Judgement Day
Yesterday, I contacted Coach P to arrange for a later morning lesson on test day. This worked out and we (yes, drug my husband along) left the house this morning at 7:00 am. Timing must have been right on, because we arrived at Ice Oasis around 9:40 with no major traffic snags. I didn't expect my lesson to start as promptly as it did, but this is test day and coach had the one-skater-after-the-other thing going on. He wanted to skip our complete warm up, do just chasse-swing rolls and dive right in. I am so used to our warm up routine, that I requested to go thru the usual paces. Coach seemed surprised that I kept up my skating schedule despite being on vacation. I had to remind him that I am here to succeed, and 90% of success is just showing up!
Dances were in test order as usual. American still feels great, but pattern placement seemed a little off. Correction was the intro - I am to go deep into the opening corner on my initial left 3. We drilled the entry a couple of times. On to Rocker, it was OK but I was again reminded of my Foxtrot frame on the Rocker turn and how a firm right arm helps him to get me on the proper edge after the Rocker. We did 1 more pattern after this, and we actually skated hip to hip on the forward strokes before the end pattern mohawk. Nice! (said coach)
Tango brought up the rear and we drilled the swing mohawk before and after the dance. I am still bending my right elbow after the right 3 turn restart. I am not quite over the right hip after the turn - this shows by my toe pick scrape. One more pattern, and this was worked out. So many things to think of..........YIKES! Coach joked that if I botched these details in the test, he would throw me into the new fancy blue trash cans they had out in front of the rink. Sometimes, threats work with me.........
He also confessed that he had the most confidence in my passing than any of his other students. I was not sure if this was meant to build my confidence, but it was reassuring. I begged for round of European waltz, to which he reluctantly agreed. The session was quite a light one for public - and we did the Euro without interruption, and it's still my very favorite dance to do with coach.
I left the ice right after the lesson and I watched the video of what my husband taped. Must work on leg extension on the American - that's for sure! We had several hours to kill, and headed off to the nearest mall to find hubby some shoes. We found shoes at Sears that he liked (minor miracle) and ate at the food court. Back to the rink parking lot, and we reclined the seats for a bit of a parking lot nap. I went inside around 1:15 to watch some of the other adults testing. The test chair at this point, called out my name and told me I had been bumped up in the schedule. One of the judges had to leave early, and since this judge was qualified to test Silver, I was moved forward from the Bronze group. I went back out to the car and got my dress. At first this was upsetting, but I rationalized that at the very least, I would get out of the Bay area earlier than planned.
Good thing another adult skater had a curling iron in the bathroom, because being out and about in the delta breezes caused my bangs to fall flat. I had to wait to use the large stall to change - everyone was using it to change. My new pink dress posed a bit of a problem in that it has a zipper in the back. I had hubby standing by to assist. The test schedule could not be manually revised, but I was told that I was to do my dances in between the 4-5 MIF tests. (Senior and Junior) The trick of the day was the warm up. Me and another dancer were attempting dance patterns at the same time as 5 MIF girls. It was something else - but I guess it had the right affect on me. I had so much adrenaline going and had the fastest, most furious Rocker warm up on record. Following it was a Tango in which coach did his best to put me on the most extreme forward outside edges for the end-pattern. What? You can handle it! No - I put my skate down. Maybe for Worlds in July, but please do not put me on the kind of edges that just begs for my butt to stick out and my free leg to touch down! I almost ran into a MIF skater soloing the end pattern of the Rocker. OK - enough warm up. MIF and dance should NEVER warm up together - recipe for disaster!
The lobby was so crowded at this point, and I wandered between the staging area and any bit of bench I could sit on for a few minutes. Coach's other skater was first up doing the Standard Starlight Waltz. They looked great doing it together. She must have had issues with it solo, as he made her do it twice in the combined warm-up. She was out of time and off pattern a bit on the solo round. It looks like such a hard dance to solo. I will be finding out soon!
