Moving up levels...

[isakswings]

Coaches, what is your criteria for moving skaters up a level? Do you ever do it even when you aren't sure a skater is 100% "there" yet? Parents: Has your skater ever moved up before they were truly ready or before ALL of their elements were truly ready? Skaters: Have you moved up before you were truly ready for a new level? If so, how did it go and how did you feel about moving up? Was it a good or bad situation?

Dd moved to preliminary before she was ready and has done pretty well so far. Dd and coach are thinking of bumping her to pre-juv for the 2013 season. Spins are fine, over all skating skills are likely fine but her jumps are still a work in progress. She has been making good progress lately, so perhaps that is also a reason to consider moving her? Just curious. I'm going to talk to her coach to see exactly what she is thinking. My daughter wants to do it, so I suppose if daughter and coach are on board, mom should jump on too??

[hopskipjump]

Has your skater ever moved up before they were truly ready or before ALL of their elements were truly ready?

No.  She was prepre before she had a solid axel but axel wasn't a requirement and she won 1st without it.  We were in a competitive region so it was uncommon to do prepre w/o an axel. 

I would say her coaches are cautious and want her in the middle of the pack.

[iomoon]

As a skater: Yes, this has happened. He got me to do Salchows before I could do three turns correctly.  Two days ago, he wanted me to learn how to camel spin, and I was barely staying off my toepick on one foot spins. XD I said "no, no... let's do scratch spin first!" Well, that stopped it. LOL

I think challenging me with a slightly higher skill element is good, because it motivates me to do the moves right. If it's too high, then it's bad.

[davincisop]

From personal experience no. My coach won't let me test until I am above passing standard. However she will introduce higher level moves just to break up the monotony and give me a challenge.  Like right now she's introduced me to gold moves because she says they will help with silver.

[Sk8tmum]

Yes, absolutely, they were moved up fast thru the ranks, esp my comp kid. To get out of the lower levels which aren't significant, and to get the kid into more challenging comps - didn't matter if it was the back of the pack, the goal was to get the kid on the ice and skating up against the next level, even it the elements etc weren't quite "there".  It worked ... sure, we don't have all of the medals that we would have it we'd been skating "at our level", but, we're still skating and going strong ... whereas if the wins had been easy and the ranking had been high, I can see complacency setting in. I see this with a lot of the comp coaches and kids, they are often putting them up to encourage them to grow faster.

[Sierra]

Why do you think she was moved to preliminary before she was ready? I saw the video- she landed a nice double sal. I don't think I've ever seen a preliminary or pre-juv skater who was 100% consistent on their doubles.

I usually end up being stuck between two levels, and going for the higher one. Like for spring of '12 I was in between pre-pre and prelim, but I could do axels in my sleep, so I went for prelim.

I've seen quite a few people in my state be put into levels they're not even remotely competitive in.

[VAsk8r]

My coach pushed me to compete at adult bronze free skate way before I'd even begun to work on the moves, because I had a decent loop jump and she felt like it would be a good challenge for me. In our area, there's a big range in who skates pre-bronze, from adults who can't jump at all but really want to compete to people who have loops and even, one time, a lutz. (The skater with the lutz was doing silver the next season!)

I continued to do pre-bronze for awhile and then dabbled with bronze compulsory moves events and finally did bronze free skate the last two competitions, even though I still haven't passed the bronze FS test. I think had I skated bronze before then, I would have gotten last every time and felt bad about myself. By the time I did do bronze, I could hold my own and was glad I skated up.

[isakswings]

Why do you think she was moved to preliminary before she was ready? I saw the video- she landed a nice double sal. I don't think I've ever seen a preliminary or pre-juv skater who was 100% consistent on their doubles.

I usually end up being stuck between two levels, and going for the higher one. Like for spring of '12 I was in between pre-pre and prelim, but I could do axels in my sleep, so I went for prelim.

I've seen quite a few people in my state be put into levels they're not even remotely competitive in.

Oh she wasn't 100 percent ready. Around here, most of them have 2 consistent doubles. Dd was barely landing 1. Dd, her coach and myself decided to move her up to challenge her. We all knew she wasn't ready. That said, she has actually done well in prelim... Even with only one double jump. Here, a lot of pre juv skaters are pretty consistent with doubles and there are some with double doubles. I am not against it... Just curious.

[isakswings]

Thanks. She has actually done ok in preliminary. She isn't the strongest skater in her group but she definitely can hold her own. It was a good choice to move her up. My daughter is excited at the thought of advancing. She also doesn't worry much about the medal count. So... I suppose she will likely be just fine. Our regionals is this weekend and I am planning to watch the pre juv girls skate as well. Of coarse, a few are ready to move up but at least I can get some idea of what to expect. It will be fine... I was just curious really. I do want to talk to her coach to get more of an idea as to what page she is on. Dd will be fine and it should push her to do work harder.

[fortune8]

My skaters are only little LTS kids. I don't really get to have a preference about if/when they pass, but if I did it would be to have them "passed" a level high enough that practicing those elements is still really worthwhile. The elder one is old enough and advanced enough that random ambling around the ice doesn't really help any but isn't ready to be handed folders with solo practice instructions. When she has a program to practice though - she loves to practice that. The next level down only includes 2-foot spins, whereas it seems better use of her time to improve her 1-foot spins instead.

[karne]

I probably moved up to FS3 before I was really ready. But I am a very impatient person. I can see myself moving into Prelim before I'm really ready to compete at that level because the test is just edges - edges that were introduced in FS1!

[nataxa]

For me the answer is no.
My coach never give me elements that I'm not ready to do.
And that's why I love him. This is the best approach for me to learn something.
As a result - with a very good base now I'm learning new elements pretty fast. And it's very nice when other adult skaters  at the rink, who can obviously do much more then I do, are asking me HOW am I doing this or that so good.