Good/Bad/Ugly Test Session (LONG)

[tazsk8s]

First the good. Taz Jr. passed her Pre-Juv FS on the session. Nice test, had a minor brain freeze going into the front scratch/back scratch and hopped the back scratch, but did much better on the reskate.

The bad. She failed her Juv moves, but not by a lot. Each judge marked her at passing on two of the four moves, and the others were only -.1 to -.2. We knew these were marginal going into this, I have seen weaker skaters pass, but there is a definite variation among judges and clubs here. At least there is hope for her.

The ugly. My Silver moves test, also failed, not even close. I'm not necessarily disappointed about the retry, as such. It's a new test, there were two of us testing at the same time, and both of us had the same intent, to find out what the standard really was. I am, however, disappointed to find that I'm as far off the mark as I am. The only two moves I got any passing marks on were the 8 step (weird - 2 judges said my cadence was ok, 1 said it was weak. Go figure) and the spirals (again, 2 out of 3). I knew I was in trouble on the 3's in the field...I didn't get a really good edge going into the RFI/LBO, and scraped a couple, and, ouch, put my foot down on one of the back 3's. When they didn't ask for a reskate...well, I knew. Even worse, I got totally zinged on control on my 3's and edge control in general. My cross strokes have historically been my weakest move, I was hoping that having to only do them to a 2.7 might be my salvation, though. Again, not even close. The other adult didn't pass, either, so at least misery has company. Both of us felt that they were expecting these to be way TOO much like what the kids have to do - no real "breaks" on the marks for adults at all.

I suppose in a few weeks I might actually consider looking back at the comments with the intention of starting to work on some of the things they zapped me on, but right now I'm so discouraged and sick of these moves I can hardly see straight. I started working on these a year and a half ago, as soon as they were announced as being mandatory. Back then I couldn't even DO a back 3 turn, so it isn't like I haven't made progress. Just not anywhere near enough. I'm not even sure what to start fixing first, and quite frankly my motivation to work on these for the time being is nil anyway. In the meantime, freestyle elements have gone to pot from having to spend so much time on moves, and any semblance of endurance that I had for running my program has gone to you know where. Coach has promised no more moves lessons for awhile and I'm holding her to it!

Other ugliness, we arrived nearly an hour early, only to find out the session was running SO far ahead of schedule because of a whole bunch of people scratching early in the day, that Taz Jr. needed to put on her skates NOW. I don't think that played into any of our results, but it was lousy management and it only got worse. Another skater arrived after her warmup and had to skate her test without one, and her coach hadn't arrived yet either. Also, the club had faxed one test schedule to the rinks, then revised it to move some of the afternoon tests by as much as 25 minutes earlier, and never bothered to fax a revision. Okay, I KNOW they're volunteers and I tried not to give anyone a hard time. I've volunteered at competitions and I don't like being hassled, either. But really. A whole HOUR ahead of schedule. You'd think they'd insert a little bit of time between warmup groups just to make it a LITTLE closer, and let the judges go thaw out. Added stress that we just didn't need.

Sorry, I got into vent mode. Thanks for listening.

Frustrated Taz:frus:

[Elsy2]

I feel for you.....and appreciate hearing your report, as we are all anxious to hear what is expected for adult moves. I recommend a break from those darn moves for a few weeks, and doing what you enjoy. Then go back to them when you feel better about this experience.

A whole hour early on the schedule sure does increase the stress level!
As a test chair, I have skater's freaking when I tell them we are running 10-15 minutes early! I can't imagine the chaos of a whole hour 8O

As for Taz, Jr., she'll be fine and will certainly be ready to pass the next session. My daughter almost had a retry on Juvenile moves....it was the 8-step mohawk sequence. The coach told her on the reskate to "Skate like he**! She upped the power and passed.....whew! A month later she won a gold doing them at competition. Go figure....

The fact is, many of us just don't have the considerable necessary time to devote to the adult moves, and it's too bad...I have a feeling I'll be "bronze for life".....

