Back…But as a Judge
Last Saturday, I had a very cool full-circle moment. I was invited to judge an in-person test session (and also trial some higher level tests). The event was held at the Mount Vernon Rec Center, which is a beautiful facility outside of Washington, DC.
The last time I was at this rink was in October, when I competed at the ISU Adult International figure skating event. I had so much fun at that event, and I didn’t know how it would be to be on the “other side” of the boards.
It turns out that the “other side” is very, very cold! We didn’t have any seating (except a very low bench in the hockey box, but that would have prevented us from seeing the skaters’ blades), so the judges stood the whole time. When you are standing in a rink and not moving for 2 hours, it tends to get quite chilly!
I was elated to have been able to judge some tests and trial a few. The judging panel was very experienced, and I got to bounce some questions off of them. It’s always wonderful to learn from the best! What was especially rewarding is that I brought up a few things that the judges hadn’t considered before. One example comes from the Pre-Gold skating skills test. For this particular element, the requirement is that the skater starts the move from a standstill (it states that on the test form). When I did the online training for this element, the instruction was to give a 1-point deduction if the skater that began the element while moving. As such, I took off a point for a skater that did not start the element from a standstill. The judging panel applauded me for noticing that detail, since none of them deducted a point (and might in the future).
Long story short – make sure you read the test form and understand the requirements. If the element says to start from a standstill, make sure you do that. If it says that you cannot stop in between patterns, keep moving. All of the test requirements are in the public domain, so familiarize yourself with what you’re being judged on.
Thanks again to the Washington FSC for hosting me. I learned a lot that day and hope to be invited back soon!
They didn’t give the judges any seating?! Wow, and here my club is worrying about whether the judges are getting the comfiest possible (and non-stacking, inconvenient to store) rolling office chairs vs thinner but stackable office chairs.
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No seating – just the hockey box. The bench in there was too low to see the skaters’ blades, so we chose to stand up instead.