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On the Ice => Sitting on the Boards Rink Side => Topic started by: jjane45 on September 22, 2012, 06:09:56 PM

Title: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 22, 2012, 06:09:56 PM
Carried a little conversation with sk8lady in the practice thread (http://skatingforums.com/index.php?topic=4017.msg42376#msg42376) on this topic and found it interesting.

What are some great vacation spots to spend a wonderful vacation with family or friends, with easy access to practice ice, dance partnering, and a skating club without a reputation of being "difficult"? :D 

Wow Hawaii FSC is quite decent! 4 tests a year and
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All test sessions will include PRE-PRELIMINARY through SENIOR Moves In The Field
and Free Skate AND Preliminary through Pre-Silver Dance unless you are notified
otherwise.
Of course I have no idea about partnering, but if they offer pre-silver dance tests regularly I guess the dance program is fairly strong!

I thought about skating camps too but they may be too time consuming and boring to non-skating family members.

Your thoughts? ;D
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: RosiePosie.iskates on September 22, 2012, 06:55:39 PM
Hmm...there's an ice rink in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They do shows there sometimes since it's a high tourist area, but during the day, I hear there's alot of available ice. They even host competitions there sometimes.  ???
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: phoenix on September 22, 2012, 08:15:01 PM
Sun Valley would be my first choice.
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 22, 2012, 09:16:36 PM
What about southern California?

Also which are the "generally more difficult" clubs to avoid?  ::>) ::>)
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: Schmeck on September 23, 2012, 10:37:57 AM
The Boston area has so many clubs (SCOB, Colonials, Hayden, North Shore, etc) that there's always a test session when you need one.
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 25, 2012, 03:45:43 PM
I guess in addition to the "lower passing rates", another factor would be finding a test partner from an unfamiliar area? (assuming vacation spot does not repeat very often lol)  The only ways I could think of would be 1) asking for referrals from current dance coach(es), 2) skatingforums! and 3) directly contacting clubs / rink skating directors for referrals. What would you for in a hypothetical test? :D
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: icedancer on September 25, 2012, 04:11:28 PM
I would go to Sun Valley and hire one of their coaches and then test - this happens all of the time there!
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 25, 2012, 05:24:46 PM
I would go to Sun Valley and hire one of their coaches and then test - this happens all of the time there!

Right. I would not know which one to hire though!
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: Skittl1321 on September 25, 2012, 05:50:25 PM
I don't think I'd want to test on vacation, it is too stressful.  However, when I look for tests within 4 hours drive of me- I see them all over Illinois.  Jjane- you location is Chicago, how could you be lacking test sessions? The are all over the place around there!  It doesn't seem like you would need to go very far out of your way to find one.
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 25, 2012, 06:03:10 PM
Because I'm THE curious one and half of my questions don't apply to myself, lol. Several dancers mentioned lack of test sessions / test partner, and I thought it's an interesting discussion. :)
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: VAsk8r on September 25, 2012, 08:30:30 PM
Thinking about the east coast, if you want to go to Virginia Beach, the Tidewater Figure Skating Club does a couple of tests every year. The rink that usually has the tests is about 50 minutes away from the beach, but there are a couple that are closer. If you instead want to go to Virginia's "historic triangle" (insert eye roll here) of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, you'll be 10-20 mins from the nice TFSC rink, and 45 minutes or an hour away from a couple of other rinks with clubs that also offer a few tests a year.

Since I grew up in Virginia Beach, I'd rather be anywhere else, and I wholeheartedly agree with my friend who called it a "poor man's vacation." But for some reason I can't quite understand, people from all over the East Coast and even Canada go there every year.
Title: Re: Great vacation spots to get the testing done? :D
Post by: jjane45 on September 28, 2012, 10:34:12 PM
icedancers yahoo group discussed "T2T" or "travel to test" recently, and some clubs were mentioned. They may or may not be vacation spots:

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Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, CT always has high level dances at its test sessions too which are typically held monthly.

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As a test chair for Broadmoor SC, I would like to let everyone know that we always offer high dance on all of our session.