Last weekend, I know that I was very frustrated with my skating. As a classically trained musician (flutist/piccoloist/singer), I know all too well that bad rehearsals often lead to excellent performances. We just have to get that one or two really rough rehearsals out of the way. In my experience, skating is the exact same way. I had to get to get that one really discouraging skate out of the way so that I could skate well for my test.
So, back on Wednesday, I tested FS 1. I have to admit, I was very nervous during the FS session right beforehand. I wasn't wasn't shaking from the nerves, but I definitely had the butterflies in my stomach. Since this was an official test session at my rink, I skated in front of three judges, all of which are coaches at the rink. First, they judged me on all of my elements (forward pivot, 2 foot spin, arabesque, backward edges, 1/2 flip jump, waltz jump). During my arabesque, one of my former coaches who was judging me shouted, "That looks so much better!," which was really great for me to hear! When I had worked with her, I could barely get my leg up to the required 90 degree angle, and now, I'm able to get it much higher as I've been working on my flexibility. It was so nice to know all of that hard work on that spiral paid off!
As for my program itself, it went okay, although a few things didn't go as well as I would've liked, particularly with my two foot spin and my 1/2 flip jump. However, I don't think any program goes absolutely 100% perfect. My pivot and spirals went fine, and for once in my life, I went for my waltz jump with more speed and courage. My coach later told me that he had never seen me do that before with the waltz jump, which was a really good thing. I ended my program with a T-stop, and was still standing on two feet. :)
I was not asked to re-skate anything, and when I asked the judges if I passed, they said yes! YAHOO!! My scores ranged from mostly 5/6 from one judge (scores are based from 1-10, with 5 being a pass) who is known to be very tough, but I also got a good dose of 7s,8s, and even a few 9s thrown in for good measure. My 8s and 9s were mostly for my arabesque and pivot. My program scores, in general were decent, but those also showed room for improvement, and I'm totally okay with that. I was more concerned on getting through all of my elements rather than making it look totally pretty and stuff, so it was to be expected. I did 10s for my program length, so I at least don't have to worry about that in the future.
Now that I'm officially in FS 2, I have a whole new set of things to master. I've been working on the FS 2 dance step sequence for a while, but that needs a lot of cleaning up. In addition, I've also been working on my 1 foot spin. Like the dance step sequence, it needs a lot of cleaning up, but it's totally doable, and I hope to have 6 rotations down in just a few weeks. In addition, I started working on a 1/2 lutz jump, ballet jump, and 1/2 toe wally. My coach expects that I'll have these moves down really soon, which makes it that much more exciting for me. This is because I have a huge goal of landing my first full rotation jump by the end of the semester. Our rink closes in early May, so this is something that I'm going to do my best to work REALLY hard for. If I don't do a single rotation jump by the end of the semester, it's not the end of the world, but I know that I'm getting closer and closer to doing it. :)
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