Interesting. I've never seen a re-skate done on just one side. My rulebook's in the car & it's storming here, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow so I can look it up.

Ah--never mind, found it on Don Korte's site (YAY for Don's site, the best source of answers on the entire Internet, and an example we wish USFSA would try to follow!!!)

Anyway, here it is:
If an element is reskated, the reskate may consist of the entire element, or a portion of the element (TR 23.01A). For instance, on the Preliminary test "Consecutive Outside and Inside Spirals" element, if the sequence of outside spirals was ok, but the inside spiral sequence was weak, the skater could be asked to repeat the inside spirals sequence by itself.

Yea, like I said, it's up to the judge in charge.

Ultimately, it was my daughter who made the mistake so I'm not blaming the judge, it was just crummy luck for her though.

j

I have seen single-side reskates on Pre-Juv and Juv patterns. I was suprised and a bit relieved because the skaters really had everything else.

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When I passed my Senior MIF in 2005, I had to do a single-side reskate of my Senior power pulls after a fall at the end. Granted, the judges knew I was sick and may have been a little more sympathetic to me, but I doubt that at the Senior level. (Judges aren't always that forgiving, hahaha! ) I remember being shocked to have to only do one side, despite knowing that a one-side reskate is permitted, according to the rulebook. I mean, any other reskate I had during a MIF test was usually the entire move, even if I technically could have reskated only one side. So while it's not unusual, I do think it may be somewhat uncommon.

It's not uncommon here, in fact as I said, and you really should believe me because I have been involved in skating in many ways in this area for ten years, it is unheard of to make a skater do both sides. Shrug. That's the thing about figure skating... you can't make blanket statements about "This is the way it is done" because there is a rule book and then there is how you interprete the rulebook and it's different depending on the region, and the judges. That's just skating. Sometimes it works out in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. It just feels like to my daughter it has not been working out in her favor lately and I feel bad for her.

j

Like enough people don't fail Novice already. What are the changes to Senior?

L4 circular step sequence in both directions instead of the circular quick step.
Twizzles all the way down to Juvenile in various forms.

My coach saw the video last year at Regionals and about freaked out. She's trying to get everyone as far as possible before the changes. That means a go at the Novice test is in my near future! She's got a couple kids she's really pushing to pass Junior and/or Senior in the next 12 months before the changes roll in.

jskater, if it makes your daughter feel any better, my coach, who I consider to be a very talented SKATER (was masterful at figures and a very talented FS skater for her time (60s). She taught me figure loops for my new program in three different edge starts and directions (FO, FI, and BI) in < 1 lesson and only failed one figure test attempt in all the years she skated and it was NOT her 8th) took 10 tries and 4 coaches to pass the European Waltz. She finally passed with someone who was a world level dancer as her partner and coach on an attempt she didn't feel should have passed.

I know this topic was posted a while ago...but I just failed my American Waltz for the third time (for practically no reason) and so I understand how discouraging it is to fail the same thing over and over and over!

But what's keeping me going at this dance is the excellent happy feeling I hope to feel once I pass (hopefully next test day...)!!! And the feeling of NEVEr having to do this dance again! lol

Techskater, my coach had a similar experiene with the European...it took her something like 6 or 7 tries to pass...and she too is quite a good skater with very good technique, so I would have thought she would have passed that dance qcuicky....

I think there are just some things in skating that lots of people just get "stuck" on...I live in Canada so I don't do moves, but I know that there are some dances that ALWAYS catch people (Willow waltz, European, sometimes Killian, American, etc.) beacuse they are deceivingly difficult! I thought I was ready to pass my American (but I've been thinking that since March ), but failed because the judge said I was swinging my three turns or something...

But my coach always reminds me that all judges have different standards.Some pass people very easily, and some are pure evil and look for very specific and tiny details...

I'll just add my sympathies to the post.

Moves in the Field have NOT been my friend. Ever.

It took me 3 attempts at both Juvenile and Intermediate. Novice took me TEN tries (just passed last September high by all 3 judges! ). And then. . .Junior? Yeah, that I passed on my first try last month. Uhm. . .what?

