BC/YT Section Live Streamed Assessment Webinar
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00:00Hello and thank you for joining us today for the star six to gold assessments presentation.
00:25I am Joanne Nickel and with me is Leslie Rushton.
00:30Today we will be talking about star six to gold assessments to provide information that
00:36we hope can help with your training and preparing your skaters for success in their assessments.
00:43Thank you Leslie for joining us today.
00:46I know that you're going to be sharing a lot of your training strategies.
00:52You have a lot of experience and I'm certain that most of our audience already knows who
00:58you are.
00:59But please if you could give us a bit of a background about your career as a coach.
01:04Thank you for having me first of all and inviting me to do this with you.
01:08I've been coaching since 1977.
01:10I started in Northern Ontario and that was a long time ago.
01:14I'm presently coaching with the Juan de Figo Skating Club.
01:17I'm the director of skating and also the co-director of Can Skate.
01:20We have five club coaches in our club and four supplementary coaches and it's busy.
01:27I'm also an NCCP certified level national level coach and also a BC section levels singles
01:36technical specialist and controller and also a star one to four judge.
01:40And so you are always very busy at competitions.
01:42With many different hats.
01:44Yes that's true.
01:46We are in good hands with Leslie's knowledge I think.
01:50I am providing information as an evaluator.
01:53I do a lot of evaluating and I'm also involved with training of new star six to gold evaluators
02:00in the section.
02:03We are a small group of officials who do the evaluating so that gives us an opportunity
02:08to talk about what we're seeing.
02:11Common challenges, the problem areas and those are examples that I'd like to share with everyone
02:18today.
02:19I'm also going to highlight the resource materials that we use for evaluating the criteria and
02:26the assessment standard or the expected standards of development at each star level.
02:32If you have any questions during our presentation please send an email to bcytsectionatskatinginbc.com
02:42and we can answer those at the end.
02:46So we're going to get started and I'm going to put Leslie on the hot seat with some questions
02:51about managing assessments and training.
02:55So first off, when is a skater ready to take an assessment and how do you make that decision?
03:01So first of all, I always feel that they're ready to be put in for an assessment when
03:05I know that they can pass with honors.
03:07So if something does go wrong on test day, they're still probably guaranteed of a pass
03:12because of the standard that they've been performing in practice.
03:16How you practice is how you perform is one of my favorite sayings.
03:19I can with a skater in a lesson say, tell me my favorite saying, how and then they rhyme
03:24it off right away.
03:25It's a really good thing, a good feeling for a skater if they know that they can trust
03:31their training and then in training they're practicing in a way that they know that they'll
03:36have a positive outcome in their assessment.
03:39And I also involve them in the decision making.
03:42I never force a skater to do an assessment just because we have an assessment day coming
03:46up, but if I feel they're ready, I will encourage them and say it's time, you're ready for this.
03:52And then on the other hand, sometimes they will want to do an assessment and they're
03:55not ready and then I have to open my toolkit and explain the reasons for why they may not
04:01be ready.
04:02And sometimes that conversation may have to be with the parent as well.
04:05Yes, quite often.
04:07And I'll use examples.
04:08So for example, at star six skills, I feel that skaters spend a long time on that.
04:14Star five is quite easy.
04:15So it's a big jump to star six and usually I will say to them, we're not going to do
04:19this assessment until we have clean turns because we need our clean turns for our step
04:24sequences.
04:25I'll use that as an example.
04:27So then moving on to a skater is going to do their assessment.
04:32How do you prepare them?
04:33What do you do with their training?
04:36I always make sure that we use our rule books because I have the whole player's bench filled
04:42with all the assessment sheets.
04:44They're all in plastic sleeves so that the children can actually use the book themselves.
04:50I try to make sure that when I'm doing my preparation, I use group lessons as often
04:56as possible.
04:58And if I have skaters that are doing the same assessments, we will follow the assessment
05:02order and prepare them for what it's actually going to feel like on the day of.
05:06They'll do a five minute warmup and then they will perform all of their elements in order
05:11with no practice in between.
05:13I always feel that if we can have that trained, then they're going to be very comfortable
05:18with that.
05:19So you're almost like the evaluator.
05:20Pretty much.
05:21You'll say, okay, what's your first double jump?
05:23Absolutely.
05:24I'll say double jump number one and then they will reply as to what that is going to be.
05:29And that probably gets them comfortable to be speaking with an evaluator.
05:34You're probably not even part of, you're off to the side during an actual assessment.
05:39And so the skater has to not get nervous by talking to the evaluator.
05:45Exactly.
05:46They become really comfortable with answering the questions and having that direct communication.
05:50I am on the side in case there is something that goes wrong with an element and we need
05:54to reskate it.
05:55But I try not to talk very much during an assessment.
05:57I let the evaluator and the skater talk.
06:01Good.
06:02Good.
06:03So as we were putting together thoughts for this presentation, I queried you about ideas
06:13if you haven't done a dance or a skill or a jump for coach when they were an athlete.
06:20And then how do you learn that to be able to teach that to the skater?
06:25I love mentoring young coaches.
06:28I've been doing it for quite a few years now with coaches in our club.
06:32And I feel if a skater didn't ever dance per se, I will make sure that that coach is following
06:40a group lesson.
06:41So if I have a coach that's teaching a group lesson on a particular dance, I'll have the
06:45mentoring coach follow in behind and get comfortable with the patterns and the steps.
06:50And I encourage them to use those assessment books.
06:54I have a book for everything, for artistic and for the dance patterns and the star six
06:59to gold and the star one to five.
07:01I have everything on the player's bench.
07:03And those resource guides, they don't necessarily teach how to train, but what they do include
07:11are the descriptions and the expectations for, as you said, every single discipline
07:16at all of the different star levels.
07:18Yes.
07:19So my last question about managing assessments is in the case of a retry.
07:25So if an assessment is not successful, what do you talk about with your skater and perhaps
07:32even with their parents?
07:34I always find that the evaluators that come to our assessments are very, very good.
07:39If there is something that is not necessarily negative, but it's constructive criticism,
07:44that's going to help them.
07:45So if there is a retry for the next assessment, I let the communication go between the assessor
07:51and also the skater.
07:53And then at the end of the assessment day, our test person, assessment person gives us
07:59all our sheets.
08:00And I actually review every single paper with our skaters.
08:04And usually it's myself with the skater.
08:07Sometimes the parent will want to listen in, other times the parent will just take the
08:10feedback at home from the skater.
08:13And I always recommend that for the next assessment that we really focus on what has been weak
08:20and what hasn't been done completely.
08:22So the skater will first hear the feedback from the evaluator.
08:25You then reiterate it with the skater and maybe the parent.
08:30And then you talk about it again at the next lesson.
08:33Yes.
08:34And even sometimes on the assessment paper, if I know that there's, for example, an element
08:39that they're going to do at the next level, and if they only scored a silver on it as
08:44opposed to a gold, I'll say, well, at the next level, your target has to be gold.
08:48Because if you're only silver at this level, you know, you'll be a bronze at the next time.
08:55So we'll move on now to the assessment criteria and development expectations at each star
09:02level.
09:03So what I have displayed on the screen here is the artistic disciplines matrix, which
09:09spells out the assessment standards for each of the criteria.
09:14And this is an example.
09:16There is a matrix for each discipline.
09:19But I'm sure as everybody knows, there's a lot of similarity across the disciplines.
09:26So evaluators use these charts to identify if a skater is demonstrating the expected
09:33stage of development.
09:35And I think it's very important for not only the coaches, but for also the skaters to know
09:41what's being assessed.
09:43What are the criteria?
09:44What are the assessment standards for their star level?
09:48So Leslie, how did you, first off, how did you learn the criteria and assessment standards?
09:54And then how do you pass that along to your skaters?
09:58We used to call them the rule book, right?
10:00You still say that.
10:01We can still call it a rule book.
10:04A lot of what we had to do as skaters and then as new coaches was make sure that we
10:10understood what it had to look like.
