Test Chairs

[isakswings]

or those who have been a test chair. Our club is hosting a test session next weekend. The deadline was the 23rd of October. Anyway, Tuesday I finished the schedule and have sent it out to clubs as well as coaches,skaters and parents. The judges schedule is also finished. Yesterday, our treasurer went to the PO box and found an envelope in the box for me. It is a test session application. Here is my dilemma, this application WAS mailed before the deadline. However, the skater put the wrong zipcode on the envelope and it went to the wrong post office. Therefore, it did not get to me until after the deadline. The mailbox was checked last week before I started the schedule. It was checked 2-3 days after the deadline. This envelope arrived well after the deadline. The delivery attempt was 10/27. Because I already have a full session(40 tests, spanning over 5+ hours), I have emailed the skater and offered to forward her application to the next session(in a month) or to return it back to her. I explained that the deadline has indeed passed and that my schedule is done and has been posted. This skater wanted to take a moves and a freeskate test.  We had a situation in July(when my last session was held) where a skater wanted to take his freeskate test but was asking to do so 1.5-2 wks after the deadline. Interclub president(who is in our club and helps me with the judges schedule), told me no last time. I highly doubt she'd go for it this time either. Last time the skater was a home club member and was still told no. This skater is not a home club member. I feel badly but I also feel that I cannot let her test. What would you do?

[Skittl1321]

I'd apologize but tell her no.

You could offer to let her know if there are any last minute cancellations, but with 2 tests, that is really unlikely.

As long as your materials had the correct zip code on them, it appears to be the skater's fault, so you shouldn't feel too badly.

(Around here, test applications say they must be recieved by X date, not sent)

[Isk8NYC]

I'd apologize but tell her no.

You could offer to let her know if there are any last minute cancellations, but with 2 tests, that is really unlikely.

As long as your materials had the correct zip code on them, it appears to be the skater's fault, so you shouldn't feel too badly.

(Around here, test applications say they must be recieved by X date, not sent)

ITA

[isakswings]

I'd apologize but tell her no.

You could offer to let her know if there are any last minute cancellations, but with 2 tests, that is really unlikely.

As long as your materials had the correct zip code on them, it appears to be the skater's fault, so you shouldn't feel too badly.

(Around here, test applications say they must be recieved by X date, not sent)

Thanks! Around here, the envelope must be postmarked by the last day of acceptance. In this case, it would have had to have been postmarked by the 22nd since the 23rd was a Sunday. I emailed the skater(an adult) and her coach last night. I have not heard back from them. I may call them later today. I feel badly about it, but I cannot add her in. We are lucky that a hockey practice ended up being cancelled! Originally, we had to be wrapped up by noon. If we weren't able to go past noon, I would have had to cancel some skaters tests or I would have had to start the session at 5:30 or 6 am! That is not unheard of, but I certainly would prefer getting to the rink a little later. LOL! Right now we are starting at 7 am and ending about 12:30pm.

[aussieskater]

Offer to put the skater on the reserve list, and maybe put a motion to change your rules to say "received" not "sent" or "postmarked".

A similar thing has just happened to me, but in the context of competition rather than testing.  I'm the doc officer for our synchro team and we're getting ready for the big comp for the year.  Our rules for tests and comps say "received".  I had an email from the comp co-ordinator late yesterday afternoon - she can't find our signed form and it's due today.  She contacted me because she knows I posted it 10 days ago (we were talking about it at the time), so I posted another signed copy immediately.  Fingers crossed she gets it this time...

[Sk8tmum]

I started using a courier service for ALL skating related stuff that has deadlines after seeing way too many skaters get messed up by lost (either by the mail service or by the registrar) documentation. This way, I've got proof of delivery, and a signature and name of who got it - and I can track it to make sure it gets there. Yes, it costs me a few dollars more, but, the peace of mind is invaluable. When a few of us get together and share the courier envelope - it ends up being about the same as postage.

[isakswings]

I started using a courier service for ALL skating related stuff that has deadlines after seeing way too many skaters get messed up by lost (either by the mail service or by the registrar) documentation. This way, I've got proof of delivery, and a signature and name of who got it - and I can track it to make sure it gets there. Yes, it costs me a few dollars more, but, the peace of mind is invaluable. When a few of us get together and share the courier envelope - it ends up being about the same as postage.

My daughter's form and the check I sent with it, was lost in the mail once. This was for a test session. That time, it ended up being in our favor. We changed our minds about testing and were going to pull her from the session. I was going to eat the fee rather then risk her not passing her test. Since my form and check were lost, we didn't lose anything. Still, it would have stunk had she wanted to test! Good idea about requiring a signature.