Recap from Sectionals – Part 2
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| Photo courtesy of Pixel8 Studios |
I wanted to review my protocols from Adult Sectionals with you this week. I know that these judges’ score sheets can be very confusing to understand, so I’ll try to break it down. The IJS system is still a learning process for me, so it helps me to type all this out to better understand it too.
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| Photo courtesy of Pixel8 Studios |
First of all, my protocols have much improved from the previous competitions in the last year. I met a lovely skater at last year’s Adult Nationals competition, and both of us had been aiming to break the 25 point mark. I consistently earned 22 points in all of my 2015 competitions because I kept making silly mistakes. I earned the dreaded “dash of doom” in every competition so I didn’t earn as many points as I could/should have. To earn 26+ points this time was a huge victory for me. A 4-point increase from my previous score is an awesome feat. While 4 points doesn’t sound like a lot, consider the fact that it is about a 25% increase. Wow.
Here is my full protocol. I’ll explain the details below.
We’ll start with the Technical Elements first, which are listed 1 through 9 in the top half of the document.
- SSp3 – A level 3 sit spin. I executed an illusion (difficult entry), cannonball and tuck position in my standard sit spin. This spin earned +1 and +2 grades of execution (GOE), and I earned 2.60 points. This is what I like to call my “money” spin since it the element with the highest scores on my sheet.
- 1Lo – Single loop jump. I earned full credit on this element.
- 1A< – Single axel. Because I underrotated it slightly, I got the < mark and negative GOE. I know I two-footed the landing.
- CCoSp3pB – Change foot combination spin, 3 positions, Base value. I executed a camel, sit, back sit into an upright. My camel spin has been inconsistent, so to see positive GOE on this spin made me extremely happy.
- 1S+1T – Single salchow plus single toeloop combination. I received full credit for this combination jump.
- CSSpB – Change foot sit spin, base value. I was hoping for a level 1 sit spin with a back twist variation, but I did not hit the 2 full revolutions. I also had a weird spin exit where I almost fell. Luckily, I received full value for this spin.
- ChSt1 – Choreographic step sequence. I had a few trips and bobbles, so I am not surprised that I received negative GOE on this.
- 1F+1Lo+1T – Single flip plus single half loop plus single toeloop. I got a downgrade on my half loop. I guess it wasn’t all the way around.
- 1F+1T – Single flip plus single toeloop. I received a few negative GOEs for this element so received slightly under the base value for this two-jump combination.
Total Technical Score: 11.28. This is higher than my previous best of ~10 points (at the 2014 Adult Nationals).
For Program Component Scores (PCS), I earned a total of 15.10, which is higher than my personal best (around 13 or 14 points). Of the 6 areas that make up PCS, you’ll see that the lowest point value was around Interpretation. I need to do a better job connecting to the music, judges and audience. The good news is that my Skating Skills score is improving. That makes me happy since Coach and I have been working hard on that over the past year.
I am skating this program one more time before I retire it. Then I plan to create a brand new program, with new music and new choreography. My hope is that I can find a piece of music that I can really bring to life and showcase my strengths.
Stay tuned next week for the recap of my Dramatic event from Sectionals.