10:14And those papers are, those binders are extremely important.
10:19The patterns, the skills, and just going back and thinking to the many hours of skating
10:25that we do before we actually start coaching, the understanding starts right there.
10:30It starts at a very young developmental age and then carries through hopefully with coaching.
10:36And the binders are really important.
10:38All of mine have plastic sheet covers.
10:41And they're in the penalty box with you.
10:42They're right there in the penalty box where I've been for quite a few months now.
10:47And the skaters are allowed to use them.
10:49And I'll put them on the wall and they feel very, very comfortable with knowing the order
10:54of everything and what's expected of them.
10:57They know what the matrix are.
10:58They know whether or not it's going to be a silver or a bronze or a gold.
11:02And quite often when we're running those mock assessments, I'll say to them, what do you
11:06think that that will be?
11:08And well, that was a bronze today for these reasons, or this was a silver today for these
11:12reasons.
11:13Yeah.
11:14Wow.
11:15So I'm going to start with some examples of the most common difficulties that we see and
11:21beginning with skills.
11:23And I want to talk about edge quality, the balance, control and edge depth.
11:28So you can see in the matrix, the arrows are pointing to star six, which is where I'll
11:33begin the three turns, edges present strong depth, control and balance.
11:39A common issue is that the skater has three turns with flats or wobbles.
11:45The expected development starting at star six is that the three turns have clean and
11:51strong turns.
11:53Just below that, the brackets, rockers and counters, there's a little bit of leeway at
11:58star six because these turns are in development.
12:03As it states in the matrix, the edge entering and exiting the turn may contain wobbles or
12:09a flat for 50% of the edge.
12:11But this is only at star six.
12:15Starting at star seven, edges must be correct on all turns.
12:20Something that I do with the star six assessments when they're successful, but there have been
12:27those wobbles or flats on the more difficult turns.
12:31I will remind the skater that they, I'm going to say, got away with it because they're learning
12:37them.
12:38So by going on to star seven, all turns must be clean.
12:43Something else that we find with the turns in isolation is that the entry and exit edges
12:49are not held for two seconds each.
12:52This is a mandatory requirement for all of the turns in isolation from star six right
12:58through to gold.
13:00And I don't know about star one to four.
13:02Did it say?
13:03Oh, so right from the get go.
13:06Entry and exit.
13:08So there should be no issues there.
13:10Exactly.
13:11Okay.
13:12Sometimes I find a skater is going so slowly into a turn that there's no way not to have
13:19wobbles or a flat.
13:21So there's nothing that they don't have to, pardon me, they don't have to take just one
13:24push.
13:26They can take a couple of pushes, whatever is necessary to get some flow going before
13:31they go into that turn.
13:34So now I'm going to, oops, I'm going too fast, here we go.
13:37I want to speak to power.
13:41So for the criteria of power, a common challenge where we see it is in the skills exercises.
13:47And I'm going to use the star nine, the rockers and S steps as the example.
13:55Through the X portion of the exercise, there's such a loss of flow and glide that by the
14:01end of the X pattern, the skater is having difficulty to do the last turns.
14:07The development standard states some evidence of flow and glide.
14:13So the expectation is that there is enough momentum to the end of the pattern for clean
14:19turns with some depth.
14:22So I think it's really important for skaters to understand why we do skills.
14:27And I'm, unfortunately, I'm surprised when they don't know.
14:31When I asked that question, what you learn in skills is applicable to everything in skating.
14:37I like to talk about the turns in isolation, how then that leads into their step sequence
14:42for free skate or the choreo steps for artistic, talking about learning clean edges for precision
14:48and dance, even how they do the cross cuts, that all comes from the basics of skills.
14:55So now let's go on to dance.
14:56And the first thing that I want to talk about is the criteria character and rhythm.
15:04This is, I think this is a problem mainly at the gold level.
15:10You can see in the matrix that at the gold level, we are looking for expression with
15:14confidence and conviction.
15:17Common challenge is that the steps are executed.
15:20They're not danced to the music's character.
