Way to go!!!

Ooh - coach gave me the go ahead to put in my application for the Intermediate MIF's....Sept. 20th is the day. I'm excited, but scared, because the only MIF test I've ever done before is the Adult Gold, and this one is going to be at a much higher standard .

Also Ooh and Ugh -- I signed up for a 20 min stroking session (I am exactly 20 years older than the next oldest skater). It was fun (and they put me with the higher level/older kids, fortunately). However, it also showed me that I am nearly 40, not nearly 20 . I had to stop before the kids to catch my breath and get a drink of water. However, if this sesison does what I think it will, by the end I'll have good stamina and will be able to keep up with the kids !

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Did not pass Bronze moves again. Took the test this morning.

Even my coaches were appalled at my marks, because they thought I was right on top of my game today. In particular, I got solid compliments from my moves coach today, and you really have to earn your praise from her--she's tough. She was extremely pleased with my performance on the test and we were quite sure it was a pass. One difference she noticed right away, she said, was that I had a great deal more confidence this time. When I told her the points in some of the moves where my knees were shaking or ankles were trembling, she said she never would have known--to her, I looked like I had command of the elements.

Then I had an asthma attack right after stepping off the ice. Better then than before I got my score report back. BOTH my coaches were appalled at my marks for the effort I gave. Moves coach told me that I am to test out of this area when I test again in November, and to not test with my home club again.

AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Last time I failed by only 0.1 (and I had stomach flu!). This time, it was by a whole 0.5. Half a point!!! And I was healthy! Come on! Something is not right here. Other bad news--two of the three judges I had for the first attempt back in Feb. also judged today. I cannot believe that I could have possibly regressed during this time. (Or maybe it just wasn't my day.) I told myself that rink politics shouldn't play a role in whether or not I passed this test...and I have a sinking feeling they may have.

*stressed and frustrated*

But...

Never give up.

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Yikes! Those are the worst, when your coach can't see why you didn't pass.
ITA
I agree that something is not right. The same judges, healthy, more practice & lessons, and 6 months later does not = lower score. In what way do you think politics may have had something to do with it?

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I'm so sorry! I'm not quite sure what is going on, but around here, apparently the many of the local judges just went through a MIF training program that has tightened up what they are looking for. It seems some of them have already put their new-found knowledge to use, even though the coaches hadn't yet been aware of the new criteria. Sigh - it's so tough when you KNOW you were good enough to pass but the rules were changed on you.

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Lesson 1: ISI Freestlye 1

Well, apparently I can no longer call myself a beginning skater. Although I believe that I am. Our Freestlye 1 class is HUGE. 4 adults and about 6 kids. I really wish that they would have split the class, I've been in adult classes with four people and it's so much nicer. Not that working with the kids is bad -- I like the kids in my class, but it's occasionally hard to skate with them as our longer adult legs are better at stroking than their kid legs are right now. They're also a little less predicatble when it comes to following directions, which means that they aren't always following the pattern.

Anyway...

Ooh! We made it trhough most of the elements in the level today, which is nice because I know what to practice. Started with forward inside pivots. I had tried these once before about three months ago with little success. This time around, though, I was able to pivot two-three circles before exiting -- each direction. YAY! So even though I've struggled like heck with the three-turns, my skating IS improving. This made me pretty happy.

Then we moved on to arabesques and spirals. I have good position for both, just need to work on steadiness and speed. OK. I can do that.

Then we did the four-step mohawk into waltz jump. I thouth we were supposed to be doing the waltz jump out of crossovers, but I like the four-step set-up, that's fun. No waltz jump yet, just a waltz step. But I was holding my back edges in the mohawk pattern better than ever, yay!

We finished with two foot spins. This will need some work. I only rotate about three times and my feet kept sliding apart. Practice!

We didn't get tot he back edges nor the half-flip. I'm quite certain that I will need to spend a lot of time on the edges as it's like pulling teeth to get me to skate backwards on one foot. Hopefully the edge practice will make me more confident in the three-turn and then I won't feel like a fake in Freestyle with out forward 3's!

Congrats to 96.23
And "That sucks!" to MissIndigo. I'm sorry.

OOOH - I worked some more on my figures using my out side edges and they were pretty good. Did some decent Dutch Waltz's and my transitions are getting better. Worked on 5 step mohawk and felt pretty good.

Ugh - Session on Sunday was NUTS, I hate when they combine Dance and High Freestyle, 3 jumping beans jumping and falling all over the place made it a challenge but I worked on stroking and progressives.

quarkiki - on spinning on 2 feet, I recall you saying you ahve a good turn out from dance...well now here's your challenge, keeping your feet together and keeping your hips from turning out. :-) The good thing is you won't spend much time and energy on spinning on 2 feet as most spins are done on 1 foot anyway.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Ooh: I won the Adult Gold Ladies event at the DuPage Open last weekend (actually on August 17)! I skated my best ever, and my coach was very pleased.

