Skating Fridays

Novice Moves – Passed!

Earlier this month, our rink held a test session. I did not sign up because I know how nervous I get to skate when skating in front of judges and while skating in dead silence.

My coach told me that I was ready to attempt my novice moves test (Adult 21+ version). She wasn’t exuding a lot of confidence, but just told me to go ahead and try. So, I went ahead and signed up for a virtual test session. Unfortunately for me, the video was due in less than a week.

We filmed one attempt during my lesson, and it was meh. I totally messed up the forward loops on that take, and I had two very minor bobbles on my backwards twizzles, which were very uncharacteristic of me. You could even hear my coach groan in the video. She asked me to go home, watch the video, and decide if I wanted to turn that video in.

I decided to refilm my test. I signed up for another freestyle session the following morning, which happened to be the morning of the in-person test session at my rink. As other skaters were running through their test elements, I asked my pairs partner to video me. The ice was not awesome since it was the last session of the morning before the test session, so it was choppy in a few parts.

I finished skating the test and it felt OK. It felt much better than the attempt the previous day. My coach asked me how I felt about it, and I said, “OK.” After I went home to watch it, I realized that it was probably one of my best attempts of the entire test to date. I decided to bite the bullet and just turn it in.

After one full agonizing week, I was getting very nervous and anxious. I had not heard from my coach so I texted her. She told me not to worry and that she’d contact me as soon as she received something from the test chair.

I happened to be traveling for work and kept looking at my phone to see if anything had come in. One evening, I went to bed and was having trouble falling asleep. I finally did and woke up in the middle of the night. Something told me to check my phone, so I did. Sure enough, there was a text from my coach saying congratulations. She attached the test papers and I got to see that I actually passed!

Somehow, I passed from all 3 judges. One judge gave me a 0, one gave me a +1 and the third gave me a +3!!!

I’ll try to break down the judges’ scores and comments in another post but wanted to share the video with you.

Onto Junior Moves!