Unexpected Fail

[GarrAargHrumph]

Lacey, we are a large club and only have about 4 tests each year. Tests get full immediately when they are first open. So we already know that the rest tests are full. The earliest session we can try to sign up is Aug, although no guarantee.

You can test at another club. You don't have to stay at your own club for your tests. If other clubs have more tests per year, or tests that don't tend to fill as quickly, it's a good idea to test elsewhere.

In addition, it's often the case that clubs get the same judges over and over. Most coaches know where the tougher judges tend to test. If they need a student to pass a test, and know they may not pass it at their home club, they can find another test session at another club where the student is more likely to pass, if necessary. Not that this is needed in your case, but just so you know this.

As someone already said, the coach is not a judge. The coach can prepare the skater for the test, but the coach is not judging the test. The judges don't know the skater as well as the coach does, and the judges haven't seen the skater do the elements in the test for months and months like the coach has. So it's not all that odd that the coach and the judges might have different opinions on how the skater performed in the test.

The sheet that your skater got from the judges after the test should have marks on it and have written comments from the judges as well. You, your skater, or your coach might disagree with the marks or the comments, but those represent what the judges saw and how they evaluated the skater's performance. So when your skater is practicing for the next test, she and her coach should be looking at those marks and comments from the judges, and focusing on the parts of the test where the judges suggested improvements.

If you see more than one judge in a test session note a specific issue, then it'd be wise to work on that issue for the next test.

You'd asked if anyone else had had similar happen - I have. I failed a dance test that my coach and every skater and coach who saw me do thought I'd passed. My coach (elite level dance coach) did swear. But we kept working on it, made it even better, and passed on the next try. Sometimes, how a coach sees something, and how the audience sees it, isn't how the judges see it. It may have been that it was a different set of judges than the coach normally deals with. Who knows? All you can do is focus on making that test so above passing standard that there's no chance in hell that it fails.

 

[Aceon6]

All you can do is focus on making that test so above passing standard that there's no chance in hell that it fails.

This. As Novice is so hard to pass, it makes sense that the quality needs to be there. Can’t give the judges any room for doubt.

 

[Aussie Willy]

All you can do is focus on making that test so above passing standard that there's no chance in hell that it fails.

Absolutely.

Over the years I have sometimes been astounded by comments made to me by coaches and parents in regards to competitions and tests. Years ago I had one parent say their kid failed because they were so nervous when it clearly the technique was what the coach had been teaching. I did tell the parent that. Another coach would ask me "Why did my skater get third" in an artistic comp. My response was the skater had been standing in the middle of the ice for most of the program doing dance moves. I felt like saying "You are the coach. Really you couldn't see that?".

And there is a reason skaters and coaches ask for feedback because sometimes they need a second set of eyes. The coach sees that skater every lesson. They can lose a degree of objectivity because they are used to what the skaters does. Whereas a judge will come in with a set of fresh eyes. I don't that can be an indication of whether the coach is good or bad. It just is they way people work.