Should my Figure Skating Moves in the Field Level Equal my Freestyle Level?

Today I am going to help a reader by answering her question about Moves in the Field. I am hoping readers will help and share their experience too. I am sure it is different depending on where you live, and I am interested in hearing what you have to say as well.

Here is “Moves Mom” question…

My daughter’s old coach was all about moves- one of her juvenile students has even passed junior moves. She scores better than my daughter in component score, but not significantly so at least compared to the girls that are winning juvenile in our region (whom I am pretty sure have not passed junior moves yet). On the other hand, working it a little at a time is probably a good thing, rather than cramming (which seems to be her current coach’s style).

How important is it to be ahead in moves (compared to your freestyle level) and is it better to have a coach that works ONLY on moves?

Moves in the Field test require skaters to accomplish:

Moves in the Field were designed to correspond with the current freestyle level. The idea was, if you are working towards a Junior level freestyle test, then you will be working on your Junior Moves in the Field. The United States Figure Skating rules require skaters to complete their Moves in the Field test before they can attempt to take a Freestyle test at the same level. Skaters are not restricted on how many MIF tests they pass, hence a skater could be at a preliminary level for Freestyle and Junior Level for MIF.

All turns used in skating
All edges used in skating
Every turn and step is done on both sides of the body and in clockwise and counterclockwise directions

Moves in the Field teaches

Balance
Use of the blade
Control of body rotation and how to check
Body line to full extension
Increasing speed and power
Accuracy & pattern placement
Flow

How important is being ahead in your Moves tests and does it give you an advantage? This is a very open-ended question because it depends on the skater’s ability, their goals, and the coach. In general, yes learning new moves tests could help. Learning new moves means more difficult steps and turns. If you can perform harder turns, and steps then your competitors, then that could show up in the component score. But a skater doesn’t need to be working on Junior MIF to learn some of the Junior turns. There is nothing wrong with a coach teaching an Intermediate moves skater to do a rocker (Junior MIF) in a step sequence.

I don’t think it’s smart to push a skater through all their moves test as fast as possible. At a recent skating seminar I attended, the demonstration skaters (who were all from the same coach) I felt were pushed through their moves test. One girl who demonstrated for the Juvenile moves was pretty shaky. I was shocked when she came back to demonstrate Intermediate and then Novice. Her coach told us she has passed all of these tests. I was surprised; a skater at the Novice level should have pretty good flow and speed, with quality edges. She had none or very little. I felt like she was pushed though her tests. In her defense, she may have just been nervous.I don’t blame the skater at all, its the job of the coach to find a good balance. On the other hand a skater may just excel and love Moves in the Field. Ice Girl actually loves moves in the field and she is good at them. I wouldn’t hold someone like this back.

Today on Rinkformation:

IceCoach.net: Should my Figure Skating Moves in the Field Level Equal my Freestyle Level?

SynchroMom.net: Can You Help This Mom? Synchro Rep’s Daughter Is the Troublemaker

IceMom.net: Commandment Ten: Don’t Expect Your Figure Skater to be an Olympian

Is it better to have a separate Moves in the Field Coach? Again, it depends on your situation. If your current coach is trained and comfortable coaching Moves, you may not need a separate coach. For example my specialties are Moves and Freestyle. Some coaches specialize in Moves, or Freestyle or Dance. Maybe you have a Master-rated Moves coach at your rink who is absolutely amazing, and it would be advantageous to take some lessons with him or her. My best recommendation is to talk to your current coach and see what they think about a separate moves coach.

Readers lets help “Moves Mom” by sharing your experiences. Do you have a separate Moves coach? How far ahead are you in your Moves tests compared to Freestyle? Do you feel it is an advantage to be ahead in your moves tests? What do you find is common in your area, being very ahead on your moves tests or staying pretty close to the freestyle level? We would all LOVE to hear.

Do you have a question for Ice Coach? Do you have a suggestion for a post you’d like to read? E-mail me at IceCoach@IceCoach.net

Photo credits:
Curves: Ken30684 / Ken on Flickr.com Creative Commons
S Curve: jurvetson / Steve Jurvetson on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Curved Seating: david.nikonvscanon / David Blaikie on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Creating curves in space: Mooganic / Peter Morgan on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Get Shareaholic

Anonymous

It has been my understanding that many coaches like to have the girls done with moves ASAP if they are really progressing in the jump area. The thought is to get them done with their moves – to get them out of the way so they can devote more time to double axel and triples. (And maybe also the parent doesn’t have to get worried that the skater will get injured on one of the harder jumps the day before an expensive moves test?) I have heard of little 10 year old Juvenile skaters who have passed their Senior Moves. I do think it depends on the coach though – some really focus on moves, others do not – we used to have a coach at our rink whose skaters were a little behind in their moves. In some cases I do think it helps to have a special coach for moves – not all coaches are moves experts – we were lucky in this, our coach was great for moves. I would say BEWARE of having more than one coach work with your child on moves – I have seen girls get confused over this. Our rink offers a group class for moves but I only had my daughter take it once years ago – she said the coach teaching the class was telling her different things about a move than her normal coach did – and that was the end of that, I don’t beleive in paying for some other coach to confuse my kid… I would beware of coaches rushing them through the moves though, that is such a shame… We have seen kids with weak moves still pass – which really shouldn’t be happening if ALL the judges had the same standards…. but that’s another topic! :~)
Anonymous

Good point, more then one coach on any discipline will get confusing to any child. Unless both coaches are in constant communication about what they are working on with the skater, which is rare.

