There are about 350 nonqualifying competitions and many competitions change events randomly and it was getting harder for coaches and skaters to plan for competitions. These variations were happening at the lower levels where the skaters and their families were just learning about competing. It was confusing to officials, parents, coaches and skaters. Some areas of figure skating have already created a standardized announcement.
The group looked at 25 announcements and found 33 different variations of the levels and 23 different levels of compulsory moves. They looked for common ground, they talked to Athlete Development and Coaches. What makes sense developmentally?
They created a flowchart to show skaters how the system worked.
The chart starts with Basic Skills then moves on to Beginner, High Beginner and No Test (Introductory levels). The chart then separates into Test Track and the Well Balanced Program.
Lynn stressed that no new rules were created for this and competitions are not required to use it. They were just strongly encouraged to use it for the sake of the skaters.
I'm sharing the flow chart below - sorry for the low quality.
The grop moved on to the speciality events (Spins, jumps, Showcase, etc.) and created charts for each possible event that competitions can use for their announcements. If a competition has an event that isn't included in the speciality events, submit it to the competitions committee, so they can share it.
If competitions use the standardized announcement, they can use a watermark that says "This is a Standardized U.S. Figure Skating event." If they modify anything, they need to remove the watermark.
HQ will do a survey in the next year to get feedback on how it is working, but Kelly shared that they have received a lot of positive feedback. This is not required at this point, but the goal is consistency across the nation.
The one negative is how long these charts have made the announcements. Lynn and headquarters is working to fix this.
Personal note: I get really tired of the same discussion at every session - why did you change it? Are you going to make us do this? - even though it was said over and over that this isn't a rule change. I support the standardized non-qual announcement. Let's make it easier for our LOC, our officials and our skaters.
Part II was the Eric Hampton show. He talked about an IDEA to change the test structure to reflect the IJS system. Skate Canada changed their test system to use the IJS system and the tests now provide the skaters with much more information and feedback.
SAMPLE/Suggestion
I would love to pass a skater with honor or with distinction.
Eric shared a quote from a February 2010 TED talk that really struck a chord with me, "Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach them." - Adora Svitak
Test revision timeline - June 1- July 15 trying it out at test session as sort of a shadow panel and review rules that might need to be changed. July 15-August 31, the group will analyze what they've learned and then present to the Board with the hope of bringing it to Governing Council next year.
I gotta give a shoutout to Eric - he has a room full of people nodding their heads in agreement. His presentation is outstanding and not a typical powerpoint that we usually see at Governing Council. We heard from some of the negative Nellies that are always around, but overall I think he was swaying the room.
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