Figures

[manleywoman]

This morning, I passed my 3rd figure test! Wheeee! There are a few other ladies around here that are working on figures as well.

And Pacific Sectionals is offering a figures event.

And there is some discussion that there will be an all-figures competition on Portland sometime in 2009.

I'm thrilled to see figures making some sort of comeback, however small it may be. 8-)

[doubletoe]

Wow, that's a big deal! Congratulations!! :bow:
I'm sure the patch skaters in the Pacific section will be relieved that you're in the Midwest! ;)

[Isk8NYC]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I've been working on figures lately. I think it's really helped my MITF.

[GordonSk8erBoi]

This morning, I passed my 3rd figure test! Wheeee! There are a few other ladies around here that are working on figures as well.

And Pacific Sectionals is offering a figures event.

And there is some discussion that there will be an all-figures competition on Portland sometime in 2009.

I'm thrilled to see figures making some sort of comeback, however small it may be. 8-)

CONGRATULATIONS!

I've not found anyplace online nor in my quick persusings that identifies what's on the various figures tests.

I've had exactly one figures lesson which basically showed me how badly my edges stink :-(.

Did you have a hard time finding a judging panel?

[manleywoman]

Did you have a hard time finding a judging panel?

No, actually. I had five judges chomping at the bit to do it. We had contacted eight total. Of the three that didn't agree to it, one didn't feel comfortable walking on the ice anymore due to hip problems, and the other two never responded.

So since we had five agree, it was just a matter of getting three of them to be available at the same time. And they were so happy to do it. They just kept saying over and over how much fun it was for them this morning. We like happy judges!

By the way: I spoke with my sharpener over at Rainbo Sports, and they do still have figure blades in their inventory for anyone who is interested. Hint hint!

[SynchroSk8r114]

Congratulations! :bow:

I loved figures and it's great to see that there are still some skaters out there pursuing them. I think you can definitely tell those of us who have done figures from those who haven't...just can't match our body alignment, edge quality, etc. Great work!

[jazzpants]

:bow: :bow: :bow: M A N L E Y W O M A N ! ! ! :bow: :bow: :bow:

[liz_on_ice]

This morning, I passed my 3rd figure test!

Congratulations! Is that ISI 3rd figures, does USFSA even have figures tests anymore?

[kayskate]

I've not found anyplace online nor in my quick persusings that identifies what's on the various figures tests.


I was also intrigued by your post. Congrats, BTW! I could find no info either. Does anyone know of a source of test content and/or diagrams?

Kay

[icedancer2]

I knew you could do it!! Congratulations! I want to hear all about it!!!

And yes, you can still take US Figure Skating figure tests, you just have to ask -- like manleywoman said, the judges who judge figures LOVE judging figures and I believe are some of the impetus behind the interest in competing figures these days -- they really want to judge it!!

Gordon I will try to track down the figures - I have all of the figures and the figures requirements on CD - can I download that somewhere as it is a pdf file?

[liz_on_ice]

I was also intrigued by your post. Congrats, BTW! I could find no info either. Does anyone know of a source of test content and/or diagrams?

Kay

The ISI rulebook has diagrams and info for their figures tests

[icedancer2]

The ISI rulebook has diagrams and info for their figures tests

While this may be true, manleywoman's figure test came from the US Figure Skating test structure - the 3rd figure test.

I don't know the equivalent figures in ISI, although I am pretty sure they use the same figures. Is that information online?

[Isk8NYC]

I was also intrigued by your post. Congrats, BTW! I could find no info either. Does anyone know of a source of test content and/or diagrams?

KayThe USFSA will send you a copy of the "Compulsory Figures" that were removed from the rulebook when figures became optional.
You just have to email them to ask for a copy of the document. It's in pdf format.

[daisies]

Yay Manleywoman!!! Congrats! :)

[Skittl1321]

Congratulations! That's a fantastic achievement.

[Debbie S]

Congratulations!! :D :bow:

[chowskates]

This morning, I passed my 3rd figure test! Wheeee! There are a few other ladies around here that are working on figures as well.

That is quite an achievement! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
:bow: :bow: :bow:

[manleywoman]

Thanks all! I had quite a few celebratory drinks tonight!!! And yes it was USFS 3rd figure.

[vesperholly]

Congratulations, that's an amazing accomplishment. I loved figures (in practice. Testing ... *runs screaming*) and I think it's very sad that so few skaters know what figures are anymore. Even a rudimentary amount of teaching in them helps enormously.

3rd figure has loops, right? I never learned those but always wanted to. Tips??