15:23In my opinion, I think that there's a big jump of the expectation from star six to gold
15:31at star six.
15:33It says we're, the feeling is limited.
15:36Star eight, nine briefly expresses, and then we jumped to this confidence and conviction.
15:42I think it would be helpful for a skater to be learning character and rhythm earlier in
15:48their dance progression.
15:50Leslie, back to you.
15:52How do you go about this?
15:54I start it right with the Dutch waltz, which is star two.
15:57We talk about the rise and the fall of the skating knee, which is character rhythm.
16:01It's also the expression of the dance.
16:04We use words such as smooth and soft.
16:07And then for tangles, we'll use the word sharp and snappy.
16:10We talk about the happy knees, the knee character for a waltz or a tango or a foxtrot.
16:18I think if it started at that star one, star two, it's going to be something that they
16:23understand through all their years in the sport.
16:28Tell us the example about how you get someone to understand the tango expression.
16:33A few years ago, I had a couple of skaters actually that were on the Argentine tango
16:37and they were having a really hard time with the expression.
16:39I went out and bought two fake roses and they had to put it between their teeth and skate
16:45that tango expression.
16:47We have some fun with choices of words and actions just to help them understand the character
16:52and what's expected of them.
16:54That's fantastic.
16:55It's fun.
16:56Okay.
16:57Carrying on with dance, we are back to edge quality.
16:59So I'm going to repeat a lot of what I've already spoken about with skills.
17:05Edge quality is often a reason for a retry.
17:08Edges must be correct starting at star six.
17:12And again, I don't know star one to four.
17:14Do edges have to be correct or do they get away with a little bit?
17:17A little bit.
17:18A little bit.
17:19Okay.
17:20So starting at star six must be clean edges.
17:23The problems we see is that a skater may step on a correct edge, but then they go onto a
17:29flat or they start on a flat or they start on the wrong edge.
17:33So in the matrix, the progression of development is the depth of edge.
17:40So you can see in that bottom row where under star six, it says edge is correct, but may
17:45be shallow.
17:46Star eight and nine, edge is correct with some depth.
17:50And then at gold, edge is well-defined with good depth.
17:54So the key point, all dance steps must be on the correct edges.
17:59Leslie, how do you teach students that they must always be on a clean edge?
18:03Well, as a skater doing many hours of figures, we do everything on a circle.
18:10So if all of the skills and the dances can be done on circles, then they will make sure
18:15that they're working on correct edges, all of them.
18:20So moving on to focus areas for dance, the dance assessment resource guide clearly defines
18:27the expectations for each focus area of each dance.
18:32Fourteen step is the first example, and I'm going to speak about the end pattern.
18:37So that's both focus area two and focus area three, where we see the cross behind through
18:41the progressive and then into the open C step.
18:46The problem we see are the flats.
18:48So these edges against star six, they must be correct.
18:52Leslie, how do you teach the 14 step?
18:55I'm back to my circle again.
18:57I love the middle hockey circle.
18:59We use it for a lot of steps.
19:02And the 14 step, almost the whole thing can be done on a hockey circle.
19:05I start with the backward progressive before the step forward cross behind, and then they
19:09do the end steps with the C step followed by the backward progressive.
19:14The only thing we're not doing on the circle is the backward swing roll.
19:17So once they can do all of that on a circle, then we're almost guaranteed that the end
19:23pattern will be correct when we put them out on full ice.
19:26So you don't even teach the dance on the full ice.
19:32You start the learning process on a circle.
19:35Most of the steps are done on a circle first.
19:38Sometimes I'll go back to my old way of coaching with the old whole part whole, and I'll let
19:43them follow somebody to learn the 14 steps so they get a feeling for what it looks like,
19:49and then we'll break it down and we'll put all of those steps on the circle.
19:53Then we'll put it back on the big pattern again.
19:57So the next dance I want to speak to is the European.
20:01And there's two...
20:02How many times did you retry the European?
20:05Actually, back in those days, it was a fail.
20:07I think I was good for a half a dozen or so.
20:11There was no retry in our day.
20:13It was always a fail, pass or fail.
