Congrats everyone on passing tests. Wish me good luck, hoping to test Adult Pre-B free and B moves this weekend. My runthrough today was not that great, I'm afraid I need to get my skates sharpened again. When I got them done the last time they really give them enough of an edge. Also, I'm wiped still from yoga on Sunday, and skating Sunday too. My yoga class is not for the feint of heart and I've missed it for 3 weeks for family activities. So I was really pushing it.

Ok enough excuses. The free skills are fine, no real worry there as long as I am careful to let my free leg come around and not try to pull it in the spins. If I wait patiently for the spin to happen its fast and centered. If I push it, well.. I can still probably eek out 3 revs with an optional foot position.

Moves test is more iffy. Power 3s - I think I did them better when I first started working on them. Maybe I'm just more critical now. Having a lot of trouble stepping onto a clean inside edge. Have to do a pretty wide step, which sometimes gets me off balance. My daughter failed her prelim test for stepping on an outside edge and then switching. Are they sticklers for this on the adult test too?

I'd say that depends on the judges. I'd think that they'd be a bit more lenient with an adult as you can't necessarily hold a young child and an adult to the same standard, but then again, you're still expected to do the correct movement/edge by the adult standard, so I'm sure the judges are still looking for the correct edge (inside) on the transition from the power 3 to the crossover. Perhaps ask your coach.

Juv moves really are not that bad. The back power 3's are evil and the 8-step mohawk tends to trip some people up, but other than that, they are not too bad.

While you are not planning on doing synchro, you never know you could get sucked in!

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"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

ibreakhearts: Around here people generally keep on their sweaters/jackets and gloves for moves tests. See if it's acceptable in your area as well--that would help with your cold hands for sure.

Awesome: Drilled Killian exercises yesterday in penance for my bad test Sat. I think it's going to be pretty much all Killian, all the time, until I pass this thing! I do get to work on Paso for a couple of weeks for a competition, but other than that I need to be more disciplined about running lots of patterns.

Awful: Broke a lace, so lost a good 15 minutes getting new ones & re-lacing the boot!

My understanding is that it is a BIG NO NO to step on the outside and switch...for anybody ...I would work on making sure you step right down on the inside edge. Pidgeon toe your feet if you have to.

j

Yup! They sure were with me when I took my Bronze Moves test!!! They are also sticklers (on the Forward Power 3's) for not letting you switch edge when you step into that FO edge for the 3turn too!!!

My suggestion: practice the alt. back crossovers and make sure that you put slightly more weight on your outer foot (the one you that steps out) b/c you want to curve back in. As jskater49 says, pigeon toe your foot if you have to... Do exactly the same for when you step out for the back crossovers on the power 3's.

Yup, you should ask. Of course, in MY case, my primary coach would NOT allow me to wear gloves OR sweaters at moves tests!!! Heck, he was picky as to the TYPE of gloves I should be wearing on my WARM UP at competitions!!! (No weight-lifting fingerless gloves! He wants "something more feminine.") I'm not even gonna speculate on the reasons why, but I suspect it's for HIS asthetics reasons.

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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!!!

I have seen both Prelim and Adult Bronze fail for that - and also seen them pass with that mistake . Aside from getting a good clean BI edge, you could find out what the tolerance of the judges in your area is like for adults.

Awesome & Awful:
Just this week I realized that when turning at will, I always turn CW.
Then I realized that the CCW choctaw in the Prelim power threes is the one giving me trouble. I put it together, and in my lesson today asked my coach if she thought I might be a CW skater who was mistakenly put on the CCW path way back when I was in roller. Sooo... I tried a few CW two foot spins, then did a perfectly centered, rock solid CW one foot spin of three revolutions on my first try. Coach said my weight was exactly where it should be. There was no leaning to one side, no bobbles, etc. Then I tried a stepped through CW waltz jump just to see if I could rotate that direction, and it was also fine. HOW have I gone so long without realizing this? I now have to decide if I am going to switch or not. I can see backspins becoming twice as challenging if I do.

Awesome:
Most of my lesson was spent on figures - meaning only the FO eight. We focussed on getting a good initial push with no lurch and shoulders and free leg aligned properly. I really love figures. When everything is right, it's like meditation. Did move on to FO and FI threes, which are still improving. Then I did my pathetic FO double three figure, which coach said was not all that bad. It brought back the memory of competing the FI double three figure on the day Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswold. My parents saw it live on TV in Ft. Worth, while I was busy putting my foot down on the last BI three (and losing a tie breaker for 3rd place) over in Dallas. Am I really that old?

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Awesome:
Paid a last minute visit to the podiatrist and boy did it pay off this afternoon!
Landed a couple of clean flips for Secondary Coach.

Awful:
How's this for prepaid contract ice:
$9.50 for 30 minute moves session
$15.00 for 60 minute low/mixed freestyle
$17- 19/ hour for high level freestyle
$22 for 50 minute power skating class

Needless to say, no one is going to do any of that, unless it's the bare minimum. We are having a meeting on Thursday night to discuss this.

