Testing done, Scratch spin done!

YEA!!!! I passed my Adult Pre-bronze MIF and Freestyle tests this morning! I had a shaky start on my consecutive BIE's but recovered and made it across in only four, which happened to be a new feat for me....I guess I pushed extra hard since I was nervous. My waltz eight went well and the only other fumble I had on the MIF test was the back half of the "power three turn pattern thingy". I refer to it as that because it is power threes, you just have that second three turn in it. I did the first half nicely but when I came around the corner for the back half I COMPLETELY BLANKED on what foot I was supposed to start with. How embarrassing. I quickly remembered but it just kind of threw the whole back half off. But I passed so we move on. I was much more comfortable with my freestyle test because the only hitch in the elements was, of course, whether or not my one foot spin would center up and cooperate. I had two so-so ones and one really nice one in my warm up. I did my Salchow which was clean first and then set up to wow them with my flip. Now let me interject for a minute here, you have to understand that this is the only freestyle test that is not a program, it's just the required elements and it only requires 2 half or single revolution jumps. So, I could have just done a Waltz jump and a half flip if I wanted to. But I had to be a hot shot and show off my flip which is very strong and I actually end up 'hanging' in the air for a good second or two before 'deciding' to come down. Should make doubles fun and hopefully easy! But as I was saying, I set up for it and just didn't quite vault up right and therefore ended up sort of halfway two-footing the landing. I rolled my eyes, cussed silently and then moved on. One foot spin centered up nicely, I was just too nervous to really push the crossing over and down for the scratch! The rest was cake. I assumed that they would ask me to reskate my flip jump properly and honestly I wanted to because I couldn't believe I fumbled the landing, but of course, they just said thank you. My coach said that since they had seen me warm it up three minutes before and I had landed all four or five I jumped, they probably would just give it to me since I obviously had it. They did. So yea, I passed both tests. Now it's onward and upwards to putting together a program and hopefully when my coach gets back from vacation the first week in August, we get to start working on Axels and DOUBLES!!!! I'm really tempted to just try throwing a double Salchow for kicks and grins this week and I just might if I have private ice this Friday. I think it should be fairly easy for me as I have to force myself not to put too much into my single or else I over-rotate it. I wasn't allowed to work on Axels until after the testing session today so bring them on! There's also that little bet I made with the rink manager that I'd have a double in two months out of the harness. So I have until the middle of September.....surely that's feasible?! The other highlight of my day today was that I....drumroll please...STARTED SCRATCHING!!!!!! THANK YOU FINALLY!!!! I felt like it would never happen! I think I actually might have done one yesterday but I did several today! One of the girls I skate with on Saturdays was telling me yesterday that her coach always tells her to breathe in as she's spinning and it helps cross your free leg over your skating leg. As I'm sure you're thinking right now, I told her that's complete poo. But to humor her I tried it yesterday. Well, I'll be a donkey kong, it works. So if you're stuck on your scratch spin like me, try breathing in. It's harder than you think because you naturally want to breathe out as you spin. But for some reason the breathing in helps pull your free leg across your skating one. So I was quite happy about this situation today....it's only taken nearly 3 months! For the next two weeks, my coach wants me to really focus on combinations until she gets back. Prep work for doubles. This means after warming up all six jumps, I have to first do all of them with a toe loop added on (Waltz-toe, toe-toe, Salchow-toe, loop-toe, flip-toe, and Lutz-toe) and then I have to do all of them with a loop. Toe loop is no problem, but loops are another story. Loops and I are still friends at a distance. Sometimes we get along and sometimes we don't. I can do a Salchow-loop fairly well and I really started doing toe loop-loops well today. But not so much on the other jumps, especially of all things, Waltz jumps. But I'll keep working on them. And I do need to also work on my spins. Backspin is coming along, I can usually get three revolutions and then exit. I learned camels this week in class and I need to figure out how to actually spin on those! Thanks to Shauna for the shout out this last week and I hope to connect with more college-aged skaters. Pass this site on to your skating buddies!