DD Novice Test, 4th try, no go

[jskater49]

I think my daugher has had the worst luck in the world with her novice test. She's been ready for this test since last fall and had two coaches sure she would pass OVER this time. She's had judges make her reskate both sides when she fell on one side, she's had judges stop her and make her go a different direction, things other judges have said they would never do....

So she spent a week with her old coach doing nothing but work on her novice moves. I literally made her do this, telling her she would regret it if she didn't give it one more try. People were telling me how beautiful she looks, how she flies down the ice, how silent her brackets are. I thought we had this this time.

So she calls me this morning crying hysterically, she fell on her inside 3 turns and her coach was getting her ready for the reskate and "thank you -no reskate" And I'm not with her, and her coach is with other skaters testing and she's going on about how the last 6 years of her life have been a waste of time and she's never going to skate again.

I gave her the speech about how I couldn't be prouder of her if she had passed, that she had done everything within her power, anybody can fall, she has no control over the judges, she faced her fears, she worked on these moves even when she didn't want to, blah blah blah. I think the speech works better when you pass the test. I just feel so bad for her and so frustrated when I know she can pass this test and everytime she takes this test she has some kind of bad luck.

And of course since I really pushed her to do this, I'm thinking I should have just left it up to her, because at least she was skating when she was refusing o take this test...from now on, there's no more pushing from me. Even if she wants to quit skating...skating won't go away, she can always take it up again if she wants.

j

[xofivebyfive]

That's horrible! I remember reading about the last time she tested NM and my heart just feels terrible for her. I can't even imagine how frustrating this must be for her, especially since she knows that she can skate everything perfectly, but keeps having crap luck. Oh man, that really sucks. I hope that she is just upset for the moment, but decides to keep skating. It is terrible that she keeps failing the test, but I don't think that she should let it stop her from doing the sport that she loves(well she must to have gotten to NM and to agree to take it 4 times!) Best of luck to you and her both.

[peanutskates]

No way, don't just stop pushing completely! Try and push her gently to continue skating for like at least 2 or 3 weeks before she decides to quit. Because if you just say "ok, if you want, you can quit now", she might find it hard to tell you like next week or in a few weeks whatever, that she wants to start again. and then everyone will be unhappy until she can beat the child pride.

make her continue for at least 2 weeks, until she can calm down from the test trauma. If she still wants to quit, then you can tell her 'OK' but remember to say that if she ever wants to start again, however soon or late, it's OK with you.

[peanutskates]

oh and I am sorry about the bad luck... but to be a little brutal... she should be able to skate both sides again and again, and skate the other direction... you shouldn't just prepare for one side of the test; prepare all the possible ways and expect the worst. then you will not be as panicked. I imagine that when these judges started saying all these new things like do it this way and that way, she was probably startled and that made her even more nervous and unable to do the elements.

[xofivebyfive]

oh and I am sorry about the bad luck... but to be a little brutal... she should be able to skate both sides again and again, and skate the other direction... you shouldn't just prepare for one side of the test; prepare all the possible ways and expect the worst. then you will not be as panicked. I imagine that when these judges started saying all these new things like do it this way and that way, she was probably startled and that made her even more nervous and unable to do the elements.
The point is that if she only screwed up one side, they shouldn't have made her reskate both sides. The elements aren't new.. you have to be able to do both sides for the test. I think this time she just didn't want to bother reskating because she figured she would screw up anyway.

[jskater49]

oh and I am sorry about the bad luck... but to be a little brutal... she should be able to skate both sides again and again, and skate the other direction... you shouldn't just prepare for one side of the test; prepare all the possible ways and expect the worst. then you will not be as panicked. I imagine that when these judges started saying all these new things like do it this way and that way, she was probably startled and that made her even more nervous and unable to do the elements.

