- Joined
- Jan 22, 2018
I'm a relatively new skater and I find all the testing levels SO confusing. It's also expensive because each freestyle level has 2 tests and offered I think once a year where I live, forget having a coach with me, I'm too broke to afford someone to come along. I wish the Moves in the Field test was combined with the freeskate to 1 longer test that can be passed to music or not. Save money, save time! I found the testing costs so disheartening since I'm an adult skater and have so many other bills.In my perfect world, there would be no tests at all. You can try out for the NFL even if you've never played football before! There are so many reasons why the test system is counterproductive, especially in areas of the country where test sessions are difficult to find and difficult to enter. Ice time is generally at a premium in these areas, too, which leaves whole areas of the country struggling to advance -- half your time needs to be devoted to learning and mastering moves patterns. It's unnecessarily prohibitive and I think it also makes the sport very confusing.
Skating skills come with more time on the ice. If you've mastered the jumps and spins you think you need to be competitive at say, novice, then you've likely spent enough time on the ice developing your skating skills enough that you'd be able to pass a novice moves test. Realistically, if you're competing at novice well balanced, you're likely much more proficient at moves than what's on the novice test since most people test ahead anyway. If not, well... you probably won't do that well in competition.
I know tests are generally profitable fundraisers, but I think they should go.