2019-2020 Adult Competition Series

Last week, the USFSA released the new Adult Competition Series Handbook for the 2019-2020 competition season and I'm excited by some of the changes they made! Since I plan on competing at the Adult Bronze level this season (provided I pass both tests by the end of the summer), I was pretty worried about the Bronze Compulsory Moves which included a backspin and BI 3 turns. However, they updated the compulsory moves for this next season and the backspin is gone! Yaaaaay!

I am able to do a backspin but it's just not pretty to look at and I really didn't want that to hurt my placement at competitions. Now, I am allowed to do any solo spin as long as there is no change of foot. They also got rid of the waltz-toe loop combo and replaced it with a skater's choice of jump combo or sequence as long as it's not a lutz or axel. Neat! That gives me some freedom to play around with jumps. The BI 3 turns are still there but I think if I really buckle down and work on them I can make it happen by my first competition in September. I used to be able to do these about 12 years ago but now they are pretty terrifying. Once my moves test is done on Friday, I'm going to ask Christopher to work with me on these to get them back up to speed.

So, I have updated my links to include the 2019-2020 ACS Handbook on the left-hand side of this blog under "USFSA Resources" in case you want to take a peek. But, here are the Adult Bronze CM requirements in full:

• Single Salchow
• Jump combination or sequence consisting of 1/2 revolution jumps and/or full revolution jumps (no lutz or axel) - max 2 jumps in combo and 3 jumps in a sequence
• Solo spin with no change of foot (min. 3 revolutions)
• Backward inside 3 turns - right and left
• Spiral sequence (min. 2 spirals)

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a child

I was really hoping that my Thursday sessions would be less of a zoo but alas. Same children, same danger. Don't get me wrong, they are cute as hell but they are everywhere!! Needless to say, I don't really feel like I made progress on anything today. Every pattern I did was interrupted so as not to run into a child. I mostly worked on whatever I could wherever I could. I'm going to attempt to go back to the Sport Stable to skate on a Sunday afternoon public session and see how that goes. I've been back once since I broke my leg there two years ago and it was a bad experience. I was still sort of recovering and the ice was rutted and dangerous. I felt like I was going to break again just being there. So yeah, I'm apprehensive about going back there but I'm getting close to test day and I need to be able to get some meaningful work done on these moves. I remember their Sunday afternoon sessions not being terribly crowded so I'm hoping not much has changed in that regard. In addition, they just recently took down the ice to paint curling circles so I'm also hoping that the new ice won't be as bad (or dangerous) as I remember. I'm bringing my husband in case I need to be driven to the hospital.

In other news...I bought another Brad Griffies dress and I spent more money on it than I'm comfortable revealing here. Just know that I get a little sick feeling in my stomach when I think about how much was spent. But it's GORGEOUS! It's a prototype dress that comes already stoned and it's such a fun design. I think I have music already picked out that should match it but, of course, I won't be starting any new programs any time soon. I have to get through this season first but I'll be ready when it's time! It's good to be prepared. Poor, but prepared :)

Test Prep

Lesson today and it's also the start of the summer contract. I always get a bit excited every time a new contract starts. It's a bit like the anticipation you feel on the first day of school when you're a kid and you wonder who is going to be in your class. It's always fun to see who is going to be skating on my session for the summer. This excitement wore off quickly, though, when I discovered that I'm sharing my summer ice with a lot of very small children who still need their parents to tie their skates. I have nothing against the children, it's just that very young beginners often lack situational awareness and that kind of ramps up the danger factor. Because they don't watch where they are going, that means I need to focus less on technique, speed, and power and more on dodging little girls. Sigh. By the time Christopher got on the ice for our lesson, I had already been skating (and practicing my duck and weave technique) for about 40 minutes so I was properly warmed up.

Power Perimeter Stroking - We went through the whole test in order. Again, he reminded me to be mindful of the axis although he said it was slightly better than the last time. Also, don't forget to step onto an inside edge after the forward crossovers and really extend the underpush on the backward crossovers.

Power Three Turns - This was tough to get through because of all of the "little people traffic" but I did what I could. I think he understood. I need to work to get my bad side a bit more powerful.

