Well, coach said she thinks I'm ready for Silver MITF. Been working on them for about a year. I have good days and bad days. We haven't had a test session since December (JUST got a new test chair) so I'm sure the one that's scheduled for August will be packed. In any event, if I don't pass this time there's only one minor change so it's not a big deal.

__________________
"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Do you remember what the transition between the lobes was? That sucks that it's incorrect, I've been practicing it the way it is in that video.

__________________
"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

The PSA is now focusing on their Nationwide Seminars so they're not offering many of these seminars. Our Director is planning to have one for both skaters and coaches, but the PSA said that the coaches wouldn't receive educational credits. It really doesn't make sense to me, since they allow credits for other non-PSA seminars.

__________________

In the seminar the 2 presenters were very adamant (remember, a good half of the attendees were judges) that one of the main points of doing these nation-wide schools is so that everyone will now be on the same page re. what's expected & what deserves to pass, etc. They never did that before w/ moves, & that's partly why we ended up with such a wide discrepancy with what passes in various geographic areas.

During the demos on ice they would poll all the judges re. whether the demonstration was passing standard or not, and why.

They also pointed out (& I think it says this on the site too), that the demo videos are pretty much just for us to learn the steps, and in some cases they wouldn't be passing level. In fact they specifically mentioned the junior loops as one of those examples. The demo skaters did a much more clarified/held pull-change after the loop.

Although they also were adamant w/ the judges that these are NOT figure loops, and that the continuous flow is the most important thing. As long as the skater isn't doing points and is staying true to the edges of the loops, they should be okay.

It was a Nationwide Seminar. I got 8 points for it.

I'll try to make a little video this week & post it on youtube. I'm also going to email the USFSA & point out to them that it's wrong! Someone needs to fix that.

I sympathise w/ you--I've had a student doing this exercise for a few weeks now, and now I have to go back to her & say, 'guess what! It's wrong!'

I don't think that's a very realistic statement. I'm not 100% up on the changes to senior, but if you look at junior, it's 2 new patterns (and take away the power circles). If someone has been working on the test but just can't squeeze it in by September 2nd (let's say they even fail by a hair), they only have 2 new patterns to learn. The step sequence is not that difficult, especially compared to what I see a lot of juv + freestyle competitors/intermediate + synchro skaters already doing in their programs (steps are similar, but there is no set arm choreography, body levels, or being in time with music to worry about). And most skaters who are at this level have already been working on loops on their own for a while now because IJS forced them to, so the COE should be the only thing that will be tricky to master. Cases of freestyle skaters still low enough in freestyle to have never competed IJS but taking their junior moves are probably going to be pretty rare (ha ha I'm one of them but had to learn loops for synchro IJS), and even still, at least around here, coaches have been starting to teach kids loops after they get 3-turns down.

If the prediction of skaters failing because of lack of consistency in judging, well then that's a whole other issue that is no fault of the skaters and it's a shame that so much time/money (on test fees, lessons, ice time) will be wasted as a result. Hopefully the USFS is doing their job to make sure this is not an issue. I certainly don't advocate passing any piece of crap thrown out on a test session, but in certain situations (like new moves that have little precedent), any discrepancy should go in the favor of the skater, especially if that pattern is close and is the thing that makes or breaks a test. We all know how frustrating it is to get test papers back and have judges saying completely opposite things in the comments. Or how annoying it is to skate a test well and fail, only to put it out well on another test session, skate it worse than the previous one you failed, and pass.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Agreed. In this area we have a couple of judges that are slightly harsh. One actually vocalized that her standards currently are higher than before because she believes that everyone is just throwing in tests to get them in before the changes. We also have one who was failing people not on the end patterns for Intermediate/Novice, but because they did not step EXACTLY on a 90 degree angle on the stroking in between. I know they said they are working on those things with particular judges, but we'll see.

__________________
Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

OH!! speaking of junior, there's another change that doesn't show up on the USFSA page.

The rockers--while the pattern stays the same, the cross front step right after the rocker is now changed to a mandatory cross behind step.

I can't make up my mind if that is easier or harder. I think it will be easier at first since it's a cross behind on the counters on Novice. But since I've been doing those rockers for so long, I can't imagine doing them without the cross in front...

__________________
Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

Thank you!! And yes, someone there does need to fix that, since I'm sure many people have been doing it wrong because of that video.

__________________
"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

I think it's easier because you can get a better push from the cross behind and it helps you finish off that lobe and get back to axis if you cross behind. It's just awkward if you've been working on them the current way. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I guess it would need to go on Silver. The only change on that test that makes it a slight bit shorter is the figure eight pattern for the Eight-Step Mohawk, which probably saves less time than adding an additional move. Maybe they didn't want to add more time to that test.

Even so, if those areas are also saturated skating clubs and with skaters wanting to test, they may need to take whatever judges are available the day they can schedule the test session.

What might happen for skaters who were just about ready to test this summer but don't manage to pass before the deadline for one reason or another is that by the time they have the new moves close enough to test, they may be able to improve the old moves enough more to gain extra points there. They don't have to actually pass the new moves, just not make serious errors and make up the point deficit on other moves.

I thought the "judges' school" seminars were different from the Nationwide seminars. We had a local seminar led by the PSA that focused only on the Moves changes. I don't think they called it a "Nationwide Seminar." Perhaps yours was a combination?

Those New Moves-only seminars are being discontinued in favor of the long-standing Nationwide seminars that include a variety of topics.

__________________

I guess I don't really know! I looked at the form again & it says "PSA Moves In The Field Seminars"--but it was for coaches & judges, & we got points for it. Brandon said they've been doing them all over the country--I think this was the 10th one.

Whatever it was, I'm very glad I got to go! I only found out about it very last minute.

Silver is already an insanely long test. They do not need to add additional moves to make it longer. (The new 8-step mohawk does shorten it slightly, because you don't have to pause between sides anymore.) Though I agree that does seem to be where it would need to go. (Unless you put the forward and back 8s on the bronze test- so the backward one is done at a slightly lower standard. There are quite a few other pre-juv moves on the bronze test, so it would match)

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

Here is my video of the demonstration yesterday. It shows the correct transitions. NOTE: the last transition has not changed--just the first 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR3Dd9OIl-Y

Passed Intermediate MITF today, from the 1st try. Was feeling a lot of pressure to pass them before the moves change, as I've passed adult gold moves a year ago (and then did not skate till November, and did not restart working on moves until spring, and even then skated mostly just once a week). Not passing Intermediate before the change would have been a super bummer.

... what a relief!

Will start working on Novice in the Fall, as there is very little good ice time in the Summer, plus we may need to move to a different state. Thank goodness the straight-line brackets-three-brackets are not on Novice anymore.

__________________
--renatele

I could see skaters struggling with Junior, because adding in loops for skaters who have never had to do one in their life is difficult. But the changes to Senior are not bad at all. The spiral pattern is made much easier with the elimination of all the footwork at the end. The footwork sequence is basically the pieces of the circular step, split into a serpentine. There are a few tricky spots but really it's very similar.

Interesting change to the rockers! The step behind is certainly more instinctual. I'm curious to know why it was ever a step in front in the first place.

That's not usually an issue in my area. We have a regional council that governs all the clubs and one thing clubs are generally not allowed to do is schedule test sessions the same day (unless you are doing a low test session at one rink and a high at another or some other way to make it possible for judges, plus male dance coaches mostly are at multiple rinks and they can't be at 2 test sessions at different rinks at the same time, either). But on the plus side, there are never any out-of-club test fees for higher tests (I think novice MIF, novice free, pre-gold dance and anything above those tests), you just don't get priority unless you're a home club member. That keeps the clubs from duking it out over test session dates and the higher rated judges.

Plus it's summer so a lot of rinks in our area are closed or have very limited ice, and the clubs don't do much. It's mostly just the larger clubs doing test sessions over summer. (A lot of the smaller clubs only do 2 test sessions a year, whereas a club like mine will do one just about every month.)

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

It was good to see you on Sunday. I'm not a coach or a judge, but at our test session on Monday, one of the judges suggested I come observe the demo as my coach and I have been working off the book diagrams and videos. I am so glad I did as I was doing the wrong transition on the Novice Inside 3s to Rocker Choctaw.

The best part of the demo was watching Brandon demonstrate the Senior. Too bad my videocam ran out of tape about 5 minutes before!!

I know--my camera battery died during the junior demos (next time I'll be more prepared), so I didn't get to tape that either! The man skates like a god.

__________________

The PSA promoted these mostly through the email blasts and local skating directors. The link on their just-revised website isn't correct, but I think that's just because of the new changes.

We had two "PSA Moves In The Field Seminars" within a two-hour drive, but our Director feels it's so important that she wants to host one at our rink in August, specifically for skaters and coaches. With the Nationwide Seminar rollout, the PSA doesn't have the resources to put together another seminar for the rink. They told her that she could do it on her own, but the PSA coaches would not receive PSA credit, which doesn't make sense since it's the same seminar. Thanks for letting me know it was 8 credits, I'll make a note for the affidavits.

I wonder what the Nationwide Seminar agenda will include?

__________________

Brandon who? Forsythe?

__________________
"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