Synchronize your watches! It's time for Synchro!

The session started out with watching part of the opening ceremony from the 2014 Synchronized Skating World Championships. Those Italians are creative. If you haven't seen it, you can find it here.

Robin Greenleaf started the session with a review of the past year include the Dream Camps and the Training Festival, the Synchronized Skating Sectional Monitoring Program, as well as the Synchronized Skating Challenge Series in the Midwest and East.

Robin next went over the proposed ISU rule changes. She reminded everyone that the changes are contingent on passing at the ISU Congress this summer. And considering that two years ago that what was originally proposed for rule changes were not what eventually came out.
Some of the proposals that caught my attention:

• Deleting three elements - Choreographic Element (which was never used), Block Step Sequence and Circle Step Sequence for Senior, Junior, Collegiate and Novice, but could be retained for Intermediate and Adult.
• Creating a new element: The Combined Element - two elements that interact with each other.
• Reduction of freestyle program time. Reduce Senior from 4:30 to 4:00; reducing Junior from 4:00 to 3:30 and reducing Collegiate from 4:00 to 3:30
• No longer illegal: throw jumps at Junior & Senior as well as jumps/jump combos - no limit on number of rotations
• Unsustained Group Lift

Take a look at ISU Communication 1856 to see some of the proposed language changes for elements.

Robin then covered the various Requests For Action
The goals for all rule changes is to continue to increase participation and to encourage teams to move into competitive levels. Although sometimes it's just to clean up outdated rules.

Highlights:
Open Masters Division - There were so many adult teams at sectionals, that they had to have qualifying rounds. What was noticed is that there was a broad range of skating levels and adding this level will help.

Change to Rule 7260: request to increase the program time by :15 second so the Pre-Juveniles can do the creative element as part of their program

Adding required hand holds to levels where it isn't currently included - "a minimum of two different clearly recognizable holds."

Changing the upper level of the age for Open Juvenile to under 20.

Last year, it was suggested to raise the age of juvenile to the age of 14 but it was referred back to committee. During the past year, the Synchro Committee did a survey of coaches about this question. The groups for and against were evenly split, no matter how they asked the question. There was just no consensus, so the committee isn't bringing any recommendation forward.