Oh she can do both sides, what happened last time - talk about bad luck - she fell on her inside 3 turn (what happens is that she gets so much power that she runs into the wall) going one direction - she passed the other side. When she had to reskate, she passed the side of the reskate but they made her also redo the side SHE"D ALREADY PASSED and then she fell. SHE PASSED EVERYTHING ELSE but a fall makes you fail. And no one I (or our coaches)have talked to has ever heard of judges making you reskate both sides when you fall on one side.

Obviously if she would stop falling, she'd pass..but I told her- you just can't always control falls. ANybody can fall on anything, no matter how prepared you are. That's the other part of her bad luck.

Anyways I just talked to her and told her her stones for her new dress arrived, but since she's not skating any more it doesn't matter. SHe said she'll skate again, but won't take this test again.
j

[xofivebyfive]

Oh she can do both sides, what happened last time - talk about bad luck - she fell on her inside 3 turn (what happens is that she gets so much power that she runs into the wall) going one direction - she passed the other side. When she had to reskate, she passed the side of the reskate but they made her also redo the side SHE"D ALREADY PASSED and then she fell. SHE PASSED EVERYTHING ELSE but a fall makes you fail. And no one I (or our coaches)have talked to has ever heard of judges making you reskate both sides when you fall on one side.

Obviously if she would stop falling, she'd pass..but I told her- you just can't always control falls. ANybody can fall on anything, no matter how prepared you are. That's the other part of her bad luck.

Anyways I just talked to her and told her her stones for her new dress arrived, but since she's not skating any more it doesn't matter. SHe said she'll skate again, but won't take this test again.
j
Well that's a good sign. Maybe in a couple of months she'll decide that it's worth it to try it again. And even if she doesn't, that's okay too. I don't even know her and I'm proud of her for trying to pass it 4 times. That's tough for someone to have to do. I don't know if she'll ever be ready to try again, but you never know. She might get inspired.

[peanutskates]

oh ok, that does suck then. so, even if you fall just once, you fail the entire test? that is really unfair.

[jskater49]

oh ok, that does suck then. so, even if you fall just once, you fail the entire test? that is really unfair.

No you get a reskate if you fall - but you only get one reskate so if you fall again, it's all over. This time, she must have done something else not passing or they would have let her reskate. I haven't talked to her coach but it must have surprised her coach because they both were preparing to reskate when they were dismissed.

j

[jskater49]

The point is that if she only screwed up one side, they shouldn't have made her reskate both sides. The elements aren't new.. you have to be able to do both sides for the test. I think this time she just didn't want to bother reskating because she figured she would screw up anyway.

No she was ready and prepared to reskate and the judges told her "no reskate"

It sounds like she fell on the same thing she did before. She gets too close to the wall. When she does a dance her dance coach says "now don't tell anyone else I told you this but DON'T PUSH SO HARD" because she often runs into the walls in dance, the more nervous she gets, the harder she pushes. Don't I wish I had that problem!

j

[xofivebyfive]

No she was ready and prepared to reskate and the judges told her "no reskate"

It sounds like she fell on the same thing she did before. She gets too close to the wall. When she does a dance her dance coach says "now don't tell anyone else I told you this but DON'T PUSH SO HARD" because she often runs into the walls in dance, the more nervous she gets, the harder she pushes. Don't I wish I had that problem!

j
Oh sorry. I misinterpreted you. That's really sad. I think the more times she tries it, the more pressure she puts on herself to pass it. And that's a hard thing to overcome.

[dbny]

I'm really sorry this happened to your daughter. Is is possible that this group of judges are particularly tough? Novice MIF is notoriously hard to pass and your daughter really should not feel bad about it. She has lots of company all over the country. I would be interested to hear what the scores were on each move and what the comments were too.

[jskater49]

I'm really sorry this happened to your daughter. Is is possible that this group of judges are particularly tough? Novice MIF is notoriously hard to pass and your daughter really should not feel bad about it. She has lots of company all over the country. I would be interested to hear what the scores were on each move and what the comments were too.