[Thin-Ice]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

That's WAAAAAY cool and very exciting!!! Hurray!!!

:bow: :bow: :bow:

[Rusty Blades]

Congratulations MW!

(I will return to Figures one day, when I am too old for competition :roll: )

[momsk8er]

Congratulations! That's wonderful. I've tried doing some figures again, and it lets me know quickly how much control I've lost since I skated as a child. No patch time today though, so its hard to find quiet space to practice.

[Kim to the Max]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

That is an awesome accomplishment to be proud of :)

It reminds me of the conversations I've had lately with coaches about figures vs. MITF...both have their place, however MITF doesn't completely take the place of figures (emphasis on edge control and accuracy) and figures doesn't teach everything that MITF (emphasis on doing skills at speed) does....

[manleywoman]

3rd figure has loops, right? I never learned those but always wanted to. Tips??

1) Bend your knees
2) stay on the ball of the foot: forehead over toes
3) be patient when passing the free leg through. Don't rush!

[Skittl1321]

manleywoman- do you do figures in proper figure blades or do you do them in your regular freeskate blades? If you don't use different blades- do you think it's more difficult to not scratch due to the toe pick size? Does anyone even make figure blades anymore?

[manleywoman]

manleywoman- do you do figures in proper figure blades or do you do them in your regular freeskate blades? If you don't use different blades- do you think it's more difficult to not scratch due to the toe pick size? Does anyone even make figure blades anymore?

I do them in silver test figure blades mounted on an old pair of freestyle boots that were too broken down for jumping, but perfect for figures. And as I mentioned earlier, yes, Rainbo Sports in Illinois still has figure blades in stock. They don't have them listed on their site, since it's hardly a popular item, but if you ask them they do have them. I spoke with John at Rainbo last week and they said that yes, they still have figure blades in stock.

http://www.rainbosports.com/

And I get them sharpened by Sasha Fedeev, who was the former figures champion in the 1980s! So he does it just perfectly for figures. I only get them sharpened about once a year. If he ever stops agreeing to sharpen them for me I don't know what I'll do!

[Skittl1321]

And as I mentioned earlier, yes, Rainbo Sports in Illinois still has figure blades in stock.

Sorry I missed that! And strangley enough- I recall reading that post.

It's SO neat that there are still people out there doing figures! My coach could probably teach them, but I don't know how I'd find the space to do them. Still... something to think about...

[manleywoman]

Is anyone else on this board still doing figures?

[Clarice]

I'm just starting. I got a scribe over the summer, and am about to order patch blades to mount on an old pair of boots. I'm going to ask my coach to start teaching me formally, since I think it will help as I also work on my Gold MIF. The hard part is practicing - we don't have patch ice, so I do them on freestyles. If I start right at the beginning of the session I can usually get about 15 minutes in before the kids start serious jumping. At that rate it's going to take me forever! I know you're somewhere in Chicago, manleywoman - I'm originally from Glenview, and would love to visit a patch session sometime when I'm visiting my parents!

[manleywoman]

I'm just starting. I got a scribe over the summer, and am about to order patch blades to mount on an old pair of boots. I'm going to ask my coach to start teaching me formally, since I think it will help as I also work on my Gold MIF. The hard part is practicing - we don't have patch ice, so I do them on freestyles. If I start right at the beginning of the session I can usually get about 15 minutes in before the kids start serious jumping. At that rate it's going to take me forever! I know you're somewhere in Chicago, manleywoman - I'm originally from Glenview, and would love to visit a patch session sometime when I'm visiting my parents!

The only actual patch session is at Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge . . . at 5:00 am! So I actually do it at Northbrook from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. Not as crowded and the kids are respectful. Also Highland Park supposedly has a Saturday morning group of ladies, but I don't know the specifics.

[Summerkid710]

I coach at Robert Crown in Evanston. We have practice ice on our studio rink in the mornings that is technically reserved for LTS skaters but I know it has been used for patch. It's open ice until 8am. Plus, I know there's a scribe in the pros room in the office.

[Mrs Redboots]

Is anyone else on this board still doing figures?

Enough that it's still worth having a competition for them at the Mountain Cup (will you be able to come this year to show off your new-found skills?).

At our rink, nobody does them seriously, but the older coaches will all teach them if asked, and delighted to do so. I've done a bit, but they are so hard..... I am in awe of your achievement!

[montanarose]

Is anyone else on this board still doing figures?