Ugh!: For some reason, the DuPage FSC website hasn't posted my results! This is a pretty big competition (for a local one, anyway), so I'd love to get my name shown up there for 1st place.

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Very well done, Black Sheep and 96.23!! Many commiserations to Miss Indigo.

No skating this weekend - it's a holiday weekend here, and I was down at my parents' place. But we had a picnic party for some of the Adult Skating Squad, rowing, swimming, walking, picking blackberries, eating.... and a very good time seems to have been had by all.

Back on the ice tomorrow evening, I expect, or just possibly not until Wednesday morning, we'll see.

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

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Black Sheep
[B]Ooh: I won the Adult Gold Ladies event at the DuPage Open last weekend (actually on August 17)! I skated my best ever, and my coach was very pleased.

NICE JOB!!

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beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

Congrats to Black Sheep and 96.23!!! I am happy for you!

Thanks to those of you who've offered me support here--I'm fired up now, and dang it, I'm going to pass that test next time! Even if I did feel defeated yesterday, I realized how many people I do have on my side who support me and my skating.

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Woo Hoo Black Sheep!

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Major congrats to 96.23 and Black Sheep!!! WOO HOO!!!

MissIndigo... I'm sorry about your Bronze Moves test! I also suspect that the judges are extra tough around the deadline skaters tests for regionals (July and August.) I would wait 'til the next test session to test. And if your coach feels that going to another skating club's test session to test is better for you, I don't see a problem.

Me? At the rate that I'm going, I'll have a walking cane to help me do my power 3's by then! It would be a miracle now for me to pass the Bronze Moves by end of year now!

However, I'm NOT giving up either!!! Especially given the encouraging progress I did make on this move this year. Last year was TOTALLY hopeless!!! If I'm not giving up, neither should YOU!!! So get back on the ice and do those 5 step mohawks, dang it!!!

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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!!!

Hey jazzpants--

Did you see the post in my LiveJournal that sums up how I felt about the test? I have to be dignified here, but I can post in the LJ whatever I want. One gem of a graphic I found on the 'net sums up my thoughts exactly!

And I am not giving up, no way! I will be back out there next week, ready to rock!

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Good!!! Good to see that you'll be ready to rock. Remember... in skating it's the journey, not the destination, that counts. Can't say much on the doctoral thesis though...

Yes, I know which graphic you're talking about. No horsing around there!

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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!!!

Ooh: Cast is off, finally have some sense of balance. Some of my MITF are really coming together, and my dances rock right now

Ugh: I HURT. kill drills are just no fun when you haven't been seriously skating in 6 weeks (hence the point of the kill drills, but still!) I also fell HARD yesterday, so my hip, knee, and arm are all cut up. No jumps, no spins, but they'll come back (too bad I want them back now!!)

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

Yay! No cast!

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beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

I got taught the FO edge by my secondary coach today... FIGURES method!!! The deal is to correct my FO3!!! (She was watching me during my lesson with my primary coach.) I finally got around to doing RFO3, but the LFO edge was hopeless to start with. AUGH!!!

BUUUUT, there is a big reward: the RFO3 (when I got around to doing it right) was MUCH, MUCH EASIER to do!!! Almost no effort body wise!!! WOO HOO!!! Of course, all the effort went into keeping my torso/shoulders/hips correct!

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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!!!

Had a lesson on the morning public session today. It wasn't as bad as I feared -perhaps because it was a bank holiday here yesterday so everyone was recovering /returning. By the time of my lesson in the last half hour a lot of people had got off so I was able to practice my 'march' OD for the British Adult Championships - lowest level!
After running through it with the music my coach decided that it may not win but the judges should certainly remember it for my two unusual moves - there is the back half swizzle to a jump where I click my heels together in the air and clap my hands over my head and then my lunge with a jump in the middle - that is quite fun when it works! Have to practice my pivots to get them smoother and slow down my mohawk but other than that I actually enjoyed doing it for the first time ever - maybe a march is not so bad after all.

Shared my lesson with my daughter who had the first part and tried out the basic dances - she is a Free and Pairs skater usually. She quite enjoyed herself so maybe when her brother quits skating and she is not doing pairs anymore she will do some more dance.

I forgot to add in this for Monday night.... saw an old skating friend I haven't seen on the ice at the times I'm there. We started chatting and my primary coach sneaks up behind me and yells "Jazzpants!!! (well, my real name) - less talking, more skating!!!" in the "coach" tone. I said "Yes, sir..." and went right back to skate (thinking "BUSTED!!!") Then I made hand gesture to my skating friend of my coach cracking the whip! He yelled out "You could talk to him in 8 minutes during the ice cut break!"

Primary coach is onto me now! I better behave...

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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!!!