The wheel is probably the most representative of all manouvers of Synchronized Skating, in fact it is spectacular, very amusing to skate and easy to judge even from unexperienced audience. By definition, a wheel is made of groups of skaters, forming straight lines (spokes), rotating around a common pivot holding each other with the same kind of hold. Usually the shape of a wheel is much similar to the spokes of a kart wheel, joint at the centre, but sometimes, some variations on the theme make a wheel more original. The wheel is of enormous importance in a Synchronized Skating routine, because it is visually spectacular and because it gives the sensation of a team’s harmony. We must remember that each component of a spoke skates on a circular trajectory, but the more a skater is to the end of a spoke the longer will be its radius. Therefore, in order to keep a spoke straight, the whole team must know how much an inner skater needs to push, compared to an outer one. As a result, if a team has no harmony, a wheel will find difficult rotating, if it’ll be able to. It’s better to make a team use different kinds of hold while the wheel is turning, either clockwise or anti-clockwise. This method will give the skaters more sureness and indipendence while turning. It’s a good exercise, even if quite long to do, make the skaters form a 2 spokes pinwheel, make this wheel turn until it’s perfectly straight, stop it and move the two pivot skaters to the ends of the spokes, then start again with the same wheel and so on. This kind of exercise gives the skaters the feeling in every single position in a wheel, from pivot to external one. Every skater must look at the pivot of the wheel so that they can check the straightness of their spoke and eventually stay lined up with an opposite spoke. Basically, the whole team must skate the same kind of steps in unison, with the same rhythm, therefore it’s better to use constant beat music to make this kind of exercise, but also in many other ones. The wheel is one of the five required elements of the Short Program, and below you can find a list of some kinds of it:
