It's all up to me now!

Today was my final lesson with Christopher before my test on Friday. It was another crowded session but he promised me he would skate along with me as I did my moves to keep me from running over children, or vice versa. Even still, it was nearly impossible to move around the rink with so many littles.

Power Perimeter Stroking - He seemed happy about me doing a better job staying true to the axis (I still have my moments, though!). I'm also consistently getting on the FI edge right after the crossover on the forward strokes so that's nice. He would like to see a bit more emphasis on the BI edge on the backward strokes, though. Other than that, things look fine here.

Power 3 Turns - He reminded me to count the steps in my head because I have a tendency to rush the back crossover. When I remember to count, things even out a bit more and I'm able to extend things out a bit.

BX-BO edges - Well, this just felt too dangerous to do as a whole but from the few lobes I was able to do, he seemed to like them enough. He pointed out that I'm extending for too long on the final step. Extend enough to return to the axis, then step forward, then present.

Circle 8 - We couldn't do this in the middle because it was a right proper zoo over there so we did them at the end of the rink using the middle part between hockey circles as my starting point. I did two circles and as I was returning to center, a little girl appeared out of nowhere and stood.right.there! I skated over and stood next to Christopher and we just kinda stared at her and had to laugh a little at how impossible these sessions are. Once she moved, I started again. According to him, this is by far my strongest move so, if I botch things up elsewhere in the test, I might be able to make up some points here. Let's hope anyway. At least I won't have little girls standing in the center of my pattern!

Five Step Mohawks - We spent a bit of time on this. I think my flow was off today (probably because it was so distracting) because some lobes were stronger than others. I just need to remember to count, keep my feet together on each step, twist my body properly on the 3rd step (I either twist too much or not enough), and don't cheat my lobes. You know, details.

At the end of our lesson, he mentioned that he thinks I'm much more prepared for this test than I was for my Pre-Bronze test a year ago. I think I've grown a lot as a skater in this past year and I'm much stronger and confident now so that makes a difference. He reminded me to stay calm, trust myself, and exude confidence. I know what to do, I've trained for it, now I just need to go out there and show the judges what I'm made of :)