Testing Observations

I went down to the rink today to observe the USFSA testing. I observed a number of tests, but they were only of two kinds, the Pre-Juvenile Moves In The Field and Juvenile Moves In The Field.

The Pre-Juvenile MIF tests were particularly interesting to watch since I watched 5 or 6 of them. The forward and backward perimeter crossover stroking was about what I would have expected. The 3-turn sections were also what I had seen, except that I'm used to watching them being down across the short axis of the rink, and these are all done down the long axis (a lot of them!). The power pulls (power change of edge pulls) are something I'd seen before but I didn't know what they were called. And finally the 5-step Mohawk sequence was also something I'd seen before. It was interesting to observe since, for some of these elements at least, I know what the judges were looking for.

The only coaches present were Linda, Cecilia, and Anna. My skater buddy Nicole (Anna is her coach) was there for a bit too. It seemed like most of the students were Linda's and Cecilia's, and they were mostly (of course) young girls. There was a teenage boy there though (I think his name is Bob) -- the only male I saw testing. If he wanted to skate pairs I bet he could get a partner in a millisecond :-).

I committed a horrible faux pas. There was an adult skater there (I think her name is Trish) who I'd seen before at coffee club. I guess she was doing her Juvenile MIF. Anyway, I was walking over to get a better view of the testing and was standing next to her, so I congratulated her, only to find out she didn't pass her test. I felt like such an ass! I apologized profusely and more than once, but I still felt like I'd committed the unforgivable crime. I'll probably be forever marked in her book as the stupid guy who rubbed salt in her wounds. *sigh*

Anyway, it was very instructive to watch. I alternated between feeling overwhelmed ("there's no way I could ever do that!") and being encouraged ("hey, I think I could do those eventually").