Patty, I'm with Jazzpants on that one! Your strong skating this year has spoken for itself and you would have stood out like a sore Gold thumb if you had stayed in Silver this year! BTW, I would have failed by all 3 judges last night if I had been leaned just one degree further on that axel landing, so it was really a crapshoot, KWIM?

Michelle hasn't taken her Gold Freestyle test yet because (a) she's been taking it easy on jumps due to a problem with her right knee and (b) she's just finished choreographing her new program and needs to get it down and get her stamina back up. We are going to Torino together in February to watch the Olympics (our poor, battered skating husbands in tow), and she's staying a week longer to watch the Ladies' events, so she won't be back in time for Sectionals. So I think she's just going to try to test in early January to make the Nationals cutoff. I'm just going to do Sectionals this year, since I've got another trip I've committed to with my father at the end of March that will conflict with Nationals. Uh, I guess that's the LONG answer to "Has Michelle tested yet?" LOL!

Well after all the encouraging words I got at Halloween.....I failed my Bronze Free. Only one Judge passed me. Thanks Loop Loop for being there. I blew the back spin and the upright spin during the program and then went up to the judges....."Your Jumps were great, Your Spins are Aweful...you need to re-skate both up-rights" Now that was such a confidence booster that I went out an did another bad back spin and an ok upright.

I was mad for the past couple of days and was ready to quit. But I am back at it and had a lesson tonight. My coach was dissappointed but immediately put me on some back spin drills. In his great Russian way, he asked how my jumps were and I said great..and he said good, you have jumps..some people have no jumps or spins!

In fact in an afternoon session today I was so mad that I went out and started attempting double toes, I fully rotated one but landed on two feet..I had some other good attempts...Anger can work wonders!

I cant beleive I pass Bronze moves on first try and fail on the free...Well I am not going to let this hinder my new goals. I decided that When I am sitting in the stands at Nationals in St. Louis, I will have an axel, and be working on Doubles!

So let it be known that if I dont pass the freeskate in time for Adult Nationals, There is a Bronze Man working an axel and doubles!
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

I just got done PM'ing you asking how your Bronze FS test was and then I read THIS!!!

I'm SO sorry, MSF!!! (((MSF)))

Remember what your coach says about some skaters not having neither spins or jumps (pointing to myself...) though I will gladly trade you some of my upright spins for a loop jump...

And don't give up! If this 'ol Class III (okay, not so old but getting there...) gal isn't giving up after retrying Bronze moves TWICE (you at least passed THAT test ) , you're not giving up on me on those spins, right???

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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 wont give up! More determined now.....I do realize that I can pass the test with crap jumps like most the adults but not with crap spins like mine!!

OH dont get bitter everyone!! I am still working through my anger and I needed to say that!

Tah!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

Hi MSF,

I'm so sorry that you got a re-try on your Bronze free. However, I'm with jazzpants. Don't give up. You've come a very long way in a very short time. You have a lot of talent and you're going to pass this test the next time. I think it's safe to say that many of us know the disappointment of getting a retry on a test and believe me you'll move past this and you'll be ready next time.

Take care,

Frank

Well! I never!

Just kidding!

Believe me your jumps are not crap. You're going to get through this just fine. Don't beat yourself up over this. You'll pass next time, you'll see.

Frank

MSF,
Please take heart in knowing that you are not the only one struggling with the spins on the Bronze moves test! My backscratch has a tendency to flip edges and my sitspin, well !
Just keep working and keep the faith!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Well, you're in good company. I failed my Bronze freestyle test the first time because of my stupid sitspin, and then they added the backspin in, so I had to master that, too. I qualified for Sectionals that year just under the wire, ended up placing second out of 13, and landed my first axel just 6 weeks later! As one of my coaches once told me, "It's better to be a jumper than a spinner, because if you aren't a jumper you'll never be a jumper, but you can always learn to spin." Whether or not that's completely true, these words have given me comfort over the past several years, LOL!

I'll second that!! MusicSkateFan, if you're the skater from Halloween Classic that I'm thinking of, then your jumps are definitely NOT crap!! I'd give an eye tooth or two even just for your waltz jump--it's so high and covers so much ground....

