I thought we should have a thread to celebrate our students' testing success--it's a great confidence booster for me when my students do well. I see it as feedback, and passing tests means that I'm doing my job well and focusing on the right things in our lessons.

I had 2 girls test tonight, a total of 3 dances, all pre-bronze. They both passed with points over. I was so proud of them! They've worked really hard.

Well, my students get a testing break until our next test sesssion at the end of March, but after a really great March, they deserve it!

In the last two weeks, I had one of my girls test her Pre-Preliminary MIF and pass, another pass her Preliminary MIF, and a third pass her Intermediate MIF on the first try. I am particularly proud of her because she passed three-tenths and two-tenths over by two of the judges. Yay!

March has just been a great month for my skaters between passing tests and placing very well at all their competitions. We have two competitions coming up in April, so I'm hoping that my skaters continue to work hard and do well.

My skaters are not at the official tests yet. I coach only beginners, up to USFS Basic 8.

But I did take my first skater to competition last month. She competed at B3, both compulsory and free skate. She had a really good time, was grinning ear to ear when she got off the ice. She got two 3rd places, with 5 in one group and 6 in the other. I was really pleased how she did, though she did entirely forget one element in the compulsory, all the other elements were solid. We are going to another competition this weekend.

It sure felt different to be on the coaching side of a competition!