After the Test

For about 12 hours, I was happily occupied with my success passing the silver moves test. And then I started wondering about what was next. Will I start on gold moves right away? With everything else I'm working on right now, I don't think I will. But that got me thinking, why did I start on silver moves when I did?

I had to think all the way back to August when I passed bronze moves. I took both my pre-bronze and bronze moves in the same test session. After I broke my ankle, I couldn't jump, so Coach started me on bronze moves alongside pre-bronze. All my lesson time was spent on those two moves tests. Before leaving the rink that test day, I said to my coach, "Yay! New moves!" because I knew we would get started on the next moves test right away.

At the time, I could not spin. At all. So pre-bronze free skate test was not even on the horizon. The only upcoming competition was only 2 weeks away with nothing else until March. And shall I repeat? I couldn't spin. It's hard to put together a program with no spins. I was also still only just getting back to jumping after my ankle injury. So we began silver moves.

This time is completely different. I'm registered for a competition taking place in less than a month, and I'm aiming at a September competition as well. I think my backspin is good enough to pass the bronze free skate, so I'm thinking about when I might take that test. I'm working all my single jumps up through lutz, and a few combinations. Sit spin, camel spin, scratch spin, change foot, backspin. I've got plenty of stuff on the horizon without adding gold moves into the mix.

When I set out to make skating goals for this year, I didn't want to test bronze free until the end of the year, so I could have the option of skating pre-bronze at the September competition. But I've made a lot more progress in freestyle than I expected. One of my skating friends has called me a sand-bagger on a couple of occasions. And well, I'm beginning to feel like maybe I am. I might like to have a slightly more consistent lutz before bronze, but I think it will get there if I actually start practicing it more. I know it's not required, but most skaters in my area have one in their bronze programs.

In other news, I'm falling in love with the camel spin. I caught one of my best on video the other day. I showed it to my sister and she said that I am no longer a remedial spinner. But then what can I use as the tagline for my blog?