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Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

I'm new to this group. I recognize several names here from another group at which I post.

First, congratulations to you on such an accomplishment. Even though you nerved up, it sounds like you had a great test!

Usually I just lurk at new groups, but your test report spoke to me! I passed AB MITF last year and am working on AB Freeskate for testing early next year, hopefully. My moves test was great before I tested, then I was so stiff during some moves! It really was very irritating to have a roller coaster ride during a test. However, I wasn't as fortunate as you. One of the judges marked me down .1 on a move with no "overs" to balance. But the other two had me above on two moves out of the five, so I ended up passing by two judges only. My coach said unequivocally that I passed. When you said you cried, a release from a good outcome, I did over my test, too. I felt very bad over getting the one "retry", and despite the pass, and my coach's blessing, cried all the way home, feeling like I hadn't really deserved to pass if all three judges didn't pass me! I really felt like I'd let myself down.

Now, of course, I've rationalized the whole thing by saying "a pass is a pass". And I did get those .1's over. Oh, isn't time passage a wonderful thing?! And, I worked afterward, for weeks, with my coach on the suggestions all the judges gave me, to improve. Not sure I have, but I did work!

Congrats to: FrankR and doubletoe for passing Gold Moves (wow, a lot of gold moves this past week!). JulieN for passing the Rocker Foxtrot
Also to MusicSkateFan--I am confident that you will pass that Bronze free soon (my own bronze free test was a disaster the first time around).

I posted in another thread, but I also passed the gold moves last Saturday. I was failed by one judge, and got the passing standard from the other two. I'll totally take that, though--last time I passed by one judge and failed by two. It's much better this way.

The test itself was OK, but not great. I was a little tentative on the power circles, but they felt solid (and were scored above passing). The forward double 3s were at or above passing.
And then, suddenly, inexplicably, I had this huge panic attack because the test was going WELL. Don't ask me why. The thought running through my head was "oh my gosh, this is good, this is actually good...what if I pass? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OhNoOhNoOhNo..." I wish I could just turn off my brain for the test.
It was downhill from there. I rushed the back double 3s, and had to re-skate them because one of the judges was convinced that I didn't know the pattern (I DID know the pattern...I was just rushing the turns). I hopped a three turn in the slide chasse pattern (but recovered pretty well), and then calmed down for the first set of brackets. Then, on the second set, I scraped a BO bracket right in front of the judges. So, of course, I thought I'd make the second one "extra good" and ended up hopping that one and almost touching down.

It wasn't a good test, but I'll take it. There's no way I'll be taking the gold FS any time soon.

So...FrankR and doubletoe...are you continuing on standard track?

I passed preliminary Freestyle finally! I should have tested earlier im working on double flip!!

__________________
SKATING: It's the feeling you get at the end of a hard practice when you pushed yourself to the limit. It's a part of YOU, something you LOVE and HATE. A bond that NO ONE ELSE understands, but that's okay, because every time you get out on the ice it isn't just you; it's all the friends and coaches, all the practices, the pain, the tears, the memories,the laughter, the "off" competitions. It may seem, skating is really a team sport, it's more than just a sport. IT'S A WAY OF LIFE."

I failed the bronze FS twice before the bronze MIF were implemented several years ago, then had to take bronze MIF five times before I finally passed and the bronze FS three more times before I finally passed. In the bronze FS, my nemesis was (is) also spins. Except one of the times I failed, it was because I messed up the loop jump both in the test and in a reskate (and the loop is my best jump). The time I passed, it was also necessary to reskate the loop jump, except that time I got it during the free skate.

In addition to the frustration of not passing so many times, the amount of money I spent on test fees could have bought me a new pair of custom boots!

Hi! Congratulations on passing your Gold MIF!! It is SO MENTAL, isn't it?! I have given up on ever trying to do anything "extra well" because it has always messed me up when I've tried it, LOL! Just staying on track was enough of a challenge after I messed up on the FO dbl 3's and knew I had just used up my one re-skate opportunity.

Since I also managed to pass my Gold FS on Thursday, my focus is now going to shift heavily back to freestyle, where I'll have my work cut out for me! But I am going to learn that one remaining Intermediate move and keep my Gold MIF warmed up so that I can take the Intermediate test in a few months and then forget about MIF for awhile!

