Bronze Moves Test Experience

So close... but no cigar! One judge passed me but I need at least 2 to pass the Bronze Moves test.

Here's my take on things:

PASSING AVG: 2.5

Forward perimeter crossovers: I got a 2.3 from one judge and a 2.7 from a second judge! Don't remember what the third judge thought of it...but I think it was borderline passing. I did remember that the comment was pretty much "Good power, skated on flats though..." One other judge did comment that I was "walking" on my crossovers. She wants progressives (as in "cross under"), NOT crossovers (as in... well, crossovers!!!)

Back perimeter crossovers: The toe pick monster got me on this one... again, I had a "skated on flats" comment. (As you can see, this is a reoccuring theme for me.) But this time there were no comments on flow and speed... (Last time I took it I was marked for being SLOW too!!!) I think you would need to do back progressives to pass this test. BEND your knees!!!

Forward Power 3's: This is where I did get comments for power and for toe picks. One judge commented on my being out of control on the transition to RFO from back crossovers on the end pattern... (Yeah! I was a bit wild there...) Same judge also said that the 3's were SWINGY... And yes, the toe pick monster and flat edge monster got me here too... (God! I hate HATE HATE this move!!!) Another move that you have to BEND your knees on is this one b/c of the power thing...

Back crossover to BO edge: No comments on extensions. They commented again on the flat edge here too. (I REALLY need to work on back crossovers!!!! YIKES!!! ) BEND your knees!!! It does help you on the "continuous flow and strength" part of the moves...

5 step mohawk: Step on flat (probably that 3rd to 4th edge is bad...) FI mohawk "hoppy". No comment on extensions though. I guess I did okay on that. Don't know what happened to me on that one... Probably I was quite tired and exhausted by the time I did this move.

I also don't remember which move, but I got a "good posture" remark from one of the judges on one of the moves... (Which I find funny since that's one of my WORST attributes in skating...)

General comments:

Overall I think most of the low scores were not below 2.3. (I think one of my moves on the really tough judge was like 2.2. She essentially gave me scores more closer to "I didn't improve from last year...") The one judge that DID judge me last year gave me much better scores overall this year. Some were 2.4's. The judge that passed me had me at 2.5's on some moves and a 2.7 on the forward perimeter. (B/c of the power I got from that move...) My not getting a reskate had nothing to do with ONE particular move. It was an overall thing. (i.e. the other two judges that didn't pass it gave me 2.3's on some moves and 2.4's on others.) If it was a matter of one move being on the borderline and everything else was passing, then yes, it would have been a different story. But this is not one of those cases! I was not deemed a reskate b/c of this.

REALLY BEND KNEES!!! If I did bend my knees enough, I'd probably would have gotten better scores on some of the moves... Certainly, it would harder for the toe pick monster to get me!

Watch your posture!!! They do watch for that... and besides, if you lurch over, then you'll definitely get bitten by the toe pick monster...

Just b/c "power" is taken out in place of "continuous flow and strength" doesn't make it that much easier to pass. If anything, having the emphasis on power encourages the skater to work on better technique. And as we all know, better technique makes skating those move elements ten times EASIER! (See the notes on "flat edges." If I had worked on power, there would be no "flat edges"...)

Also on the same vane: Taking out "power" in place of "continuous flow and strength" DOES NOT mean you can slow down!!! You still need to go FASTER and PUSH!!! This is the "continuous flow and strength" part of the moves! (Ha HA! And we, the pre-Bronze Peanut Gallery thought we have it lucky, huh? )

And speaking of flat edges: WATCH THOSE EDGES!!! Make SURE you're ON a true edge!!! This is primarily what did me in this time! If I had skated on a correct and true edge, I probably would have passed this test... Currently, it's probably kinda hard for me to distinguish and the only person who can tell me whether I'm on an edge or not are my coaches.

I don't have my test form with me. I'll get a copy of it sometime towards the end of the month. I'll have more comments then. Primary coach did read mine and did relay the comments onto my secondary coach, so they know what they have to work on now... One note of encouragment though... I will be testing again in two months!!! Secondary coach wants me to try it again!!!