I thought that thread for the silver skaters was so interesting, so I thought I would start one for bronze level skaters, or those like me who haven't passed bronze yet, but are skating up a level at local events.

So what elements are you including in your freeskate?

I have:

sit/change sit
lutz/loop
footwork
salchow (out of footwork)
FO spiral, COE/swing roll, RF Mohawk, RBO 3 turn, into BO spiral
loop
lutz
flip/toe
back camel

That's a very impressive list for Bronze! Looks like a Silver list!

Hannah, given that list, I sure as heck hope this pre-Bronze skater will NEVER compete against you!!! LOL!!!

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Your program sounds great Hannahclear! What music are you using?

I am waiting on a music cut for mine -- here in Australia, we get 2:10 at my level, but in order to compete once I get back home, I have to cut it to 1:40, so hopefully it will still work out.

Here's what will hopefully be in it at Dallas AN, if I can squeeze it all in -- I haven't been able to jump in the past 6 weeks because I have had a knee injury, but this is what we were working on:

back catchfoot spiral
loop
lutz/loop (hopefully I'll have lutz/loop/loop back by March...)
layback or sideways spin into layback
camel/sit/catchfoot scratch/backspin combo
flip/half loop/salchow
inside ina bauer
footwork sequence
lutz
scratch spin

Does anyone know typically how many jumps are usually in Bronze programs? It looks like Hannahclear and I both have 7 planned....I wish I could put more in but 1:40 goes by sooo fast!

Flutzilla, you also have a pretty intimidating Bronze program! Good thing I wasn't skating against you two in Silver at AN last year, LOL!

When I was in Bronze (2003), I had a coach that thought the more jumps the better, and he had me squeeze 8 jumps into three jump passes, which is really all the jump passes you have time for at 1:40. The first jump pass was a 4-jump sequence: lutz-side toe tap-flip-toeloop-loop. I also did a flip-toeloop and a salchow-loop. I came in 2nd at Sectionals in spite of messing up on my spins, so I guess cramming all those jumps in paid off.

Now now, you're assuming that I will be able to do ALL of this under the pressure of competition.

I thought the program was a little weak on spins. My forward camel is very bad, not good enough to include really and my back camel only gets about 3 semi slow revs. I'm working on it though, and would love to eventually upgrade to a flying camel. I convinced my coach that we'd be better off with a pretty good sit/change sit than a crappy camel/sit/change sit.

I am skating to "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring". It's really perfect music for me. I love it.

Flutzilla, your program sounds truly impressive. Congrats on being able to do those spins!

Here are my elements, except so far I can't get them all done in time because I come to a near dead stop after some of the elements (maybe I'll gain flow and momentum with more practice)

open pose
stroke, mohawk, stroke, stroke
Loop Loop
stroke stroke stroke
Lutz loop (hopefully)
stroke stroke stroke
Sit, change sit
stroke stroke stroke
spiral sequence
flip
salchow
attitude spin
a little bit of footwork and then a loop
T-stop (or if I can learn it, a tango stop)
end pose

( I hope I can vary the "stroke stroke stroke" parts so they are not just forward or backward crossovers)

Hannahclear, you might want to get a copy of the video of Bronze I at AN last year. I remember the price being pretty reasonable, and I imagine the name of the company is still listed somewhere on the host club's website. Maybe some of the forum members who competed at AN could chime in with the info. I got the video and it was interesting to see - and b/c there was only 1 round, I got 17 skaters (instead of 12) and I could see the entire range of skating at the Bronze level in that age group. Of course, you might see different things at a local comp, as there are plenty of skaters that skip AN, but the video should give you a good idea of what's what.

Anyway, I'm a card-carrying member of the Pre-Bronze Peanut Gallery who is trying hard to move up to Bronze (blasted moves! ). I'm sort of between programs now, but the following is a list of elements that I am hoping to put in my new FS program, when I get one. It's based on the elements in my previous program and what I can do now or have a reasonable hope of doing in the near future.