Yay!! Congratulations!! Once you are competing in Preliminary, I'm sure it will push you to get all your doubles solid!

Hi e-skater,

I did nerve up but I think my coach and I were working more towards the intermediate standard as opposed to the Adult Gold standard to begin with. Then, when moves started to deteriorate because of the nerves I was still at a standard that was acceptable for this particular test even if it wasn't perfect. Yesterday, my coach told me that one of the judges told him that other than a few rough spots I had a nice test. So, I'll take it.

I feel the same way about my testing experience. Even though I passed, I still feel let down that I didn't skate my best. However, my coach and I both agreed that we would put in a lot of work into my basic skating and just reinforcing holding strong body positions over flowing edges. I'm glad that you could relate to my test report and I can totally relate to your experience. I'm also glad that I coaxed you out of lurk-dom. Don't be a stranger!

Take care,

Frank

Hey penny,

Congrats to you too! What's with all the gold moves tests going on within a one week time frame? I'm starting to think a bunch of us are psychically linked or something.

I am so with you regarding the "Oh No! I might actually pass!" sentiment you had during your test. I think that's part of what happened to me after my forward power circles went so well. I think that's proof positive that our minds try and torture us all the time. And those BO brackets are EVILLE I'll tell you that those particular brackets were responsible for more than one bruised hip on this body.

I don't have a gold free program ready and I don't really intend to move up to gold this season anyway so I'll probably do the adult free sometime next spring.

I have discussed continuing with the intermediate track with my moves coach and I am hoping that I eventually will be able to go all the way through Senior moves. However, at the rate I'm learning these moves I'll probably be an octogenarian before I'm even close to ready for Senior moves.

Take care and congrats again, penny.

Frank

Hey! Congratulations TwirlGirl. Kudos for the double flip too.

Frank

That's my dream in life...senior moves. I'm definitely continuing with standard track, even if it kills me (and from my atrocious attempts at the rocker choctaw pattern, it will)

AHHHH, Yes! Well at the rate *I* AM learning moves, the only Senior Moves I'll be doing is raising my cane as I yell out "You young whippa snappas!!!"

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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!!!

MSF,
Sorry to hear you didn't pass the bronze freestyle test. I feel your pain at sucking at spinning! It took me forever to get a backspin, and even longer to get a decent forward scratch. I HATE spinning! I'm sure that you'll get it next time if you keep plugging away at it. I echo what somebody else said: you've really come a long way in a short time. Why, it seems like just yesterday that you were posing for a calendar and just barely starting to skate. <sniff> They grow up so fast, don't they?

An admiring skate fan of yours,
skaternum

Thanks everyone Congrats on passing all your tests too!

__________________
SKATING: It's the feeling you get at the end of a hard practice when you pushed yourself to the limit. It's a part of YOU, something you LOVE and HATE. A bond that NO ONE ELSE understands, but that's okay, because every time you get out on the ice it isn't just you; it's all the friends and coaches, all the practices, the pain, the tears, the memories,the laughter, the "off" competitions. It may seem, skating is really a team sport, it's more than just a sport. IT'S A WAY OF LIFE."

I'm taking my Gold FS test exactly 1 month from today, on December 14. I really really hope I pass because I would like to compete at AN again this year but I would prefer to skate at Gold rather than Silver. Now that I have gotten used to the 2:40 program, I can't imagine squeezing everything into a 2:10 program again!

The only element I'm worried about is the axel, my nemesis jump.

Congratulations to everyone who has passed their test! It looks like the testing gods are smiling!

Well, maybe you'll end up doing what I did: Practicing your "re-skate axel" after every program run-through, only to land the axel in your program and instead mess up on the stupid easy stuff that you dumbed down your program with just for the test, LOL! But all kidding aside, put two axels in your program so that you'll have 3 chances at it (2 in the program and 1 in the re-skate). Having two axels in my test program saved my butt!

For those of you who haven't read this thread: I want to be the first..., I passed my Bronze FS test this morning!

I'm officially going to Dallas!

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I've got mad salchow disease!