I've been away from skating for the better part of two years, for a variety of reasons both physical and non-physical. In my heart, I know that my days of freestyle -- such as they were :roll: -- are probably over (I'm 60 and just not all that resilient anymore), but I can't bear to say out loud that I'll never skate again. So I've been toying with the idea of getting back on the ice and just (or at least primarily) doing figures. I'm lucky in that my coach grew up in that era -- she skated in the 1960 Olympics -- and so would be able to teach me. This thread has started me thinking more seriously about following through . . . thanks to all of you for the inspiration :bow:

Ellen

[SkatingOnClouds]

Is anyone else on this board still doing figures?

Not seriously, but I probably do them more than others at my rink. In Australia we have figure patterns, which are a bit hard to describe. They include turns and crossover as well as edges. They are a blessed nuisance to practise, and you become a nuisance to anyone else on the ice, because they progress down the whole length of the rink.

I usually warm up with some very basic semi circles into full circles, occasionally will do circles. No-one else seems to think them of any importance these days.

I have to say I hated figures when I was learning, in my 20s. These days I would probably be a lot better at them, and be prepared to practise them more. They just aren't something most young people would find fun.

[blue111moon]

I do figures, partly in prep for Mountain Cup but partly because I like them. :)

There's no patch ice at my rink but the club lets me do them on one of the blue hockey lines at the start of a freestyle session when most people are doing moves. It's a challenge but I keep doing it in the hope of interesting some of the kids to try them. Last year I had one young girl asking her coach to teach her figures to help with her dance turns and this year I have another adult trying the basics in the hope of doing them in Villard as well.

As for boots and blades, I was using my 20+ year old boots that I did figures in when I first started skating but the blade wore down to nothing. Fortunately the hockey shop guy found a pair of old but unused figure blades in a back corner and they just happened to be my size. So for $25 I got new blades on my old boots and I'm good for another 20 years. Finding someone to sharpen them JUST RIGHT has been hard though. My coach has been hand-stoning them for me.

I've tried doing figures in my freestly blades but the toepicks drag too much and the rocker's not in the right place for clean turns.

[phoenix]

I have them as one big pdf file, if anyone wants them. IM me w/ your email address & I'll be happy to send it over! (they are the USFSA, btw)

[GordonSk8erBoi]

Having now looked at what was on Manleywoman's test, I'm really very, very impressed!:bow:

And more despairing that I coiuld ever pass the first adult test, since it has a serpentine on it! Sheesh!

I'd like to take more lessons on figures but I have so little practice time I think my coach would kill me..

[TreSk8sAZ]

I've done figures with all of my coaches except my present one. I like them in general, and it's helped with some of my moves, but I haven't passed any so I can't do them at Pac Coasts. Which is kinda sad. But, that being said, I just do them in my dance boots, nothing special, so they're probably not as good as they should be!

[mikawendy]

Manleywoman, congratulations!!!!!!

For those of you interested in figure blade sharpenings, if you can't find a pro who will do it, but you have a skilled pro who is willing to try, Bob Ogilvie's books have some guidance on figure sharpenings. I think they are discussed a little in his book Competitive Figure Skating. Also, the PSA sells his booklet of "new" school figures (ones that aren't on the testing track). The price is very low for the booklet, just a few dollars I think.

[jenlyon60]

I was working on Preliminary Figure test on and off with my coach (who's tested through 7th test figures). I had hoped to test them the other year. Then things got OBE between too many kids on the early morning FS session and then my knee problems.

I still will use the FO8 and FI8 as warm-up/training drills. If my body alignment is off, I notice it immediately just doing the circle-8's.

[icedancer2]

I've done figures with all of my coaches except my present one. I like them in general, and it's helped with some of my moves, but I haven't passed any so I can't do them at Pac Coasts. Which is kinda sad. But, that being said, I just do them in my dance boots, nothing special, so they're probably not as good as they should be!

Oh, too bad - I am wondering if ANYONE will be doing the "low" level figures at Pac Coasts? I am TRYING to get that BI 3, but so far... oh how embarassing!!

If anyone wants a copy of the US Figure Skating figures and test structure for figures, PM me and I will send you a copy via email - I can't figure out how to attach it to this public forum (yet).

For what it's worth, I am doing figures in my dance boots with dance blades. I have tried my old boots - they are too soft and hurt my feet. I don't feel like I want to take the time to re-learn how to do figures on figure blades or old Coronation Aces, etc., with a figure grind and all of that. Actually I haven't figured out what the big deal is about the hollow because my FO and FI 8s, Serpentines, etc., are fine on the dance blades. The 3s are hard but I think they would be no matter what grind I have...

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying at least thinking about figures!!