(in no particular order)
loop-loop
flip (as if! )
salchow-toe loop
salchow
sit-change sit-backscratch (wishing and hoping)
forward scratch
attitude spin (I've on the camel, for now, anyway)
spiral sequence (probably some combo of RFO, RFI, RBO)
footwork (more challenging than my previous footwork)

I believe the "well-balanced program" requirements for Bronze call for at least 3 spins (3 revs min, on each foot if a change) and a footwork/step sequence that covers half the length of the ice. And the number of jump combos is capped at 3.

Edited to answer Thin-Ice's question about age class. I am in (new) class II. 2 more years and I'll be a III. (yikes!)

Here's what I have currently in my bronze FS program, but I'd like to ramp it up for the next competition:

opening pose
push into plie spiral on right flat
straighten into regular spiral
toe push to RFO spiral
3 turns into loop-toe-falling leaf
LFI choctaw (when I'm lucky!)
steps into sit spin
side toe hop into section that travels around and down ice
LFO pivot to RFI mohawk
cross forward, then waltz toe
toe footwork, then salchow
2 LFO waltz threes
CW question mark pattern to toe
CCW backspin
CW scratch
T stop to end

I want to put in flip or flip-loop after the pivot/RFI mohawk, and change the loop-toe-falling leaf to loop-loop-falling leaf. If I could just get a consistent camel or camel sit (or camel-sit-backsit if my backsit weren't so pathetic), then I'd swap that for the sit. I'd also like to change the RFO spiral/RFO3 to RFO spiral/RFO rocker.... but then that's the "skater in my head" needing a reality check....

Edited to add that I'm skating up to Bronze from Pre-Bronze, because I want to use a version of this program after I eventually pass Bronze MIF and take the Bronze FS test. I'm Bronze II. My program as it is is not very competitive in Bronze I/II, at least judging from Halloween Classic. Most of the others in my group had at least one flip in their program, plus some had lutz or lutz-loop, and many had camels. I saw a number of Bronze III ladies who had flip in their programs, including one who had flip-loop-loop. I also saw at least one Bronze III lady who had camel-sit.

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Yup, that's purely a 6.0 program. That of course won't stand up in a COP or CPC program. Work on the spins, in betweens and footwork.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

For those of you going to Adult Sectionals or AN.... could you please indicate which age group you'll be in.. so you don't scare away ALL the newer III and IV and V levels? We want to encourage all the skaters possible to join us; a lot of the older skaters may not be doing lutz/loops or back camels. You "youngsters" can be quite intimidating to the "more life-experienced" skaters.

Thanks!

I have the same worry -- I'm hoping that my jumps will come back at least close to the way they were before I hurt my knee, but I can't be 100% sure at this point because I still have to wait another week or so before my physio will let me jump. And although my spins are better than my last time out at AN, my camel also tends to run away and hide in the locker room during competitions for some reason, so I still have yet to do a really nice one in competition. I've also been working really hard the past few months (pre-injury) on speed and control and flow on the ice, and making the footwork more difficult. It's hard because I haven't really actively competed in Bronze since the 2003 season and it's tough to guess what I should be trying to put in my program at this point, because I haven't been to any adult competitions other than the one here in Melbourne.

Looking forward to seeing you all at AN, where hopefully my camel will be on the ice with me and not in the locker room.

I'll be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) in Bronze II.

I was going to wait to do AN again until I was finally in the III group, but I'm too impatient!

I'm 25 and will be 27 by the time I try to go to Adult Nats in 07, in Chicago. So I guess that's Class I. Fear not!

I looked on the USFSA site yesterday. It actually calls for a min of 2 spins. But everything else you cited is what they say. I don't doubt that three spins will be better, but I have to look realistically at my strengths. I think I'm better off being a little light on spins and having a longer footwork and spiral sequence and another jumping pass than trying to put in another spin, which won't work as well with my particular skill set. My coach also says that two is really the minimum.

Do alot of the techinically prebronze, but ready for at least bronze competition people skate up at local events?

Well, my husband will be doing his first-ever free skating programme at the Mountain Cup, which will be Bronze Men III (or IV, if they use the new age groupings there, which I haven't heard yet). He's been challenged by a friend..... and we already have his music.

And he certainly will having nothing more advanced than perhaps a loop jump (only his knee really doesn't like doing loop jumps, so he might not) and salchow in it, and only a rather poor upright spin! And his trademark spiral/back spiral without coming up in the middle (he didn't know, when he taught himself to do it, that most people come upright to do the 3-turn, so he doesn't!).

We haven't started to choreograph it yet, but we'll both have fun doing that soon. But I need to look up the "well-balanced programme requirements" for that level....

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~~~~~~~~
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Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

If I pass my Bronze FS test next week, I'll be in class I at AN's.

Here is what is currently planned in my program:

Flip-loop
Lutz
Flying Camel (possibly with back sit)
Loop
FI Sprial-Ina Bauer-Backwards Catch foot Spiral
Layback spin
Salchow-Toe Loop-Loop
Footwork (consisting of 1 RBI bracket, tap-toe jumps in both directions and 3-turns in both directions)
Split-flip
Camel-sit-back sit or sit change (depends on what's going better at the time)

__________________
I've got mad salchow disease!

Hmmm, I thought 2 was the min for Pre-Bronze (new requirements) and 3 was the min for Bronze. Maybe the rules changed? Of course, if the USFSA would send out the new rulebook, we could check.

As for skating up, it depends. I skated up to Bronze once b/c Pre-Bronze was not really offered at my "level" - by that I mean that it was the first year this comp had Pre-Bronze FS, which was great, but they set the program time limit to 1:10, instead of the 1:40 that other comps had, which is what my 1:39 program had been planned/used for. I had just passed my Pre-Bronze FS and was completely non-competitive with the Bronze group, so I just did the comp for experience.

When Pre-Bronze has been offered, I've skated at that level b/c that's a better level for me (no flip or lutz, and definitely no lutz-loop) Now, I'm at the point where I'm closer to Bronze level (I still don't have those elements, but my overall skating is of higher quality), so I'm considering skating up to Bronze at New Year's Invitational, if I compete there, at least in CM (if no camel spin is involved), if not FS. I've done Pre-Bronze there for 2 years, so I'm thinking it could be time for a change, but it depends on how my FS elements progress in the next few months.

Some comps don't offer Pre-Bronze, so you're forced to skate up. Based on what I've seen in the larger, "Adult" competitions (Halloween Classic, New Year's), most skaters do skate their FS level b/c there is a critical mass at each level, but some people do skate up there, too.

I'm sure there are some people who think Pre-Bronze is not a "real" level, but the quality of skating there is actually quite good. It's become almost necessary to have at least a loop (to win, that is), and good speed and flow between elements. For Pre-Bronze skaters that have the more typical Bronze jumps and combos - flip and lutz, and lutz-loop and such - it makes more sense to do Bronze b/c in Pre-Bronze you can't do a lutz. But jumps aren't everything and your basic skating has to be strong enough - the judges really look for power and flow.

flying~camel, I'm glad you are a I and I'm a II - lol.

Yep, that was 2 years ago and it was my very first competition. I have learned a lot since then and having a well balanced program really paid off at AN last year.

That's just the list of what's planned - what I actually end up doing is another story

__________________
I've got mad salchow disease!

f~c: Even what I've planned wouldn't beat yours!!! LOL!!!

If I were to pass my Bronze FS, my current program would look something like this:
Backspin
Footwork
Sit spin
Footwork
RFO spiral
Salchow
LFO Chinese Spiral
Flip
LOTS more footwork
Waltz-toe loop
Loop
Scratch spin

(Note: No lutz yet!!! Right now that's a pipe dream, along with a consistent loop and flip...)

And at the risk of not scaring anyone (Yeah, right! ) I am an group III (I'm in the "Desperate Housewives" age group!) So thank goodness this old geezer is not likely to compete against you "young whipper snappers" LOL!!!

Geez, maybe I should stay at Pre-Bronze for another year... (See 'ya guys in Chicago!!!)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!