20:15So with the European waltz, there are two major issues, the three turns on count three
20:24and wide stepping.
20:26So you can see in all three focus areas, turn is completed on count three with new
20:31skating foot placed on ice without a wide step.
20:36What I see with the wide stepping, sometimes it's because of balance that they do the three
20:42turn and then in order not to fall, they have to step wide.
20:48But honestly, more often than not, it's because not paying attention to detail.
20:53It's not being very precise with the steps.
20:56So I think I know what you're going to say to me, but how do you teach the three turns?
21:00We're back on the circle again.
21:03I have a fun little word that I use and it's called hook.
21:06So the skater will take, they'll do the extension of the first part of the three turn on the
21:10European, bring the free foot and hook it to the heel of the skating foot, and then
21:17turn the three turn and step down, not stepping out to wide step, but stepping down so the
21:23foot feels like it's sliding in front.
21:26And we repeat that.
21:27We do multiple three turns on the hockey circle going in a counterclockwise and a clockwise
21:32direction.
21:33Even though we don't need the clockwise multiple times in a row, we do need the counterclockwise.
21:39So once they can show the control and the balance and hooking that foot and the placement
21:43of the step down on a circle, then the confidence is there and the end pattern will be really
21:49good and all the three turns should be clean.
21:54That's great.
21:55As Leslie was describing that, I've got my feet under the table doing the hook.
21:59I'm going to use that in my feedback.
22:01That's good.
22:02For evaluations.
22:03We share.
22:04Yes.
22:05Yes.
22:06Next is the starlight waltz.
22:07And so we're moving on to star eight.
22:10And what I wanted to speak to for the starlight is the timing on the C steps must be two counts
22:18in one count on the exit.
22:20And you can see in the little diagram, the dance pattern, the depths of the lobes.
22:28The other difficulty that evaluators see in this dance goes back to the reoccurring theme
22:33of edge quality.
22:35And I often notice it right from the beginning after the three turn where they go into the
22:39chassez that they will step on a shallow, very shallow left, right outside edge, or
22:47maybe a flat, lift the foot and then place it back down again, sometimes on a flat and
22:53then do the second one.
22:55But it's straight down the length of the rink.
23:00By star eight, the edge quality assessment standard states we should be seeing correct
23:05edges with some depth demonstrated.
23:09So here we go.
23:11Share this again.
23:12Back to our circle again.
23:14It's quite easy actually to do the C step.
23:16First of all, to do the chassez, all the chassez on a hockey circle, especially the one that
23:21happens right before the change of edge.
23:24Have the skater do the backward chassez on the hockey circle and then the change of edge
23:28leaves the hockey circle.
23:29Into a serpentine.
23:30Yes.
23:31And sometimes it's just a visual for skaters.
23:33In order for them to understand that that backward chassez has to be outside, inside,
23:38outside, and then the next chassez outside, inside, outside, the hockey circle sometimes
23:43will become a visual for them.
23:45And that helps with the quality of the change of edge as well.
23:49And then when it comes to the C step, the timing, quite often I will say one, two, turn.
23:54I won't say one, two, three.
23:56Sometimes the repetitiveness of the numbers get mixed up with what the skater can really
24:01absorb at the time.
24:03And I find sometimes doing the one, two, turn will help them with that note that they need
24:09to be on time.
24:10That makes sense.
24:12Good.
24:13So that wraps up for dance, and we've only gone through a few examples, but really the
24:20challenges I've called out, they apply to every single dance.
24:25Onto artistic, and I'm going to reiterate skating skills.
24:31So an artistic program is not solely based on presentation and composition, also skating
24:40skills.
24:41So in the skating skills definitions, the standards are exactly the same as free skate.
24:47So the common challenge is at the gold level where the arrow is showing.
24:54The development expectation requires that difficult turns are incorporated throughout
24:59the program.
25:00So the program cannot just be based on transitions and within the steps, or pardon me, the choreo
25:05steps, on cross cuts, three turns, C steps.
25:09We need to see those difficult turns, and they must be demonstrated with correct edges,
25:15strong depths, ease of movement, and direction changes.
