Hi everyone! My name is Eva, and I blog over at Eva Bakes (www.evabakes.blogspot.com). I’m
also a figure skater and have a weekly feature called Skating Fridays where I
talk about my figure skating adventures. Babbette asked me to guest post for her
today, so I’ll attempt to bring you the same wit and charisma that she normally
does with her anecdotes. Today’s topic:
Testing. Ready? Here we go!
On test day, you start getting ready about 2 hours ahead of
time. You put on your testing dress, and then proceed with your hair and
makeup. Pack extra tights, laces, bobby pins, hair spray, and anything else that
can break or tear before your test. You’re ready to head to the rink, when all
of a sudden:
Once you get to the rink, you realize that the test session
is running 30 minutes behind. Now you have an extra half hour to kill. Must.
Calm. Nerves. So you drink some caffeine to stay awake and then realize, yet
again:
After you visit the restroom, it’s finally your turn to take
the ice for your 5-minute warmup. However, you can barely move because it’s
colder than Antarctica. Regardless, you have to break the icicles off your nose
and convince everyone that you are warm and comfortable.
The announcer calls your name to step onto the ice, and you
march over to the judges’ table to introduce yourself. Once you reach the
judges’ area, you realize that one of the judges is known as the Toughest Judge
Ever.
Dang. You have to bring your A-game today. Toughest Judge
Ever is not going to cut you any slack.
You skate over to your starting position and your legs are like Jell-O.
You channel your inner Gracie Gold and put on a show.
After you’re done with your test, you head back to see your
coach, who is standing by the boards. You anxiously await to see if the judges
want you to reskate any element. After
you receive the “all clear” signal from the main judge, you head to the bench
and take off your skates.
And now you wait for your testing papers. After what seems
like an eternity, the test chair comes by with a stack of papers for you and
your coach. You immediately flip through each paper to see if you passed.
If you’re lucky, you get passing grades from all judges. If
not, you’re all:
Then you and your coach review each of the judges’ comments
on your test. You want to see where your strengths and weaknesses are so you
can improve. However, you can’t read one of the judges’ remarks. It looks like
it’s written in Farsi, which you aren’t fluent in yet. For all you know, the
judge wrote this:
After the test is done, you head home and either breathe a
sigh of relief or fume away with anger. You desperately need a drink. At least
the test is done.
Now here’s the million dollar question: you crazy enough to
do it again?
I'm glad I'm not the only one who always needs to take excessive trips to the loo on test days :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's extra convenient when you have to peel off that skating dress in an unheated restroom.
ReplyDeleteYou missed the bit where the judge says something like "your backwards skating looks very hesitant" and your coach says "yes, I've been telling her this for ages" and you think "have you f***"...you haven't even bothered to turn up to my lesson for the past 6 weeks and you haven't seem my routine for at least 3 months"...(bitter? moi?)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a perfect representation, well done Eva!
ReplyDeleteGlad you all enjoyed the post!
ReplyDelete