[Thin-Ice]

I would have LOVED to have done figures at PCAS... but since that's not a figure I've worked on, I don't see the point of even entering the event.. since three months worth of practicing it probably won't get me even close to something resembling the actual figure. I've only passed Prelim. Figures and Bronze Figures. The 3s to center were my worst figure when we started working on 1st test and Silver test... In my next life I won't have to work and can devote lots of time everyday to skating at a rink that isn't 90-minutes away from where I live. Oh wel....

[manleywoman]

...but since that's not a figure I've worked on, I don't see the point of even entering the event.. since three months worth of practicing it probably won't get me even close to something resembling the actual figure.
Because it's fun?

I've never done the high ones, but if I could afford to go to PCAS (and I weren;t required to do Mids the same day) I'd practice them for a few months and give it a whirl. But that's me.

[icedancer2]

I would have LOVED to have done figures at PCAS... but since that's not a figure I've worked on, I don't see the point of even entering the event.. since three months worth of practicing it probably won't get me even close to something resembling the actual figure. I've only passed Prelim. Figures and Bronze Figures. The 3s to center were my worst figure when we started working on 1st test and Silver test... In my next life I won't have to work and can devote lots of time everyday to skating at a rink that isn't 90-minutes away from where I live. Oh wel....

You should do it anyway - I cannot do a BI 3 to save my life and my FO ones are no piece of cake either! At least there will be the FOI Serpentine, which is relatively easy and mostly painless - and then we can be in it together!! I have not heard of anyone else who is going to do the low level one, so if there is no one to compete with, I will be all alone...:cry:

[LilJen]

I wouldn't mind doing figures; I know my coach would enjoy teaching them to me as she's very much "old school." No patch ice, however. . . I've toyed only with some simple circles as I practice my consecutive edges. First goal, though, for next year is to pass PB MITF and FS. Then maybe I'll work on some figures.

[lov2sk8]

Does anyone know where you can purchase a scribe? My husband threw my scribe out because he thought it was junk.:x

[Isk8NYC]

Does anyone know where you can purchase a scribe? My husband threw my scribe out because he thought it was junk.:x
Are you still married? j/k - lol!

We had a scribe thread somewhere. If I find it, I'll post the link here.

ETA: Found it: http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=280486

[Thin-Ice]

Because it's fun?

I've never done the high ones, but if I could afford to go to PCAS (and I weren;t required to do Mids the same day) I'd practice them for a few months and give it a whirl. But that's me.

Good point! Figures ARE fun.. and doing a competition where the expectation level is REALLY low (that's self-expectation level) can be downright funny! OK, I'll give this a whirl this week and then decide if I have any chance of not completely embarassing myself. Besides, it will be fun to see the look on my coach's face when she walks in and sees me working on a figure I've never done before.

[Thin-Ice]

You should do it anyway - I cannot do a BI 3 to save my life and my FO ones are no piece of cake either! At least there will be the FOI Serpentine, which is relatively easy and mostly painless - and then we can be in it together!! I have not heard of anyone else who is going to do the low level one, so if there is no one to compete with, I will be all alone...:cry:

OK, we can't have you all alone out there on that big expanse of ice. Like I said in the previous post, I'll give it a go this week just for giggles and grins.. and if it's not completely terrible.. as in "Help! I can't stand up!" and assuming I can still almost make it around a serpentine I'll join you and we can be out there together!

[icedancer2]

OK, we can't have you all alone out there on that big expanse of ice. Like I said in the previous post, I'll give it a go this week just for giggles and grins.. and if it's not completely terrible.. as in "Help! I can't stand up!" and assuming I can still almost make it around a serpentine I'll join you and we can be out there together!

Let's keep in touch - maybe post our progress and intentions on this forum or in the practice forum - I'll do it if you do it! Are you coming up for PCAS anyway?

[icedancer2]

I just wanted to let you guys know that I have had several requests for the US Figure Skating Figures Rules and list of figures which I have emailed out. I don't mind doing this AT ALL and would be happy to send many many copies.

Just PM me and I will send it out ASAP!!!

[teresa]

I would love to learn figures. I think they would help me to be an overall better skater. My coach did figures as a child and you can see it in her edges. I want great edges.

teresa

[Thin-Ice]

Let's keep in touch - maybe post our progress and intentions on this forum or in the practice forum - I'll do it if you do it! Are you coming up for PCAS anyway?

I'll give the FO-BI figure a try on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. If my coach and I are not dying of laughter over how hopeless it all is, I'll let you know before New Year's Eve. Yes, I'm going to be at PCAS for my planned events. You're right.. this could be good just for the laughter factor.. and to meet a new friend in person!