Thanks for the post Super Skater
Helicopter Mom

Because of the changes in the MIF tests this year, we pushed through an extra level this summer, just to be done with it. My daughter does have a separate moves coach, who is really an expert at it, so that when she’s with her main coach, she can just focus on jumps and competitions. (She works on spins with the moves coach too.) I was relieved that our coach freely admitted that moves were not his strongest suit so we didn’t have to feel bound to work with him on her moves. That said, he has been involved in it – but usually closer to the test date. Right now my daughter has tested moves two levels up from where she competes, but now I think we’ll switch focus to the freeskate levels before she tests more moves. And we will take more time with the next moves test. They DO get harder and as you said, it’s about acquiring the skills, not just passing the test!
Anonymous

Ice Girl took her Intermediate Moves at the last minute as well in late August.

Communication with your coach is key! Glad yours is up front and honest.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I would say BEWARE of having more than one coach work with your child on moves – I have seen girls get confused over this. Our rink offers a group class for moves but I only had my daughter take it once years ago – she said the coach teaching the class was telling her different things about a move than her normal coach did – and that was the end of that, I don’t beleive in paying for some other coach to confuse my kid…

I think that too many voices can be confusing for a skater, too, but sometimes more than one voice is good. I know that occasionally, Ice Coach’s coach will chase Ice Girl around the rink.

Ice Coach doesn’t believe that her coach scares Ice Girl, but she sort of does. It’s a good kind of scary. Ice Girl wants to impress Ice Coach’s coach because Ice Girl admires Ice Coach. Does that make sense? Ice Girl is afraid to let Ice Coach down.

It’s like a teacher with a class full of loveable goof-offs. On any given Tuesday, they’re cutting up and teasing the teacher, but they’re working, too. When the principal comes in to evaluate the teacher, the goof-offs are suddenly model citizens, tripping over themselves to be polite and raise their hands.

Why? They like the teacher and they want to make her look good. If they didn’t like the teacher, they wouldn’t tease her on normal days or behave on evaluation days. They’d work hard to bring her down like a weak zebra among lions.

Anyway, I think sometimes another coach can be good, but if everyone’s not on the same page, it can be horrible.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I would say BEWARE of having more than one coach work with your child on moves – I have seen girls get confused over this. Our rink offers a group class for moves but I only had my daughter take it once years ago – she said the coach teaching the class was telling her different things about a move than her normal coach did – and that was the end of that, I don’t beleive in paying for some other coach to confuse my kid…

I think that too many voices can be confusing for a skater, too, but sometimes more than one voice is good. I know that occasionally, Ice Coach’s coach will chase Ice Girl around the rink.

Ice Coach doesn’t believe that her coach scares Ice Girl, but she sort of does. It’s a good kind of scary. Ice Girl wants to impress Ice Coach’s coach because Ice Girl admires Ice Coach. Does that make sense? Ice Girl is afraid to let Ice Coach down.

It’s like a teacher with a class full of loveable goof-offs. On any given Tuesday, they’re cutting up and teasing the teacher, but they’re working, too. When the principal comes in to evaluate the teacher, the goof-offs are suddenly model citizens, tripping over themselves to be polite and raise their hands.

Why? They like the teacher and they want to make her look good. If they didn’t like the teacher, they wouldn’t tease her on normal days or behave on evaluation days. They’d work hard to bring her down like a weak zebra among lions.

Anyway, I think sometimes another coach can be good, but if everyone’s not on the same page, it can be horrible.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I would say BEWARE of having more than one coach work with your child on moves – I have seen girls get confused over this. Our rink offers a group class for moves but I only had my daughter take it once years ago – she said the coach teaching the class was telling her different things about a move than her normal coach did – and that was the end of that, I don’t beleive in paying for some other coach to confuse my kid…

I think that too many voices can be confusing for a skater, too, but sometimes more than one voice is good. I know that occasionally, Ice Coach’s coach will chase Ice Girl around the rink.

Ice Coach doesn’t believe that her coach scares Ice Girl, but she sort of does. It’s a good kind of scary. Ice Girl wants to impress Ice Coach’s coach because Ice Girl admires Ice Coach. Does that make sense? Ice Girl is afraid to let Ice Coach down.

It’s like a teacher with a class full of loveable goof-offs. On any given Tuesday, they’re cutting up and teasing the teacher, but they’re working, too. When the principal comes in to evaluate the teacher, the goof-offs are suddenly model citizens, tripping over themselves to be polite and raise their hands.

Why? They like the teacher and they want to make her look good. If they didn’t like the teacher, they wouldn’t tease her on normal days or behave on evaluation days. They’d work hard to bring her down like a weak zebra among lions.

