  When executing the sit spin, a skater's back should be straight and not curved, his or her hips should be lower than the skating knee, and his or her free leg should be straight.  The best sit spin position minimizes the moment of inertia and keeps the heaviest parts of the body as close to the vertical center of gravity as possible. This position is difficult to maintain, however, so skaters will often collapse into a low sit spin position.
caption: Dick Button, 1980
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