That is another frustrating aspect---she has been taking it from notoriously tough judges (same ones that failed my dutch waltz 3 times) and so we went back to her old coach, old club, region where the judges love her (they always are the ones that place her higher in competitions) - so I thought, a week of nothing but working on her moves, judges who know and like her skating...this should do it.

Don't know if we will see the judges comments - one thing about this coach --she's slow in giving you the comment sheets. But she will go over it with my daughter although right now dd is saying she doesn't care, doesn't want to see it. That's how I felt the third time I failed my dances.

j

[manleywoman]

It took me SIX tries to pass the NM (though admittedly the first two times I deserved to fail! I hit the wall too). I finally went out of state to take them, since all the judges around my area had seen them and kept failing me over and over when my coach and others said they were of passing level. When I took them out of state, the comments on my sheet said they were the best NM they'd ever seen. Go figure!

So tell her to keep persevering . . . four failed tests is not the end of the world, and I can say from personal experience and the agreement of many many others that the Novice test is the toughest by far. Junior and Senior are much easier.

[SynchroSk8r114]

manelywoman's right. Yes, failing a test even once sucks enough, but if you put it into perspective, it's not the end of the world. I know that's not exactly comforting for someone's whose failed - I don't even like to hear it! - but it's true. Think about it: it's not something that's going to make or break her. It's not like it's the SATS or something that's going to get her into college. She doesn't need the pass this test to keep her health, you know. I doubt that's going to make her feel better, but maybe it will. You never know...;)

[jskater49]

Talked to DD again. Her coach made her promise to come back and test them again with her in August. That's another reason why I sent her to old coach. Old coach is very um, "persausive" The reason she didn't get a reskate is the judges said she put her foot down on her brackets but she says she did it after she completed the turn and she's convinced she did them right. I asked if she had any good comments "I don't know I didn't look"
None of the kids that went down with her passed the higher tests. Tough session. But she seems in a better mood.

j

[SynchroSk8r114]

Talked to DD again. Her coach made her promise to come back and test them again with her in August. That's another reason why I sent her to old coach. Old coach is very um, "persausive" The reason she didn't get a reskate is the judges said she put her foot down on her brackets but she says she did it after she completed the turn and she's convinced she did them right. I asked if she had any good comments "I don't know I didn't look"
None of the kids that went down with her passed the higher tests. Tough session. But she seems in a better mood.

j

Oh, God! I hated the brackets and back when I tested my MIF (years ago), the brackets that are currently in the Novice MIF were only in the Intermediate test. I failed that darn Intermediate test three times before I passed because of putting my foot down on the brackets. I was thrilled when I finally passed that test only to find out that the exact same brackets were being moved up to Novice! Talk about frustrating. But the one good thing was that I passed waaaay over on my Novice thanks to all the hardwork I had to put into passing my Intermediate brackets. Man, kids are so lucky nowadays - the Intermediate brackets are no longer on a straight line like they were when I tested (they're on edges now). Boy, how I wish I could have tested those ones.

Tell your daughter not to give up. I finished all of my MIF in May of 2005 and it was the most rewarding skating experience to this day! I am so happy that I sucked it up despite failing my Intermediate moves 3 times, my Junior once, and getting my Senior MIF on the third try. My first try at Senior, I failed (and should have). I didn't give the judges the large, wall-to-wall pattern they want. Second try: I nailed that test. Failed again b/c of tough, picky judges. I'm appreciative of that though b/c I had to keep pushing myself to improve and give them what they wanted. Third time I tested I was deathly ill with asthma and a sinus infection and wanted to pull out the day before the test. My coach forced me to test and looking back, I thank her for doing so. I didn't skate as good as my second try, but there must have been something the judges liked because they passed me despite a nasty fall on my powerpulls. Luckily, I got a reskate and only had to do the one side b/c I told them I was somewhat sick and shocker: they sympathized with me, hahaha! :roll: Sometimes you just gotta get that frustrated and all that you have nothing left to lose and you just go for it. That was my outlook the day I took my Senior moves and you know what - it worked!