BX-BO Edges - Again, this was tough to get though since I really had no desire to take off anyone's head with my knife shoes but I got through what I could. Same thing as the backward power strokes, exaggerate the underpush and PUSH going into the BO edge.

Circle 8 - I did this really well and nobody got in my way. When I skated back to him he seemed very pleased and didn't have any corrections. Yay!

Five Step Mohawks - We spent a bit of time on this just smoothing out the steps a bit and making sure I don't cheat the lobes.

Overall, he seemed okay with everything. He said that he really liked the Circle 8 and the progress I've made on that. This was such a struggle for me because of my injury but the time I invested in it has paid off and now it's my strongest move. Maybe I should dedicate that kind of time to some of my other really weak elements like the backspin, BO/BI three turns, and flip jump.

I have just a few practices left and one more lesson and then I take my test. I feel pretty confident. I'm definitely feeling more excitement than nervousness or anxiety so that's quite a bit different than last year's Pre-Bronze test. I've come a long way :)

Haste will not help you

Including today, I have only 5 practice sessions before I skate my test. That's not a lot! Because time is limited, I really wanted to slow things down today to make sure I'm skating with proper form and technique.

Off Ice warm-upz - First of all, why the hell is it snowing outside?! It's almost June, dammit! So, I walked quickly from my car to the entrance of the rink (it's not a short walk) and almost ate it on a slippery bit of sidewalk. Cool. So, I walked more slowly even though I knew my hair would get wet and then refreeze inside the rink. Pneumonia > broken bones :) Once inside, I walked two laps, ran one, stretched, and finished off the rest of my squats for the day (day 21 = 180 squats!). One of the unexpected benefits of this stupid squats challenge is that my bad ankle is starting to feel a bit more flexible so, when I do my dorsiflexion stretches before hitting the ice, my ankle feels a bit more loose. That's nice.

On Ice warm-upz - Laps, edges, and a ton of Circle 8s.

Movez - Ooooh, I spent so much time on these! Since I did a bunch of Circle 8s (or is it Circles 8?) during my warm up, I didn't include them here. I started with Power Perimeter Stroking making sure to pay attention to the axis. My lobes felt smaller but they were true to the axis. Next up were the Power 3 turns. Before I ran them, though, I just did some RFO 3 turns on one of the hockey circles since I tend to skid on them when I do them in the pattern. I think this is also a contributing factor to my bad side being less powerful. Once that was done, I ran the whole thing several times making sure to increase power throughout the end pattern so I have more speed going into my bad side. On all of the patterns I did, I was able to get 3 and 3. Progress! BX-BO Edges were next and those are feeling really good now that I am paying more attention to the axis and that little push right before the BO edge. Finally, Five Step Mohawks. I finished off my lobes, tried my best to keep my feet together during the mohawks, and focused on extension. I think these are okay enough.

Jumpz & Spinz - Even though my test is quickly approaching, I don't want to neglect the other stuff. So, my last 20 minutes was evenly split between jumps & spins and the free skate program. Since my ankle was feeling really strong today, I did a bunch of sit spins. I felt like I got a bit lower today so I took some video. It was lower but just ever so slightly. These little gains will add up over time so I was determined not to get too discouraged. Camels were a straight disaster today so I moved on to backspins. I wasn't able to cross my leg at all so these are still flamingo'd. I'm still getting 5-6 revs on them so, again, I'm trying not to beat myself up over it. It's frustrating though. I've been working on these for too long for them to look like this. Finally, attitude spins. These were acceptable today! I had a few that were actually centered! What?! I ran through all of my jumps (except the flip because I forgot) and, once these were comfortable, I started working on the program.

Programz - I feel like I made some progress on this! I'm still doing things very slowly hoping that speed will naturally increase over time the more confident and secure I feel with the new choreography. I'm starting to get a feel for where everything should go. Also, an unexpected benefit to practicing this is that I'm doing a lot of spirals. I used to hate working on spirals but now I do them without thinking and they don't feel scary anymore. This will get there but it's slow going. Moving jumps around and adding additional footwork to this thing makes me feel like I'm starting from scratch. But, I'm determined to make it great :)

Registration Complete!

