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Technical Announcements

Updated May 3, 2013

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Conducting Interpretive Tests - From Donna King-Gallant, Skate Canada

Re the discussion which took place at Skate Canada's Sections Coordinating Committee meeting this year, please note the following clarification regarding Interpretive testing. The rationale for this, due to the lack of Interpretive testing opportunities in some areas of the country, is to allow high level skaters to reach the appropriate level of interpretive skating as quickly as possible so as to allow for proper grouping in interpretive events at competitions, i.e. to avoid having a Gold level free skater compete in an Introductory or Bronze level interpretive event.

According to Skate Canada Rules, a skater must apply to take a particular test and is tested only on that test. If they wish to take two Interpretive tests on the same day, the rules would require them to skate the program twice or it might be possible to have two evaluators on hand - one to evaluate at the Introductory test and one to evaluate the Bronze test, for example.

A skater may apply to take a number of Interpretive tests at one test day and of course the testing of the next level is dependent on passing the lowest level first. Each test should be performed each time as there are different standards used for each test level.

The only time there may be an exception is if a skater at a Gold Free Skate Test level or a Gold Dance & Gold Skating Skills or combination of high level tests applies to take the Gold Interpretive Test, foregoing lower level Interpretive tests, with the execution of one performance of their interpretive program. These requests will be treated on a case-by-case basis and should go through the National Office to the attention of the Skating Programs Department. In terms of process, the Club Test Chair would send the request to the National Office in writing, copying the Section Office, and providing the skater’s name, Skate Canada registration number, tests passed and rationale/circumstances surrounding the request.

Some Thoughts on Skills Tests Standards

- by Virginia Gillham

Editor's Note: The following text was prepared by Virginia for a Judge/Coach session on Skills Tests at a local club. It presents some good points to reflect on for our Judges/Coaches and Skaters.

Skills tests were devised some years ago to teach skaters the same skills imparted by school figures, without the liabilities. Skaters who master skills exercises correctly should be able to execute the turns and edges at speed, with flow and in time to music - all of the fundamentals necessary for good free skaters and dancers. We don't want the kinds of precise, creeping technicians who sometimes evolved as masters of school figures, we want strong free skaters and dancers. This set of tests, mastered properly, should give good grounding for that, and do it better than the school figures executed within proscribed circles.

There are a number of fundamentals required to pass a skills test, and in fact, absolute memorizing of each individual step is not necessarily the number 1 priority. The fact that a skater did step 36 incorrectly, or even left it out, is pretty much immaterial to me when I am making a pass/retry decision, unless s/he also did steps 6 - 12, 18 - 22 and 42-50 wrong. A blatant demonstration that the skater does not know the steps or cannot execute them is obviously a reason to mark a test 'retry', but a single slip is definitely not, and it frustrates me to hear coaches and parents conjecture that a test was probably marked retry because step 36 was incorrect.

The characteristics that are really essential to pass a skills test are the following, executed at the necessary level for the test being tried:

  • Edge quality
  • Strength
  • Speed
  • Power
  • Balance
  • Control
  • An understanding and mastery of the individual elements of difficulty ... the turns etc.
  • An understanding of the timing and an ability to skate in a way that at least acknowledges it.

What we all knew would happen has now happened, and that is that we are seeing skaters who have never done school figures. Many of them have absolutely no understanding of the elements of difficulty they are supposed to be executing. A skills exercise may call for a diagonal string of brackets executed (by definition) on edges, and what is presented is a skater who rises up onto the portion of the blade under the ball of the foot and wiggles his/her hips to turn his/her body from front to back. There is no understanding of what constitutes a properly executed bracket, and no hint of edges in the execution.

I cannot emphasize too strongly or repeat too often that what is uppermost in my mind when I am evaluating a skills test is edge quality, power and control. I often ask, after observing a set of tests of any kind, whether the skaters spend much time on stroking exercises. The answers are distressing. I have been told

  • Yes... there is a 10 minute session once a week
  • Yes, we play the music but most of them stay in the dressing room
  • No, they don't want to do it.

It is very clear to me when I see a poor set of skills tests (and this is also very apparent in dance tests) that there is no regular stroking practice done and no understanding of edge quality, knee action, speed, control and flow. Stroking needs to happen to support Skills (and other) tests, and properly executed Skills need to happen to support correct, strong free skating and dancing of the kind we want to develop if our skaters are to measure up to the standards of other countries.

Thanks to Virginia Gillham! This was published a long time ago, in another place, now adapted to the Web. Would anyone like to guess WHY?
(Editor's Note: I have already approached Virginia about a similar page on Toe Axels!)

... About Those Sitspins!!


Once upon a time, everyone who said s/he could do a sitspin, did one that looked like THIS. S/he looked like s/he was sitting, which is where the spin got its name.

Then, one day, someone invented the Preliminary Free Skating Test. Beginning skaters who had difficulty doing a proper sitspin, did one that looked like this!

Judges, because they're such nice people, pretended they didn't notice, or maybe they just made a small comment on the test sheet. They presumed that by the time the skaters got to their Junior Bronze Test they would be doing a proper sitspin that looked like this!

Alas, not only has that not happened in many cases, but these half-baked sitspins have turned into a disease!! - maybe even an epidemic!! - that has spread to skaters at embarrassingly advanced levels... sometimes even Novice and Junior skaters! Not only that, sometimes these sitspins look like THIS. It is hard to tell that the skater is even thinking about sitting!

These are NOT sitspins, and they make judges CRAZY!! - Even NICE judges!!

The moral of the story is this: do not tell yourself or anybody else that you can do a sitspin until you can do one in a proper "SIT" position, and do not be surprised if a judge comments that there was no sitspin in your program if you do one that looks like this.

If the skater's thigh is not parallel to the ice, the spin will be counted as an upright spin!

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