I'm planning on taking my Intermediate freeskate for the (gulp) fourth timethis summer/early fall and that's the exact attitude I'm going into it with. That and a new coach! ;)

[icedancer2]

The reason she didn't get a reskate is the judges said she put her foot down on her brackets but she says she did it after she completed the turn and she's convinced she did them right. I asked if she had any good comments "I don't know I didn't look"
None of the kids that went down with her passed the higher tests. Tough session. But she seems in a better mood.

j

Glad she's in a better mood - the Novice test is really hard and really long.

And if she put her foot down on ANY part of the bracket move (whether it be on the turn or the edge and flow out of them) - that plus a fall on another move would make it hard to ask for a reskate, since you can only reskate one element.

I know that as a judge, I really WANT the skater to pass the test - hopefully no judge is out to make anyone do a retry unnecessarily, although sometimes it probably seems that way. I definitely feel bad if I have to ask for a retry when there is more than one serious error on a Moves test.

[dbny]

Man, kids are so lucky nowadays - the Intermediate brackets are no longer on a straight line like they were when I tested (they're on edges now).

Likely not for much longer. There are changes coming down the pike. My skating director just got a DVD of the proposed new MIF. They include twizzles in Juv, and level 4 moves in Sr. They are making Int and Nov harder too, of course.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Likely not for much longer. There are changes coming down the pike. My skating director just got a DVD of the proposed new MIF. They include twizzles in Juv, and level 4 moves in Sr. They are making Int and Nov harder too, of course.

I'm aware of that. As a coach, it's going to be a whole new game having to learn these new moves strictly in order to teach them. I've vowed not to worry about it until these rules def. come into effect, otherwise I'd go crazy. :lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh, I am sorry for your daughter! What an absolutely miserable thing to happen. But I'm glad her coach has persuaded her to have another go - and that, having slept, she is feeling more positive.

Everybody wants to give up when things go pear-shaped (I certainly do), but I now know from experience that tomorrow is invariably another day and even if it's time to get off the ice today, I'll come back tomorrow and have another go!

[SynchroSk8r114]

I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes. - Peggy Fleming

So very true...

[Kelli]

First of all, I think Novice moves are evil. I finally passed them on my fourth try. So let your daughter know that she is certainly not alone!

Is it possible that after a week of nothing but moves, her brain and body were so fried and burnt out from the repetion and trying to process feedback that she couldn't perform at her best? I know I have a weird learning curve, but I would reap the benefits from a week that intense a week or two later, not at the end of that week. I did something similiar, though not quite as extreme for my junior moves test, and by the time I got to the test, I wasn't skating my best. I failed by 0.2 (one judge passed me, one judge 0.2 away, the other judge 0.4ish away, I think). I haven't been doing the patterns a lot for the past month, and even so, they were FANTASTIC in my lesson today. SOOOO frustrating, but I think it comes from that intense week a month ago. Best of luck to your daughter!

[phoenix]

I just skimmed the thread so I don't think anyone else addressed this---re. having to do a re-skate in both directions, even if one direction was fine the first time:

That's because there are elements that even though you go through & do the whole thing twice, once in each direction, according to the rules that's still considered ONE element. You pass or fail it all together. And, if you have to re-skate it, you re-skate the WHOLE thing, both directions. It sucks, but them's the rules.

As an example--take a look at the rulebook listing of Novice elements. Number one is "Back Perimeter Power Stroking with BI 3-turns and FI 3-turns" That means you do it clockwise, and counter-clockwise, and then you're done with *one* element.

My condolences to your daughter! If it helps, I know someone who took her European Waltz 10, count them, 10 times before she got it. And the highest number I've heard of a repeated test is 14. So she's definitely not alone! I hope she can have some fun w/ her skating & find the joy in it, and then she may start feeling like having another crack at it.

