The point of this petition is just to get enough signatures (500) to bring the idea to Governing Council. It is not for us to decide how it will be implemented and I don't see anything in the petition that states bringing figures back into the system as a requirement for anything.
Bring WHAT idea to GC? It's just an "I Like Figures" popularity petition - there's no ACTION or IDEA in the wording and yet people are being asked to back it. No, sorry, I won't sign something that vague.
We all know that School Figures was and still is the Foundation for Figure Skating. This is evident as we've watched Figures being reintroduced to Moves-in-the-Field. The IJS is calling for well defined and clear entry edges into jumps, footwork sequences, and spins. School Figures trained us to really understand and use edges for clarity and definition. There are so many other reasons to Bring Back Figures and we invite anyone who is interested in signing this petition to state their reasoning "comment box" provided when signing the petition. Let's see if there is enough interest and turn out to present this petition to USFS Governing Council for consideration."
This resolution is (at best) ineffective and at worst, a time-eater that will waste GC time while they figure out exactly what action the petitioner wants to see done. This just seems like it was put up on a whim with no forethought or planning.
Unfortunately, all discussions of Figures on the Facebook group have ended because of the focus on this petition. It's a shame because there are some highly-knowledgeable people who were sharing tips and techniques prior to the introduction of this topic. The repeated bumping and reposting of petition pleas have ended all such discussions.
The only signatures that are worth reading are the ones that actually provide an idea or suggestion. While I think the Carrie Jones idea of skate dress rental was great, their signature is nothing more than spam.
I'd like to see Figures incorporated in this manner:
. Create a Basic Skills track for Figures - four levels (initially) with the core figures that skaters of any age can complete should suffice for starters.
. Incorporate Figures competition events into the template announcement packages.
. Create a "How to teach Figures" educational course for Coaches as part of the CER-C compliance track.
. Challenge judges to become certified for Figures, at least the lower-level ones.