in November's competition! Dd is doing great! She's nearly ready for her moves test in November and is working on other skills and learning new skills too! It is SOOO nice to see her working on new skills. Her camel spin is coming along and her sit is too. Her jumps have improved A LOT as has her back spin. Her skating looks A LOT better then it did at the competition a month ago! Her coach told me today that she feels competely comfortable moving dd up to Freeskate 4 for the February comp! YIPPY!

Dd is also beyond thrilled because she has been in the harness twice practicing AXELS! She's landed them a few times while in the harness too. I know we've got a long ways to go yet, but this is all very exciting for dd!

Anyway, seeing her progress like this is making me feel better and better about our decision to not compete in her home club's comp. The way I see it, if dd's coach would feel comfortable placing her in Freeskate 4 now, she should be good and ready for Freeskate 4 in February! Between off ice and not having to focus solely on programs, she is really improving. Not to mention, 3 others girls and my daughter will be taking a group moves lesson from her coach, once a week. This is all good! It will be so nice to split her coaches fee between 4 kids too. LOL!!

Thanks for reading.

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

All sounds good, and while your daughter is happy and working hard on the ice, it sounds as though it was the right thing to do.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Very, very good decision on your part. Competing is fun, but taking the time to improve skills and levels is even better.

Thanks to those who replied. We feel great about this decision and I love seeing the progress she is making because of it. She had a group moves lesson on Friday and it was great! I hope we're able to continue with that. It was fun to see the girls working together and helping eachother even AFTER the lesson had ended. SOOO cool to see that!

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

It is a brave decision to have made. Its good that your daughter was on board with this as it takes maturity to take a longer term view on things. Especially if all the other kids are doing it and its leaving her feeling left out.

I'm trying to persuade my daughter to withdraw from competition in two weeks time. In our case one big reason is that her skates have now completely broken down to the extent she was really, really hurting her ankle today and what I really want is for her to acclimatise to new skates (completely new brand and much thicker and heavier htan old ones) and to focus on getting her jumps/spins absolutely consistent in these.
(We've had trouble getting the right sized blades hence really bad timing - we're getting hte blades tomorrow!)

Also she has 4 dance tests and if focussed on skills could move up a level in free as well.... and sadly daughter fighting tooth and nail over this - to the point of approaching other parents for transport to this competition if I say she can't go. (And tonight she has gone to bed in the bladeless boots in the hope they'll break in faster).

Great by the way that your daughter has good skating buddies. My daughter does lots of her training in a group setting and we've discovered that two to ones often work better than one to one lessons and these kids can really bring each other along!

Yay! Glad to hear it's worked out well!

Too funny about sleeping in her bladeless boots! She sounds determined to compete!

My daughter totally made the decision not to compete this time. I left it up to her and so far, she seems to be very content with this choice! She has a lesson today and I plan to tape her so she can see how she looks. It's truly amazing to see the improvement in such a short time frame. She looks soooo much better now then she did a month ago. Not to mention, her coach seems to feel confident that we can move her up for the competition in February. YAY!

As for working together, I loved seeing the girls do that on Friday. We've never had a private group lesson before. She's either had private lessons or group LTS lessons. I hope we can keep the group moves lessons going. I think they will greatly benefit my daughter. Good luck to your daughter! I hope you two can find a way to meet int he middle. LOL

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

I'm happy it has worked out too! I'm hoping she still feels good about this after the test in two weeks and as she sees some friends compete too!

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

Which test is she taking? I'm sure she'll do great.

pre-pre moves 1st official test for her, but from what I understand, most people pass this test on the first try. I'm hopeful for a great test result! She got to get a new dress for it too. I'm excited for her!

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

How exciting! I'm sure it will go great and she'll pass with no problems. My DD is working on Juvenile Moves and the last 2 Pre-Silver dances. I get nervous and excited for her with every test. Be sure to come back and let us know how she does!

I will definately let you know how it goes! Dd asked me this AM about the test. I think she is getting nervous! She doesn't know what to expect since she's never tested before. Her coach has talked to her some about what to expect, but I think dd needs more details! LOL. Dd was like this before her first competition too. She's a "pro" now and doesn't blink twice about competing. This is one of the reasons I wanted her to test. She's not ready for her freeskate test yet, but I figured if she takes the moves test, she'll know what to expect when she takes her freeskate test and won't be as nervous. I'm also hoping she can take her preliminary moves test before her pre-pre freeskate test. That's something I will have to talk to her coach about tho!

Anyway, thanks!

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

Your daughter just has to remember the order to skate her moves, and how to position herself properly on the ice. There may be 3 judges watching 3 girls skate at the same time on that ice surface, so she needs to know her 'zone'. A good skating coach will make sure your daughter understands all of this, of course.

Pre-pre freeskate is not done to music, so it's a lot like the pre-pre moves. She'll be fine if her coach has prepared her properly.

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blades, gary, Lucy, Emily, take care of Aiden and Sami. Sami is my sweetest heart, and always will be, forever. RIP Cubby Boy, my hero dog.