[jskater49]

I just skimmed the thread so I don't think anyone else addressed this---re. having to do a re-skate in both directions, even if one direction was fine the first time:

That's because there are elements that even though you go through & do the whole thing twice, once in each direction, according to the rules that's still considered ONE element. You pass or fail it all together. And, if you have to re-skate it, you re-skate the WHOLE thing, both directions. It sucks, but them's the rules.




Actually it's up to the judges and I guess it depends on the area. Around here NO JUDGE has EVER asked you to reskate both sides if you make a mistake on one side. And several judges have told us that. They were quite surprised. THey would not have made her skate both sides. This judge was from another region and that's how they do it there and it was her decision. THat's the rules. But bad luck for my daughter. Any judge from around here, she would have passed.

j

[phoenix]

Actually it's up to the judges and I guess it depends on the area. Around here NO JUDGE has EVER asked you to reskate both sides if you make a mistake on one side. And several judges have told us that. They were quite surprised. THey would not have made her skate both sides. This judge was from another region and that's how they do it there and it was her decision. THat's the rules. But bad luck for my daughter. Any judge from around here, she would have passed.

j

Interesting. I've never seen a re-skate done on just one side. My rulebook's in the car & it's storming here, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow so I can look it up. :)

[phoenix]

Ah--never mind, found it on Don Korte's site (YAY for Don's site, the best source of answers on the entire Internet, and an example we wish USFSA would try to follow!!!)

Anyway, here it is:
If an element is reskated, the reskate may consist of the entire element, or a portion of the element (TR 23.01A). For instance, on the Preliminary test "Consecutive Outside and Inside Spirals" element, if the sequence of outside spirals was ok, but the inside spiral sequence was weak, the skater could be asked to repeat the inside spirals sequence by itself.

[jskater49]

Yea, like I said, it's up to the judge in charge.

Ultimately, it was my daughter who made the mistake so I'm not blaming the judge, it was just crummy luck for her though. :cry:

j

[Isk8NYC]

Interesting. I've never seen a re-skate done on just one side. My rulebook's in the car & it's storming here, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow so I can look it up. :)
I have seen single-side reskates on Pre-Juv and Juv patterns. I was suprised and a bit relieved because the skaters really had everything else.

[SynchroSk8r114]

When I passed my Senior MIF in 2005, I had to do a single-side reskate of my Senior power pulls after a fall at the end. Granted, the judges knew I was sick and may have been a little more sympathetic to me, but I doubt that at the Senior level. (Judges aren't always that forgiving, hahaha! :lol:) I remember being shocked to have to only do one side, despite knowing that a one-side reskate is permitted, according to the rulebook. I mean, any other reskate I had during a MIF test was usually the entire move, even if I technically could have reskated only one side. So while it's not unusual, I do think it may be somewhat uncommon.

[jskater49]

When I passed my Senior MIF in 2005, I had to do a single-side reskate of my Senior power pulls after a fall at the end. Granted, the judges knew I was sick and may have been a little more sympathetic to me, but I doubt that at the Senior level. (Judges aren't always that forgiving, hahaha! :lol:) I remember being shocked to have to only do one side, despite knowing that a one-side reskate is permitted, according to the rulebook. I mean, any other reskate I had during a MIF test was usually the entire move, even if I technically could have reskated only one side. So while it's not unusual, I do think it may be somewhat uncommon.

It's not uncommon here, in fact as I said, and you really should believe me ;) because I have been involved in skating in many ways in this area for ten years, it is unheard of to make a skater do both sides. Shrug. That's the thing about figure skating... you can't make blanket statements about "This is the way it is done" because there is a rule book and then there is how you interprete the rulebook and it's different depending on the region, and the judges. That's just skating. Sometimes it works out in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. It just feels like to my daughter it has not been working out in her favor lately and I feel bad for her.

j

[vesperholly]

Likely not for much longer. There are changes coming down the pike. My skating director just got a DVD of the proposed new MIF. They include twizzles in Juv, and level 4 moves in Sr. They are making Int and Nov harder too, of course.
8O Like enough people don't fail Novice already. What are the changes to Senior?