One of the comments I kept getting over and over on Novice moves was that, while I was doing the patterns correctly, I wasn't showing the presentation and confidence expected of skaters at this level. For the last two tests I passed, I just pasted a nice big smile on my face, no matter what happened. Seems to have worked.

Also, I took two years off just to train my novice moves between my 9th fail and my pass on my 10th try. It was getting to the point where I didn't enjoy skating anymore, and I almost wanted to quit. Now that I've passed, I'm excited again about skating. I actually find myself doing novice and junior moves for fun along with the senior moves I've just started practicing. Good luck to your daughter, and please remind her that there's more to skating than just passing tests. It helped put things in perspective for me.

&&does anyone know if they've actually PASSED the new MitF patterns? If so, I'd better get senior passed darn quickly, because twizzles are also not my friends!

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Right now the new MIF patterns are being looked at by PSA. If PSA approves them (which is very likely, since PSA leaders are the ones proposing them!), then they will be submitted to the Fall meeting of USFS. If they are looked at and approved there, then they will be voted on at Governing Council next May.. and would likely go into effect in September 2008.

In northern California we often have skaters have to reskate an entire element, rather than just one side or one direction. But it also depends on how full the test session is and how much the test chair is trying to push the session along. Generally speaking though, we have skaters reskate an entire element... which was REALLY awful when all four of the 3-Turns in the Field were all one element on Pre-Juvenile. It's much less time to have a reskate now that they are FO-BI and FI-BO are separate.

Best wishes to your DD. One other thought.. Novice Moves ARE difficult because they are in essence the gateway to competing at "real" Nationals (instead of Jr. Nationals or Adult Nationals).. so often judges are looking at the skaters thinking "Is this skater of the ability to skate at Nationals?"

As for repeated tests, we have one adult skater who is going for her 9th try on Gold Moves next month. She's getting closer each time.. but I think the local judges now have seen her skate not-quite-passing so often, they see her name and expect more than the passing standard (3.0).. and in some cases higher than the Intermediate (3.2) on the moves that are also on Intermediate. The last time she tested, the one judge from out of town who had not seen her test it before passed her.. but the local judges did not... although in their defense she did have one bad touch-down with her foot on the brackets and one minor one after the end of the double-3s. I think she should have had a reskate.. but then she may not have reskated the brackets as well as she did the first time... and it was 3-hour test session. I'm sure she WILL pass these moves... she's one incredibly determined woman!

This makes it sound like you automatically get a reskate if you fall. To clarify, you get a reskate if any judge thinks you could reskate an element and have it be passing when you reskate it. If I screw up 2 things on my MIF test and fall on a third, the judges are NOT going to give me a reskate on the fall. Just wanted to clarify, in case someone reading this is confused.

Hmmm, I thought changes to the testing structure usually go into effect a year later. I remember when they created the Adult MIF structure/requirement, they gave everyone a year to 'prepare' for the new rule. (So people could take as many FS tests as possible to grandfather themselves out of the moves - shhhh ) Wouldn't the USFSA do the same thing here? After all, it's a lot to ask of skaters and coaches to have to pass their current test within 3 months (bet GC and Sept) or else learn all new patterns.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Gosh, if this is really true it seems like it might be a good idea for her to take a non-local test! And even if it's not true, she probably has it in her mind that it is- and getting away might help her skating mindset too! Totally worth the guesting fee!

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Yeah, when I'm having a tough time passing with the notoriously hard-to-please local judges, I try and test out of town. Sure, sometimes these local judges are there, but you've usually got one or two that haven't seen you test before and since all you need are two judges to pass, you can usually nail the test.

I have a student who's testing now and having a hard time locally because of her buddies being around always asking, "How'd you do?" or saying, "Don't worry - it's an easy test," or "You'll pass for sure." Well, you know what? It's not easy for a little kid who's taking her Preliminary MIF for the first time! I know that rink friends/parents are just trying to be helpful, but I'm left dealing with a self-conscious kid who can't figure out what's wrong with her because "So-and-so passed on the first try" and "So-and-so's working on her Juvenile MIF." Seriously, sometimes just getting out of that comfortable atmosphere helps. Now if I could only convince my skater of that...