Secondary Coach has strongly suggested that I consider skating at the other rink across the bay if things can't get worked out.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I see a lot of people have problems with this, and not just on this move. You have to hold the BI edge a long time, and then turn your upper body facing to the boards before you step down on the opposite BI edge. Once you get the placement corrected, the widestep is much easier.

As a judge, that is what I look for MOST on that element whether it is standard or adult track. I won't pass the element if it's consistently the wrong edge to start and then the weight transfers over.. and if it's done really well and held long and clean, I will give it one-tenth up.. since the skater not only can do the element well but also understands that correct edges are one of the main points of that element. But as one of the other posters said.. it does depend on who the judges are for your test. Good luck!

Don't discard your ordinary anti-clockwise spin, though - bi-directional spinning is very much a plus! I prefer spinning clockwise, but my coach makes me do both ways.

*Hugs* Stormy. Next time, for sure....

As for me:

Awful: Got up to go skating yesterday and realised I couldn't go - had a wretched sick headache, which kept me flat on my back all day and I still can't skate today. Maybe tomorrow? Worst thing is that I missed our lesson for this week. Sigh!

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Awful I've completely lost my nerve. I've had too many bad falls in the past month, and knowing that my equipment needs replacement has really caused me to freak out. Although I actually passed it in December, I didn't pass Freeskate 3 today (which is fine, I'm not ready to be in Freeskate 4). I totally chickened out on the back inside 3s (though by the end of the class managed to do one on each side) and I can't do the backspin anymore (though also by the end of class I managed a few revolutions crossed). I'm worried that the instructor is going to think I have a bad attitude about it, because honestly I am scared to try these things right now and don't really want to do it.

My swing rolls were also quite pitiful.

And my ankle bone was really really hurting in my boot. I thought I was getting a blister so I put a band aide on it, but it didn't really help. This morning I looked at it and I have a silver dollar sized welt- I think I may have gotten a bite or something.

Awesome I had a good practice after the lesson. I managed to do the bronze 3 turn pattern, slowly, but without freaking out about the three turns. (Of course I still freak about the 3 turns to start the other patterns. Since "entry steps are optional" will the judges will care if I start the back crossover patterns with a counter rotational turn?) My forward crossover pattern is feeling really good and has a nice rip sound.

I don't think my camel is getting better, still just two bad rotations, but when I come out of it I'm able to cross my foot into a scratch spin now, instead of an ugly stork position or just falling. That's improvement
I also worked on my layback (hah!) and that was fun, if not very good.

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What I need is a montage...
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No MIF for next year for open collegiate, I don't think it's ever even been proposed (only open level with a MIF requirement is open junior). You need juvenile MIF for collegiate division per the USFS, although some teams, particularly those at the top, require or at the very least prefer higher. The only chage pertaining to collegiate synchro for next year was cutting the collegiate division program down from 4:30 and following senior free requirements to 4:00 and following junior free requirements (thank god).

For open collegiate though, you should be able to competently do double 3s, single twizzles, power 3s, choctaws, counters, rockers, etc. It's not judged under IJS, but most of the top teams are choreographing as if it were. You'll find a range of skaters with everywhere from no tests to 2 or 3 gold medals in this division. Some teams do have test levels that they require or at the very least prefer, but that's up to the individual team/coaches.

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

Thanks for the advice everyone. One more question on the power 3s - is the step after the 3 turn, onto an inside edge, a step or a push? I've been doing it as a push, which requires a bit of a hook. I thought that's why they are called power 3s. Or is my pushing technique wrong? I'm pushing like I would for back inside edges. or am I? ahhh now I think I understand the pigeon toe advice. With a back inside edge push I'd be very pigeon toed. Not sure I am when I'm doing this.

Thanks for letting me think this through out loud.

It should be a push, not just a step-down.

In addition to what Thin-Ice commented, I look to see if the skater "plops" the other foot down after doing the 3-turn. I want to see some level of control on the 3-turn and the exiting BI edge, and I want to see some control in putting the new skating foot onto the ice. If that is consistently lacking, I will generally mark the move below passing average.

Being on the wrong edge (e.g. BO instead of BI on the transition) is actually specifically called out as a "common error" in the MIF manual, and the test standards specify "The judge should expect the following... correct edges throughout..."

Hope this helps.

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Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

I tell my students to think of using four pushes in this move:

1. At the axis going into the 3-turn
2. Going into the back inside edge
3 & 4. The crossovers (especially the push under)

And, although I believe we've all determined that not stepping on the inside edge following the 3-turn is incorrect, I'd just like to add that the USFSA Moves in the Field manual states that not stepping on the back inside edge following the 3-turn is a common error that judges are supposed to look for, regardless of whether or not a skater is an adult.