[techskater]

L4 circular step sequence in both directions instead of the circular quick step. :giveup:
Twizzles all the way down to Juvenile in various forms. :frus:

My coach saw the video last year at Regionals and about freaked out. She's trying to get everyone as far as possible before the changes. That means a go at the Novice test is in my near future! 8O She's got a couple kids she's really pushing to pass Junior and/or Senior in the next 12 months before the changes roll in.

jskater, if it makes your daughter feel any better, my coach, who I consider to be a very talented SKATER (was masterful at figures and a very talented FS skater for her time (60s). She taught me figure loops for my new program in three different edge starts and directions (FO, FI, and BI) in < 1 lesson and only failed one figure test attempt in all the years she skated and it was NOT her 8th) took 10 tries and 4 coaches to pass the European Waltz. She finally passed with someone who was a world level dancer as her partner and coach on an attempt she didn't feel should have passed.

[*JennaD*]

I know this topic was posted a while ago...but I just failed my American Waltz for the third time (for practically no reason) and so I understand how discouraging it is to fail the same thing over and over and over!

But what's keeping me going at this dance is the excellent happy feeling I hope to feel once I pass (hopefully next test day...)!!! And the feeling of NEVEr having to do this dance again! lol

Techskater, my coach had a similar experiene with the European...it took her something like 6 or 7 tries to pass...and she too is quite a good skater with very good technique, so I would have thought she would have passed that dance qcuicky....

I think there are just some things in skating that lots of people just get "stuck" on...I live in Canada so I don't do moves, but I know that there are some dances that ALWAYS catch people (Willow waltz, European, sometimes Killian, American, etc.) beacuse they are deceivingly difficult! I thought I was ready to pass my American (but I've been thinking that since March :roll: ), but failed because the judge said I was swinging my three turns or something...

But my coach always reminds me that all judges have different standards.Some pass people very easily, and some are pure evil and look for very specific and tiny details...:frus: :frus: :frus:

[WhisperSung]

I'll just add my sympathies to the post.

Moves in the Field have NOT been my friend. Ever.

It took me 3 attempts at both Juvenile and Intermediate. Novice took me TEN tries (just passed last September high by all 3 judges! :)). And then. . .Junior? Yeah, that I passed on my first try last month. Uhm. . .what? 8O

One of the comments I kept getting over and over on Novice moves was that, while I was doing the patterns correctly, I wasn't showing the presentation and confidence expected of skaters at this level. For the last two tests I passed, I just pasted a nice big smile on my face, no matter what happened. Seems to have worked.

Also, I took two years off just to train my novice moves between my 9th fail and my pass on my 10th try. It was getting to the point where I didn't enjoy skating anymore, and I almost wanted to quit. Now that I've passed, I'm excited again about skating. I actually find myself doing novice and junior moves for fun along with the senior moves I've just started practicing. Good luck to your daughter, and please remind her that there's more to skating than just passing tests. It helped put things in perspective for me. :)

&&does anyone know if they've actually PASSED the new MitF patterns? If so, I'd better get senior passed darn quickly, because twizzles are also not my friends! :x

[Thin-Ice]

Right now the new MIF patterns are being looked at by PSA. If PSA approves them (which is very likely, since PSA leaders are the ones proposing them!), then they will be submitted to the Fall meeting of USFS. If they are looked at and approved there, then they will be voted on at Governing Council next May.. and would likely go into effect in September 2008.

In northern California we often have skaters have to reskate an entire element, rather than just one side or one direction. But it also depends on how full the test session is and how much the test chair is trying to push the session along. Generally speaking though, we have skaters reskate an entire element... which was REALLY awful when all four of the 3-Turns in the Field were all one element on Pre-Juvenile. It's much less time to have a reskate now that they are FO-BI and FI-BO are separate.