Lesson today and I have officially decided that I want to test my Bronze Moves on June 7th per Christopher's suggestion. I told him what I've decided and he said he wanted to see the entire test before he gives me the go ahead to actually register for the thing.

Perimeter Power Stroking - My main issue with this is staying true to the axis. If I can just focus on that, I think this move will be okay. I just have to even things out a bit. He also made a small adjustment to the backward crossovers at the end. He would like me to do 3-5 back crossovers all the way around the dot on the opposite lutz corner. Make it BIG .

Power 3 Turns - The first time I did the move I did 3 lobes down and 4 lobes coming back. Christopher reminded me that "power" doesn't mean "quick" so it's okay to expand things out more as long as I push. Keeping this in mind, the second time I did it, I was able to get 3 and 3. He would also like me to be a little less timid going into the second half of the move (the end pattern). I'm "walking" into it when I should be going in with some more speed and power. That will give me the momentum I need to get the 3 lobes on my bad side.

BX-BO Edges - He seemed pleased enough with these. He reminded me to really push into the extension at the top of the lobe.

Circle 8 - He was generally okay with this as well. My LFO circle is still my weakest but I'm getting around consistently on it and it's not entirely awful. He told me to keep my extended foot lower. I was extending it out too far.

Five Step Mohawk - He would like to see neater feet and I have a tendency to rush getting into the next lobe such that I'm not entirely finishing the previous one. I think the metaphor he used was that I'm that person who is cutting people off in traffic because I'm in such a rush to get to where I'm going. So, I just need to make sure I'm taking my time and really finishing off each lobe properly. I also need to start the move with a properly shaped lobe. I went in a bit at an angle. Follow the hockey circle all the way around. He didn't say anything about me being scratchy on the 4th step so maybe I've succeeded in correcting that problem.

So, overall, I still have some polishing up to do but it's mostly minor stuff. I'm just cleaning things up a bit to make them more presentable. He gave me his blessing to go ahead and register for the test so that's what I did! I'm taking this test on June 7th! Yikes!!!

Breakthrough!

I've been thinking a lot about what Christopher proposed last week regarding taking my Moves test in June instead of July. Honestly, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with my Moves (more comfortable than I did with my pre-bronze moves!) and there is no excuse for me not to test them in June. Another 4 weeks of drilling them will not really improve much of anything. Why not just rip the band-aid off, so to speak, and just get it out of the way so I can focus on making my free skate better? Earlier this week, I thought about how, if I do test in a few weeks, I really don't have anything to wear. I don't really feel like I could wear black pants and my club jacket (seems too plain) or one of my two free skate dresses (they might be too dressy). So I went online to a dance wear site thinking I could just get a simple black leo and matching skirt and it would be a whole lot cheaper than buying a test dress. I should be getting them tomorrow and hopefully they fit because I got them both on clearance (to save monies!) and there are no returns or exchanges. Fingers crossed! I'm posting pics at the bottom of this post. The whole ensemble should be basic enough to test in but just fancy enough to let the judges know I'm serious :)

Perimeter Power Stroking - All is good here. These felt nice and flowy.

Power 3 Turns - Here is where I had my breakthrough this morning! If you've read my last few posts you can see how much I was struggling getting 3 lobes down the rink on my good side and 3 lobes coming back on my bad side. I thought I would have to change it to 4 and 4 but today I was able to do 3 and 3. I think this happened because I wasn't trying too hard. I wasn't overthinking! I just trusted that I knew how to do it and relaxed and everything kind of fell into place. Yay!

BX-BO Edges - Nice.

Circle 8 - These felt quite lovely today so I did two rounds and then moved on. I remember how much I struggled with these a year ago and now they are so comfortable, they are almost therapeutic.

Five Step Mohawks - These were fine today as well. I focused mostly on quieting down that 4th step.

Overall, I really do feel ready to test these! I'm going to talk to Christopher about it tomorrow during our lesson and officially get his permission before I register. Yikes! This is happening! Like...in 3 weeks!

Under push, chasse, back push

I'm posting this for future Mandi to refer to since her under push is so weak. Perhaps this exercise will help :)