Anyway, I think sometimes another coach can be good, but if everyone’s not on the same page, it can be horrible.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Ice Girl loves moves. I think she’s weird that way. So, she’s tested quite high for her freestyle level. I don’t think she’s rushed it; she just likes moves.

I do think that working up on moves has made her a stronger skater. She has a speed that I think is faster than other skaters her age, yet she still has control.

We’ve never been to a separate moves coach; although, Ice Coach thought she might take Ice Girl to one. I’m not in a big rush, though, so I’m fine with them working on moves at whatever pace they want.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I think it’s great that you have a coach who admits that she could be stornger in moves and finds someone who is the best for your skater. That shows that it’s not about your coach and her ego, but about what’s best for your kid and her needs. Just terrific.

As Ice Coach wrote, Ice Girl tested her Intermediate moves late in August. I support the idea of rushing a bit for that deadline because the moves test changed in September! Get ‘em over with!
Anonymous

My IceBoy is working on Junior Moves, he is at Intermediate FS. It works out well to have him at least one level above his FS. He has been playing catch up since he started skating so “late” in life LOL, so that if there is a need to get him to the next level fast, he can just take the FS test and not worry about the MIF (not so much now, he’s pretty well “caught up”).

He has a special coach for MIF. He took MIF with his primary coach until Pre-Juvenile level, at which time his IceCoach brought her on board. I believe she is Master Rated in MIF if that is a category. At any rate, she does Dance and MIF. Our IceCoach says that it is much more efficient to allow the specialty coach to work with him on MIF because she does it all the time and can work faster and more effectively than a coach that doesn’t specialize. Saves us money in the long run in terms of less coaching time, and allows him to spend time on the Jumps and spins.

My IceBoy will learn MIF when he is “off season” and practice them every session throughout the year. By the time he tests, he is ready and has learned the skills well.

I would love for him to test out through Sr. moves as soon as he can, but I trust both IceCoaches and they will make the decisions based on time constraints (competition season) and ability.

He doesn’t particularly love MIF, but he practices them faithfully and I believe he understands the value of them.

Some of the girls at our rink have passed many levels of MIF more than their FS level. I think that it is more a matter of wanting to be competitive at the FS levels. For instance the girls tend to need double jumps at a lower FS level and will stay at the lower level longer, though have great skating ability, and can handle higher MIF. Does that make sense?
Anonymous

That is a valid point- I know having two different coaching styles was hard for my dd about a year ago. That said, it seems like the intention is to move through a few moves tests this winter, after regional is over- I think the intention is to do at least intermediate and novice (she is a juvie fs skater- just started and will be there at least next year, probably the following as well since she is not yet 10)- she has all her doubles except double axel.
Figur Sk8r

im working on intermediate moves & ive only tested pre-pre freeskate(im about to test prelim.), my coach wont even think about letting me test if i have a problem with my moves, i think that working ahead on moves has really helped me because i can controll my edges alot better, but ive been focuzing on moves for a while so my jumps & spins arnt as good as they where last year because i forgot to work on them, but im starting to work on those more & they are getting alot better
Anonymous

Congrats, that is quite an accomplishment.
IceLife

At our rink it is very common for skaters to be much further along in their moves tests than in their freestyle. I think that it is a combination of the need to have higher level jumps at lower freestyle levels to be competitive and also because we have an amazing coach that specializes in moves. My skater is 11 and passed her Senior Moves this summer, but she is only at pre-pre freestyle because that dreaded axle has been the bane of her (and her coach’s!) existence. As soon as she gets a few of her doubles she will quickly test up. She’s also working on her pre-gold dances. Working on her moves (and dances) has kept her focused and given her a great feeling of accomplishment when she passed tests. They have also helped her with her footwork and edges, as well as control and discipline. If she hadn’t had those to work on the past year she might have given up when she kept getting stuck on her jumps.
IceLife

I forgot to add that my DD’s head coach didn’t take her through her moves, but primarily works on her freestyle. We use a separate coach for moves & dance. When my skater started with her head coach, she admitted that moves weren’t her favorite thing and that working with the other coach on them would be better for my skater. We’ve been very happy with that decision.
Anonymous

Thanks for the comment. I agree moves is an excellent motivator when a skater is stuck. When Ice Girl was stuck on her Axel, we started working on her new moves and this kept her motivated.
AnotherSK8mom

In our area it is quite common to be two levels ahead of FS on your moves. And we found what a great asset that was when in August FS coach and DD decided to test up from Prelim to Juvenile right before Regionals (today!) just for the experience. So on Aug. 28 my DD took and passed 3 tests: Intermediate MIF, Pre-Juv FS & Juv FS!
We are so, so lucky to have an awesome specialized MIF coach who works super closely with FS coach. In fact, DD changed FS coaches 2 years ago, but has been with the MIF coach since this journey began. He teaches nothing but MIF and it shows when you compare his skaters to others at a test session (although there aren’t many around here that don’t take from him). There’s really no doubt that if he put you on for a test, you ARE ready, and will likely pass with flying colors.
Anonymous

Congrats sounds like your DD h ad and amazing summer! It’s so nice to have a coach you can trust!
ice

my dd is 11 and is intermediate FS. she has passed her senior moves