Footwork for your Rev: the Revolution two-step by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   The Revolution two-step

   0:00

   Let's talk about footwork. Footwork is almost as important as the skills themselves, because the footwork is what sets you up to be in the right position to do those skills properly. The foundation of the footwork is this: when your Revolution is facing to the right, your right foot should be forward. When your Rev is facing to the left, your left foot should be forward. I call this the Revolution two-step. As you move from left to right, you take two steps to get your foot going in the right direction. This is what it looks like, right foot forward.

2. ›

   Why the foot goes forward

   0:36

   The reason we put the right foot forward is that it rotates our shoulders, and that gives you the offset in the handles that sets you up for the side hover or the side flight, to keep a low flight. If you rotate the other way, you end up driving your Rev down. That's the problem. You need to rotate your feet as you go.

3. ›

   Practice and muscle memory

   0:58

   This is my favorite practice: right foot, hover to the right, bottom turn, left foot, hover to the left, right, left. It's one thing to understand it, it's another thing to do it. You need muscle memory on this. You need to automatically rotate and step your foot forward when you're on that side.

4. ›

   Thumbs show the direction

   1:29

   What I do with my hands is face my thumbs in the direction the Rev is facing. So if the Rev is facing right, my thumbs are to the right. The Rev doesn't know whether my thumbs are to the right, straight up, inverted or anything else; I simply put my thumbs there so that I know the direction of my Rev. When I go to the left, I put my thumbs to the left. You can think of it as having your thumbs over your shoulders: thumbs to the left, left foot forward; thumbs to the right, right foot forward.

5. ›

   Standing square

   1:57

   You do the same thing over the top: right foot forward, right hover; feet square; left foot forward, left hover. Let me step out in front so you can see the whole action. Left foot, square, right foot, inverted, square, left foot, square. You want to be standing square when your Rev is either square up or inverted. You want your legs and hands even, because the Rev is even. But on the sides you want the arm to the right forward and then the foot to the right forward; right, even, left Rev, step left.

6. ›

   The basic rule

   3:04

   There's going to be a test, and the question is: what is the basic rule? The basic rule is that when you're on the right, your right foot is forward with your thumbs over your right shoulder. When you're on the left, your left foot is forward, and your thumbs go over your left shoulder. See you on the field.