I will ask about this at my rink, but I wanted to know what other coaches and judges felt I should have done in this situation. (Disclaimer: nothing's wrong, I'm just curious about what I should have done.)

I've always stayed near the rink entrance when I have a student on the ice for a test. That way, I'm in an accessible place that's easy for them to find if they need me in between moves or before the reskate. I never walk away, but I will back up to the wall to see better.

At most of the rinks I've been to for test sessions, the judges are sequestered. At South Mountain, they have their own isolated dais on the other side of the rink, amidst a stadium of empty seats! It's like a Fortress of Solitude, hahaha!

Here, the judges' box is open on the side that's near the skater's entrance. The coaches actually stand in the box to coach during the warmups, then step down when the judges arrive to start the event. So I followed suit and stood near the door to watch the test, making some mental notes as it went along.

The skater was called over and asked to reskate a pattern; she got off the ice via the door to ask me what she should do, which is fine, but the judge wanted to make sure I knew what was expected, so she repeated her instructions to me. No problem, the skater got back on the ice and nailed the pattern, but I'm curious: Would it have been inappropriate to walk over to the judges' box when they called over the skater to reskate a patter, so that I could hear firsthand what was being said and save the time and trouble of repeating the exchange? I felt like the off-ice conversation was delaying the test.

It was a pre-prel moves test: does that have any bearing on what I should/shouldn't do in this situation?

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Like your previous experiences, I've mostly seen the judges isolated from the coaches. So, in this case, where you are close to the judges, I'd keep the feeling of seperation unless invited over by the judge. I think it might make many judges uneasy if it looked like a coach was eavesdropping, even if it was just your intention to hear the comments given to your skater. Those are comments to the skater, not to the coach, unless the coach has ben asked to join the conversation.

I do think that it was a pre-pre test makes it a bit different, and it's unlikely the judge would have repeate the comments to you if it was an older skater. I've seen many judges try to "coach" the no test kids through the moves. I've even seen one step out of the box to walk through the waltz-8 pattern when the kid couldn't remember it. (He didn't pass- he had other mistakes as well, but the judge was very kind.)

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-Jessi
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Phew! I wanted to make sure I did the right thing - I felt awkward in pretending there was an invisible wall when I knew if I went closer, I could hear what was being said.

Aww, that was sweet of the judge to go through the Waltz Eight pattern, even if it wasn't enough. I've found that most judges want to pass the skaters.

Suprisingly enough, I was worried more about the Waltz Eight than the edges, but they both did great at that pattern. One of the skaters only started working on it seriously about a month ago, having never seen it before, so it was hard for her. They were the first skaters of the day yesterday morning; maybe the stroking, edges and spirals warmed them up enough.

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