- Joined
- Jan 20, 2017
Now having seen the data here: https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/data-analysis-view-my-sheet-on-the-test-failure-rates-of-mif-fs-and-ice-dance-for-standard-and-adult-tests.94600/
I was thinking about how they're considering letting kids do higher level FS tests, but let them compete in whatever level they want. While this is good for skaters who are just trying to get their tests finished (Novice thru Senior tests) before they age out of Intermediate and go off to college, I feel like it defeats the purpose of the excel track.
For example, our rink isn't competitive at all, but everyone skates the competitive track because excel track gets treated like a dirty word essentially. Everyone likes to be able to call themselves a "competitive" figure skater, even if that means they're literally still skating in no test, pre-pre, or prelim because they only have an axel and maybe one double. There's always a couple skaters in pre-juve and juve if they have more doubles, but Intermediate and Novice is rare and never someone with any triples or double axel anyway, so they're not a "competitive" Intermediate or Novice. Nobody ever tests Junior or Senior FS unless they're ready to quit skating and go coach etc.
While I think letting skaters test Novice, Junior, and Senior FS makes sense (because that's usually skaters just trying to finish their tests before they age out), I don't know that that makes sense for the lower FS levels. It feels like it's going to defeat the purpose of the excel track.
Even though nobody likes to use the excel track, the point of it was to have competition levels that better align with the test levels. The point of it was to let skaters test higher and still be in a reasonable competition. But instead, most of them stay in the competitive pipeline because they see "excel" as a dirty word and just stay in no test, pre-pre, or prelim etc all their lives.
I guess if they're going to allow skaters to test higher but compete lower, then the excel track is just redundant and it may disappear completely.
Thoughts?
I was thinking about how they're considering letting kids do higher level FS tests, but let them compete in whatever level they want. While this is good for skaters who are just trying to get their tests finished (Novice thru Senior tests) before they age out of Intermediate and go off to college, I feel like it defeats the purpose of the excel track.
For example, our rink isn't competitive at all, but everyone skates the competitive track because excel track gets treated like a dirty word essentially. Everyone likes to be able to call themselves a "competitive" figure skater, even if that means they're literally still skating in no test, pre-pre, or prelim because they only have an axel and maybe one double. There's always a couple skaters in pre-juve and juve if they have more doubles, but Intermediate and Novice is rare and never someone with any triples or double axel anyway, so they're not a "competitive" Intermediate or Novice. Nobody ever tests Junior or Senior FS unless they're ready to quit skating and go coach etc.
While I think letting skaters test Novice, Junior, and Senior FS makes sense (because that's usually skaters just trying to finish their tests before they age out), I don't know that that makes sense for the lower FS levels. It feels like it's going to defeat the purpose of the excel track.
Even though nobody likes to use the excel track, the point of it was to have competition levels that better align with the test levels. The point of it was to let skaters test higher and still be in a reasonable competition. But instead, most of them stay in the competitive pipeline because they see "excel" as a dirty word and just stay in no test, pre-pre, or prelim etc all their lives.
I guess if they're going to allow skaters to test higher but compete lower, then the excel track is just redundant and it may disappear completely.
Thoughts?