Best wishes to your DD. One other thought.. Novice Moves ARE difficult because they are in essence the gateway to competing at "real" Nationals (instead of Jr. Nationals or Adult Nationals).. so often judges are looking at the skaters thinking "Is this skater of the ability to skate at Nationals?"

As for repeated tests, we have one adult skater who is going for her 9th try on Gold Moves next month. She's getting closer each time.. but I think the local judges now have seen her skate not-quite-passing so often, they see her name and expect more than the passing standard (3.0).. and in some cases higher than the Intermediate (3.2) on the moves that are also on Intermediate. The last time she tested, the one judge from out of town who had not seen her test it before passed her.. but the local judges did not... although in their defense she did have one bad touch-down with her foot on the brackets and one minor one after the end of the double-3s. I think she should have had a reskate.. but then she may not have reskated the brackets as well as she did the first time... and it was 3-hour test session. I'm sure she WILL pass these moves... she's one incredibly determined woman!

[skaternum]

No you get a reskate if you fall - but you only get one reskate so if you fall again, it's all over. This makes it sound like you automatically get a reskate if you fall. To clarify, you get a reskate if any judge thinks you could reskate an element and have it be passing when you reskate it. If I screw up 2 things on my MIF test and fall on a third, the judges are NOT going to give me a reskate on the fall. Just wanted to clarify, in case someone reading this is confused.

[Debbie S]

If they are looked at and approved there, then they will be voted on at Governing Council next May.. and would likely go into effect in September 2008.Hmmm, I thought changes to the testing structure usually go into effect a year later. I remember when they created the Adult MIF structure/requirement, they gave everyone a year to 'prepare' for the new rule. (So people could take as many FS tests as possible to grandfather themselves out of the moves - shhhh ;) ) Wouldn't the USFSA do the same thing here? After all, it's a lot to ask of skaters and coaches to have to pass their current test within 3 months (bet GC and Sept) or else learn all new patterns.

[Skittl1321]

As for repeated tests, we have one adult skater who is going for her 9th try on Gold Moves next month. She's getting closer each time.. but I think the local judges now have seen her skate not-quite-passing so often, they see her name and expect more than the passing standard (3.0).. and in some cases higher than the Intermediate (3.2) on the moves that are also on Intermediate. The last time she tested, the one judge from out of town who had not seen her test it before passed her.. but the local judges did not... although in their defense she did have one bad touch-down with her foot on the brackets and one minor one after the end of the double-3s. I think she should have had a reskate.. but then she may not have reskated the brackets as well as she did the first time... and it was 3-hour test session. I'm sure she WILL pass these moves... she's one incredibly determined woman!

Gosh, if this is really true it seems like it might be a good idea for her to take a non-local test! And even if it's not true, she probably has it in her mind that it is- and getting away might help her skating mindset too! Totally worth the guesting fee!

[SynchroSk8r114]

Gosh, if this is really true it seems like it might be a good idea for her to take a non-local test! And even if it's not true, she probably has it in her mind that it is- and getting away might help her skating mindset too! Totally worth the guesting fee!

Yeah, when I'm having a tough time passing with the notoriously hard-to-please local judges, I try and test out of town. Sure, sometimes these local judges are there, but you've usually got one or two that haven't seen you test before and since all you need are two judges to pass, you can usually nail the test.

I have a student who's testing now and having a hard time locally because of her buddies being around always asking, "How'd you do?" or saying, "Don't worry - it's an easy test," or "You'll pass for sure." Well, you know what? It's not easy for a little kid who's taking her Preliminary MIF for the first time! I know that rink friends/parents are just trying to be helpful, but I'm left dealing with a self-conscious kid who can't figure out what's wrong with her because "So-and-so passed on the first try" and "So-and-so's working on her Juvenile MIF." Seriously, sometimes just getting out of that comfortable atmosphere helps. Now if I could only convince my skater of that...:roll: