What is a Skating Test like?

[fan]

who is ben wright?

[Integrity]

And, as I was also warned, his notes on the sheet were brief and made sense only to him.

He failed one of my pre-golds. I had not heard this about his notes. It was a while ago, but now you have piqued my interest, and I'll be checking that form.

[overedge]

who is ben wright?

Long-time US skating judge and involved in US Figure Skating administration.

[danceronice]

I think literally ALL he wrote on mine was "OF right edges." We decided that meant he didn't like something about my right forward outside edges.

He later gave my coaches a pass on Viennese. They were beside themselves.

fan: Among many other things, Ben Wright is the referee who disciplined Surya Bonaly for her practice backflip in front of Midori Ito at the Olympics. For some reason, he doesn't rate his own wiki page, but his late wife does. He's the author of books on skating, he's judged and refereed the Olympics, basically he's literally written the book on skating. He is also a gentleman of the old school, always gracious (even to lowly cafe cooks at SCOB like yours truly was) and it was an honor to have him flunk me.

[Bev Johnston]

I like testing dance and freestyle so much better than moves. In dance I get to hold my pro's hand and talk to him during the test, which is nice, and in freestyle I feel like I can skate hard and pound out the elements. In moves, there is so much preciseness and the rink is soooo quiet. I haven't decided if I'll take another moves test ever again or not. It really just depends on if I want to test the next level of freestyle, and that won't be happening for years anyway.

When I took Gold moves in the field, I wanted to put my foot down so bad on the LBI bracket. I did the bracket, held my position for a second, gritted my teeth, and stuck my foot out behind me with conviction. The judging panel cracked up and I wound up passing.

[Clarice]

FSWer, you can go watch a test session to see what it's like. You'd need to find out from your local club when the next test is, and make sure they allow spectators (ours does). Many times, clubs will hold a test session when they have a competition because the judges are there anyway, but they might have tests at other times, too. If you do go to watch, don't try to talk to the skaters, at least until after the test, because they need to be concentrating on what they need to do.