I agree with this... I want to see control of the edges AND the power.. not just a skater flinging body parts around hoping some of them look good enough to pass.

At least where I am "entry steps are optional" means just what it sounds like. Of course there are the traditional ways of getting into things.. but if someone does a 3-turn or a mohawk or a bracket and whichever direction works for them to get into the position to start the pattern, I don't care, as long as they get into the pattern with the correct number of steps (most of the time it says "not to exceed 7 steps" or something similar on the element). What I don't recommend for the entry optional is doing something incredibly well, and then stumbling into the actual element. I've seen it happen... and it's not good.

It is a push, but the push comes from bending the ankle of the 'stepping' foot and shifting your weight to the new foot. You shouldn't be doing a push like you did for consecutive edges. Make sure your transitions are perpendicular to the axis, b/c judges will mark you down if they're not (guess how I know this) and make sure that when you do the back crossover, not only should your 'outer' foot be on the inside edge, your 'inner' foot (the one you're doing the turns on) should shift to an outside edge. Same for the back perimeter stroking - if that foot stays on an inside edge, or a flat, you'll likely be marked down (again, guess how I know this ).

Good luck on your test! (Where are you testing, btw? I didn't know there was a test session in DC this weekend.)

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

Oh don't worry- I won't do it well
Right now my entry is 4 pushes and doing a CCW 3 turn out of the last push, which gets me backwards to do the back crossovers. What I'm hoping to do is 3 pushes and a CW 3-turn then a weight shift to get my momentum going the right way.

My last coach was a stickler that I could never turn against momentum. (Like out of a landing position, I would always turn the "wrong" way to get into my next element, instead of keeping the circle) but my new coach hasn't really said much. Right now I'm practicing it with the CW turn, just because she wants me getting into the move with speed, but I didn't know if it was acceptable to do that on the actual test, because it seems like that if you are doing a move that circles the rink CCW you should turn into it CCW. But if the entry steps are optional- can they really count it against me? And it would really relieve two huge nervous spots for me- since right now I can't even start the move half the time because I freak out. It seems stupid to fail a test over optional steps, if the other ones are okay, just not the norm.

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The official pattern starts horizontally across from the red dot in the hockey circle. As long as you are doing a back crossover by that point, whatever you do before that doesn't matter (well, I think if you fall, that might count against you, but I'm not sure about that).

FWIW, what you are doing sounds really difficult to me (or are you a CW skater?). When I did that move, I did a few steps forward, then a RFI mohawk to get backward, then 1 back crossover before starting the pattern - so my mohawk was before the red dot axis line and then my first back crossover (which was not part of the move) was done on the quarter circle before I was (horizontally) across from the red dot. For the forward perimeter, I didn't do an extra crossover - I just stroked forward and went into the first pattern crossover as I started rounding that first hockey circle.

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

Yes- I am a CW skater. I've gotten very good at turning against my momentum and then getting back to where I should be with a weight transfer because otherwise I'd be trampled in synchro. Thankfully our team is low level enough that the coach doesn't care that I don't always turn the right way as long as I keep working on it. (When we are hooked up I can do the turns, so that's not an issue. It's just going fast!)

Once I get into a "groove" I can do the CCW turns, but there is just something about that first one that gets to me. On the power 3 turn pattern, if I get the first one, I can get the entire pattern, and even gain momentum, but I'm still working really hard on making sure I don't freak out about the first one, same thing with the mohawks (though the angle of the 5 step mohawk is a bit better, and I can go at it a bit slower).

It just seemed that so much of my nerves and issues with this test would be relieved if I can get rid of 2 of the turns that freak me out the most about this test, and aren't really even part of it- the turns on the other two backward crossover patterns. Obviously I can't get rid of it on the 3-turn pattern . ) I suppose if I get picky judges and they don't like it and fail me, it's alright and I'll keep working- maybe I shouldn't be able to pass a bronze test if I'm not comfortable turning both ways equally, but right now I feel like I do the moves well and that it's the entries holding me back.

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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)

My coach makes me do the right FI mohawk, even though I'm a CW skater. He says it looks too weird if I do a left one. I've gotten used to it now, but it was really hard when I first started. I agree with you, though, that first mohawk is the worst. The rest of the on the 5-step are not as bad for some reason. I really don't have trouble with them. I had the same problem on that first right inside 3 on the Pre-bronze.

Testing at the Gardens, I hope. We are still working on getting one more judge.

Good luck! If that test session doesn't work out, there is one at Ice World (Harford County, MD) on July 7.

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

Awesome: I'm finally starting to get off my toepick on spins, and some of my spins were actually centered. Nice Salchows from a mohawk entry. The Salchow is now my favorite jump.

Awful: Toeloops. Many bad falls onto my right hip caused me to lose my jump by the end of an hour. I really do hope it comes back next time. Not sure why I'm falling either. The jump feels fine until I get to the landing, and then *BAM!* I hit the ice. Perhaps it was just a bad toeloop day.

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