THIRD-CLASS TEST
(a) A forward outside three on each foot, the length of each curve being 15 feet at least. The figure need not be skated to a centre.
(b) The four edges, outside forward, inside forward, outside back, inside back, on each foot alternately for as long as the judges shall require, the length of each curve being 15 feet at least on the forward edges and 10 feet at on the back edges.
(c) A forward outside 8, the diameter of each circle being 8 feet at least, to be skated three times without pause.
Here, it will be seen, is the beginning, the ground-work of English skating. The easiest turn has to be skated, the four edges have to be skated; also the easiest “8” has to be skated, in order to familiarise the beginner with the idea of leaving a point on one stroke and continuing to travel on that stroke (with turns to punctuate it, as he will see later) until he arrives back at that point again. The point in question is marked for him on the ice with an orange or a ball. And whether in single skating or in combined, it is called the centre. Simple as this third test is, it has to be skated in proper English form, which the learner should begin to acquire from the first moment he takes a serious stroke on the ice. For it is vastly easier to acquire good form at the beginning of his education, than to acquire bad habits which must subsequently be got rid of.