25:20So a skater may have the standard that is expected for presentation and composition,
25:29but not for skating skills, and that results in a retry.
25:33So I was really interested by your approach to when a skater is ready to progress through
25:41the artistic assessments.
25:43Quite often I feel those skating skills aren't strong enough.
25:47In the past, we've had many skaters that have completed their gold free skate, gold skills
25:52and gold dance, and then I will say to them, what about artistic?
25:56Because at that time, then you know that their skating skills are very good, and then it's
26:00another little feather in their cap, another Skate Canada test, and that's when we will
26:03do the gold artistic, well, we'll do all of the artistics.
26:07If I have a skater that just does not want to jump and really doesn't want to compete
26:12very much, but is interested in artistic, I make sure that they're quite a strong star
26:17five skater, so then I know that the skills are in the place where they need to be in
26:24order to give them an artistic program.
26:26They won't necessarily do the assessment or they won't necessarily compete with it
26:30for quite a while, because again, I feel that the skating skills have to be strong enough
26:35to be able to go out and perform a proper artistic with the assessment that is needed.
26:43So the last part about artistic that I wanted to call out is the artistic spin, because
26:49it's still an element that it's often not done according to the definition.
26:54So let's remember that the purpose of the artistic spin is to explore creativity while
27:00spinning.
27:02So there's nothing in the definition or the description that indicates that difficult
27:07variations are necessary.
27:09Often I think the most creative spins are based on an upright and using arm movements
27:16or knee action to reflect the musical character.
27:21I agree.
27:22So the evaluation, it's not based on the position, the focus is on the ability to interpret
27:29the music while spinning.
27:31So that finishes the specific examples of problems that we see with assessments and
27:36I hope that I probably repeated myself a lot with the common themes, but that's where the
27:42problems are, skating skills and edge quality and power.
27:47So now we're back to you, Leslie, and you're going to share a few more training tips.
27:54Some of the ideas that I've incorporated into my coaching is I try to make sure that there's
27:59a lot of fun put into the skating.
28:03At the higher level, of course, it's a lot of work, but at the early stages, you turn
28:08that fun into a teaching tool that will stay with them throughout their skating career.
28:14I like to make sure that the skaters understand the importance of what it is that they're
28:20doing on the ice.
28:21So once they have their first little star two solo, they're given a planned program
28:24sheet and right at star two, they learn how to fill that out.
28:28They learn how to work with the abbreviations.
28:31So by the time they do get up to the star five, star six, pre-juvenile level where they
28:36have to submit a planned program sheet, they've had a lot of practice.
28:40The other thing is drawing the patterns.
28:42I turn it into a little homework assignment.
28:44And quite often when they learn the Dutch Waltz for the first time, I will say, I will
28:47show them the picture of the pattern that looks like a bear, a teddy bear.
28:51The Dutch Waltz is the big bear and the Baby Blues is the little bear, and they will draw
28:55the bear on a piece of paper with the two ears, two arms, and two legs.
28:59And then on the outer part of their drawing, they will put in all of the dance steps following
29:04the curve so they understand the lobes and the shape of the pattern and where all the
29:08steps go.
29:09So do they learn at that level the words progressive and chasse and cross behind?
29:15And do they write it out or do they do it in the abbreviations?
29:18They do it in abbreviations, but they also draw it.
29:20So they'll actually draw the outside edge, inside edge, and outside edge of a progressive,
29:24and then they'll draw the outside swing roll.
29:28But that is so helpful even at the higher levels.
29:32So they're not just looking at it.
29:33Sometimes when you actually start drawing it out, you retain it better.
29:37Yes.
29:38And that is a fun thing for me to do too.
29:41Quite often what I'll do is I'll do a challenge and a lesson if we're doing skills, and I'll
29:45draw a cluster on a piece of paper and I'll put the push off, whether it's a forward push
29:49or a backward push, and I'll say, tell me what the turns are in the cluster.
29:53And they'll have to-
29:54So you'll draw it out and then they have to name them so they know what they're supposed
29:57to look like.