[CanAmSk8ter]

Ughh, that's awful about the schedule mix-up. It happened to me one of the times I took my Juv moves too. We were tight on time and got some scratches, so I had to go out for warm-up about twenty minutes earlier than expected. No biggie. But I was supposed to skate second, so while we were warming up people were running around looking for the girl who was supposed to go first. They couldn't find her, and we were running out of ice time, so I was told to go out and go first. Slight problem: I have asthma. If I had known I was going first, I would never have done the whole warm-up, and I would have had my inhaler with me. When I have a break I usually don't need it, so it was in the car. Need less to say, I did not pass that day- although, in all fairness, I doubt I would have anyway. And that's the only time in seven years anything like that has hapened at a test session at my club; my club is actually known for having very well-organized tests and comps.

[dbny]

Congratulations to Taz jr on passing her pre-juv FS! Sorry to hear about the other two results, but Juv moves is notorious for having to try more than once, and now I'm wondering if that's the way it will be with Adult Silver, as they are somewhat equivalent.

I know of quite a few skaters who have passed the adult pre-Bronze and Bronze FS with obvious leeway for being adults, such as just barely bent knee on sit spins, and 1/2 rev cheated Salchows, so I am surprised that there is no slack being given on the moves. Maybe it's just the difference between judges and test sessions though.

I've never been to a test session that ran ahead of schedule. They have all run behind in my experience, so thanks for the heads up.

[Yazmeen]

Congrats to Taz Jr., and please, Taz, don't beat yourself about the moves test. You gave it your best shot. I think a lot of it depends on the judges. Most of them are new at doing this, too, and I can't help wonder if some of them are trying to score the adults as tightly as the kids, even though they aren't supposed to. I think everyone has to grow into this new system.

Anyway, you should still be proud for giving it your best shot. You'll get 'em next time.

Hugs,

Beth

[kar5162]

Congrats to your daughter. Enjoy a break from moves...if you just go back and spending a little time on back edges and stuff while have a break and doing freestyle, you'll probably fine your 3 turns in the field will improve a lot.

I too think the judges are scoring the adult moves pretty strictly as well. I took pre-bronze, bronze, and silver a few weeks ago and passed, but not by much - and I passed juvenile in the early summer. Certain scores were just odd - I had 2.7s on my cross strokes, but when I had taken Juvenile I had two 3.2s...same thing happened with my 8 step mohawks that I had had two 3.1s on. I guess since the moves are new, it will just take time for everyone to figure out what the standard should be - whether the judges are going to be more or less lenient. I was pretty surprised overall because I have seen quite a few bronze free tests pass that wouldn't pass prelim and silver free that wouldn't pass pre-juv, so I had expected the moves standards to be much lower.

[KJD]

Wow Taz! I hadn't wanted to post about my experience with this because I was too embarassed but if you want some company on the misery, I can join you. I have now failed my adult gold moves twice, once in October and once last weekend. They are actually pretty good - or so I'm told. I worked on them hard all summer and I have already passed Juvenile moves and I'm told my Intermediate ones are testable now.(I did dance for the first year and a half of skating so I have pretty ok edges and good speed) On the first test, I hit a rut from one of the dancers doing their dance test earlier and on the back double 3's, I slipped down to my knee - counts as a fall and I didn't get a reskate. But I still didn't miss it by much, .2 on all 3 judges even with a fall - so I felt good I would get it the next time. Took it last weekend. Two of the judges were the same as last time. I should say now that our club is NOTORIOUS for being really tough on passing MIF in general - we fail a lot of people. When I took the moves again last weekend, they weren't perfect but were considerably better than the previous test (which only missed by .2). I passed one judge (one of the ones from the last time) and failed the other two. Didn't get asked to reskate anything either. The second judge who was there last time gave me the exact same score .2 below passing - but better comments. The third judge is an international judge and he failed me by .4. My coach was not pleased to say the least. We don't have any adults testing at my level in our area, so I'm the guinea pig unfortunately.

In looking at the scores and comments, it was unquestionably clear to us that the moves were being held up to the kids standards. Which for me is ok for the ones from the gold test that are from intermediate. The novice move however is supposed to be .5 pass below the passing average for novice. That is certainly not how it was scored. The other interesting thing that happened is the first couple of moves (the power crossover circles) of mine are pretty good - I get a lot of power and speed. I passed way over the mark on two judges but the one who failed me by .2 total put 3.1+ so there were no extra marks to make up for the others.

So, I share the disappointment but I'm trying not to let it get me down. I'm going to try one more time in early January but I'm not so sure on that one as I will be on vacation for a week over Christmas so no skating. That might be good, might not. If it doesn't work, we've decided that I will still compete in the Washington DC competition at Gold since you can skate up and actually for Midwest sectionals you can skate up, which I will do since I have a gold program and have been working on it for the last 5 months. I'll just skip AN.

