My 7 year old passed his first MIF test today. Most of the exercises he has been more than ready for for a while - except - the spirals! His right leg sprial (i.e. skating on right leg, left leg up) was probably borderline - (his cross-overs and other things are quite strong) but - in the end he passed.
He was so thrilled it is quite sweet.

What is it though with boys and spirals though? (And boys and sit spins.....)The girls (only slightly older than him) have beautiful spirals!

My husband has beautiful spirals. But I'm just thankful that Level 1 Field Moves weren't introduced before I'd already taken the Novice Dance Moves test, years ago - I'd have never got those spirals, and I certainly won't get the Level 3 ones.

Well done your lad!

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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!

Boys are "built differently" in terms of spirals. Also can affect camel spins. YOu often see guys doing camels "open" because of the male hip construction.

My kid did 747's (airplanes up and down on the skating leg) and used a MaxiFlex; yours is too young, IMHO, to use the MaxiFlex, but, my kid does now have a nice camel position, and is working on his spiral. Just not with a lot of effort, guys don't need spiral sequences for short programs and all that, and get options for tests that mean he doesn't need to do them (we're not US based).

As for sit spins, though, he's lower than most of the girls, in part because of powerful quads that let him get down, rotate and then up (it's the getting up that will kill you) ... however, he had to train that doing lots of squats, stretches, and simple hours of practice. His sits used to be pretty awful, but, a video showing him how silly he looked with his butt poking up seemed to help.