Bronze Moves Test -- "Retry"

 My Adult Bronze Moves in the Field Test today at the Ice Den Chandler (Desert Ice Skating Club of Arizona hosting).  I arrived at the rink about 6:35 for a schedule warmup of 7:19 and scheduled test time of 8:07.  The test session started at 6:15 a.m. and I was the last skater of the 2nd group of tests.

I got to the rink, ate a banana, relaxed a bit, then got my skates on -- just as well, as they were running a bit early.  I got on for my warmup around 7:02.  Warmup went okay, although I was definitely feeling the nerves. I did a couple of laps of stroking, then ran through the perimeter XOs, power-3s, 5-step mohawk and BXOs to BO edges.  A few times I had to dodge other skaters so it was not a perfect runthrough, but it was kind of okay.  I also spotted a reasonably clean spot to place my circle-8.  Then warmup was over.

Hurry up and wait!  I sat and chatted with Holly and tried not to think.

Finally, it was time for me to skate. I skated out to the judges (Hal, Molly and Ken) and Hal basically gave me some encouragement and off I went.

1. Perimeter XOs -- My knees/legs were shaking so badly on the FXO part!  Ugh.  So I was slow because I was convinced if I pushed too hard I'd fall.  Yuck.  The last two FXOs around the end were particularly iffy.  The BXOs were better and I felt better.
2. Power-3s -- for some reason I felt okay for these.  They were about the same as they've been in practice.  I did try to get better BXOs but without much success.
3. BXOs to BO edges -- I though I had decent speed and flow on these.  Yay!
4. circle-8 -- I was pretty nervous about this too.  I went out to my chosen spot and, Deo gratias! it was relatively clean.  I was nervous that I would push too hard and lose my balance (done that in the past), and not push hard enough and not make it around (done that too).  I started (LFO first) and it was okay.  Made it back to center and tried to get a decent push for the RFO -- I came up a little short, but went ahead and pushed to the RFI and it was okay. Made it back to center okay and pushed to the LFI and it was okay -- I made the LFI circle smaller and so I made it back just fine.
5. 5-step mohawk -- It was relatively okay, i.e., about the same as it's been.  A bit rough in spots and scrapey.

I finished, and as I was skating back to Holly, Hal said "Thank you Gordon." so I knew no reskate.

When I look at the above notes and compare them to the my last try at this test (6 years ago to the day!) (see it here ) -- it's very similar!  I don't know if that's good or bad.

Finally, they brought me my test sheets.  I did not pass.  Here's a brief transcription of the judges' comments (H=Hal, K=Ken, M=Molly):

1. Perimeter XOs
   (H) F - has some flow but no strength
   B - lots of 2 foot skating
   (score -1)
   (K) edges fairly shallow
   (score 0)
   (M) Very tentative, not demonstrating "strength) (arrow to underline of that word on the test sheet criteria)
   (score -1)
2. Forward Power Three-Turns
   (H) Not completing move
   lacks crossover after 3's -- 3's need more control
   (score -1)
   (K) R - no entry edge on turn
   L - free leg wild
   use the ice
   did 3 turns but no ice coverage
   (score -1)
   (M) on a straight line
   not achieving expectations -- YET
   (score -2)
   
3. Alternating Bkwd Crossovers to BO Edges
   (H) Back edges need to be BOutside edges
   most BI with a couple flats
   (score -1)
   (K) flow ok
   lacking strength
   (score -1)
   (M) B edges are flats or insides
   (score -1)
4. Forward Circle Eight
   (H) Rt outside not back tocenter
   Flow not continuous
   (score -1)
   (K) edges ok, flow lacking
   (score 0)
   (M) circles are very small, but few wobbles
   (score -1)
5. Five-Step Mohawk Sequence
   (H) Edge quality lacking
   not really mohawks
   (score -1)
   (K) edges shallow
   step 3 dragging toe pick
   lacking ext. (extension)
   (score -1)
   (M) Lacking control - check (arrow to criteria on sheet)
   (score -2)

Final comment from Hal: "Keep working - skill development still needed"

If you don't know, the way the tests work these days is '0' is passing and then it goes up or down from there.  You need a 0 or better to pass.  I got a -5 from Hal, -3 from Ken and -7 from Molly.

 So!  I'm disappointed, but I honestly thought passing was probably not going to happen.  Even though I felt that I am skating these better than I did the last time, I knew that 6 years is a long time between tests and I was going to be crazy nervous (and I was, and I think it showed especially in #1 and #4).

So why did I test?  To get through it, to get some feedback (which I did! Good feedback).  Of course I'm a bit disappointed, and I would like to have passed.  But that's the way it goes.

So what's next?  After my last test I decided to work on skating faster -- I took power with Holly for several months and then I changed coaches and broke my ankle and .... stuff happened.

So what's next?  After reading this feedback and re-reading it from 6 years ago... I really need to fix some things in my skating.  My 3s, which have little control. My mohawks (see Hal's comment).  I do think if I did a better mohawk I would not be dragging my toepick so much and my 5-step would be much better.

The issues with the BXOs to BO edges are fixable, though I was surprised at Ken's comment as I though the flow was pretty good and I was generated good power.  The issues with the perimeter XOs are mostly nerves (though not entirely), which hopefully I can get better at.

I had hoped to test again this summer before my schedule goes nuts in the fall, but I don't see much point in testing if I don't at least fix my 3s and mohawks and that's a big project.  Ugh.  I'll talk with Holly about it on Wednesday.