Our American was first up, I dove into the first corner nicely, but felt a little tense in hold. Relax, said coach after the first lobe and that's what I did and turned out a pretty decent round. OK - off ice to wait thru the next MIF skater. This schedule was kinda annoying. I would much rather do all 3 at once with a short breather in between, the MIF was a much longer wait. Rocker was next, and "deep breath" time. Coach did this funny thing where he wasn't sure if the player would start. Oh, there he is next to me, there he goes, music on, here he comes again......and here came near disaster. I was definitely not in "attack" mode from the warm-up. Our first pattern was very tentative (on my part) and the end pattern produced a very awkward mohawk. Darn it! Focus! The second pattern improved, and I had a very good recovery on the 3rd pattern, with it being my best one. Wow - not the Rocker I wanted to put out there. This dance got left in the warm up, along with my confidence. Oh well, it wasn't a total disaster, but it was definitely not my best.
One more MIF skater, and Tango time. We had to wait 2 minutes on ice, due to a judging change. I was almost ready to skate off and grab my sweater, then we got the signal to go. I was hoping for a relaxed 3rd dance, and for the most part it was pretty good. Swing mohawks were OK, had better in practice but I did not botch them. The second pattern got a little sloppy in my feet. (tuck behinds) and I ended the dance a bit too soon. Right after the inside 3, I came up and turned around. I was done and it was obvious. I got the "you could have waited for me to finish and cross out".......sorry coach, I jumped the gun BUT IT'S OVER! He seemed happy, but I was a bit let down. I was never really in "the zone" that I am used to for the competitions. I guess competing against myself doesn't bring out the best in me? OR does having my husband there make me more tense? Not sure - jury is out on that one.
I had to wait (again) for the large handicapped stall to change back to street clothes. The bummer continued, as I could only get my mini camcorder to play the last dance I did: Tango. It played everything else, including the practice taping he did for my 10:00 am lesson. It would just shut off when I pushed play for the other 2 dances. I hope they did not get corrupted? The test chair soon brought over some of my papers. I was judged by a panel of 3 - but only had 2 American papers (both passed) and 2 Rocker. (one Retry) Coach was not around, so I looked at some of the comments. On the Rocker retry, I got a comment on my left hand and that it should not be brought around to the man's back. What?? It took me months to learn that, and it's what coach told me to do! I had all 3 Tango papers, and all were Pass. I got the "lack of expression" on those. To which I snorted, how serious do I have to look for a Tango? Man, oh man. At this point, coach came up, and he was surprised at the left hand comment. He looked at the judges name and said "I'll talk to her." All dances had the comment of "no knee bend" which I expected, because I was a bit tense and my new dress shows a lot of leg. All tall dancers get picked on for this I suppose. So I was left in suspense for the Rocker. I gave the test chair back the papers - some were not signed, some did not have passing average totals.....what a mess!
I tried again to play the first 2 dances - but the camcorder was not giving them up. We finally decided to leave, results or no results. We were stopped close to the door by the test chair, and she said the final Rocker score was a Pass. I had done it - but at this point I was numb. The day had been quite an ordeal. Not the test I had hoped for, and not under the perfect conditions. Traffic conditions on the way home were perfectly snarled, but we did manage to stop for dinner. I had a glass of wine, broke my "no carbs after 5 pm" diet, and was feeling much better. I texted Coach J before I left the rink, but sent Coach P a text before dinner thanking him for the dances. It was almost 6 pm, and I think the test session went until 5. He sent a big CONGRATS with exclamation points. I sent back a "hasn't sunk in yet". I love my coach for being such a positive person......and not dumping me in the trash can!
I should get some rest, and hopefully put this all in perspective for the next couple of days. Ice dance is not for sissy's - nor any ice skating endeavor for that matter. I am resolving to work even harder, and my goal is never to have a "no expression" comment on a test paper. I know better than to think the knee bend thing will go away - you can never have enough knee bend in dance. Looking forward to the Blues and Starlight for next Tuesday's lesson, and a big hug from coach. (and more threats, to make me work harder!)