What are the requirements for each test in USFSA?

I want my daugther to take the USFSA pre-preliminary MIF test for figure skating?

• My daugther already passed the ISI Freestyle 4 in her group class, and she is also interested in taking the MIF, and possibly Freestyle pre-pre also. She currently has a coach with Category A, but it seems like the USFSA says Category B. I have asked her coach about the test last year, but he always say, "We will do it next month" every time I ask the next month. It seems that he never work on it, even though my daugther knows the pre-pre MIF. I am planning to replace her coach that is more responsible. Also, it happend to be that my daugther was the only student in her group class, and she said that she like the group class teacher very much because she explain things in more detail. I am just wondering if I can hire that teacher and help my daugther to take the pre-pre tests? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

• Answer:

  Before you do anything, learn the guidelines for changing coaches: http://www.usfigureskating.org/Shell.asp?sid=30299 Follow these guidelines and 95% of the drama and animosity is eliminated when changing coaches. An ISI or Basic Skills group lesson setting is very different from focusing on USFSA standard-track tests. There's a lot more correction and pickiness for Moves tests than for group evaluations. Many group lesson skaters who don't do power or practices really struggle and hate working on Moves, calling it "boring." No coach should feel pressured to present a skater who isn't ready. It's a waste of time and reflects badly on the coach. You should sit down with your coach and your daughter to map out goals and objectives, along with timelines. I can't think of a reason why a coach wouldn't want a skater to progress into testing, unless the skater isn't working hard enough to prepare for the test. Now is the time to plan for the summer and next season. Any coach with "Category A" or "Category B" Continuing Education Requirements (CER) can present students for testing. The only difference between those two categories is that CER Category A coaches can coach students at Qualifying competitions, which your daughter is far from entering, so that's not relevant to this issue. Onto the real issue: why hasn't your daughter started testing yet? While it's easy enough to blame the coach, it may not be entirely the coach's fault. Does she regularly take private lessons? For how long? A 20-minute lesson once a week isn't enough to progress in both freestyle and moves. It's just too little time for the coach to really make any progress, especially if she's a weak skater. Skaters who skip every second or third lesson, don't skate during holiday periods or the entire summer vacation will always fall behind those skaters who stick with a regular schedule and take advantage of time off to get in extra ice time. Does your daughter practice the MIF patterns for several hours (3-5) each week? Does she practice outside of lessons at all? Many frustrated wanna-take-the-test kids don't practice at all between lessons, or never practice the Moves patterns earnestly. Instead, they get on the ice late, greet all their friends, skate around talking, only work on Synchro or Freestyle elements and then wonder why the coach is frustrated when they can't demonstrate the basic consecutive edge pattern without mixing up edges, skating foot and checks. Does your daughter come early to every lesson and practice, prepared? Often, parents and skaters delude themselves into thinking that the coach has some magic that will overcome a skater who walked into the rink late wearing the skates, didn't warm up, and was late for her lesson. Poor technique, weak/poorly fitted skates, and attitude cannot be overcome by a lesson. Changing coaches usually creates a placebo effect, where the skater is excited and industrious for the first few months, but goes back to their old ways afterward. Coaches cannot put muscle memory or strength into a student with words alone. We can give corrections, but if the student's wearing skates that are two sizes too big (for growth), the skater will struggle repeatedly. There's a huge difference between claiming to "know" the patterns and being able to perform them at or above passing standard. I've had skaters look at me blankly when I ask them to do a Waltz-8. They have no clue, or they fake it because they've never looked at the pattern or walked through it without a coach repeatedly chanting the edges and steps. It has to be memorized by the skater - every check, free leg position, edge, turn, and on-ice layout has to be in the skater's head. If your daughter isn't trying to memorize it between lessons, she's not serious about testing Moves. (Pattern link is below) You most certainly can change coaches, but you should first examine why the current coach doesn't think she's ready yet and why they don't have the time or ambition to work on Moves. I think you have to do your part as the parent to make sure that you've prepared your daughter for success.