29:58They know what they're looking like.
29:59And that's what it's going to look like on the ice.
30:00Yes.
30:01And I was a big fan in school.
30:03If I had my work done ahead of time, I always had paper in my binder and I was always drawing
30:08my figures on paper all the time.
30:10And I always say to the skaters, if your hand can draw the shape of the turn on a piece
30:14of paper, then your blade can do it on the ice.
30:17So that's another fun thing that I've done with teaching over the years.
30:22And terminology, it's crucial.
30:25And it's hard because earlier today and other days when we've been practicing, the word
30:29test comes out and it's like, no, it's assessment.
30:31It's just like, it's not precision skating anymore, it's synchro.
30:34So those of us that have been in the business for a long time, you can teach an old dog
30:39new tricks because you cannot use slang anymore.
30:42And I think probably the best thing for me as a coach is when I started to work on a
30:47tech panel and people like Kelly Kirkshank, they would say to me, do not call that thing
30:53a broken leg.
30:55So a sit side is a sit side.
30:56You have not got a broken leg.
30:58And the donut.
30:59And the donut.
31:00When you and I talked, you can get donuts at Tim Hortons.
31:02We don't do donuts on the ice.
31:03We do camel sides.
31:05And don't call it a Mohawk anymore.
31:07Please call it a C-step.
31:10When the terminology changed and we were all as coaches trying to make sure we were saying
31:14it properly, if we accidentally slipped and said, go do the Mohawk, all the kids would
31:19say C-step.
31:20So the younger generation are growing up with the proper terminology.
31:25And that's the one thing that I think in coaching has been a challenge for some of us.
31:30But I think I'm okay now.
31:32I'm trying really hard not to use slang.
31:34And there's no hair cutters, because you get that at your hairdresser.
31:37You just do the upright lay back now.
31:39So we turn that into fun too.
31:41If they let the slang word slip out, I'll put some fun answer in behind it with them.
31:47And just teaching everything on circles, we're looking for fundamentals and basics that can
31:53be carried on from level to level to level.
31:56In the days of figures, I think we really all knew what we were doing with body alignment
32:02and edges and control.
32:03And that transforms into jumps and skills and spins and dance and everything.
32:09So the video clips are really important for the younger generation of coaches if they
32:14have not done figures or dance.
32:18I can share a fun story.
32:20When I first met Larry, he did not have all of his senior silver or gold dances.
32:24And I said, if we're going to work together, you're going to finish your gold dances.
32:28And so he did that in his 30s.
32:32And I think that anyone can learn a dance.
32:35You can look at the book, and then you can follow and learn it from somebody.
32:39But when they incorporated baby blues into the new system, I think there were 65 coaches
32:44on the ice trying to figure out how this baby blues worked, because it wasn't part of the
32:48old system.
32:50So I think-
32:51I think of the silver samba.
32:52Yes.
32:53I learned the silver samba in my living room.
32:56And I drew out the patterns so that I could figure out the timing and the steps.
33:02My edge quality is probably not very good.
33:04Oh, I'm sure it's adequate.
33:05So that's the word.
33:07Okay, great.
33:08Well, thank you, everyone.
33:10That wraps up our presentation.
33:12I'm just going to see if we've got any- look like we have any questions that have come
33:18in.
33:22So to close, what I'd like to do is really promote the Star Six to gold at skatinginbc.com.
33:29I respond to all of those emails.
33:35And if I don't have the answer, definitely I will reach out to Leslie or to someone else
33:40so that we can help you out.
33:41We would like to promote using your coach colleagues to share ideas and tips.
33:50And by all means, at your assessment days, talk to the evaluators, ask questions, look
33:56for explanations.
33:58We have a fantastic group of evaluators.
34:00They're very knowledgeable and absolutely willing to help.
34:04So that's a wrap.
34:06Thank you, everyone, for joining us.
34:07Thank you, Leslie.
34:08Thank you, Joanne.
34:09It's been a pleasure.
34:10And here's to successful assessments.
34:13Bye now.