[sk8er1964]

It's tough being the first one in the area to do the Adult moves. I did my Golds in October, and fortunately passed by 2 out of the 3 judges. I think the 2 who passed me were sticking to the adult standards, while the third was using kid standards.

Taz - take a break from those moves! If you overdo anything, they become un-fun :roll:

KJD - Sounds like you got stuck in the same situation that I'm in - have to skate at Gold level because of tests passed as a kid, but not grandfathered into the tests themselves. Hang in there - you'll get them in January for sure! Maybe the break will help. I'll be at Midwest sectionals too - what age level are you at? I'm a level II.

[KJD]

Skater1964,
Thanks so much for the reply. Glad to hear that you passed. I actually didn't skate as a child beyond some basic skills when I was 9 or so when we lived in Canada. I never got past forward edges on the line, spirals, etc. But I had been on skates - just recreationally. We (my coach and I) simply made the decision that since I have an axel and a double sal and loop that are coming along that I would try to skate gold. I love my program which is cut at 2:35 and I've put so much work into it that I would rather not cut it down to 2:10.

I have been skating about 3 1/2 years but did the first year and a half in dance and passed up through my bronze dances and one pre-silver before switching full time to freestyle. I really like the freestyle but have to admit that the dance really helped my edges and stuff a lot. Unfortunately on the testing front, my biggest problem is that I get nervous and am always stiffer on test day. Two days after the test, the test run-through was great. But it still wasn't too bad on test day, just not as good and not at the kids novice level. Sigh.

I'm sure I'll pass eventually, it was just embarrassing to fail twice, especially since when I got off, everyone (admittedly including myself) thought I had passed. I am Class II, I'm 39 so I'll be at sectionals but not in the championship gold event, probably just regular gold. Hopefully I'll see you there. I'm beginning to think that adult nationals is not going to be my event. Two years ago when I went to skate bronze, we had 3 flights in a row cancelled on us and couldn't get there. Last year when I went to compete silver, I tore my right calf floor jumping two weeks before AN and had to withdraw (big lesson learned there).

[tazsk8s]

Thanks, everyone. Based on my experience, I completely agree with those who feel the adult tests are being judged on the same standard as the regular tests, even though they aren't supposed to be. It kinda makes me think, what's the point of the adult tests then? Seems that I have a knack for being one of the guinea pigs on these things. I was one of the first in my club to test Pre-Bronze and the revised Bronze when they re-did the FS test structure several years ago. I nearly got burned on Pre-Bronze...my coach had me test it like the Pre-Pre FS test, one element at a time. I got my sheet back and while I had passed, the judge had commented "too many scratchy stops and starts in program." Turns out my club wants to see the elements done in a program-like format without music, but of course nobody could have known that at the time. I still don't get that one, because the rulebook clearly states "elements only", and I've never heard of another club requiring a mini-program. As for my Bronze, I passed right on standard, but from what I have heard from others who tested after me, they tightened up their expectations considerably on the adult track at some point after my test.

KJD, I totally sympathize with your situation! Our club also has a reputation for being picky on the moves tests, and extremely tough on adults in general. Taz Jr. was in plenty of good company with her retry, if the long faces in the lobby were any indication. I know I will have to get back in the saddle on these eventually too, but I'm in absolutely no rush at the moment. Someone else can be the one who tests these things a half dozen times before they pass. All of our test sessions are during the day on a weekday, and I just can't justify that kind of time off work unless I've got a reasonable chance of passing next time.
:?? I gave my coach copies of the test papers today, as she was not able to be at the session yesterday (Jr.'s coach put me on the ice). I'm sure that after she has time to mull them over she will give me a few things to think about.

As for today, I did a short stroking warmup and went directly to SPINS. For a whole half-hour I did nothing but spins and then I went on to JUMPS!! :D :D :D Ahhhh! Not one single stinkin' MITF. Next step, start working on stamina so I can get through my program again.

[Mrs Redboots]

Just back from France in time to hear about your disappointment - it is horrendously disappointing to have worked so hard and to find you are not yet to standard - but take heart, Silver, whether Adult or Elite, really is a big step up from Bronze, and not easy to do in one gulp, as it were.

Congratulations to your daughter!