How USFS membership works for testing?

[Kat]

Eventually I'd like to test, but I'm not sure if it's going to be feasible, membership-wise.

I'm an LTS member at my current rink/club.  I think I need to be a full USFS member to be able to test, right?  However, I can't afford to become a full member at this particular club; it's really expensive.  I don't really want to quit classes there and join as a regular member at another club that would be cheaper (and I'm not sure if the other club would allow me to still take LTS classes if I were a regular member anyway; I'd have to ask for sure I guess).  My current club isn't real picky on who takes their LTS classes--you don't get tested and then tossed out to be forced into freestyles and private lessons once you pass Basic 8, y'know?  That keeps it all affordable.

So, I could get an individual membership through USFS...no big deal.  But then, would I still be allowed to be an LTS member though my club as well?  I don't think my club would necessarily have a problem with that, but USFS might...

[Isk8NYC]

You do have to be a member of the USFSA in order to test.  You can be an individual member or join through a Club.  The membership year runs from July to June, and clubs/USFSA don't pro-rate the membership fee.  If you join now, you might be paying the 12-month price for four months of membership.

Look at the membership categories for your club.  Many have less-expensive collegiate or introductory memberships.  Some also have "no ice" memberships, where you can join as a home club member, but you don't have to purchase ice time, so the fee is less expensive. 

I doubt you could be Basic Skills at one club and a full member at another since it's the same ID number.
  You can only have one "home club" in the USFSA.  You can join other clubs as an "associate" member, which is less expensive than full membership.  Your ID number stays with you for your entire life, so your Basic Skills membership will be converted to a full USFSA membership. 

Most clubs discount the testing fees for their own full club members.  Take a look at the registration form and figure out how many tests you'll take in a year.  The discount might make a club membership more affordable.

I don't understand what you're talking about with the other club's LTS program, so I can't help you there.

[drskater]

To add to Isk8NYC's excellent advice--

It sounds as if you need to talk to your rink's club Membership Chair. If you were to join USFS as an Individual Member (I think this costs $75.00), then your membership SHOULD be fine for LTS. Basic Skills skaters have their own category of belonging to USFS, but NOT the rink's club. It shouldn't matter if you join USFS as a Individual, or through a club to take LTS. It is a matter of $$. If you join through a club you MAY be eligible for the (one year only) USFS Introductory rate of $25.00 but you would still have to pay the club dues, etc.

As Isk8NYC points out, try not to join before June-- USFS membership goes from June to June. If you joined now you'll only have a few a months of membership before you renew in June. Thought I'd mention it since $$ is an issue.

[Kat]

No, I wouldn't be testing any time soon, so no worry there.

I'm just wondering, if I joined USFS as an individual, could I still take LTS classes at my current club--IOW, can I still do LTS classes as a full USFS member.  Because I assume you have to be an LTS member of USFS to take LTS classes, and that the club has to let USFS know who they have in their LTS classes--would it be a liability thing?  Because they'd have to register me through the club as an LTS member, right, and then USFS would come back and say "no, no, no, she's a full member on her own, you can't do that."  And then I assume the club wouldn't have any USFS liability coverage for me, if they don't have me registered as an LTS member.  The part I'm not sure about is if the two programs are entirely separate, or can they cross over.  I don't know.  It sounds confusing when I try to explain it.

(the thing with another club would just be if I couldn't be an individual USFS member AND take LTS classes at my current club--I'd have to switch to another club where I could actually afford to be a club member.  Though then I'd probably still run into the issue of not being able to be registered as LTS)

[icedancer]

I doubt you could be Basic Skills at one club and a full member at another since it's the same ID number.
  You can only have one "home club" in the USFSA.  You can join other clubs as an "associate" member, which is less expensive than full membership.  Your ID number stays with you for your entire life, so your Basic Skills membership will be converted to a full USFSA membership. 

Are you sure?  I had to get a Basic Skills membership to take a class at our rink and it is a completely different number and membership than my USFSA number which I have had for twenty years (not sure if they went back to my old number from the 60s when I re-joined in '89... or is it that if you sign up for Basic Skills membership and then go on to full membership (or whatever they call it) then you just keep the same number?

Sorry to hijack the post.  I would wait to join USFSA full membership when you know you will be testing. Whether through the club or Individual that is up to you.

[JimStanmore]

icedancer2, that is surprising.  Did your LTS manager did not know you already had an active USFS membership?  At our rink, the Skating Director enters the LTS information.  When I started LTS and then tried to log into USFS there was no record.  USFS told me to contact the Director.  I asked the Director and he entered my information.  Then, when I wanted to go to full membership to compete, I entered the Basic Skills number on the Club membership form.  If you contacted USFS they would probably consolidate it all into one number.

Kat, i didn't know that rinks limited LTS students.  From what I have read and observed they seem to want as many as possible.  I would think that all you would have to do at any rink was tell them you already had a USFS membership so they don't have to process an LTS membership for you.  I would also be surprised if USFS let a club put limitations on LTS students.  Right now there is a big concern over dwindling skaters overall and the drain of female skaters to girls hockey.  USFS has even partnered with the inline figure skating association to allow them to use USFS LTS materials for free.  USFS is providing support and guidance to help them adapt it to their needs.  Seems you should be able to take classes anywhere at the LTS level if you show them the money.

[Isk8NYC]

Your ID number stays with you for your entire life, so your Basic Skills membership will be converted to a full USFSA membership. 

Are you sure?  I had to get a Basic Skills membership to take a class at our rink and it is a completely different number and membership than my USFSA number which I have had for twenty years (not sure if they went back to my old number from the 60s when I re-joined in '89... or is it that if you sign up for Basic Skills membership and then go on to full membership (or whatever they call it) then you just keep the same number?

Yes, I'm sure.  I handled the Club and skate school registrations at various points.  Your skating school made a mistake.   Part of the process is to indicate renewal vs. new registration.  The school chose the latter.  The USFSA does try to ferret out duplicates by matching name and address, but mistakes do happen.  Of course, if you've changed your name or moved, it's much more likely.  If a skater already has a number, that's the one the Club and skate schools are supposed to use.  You can, btw, belong to more than one Basic Skills skating school and/or Club.  There are skaters registered for one skate school in NJ, another in NY, one Home Club plus another skating club as an associate. 

You have be registered for each separately, but you use the same number.  It's not liability insurance, there's a small group accident insurance policy that covers every skater and coach enrolled for that program.  You don't have to have a Basic Skills-category membership (although they'll send you a separate card), it's that you have to be on their roster for coverage in the event of an accident.  Some schools try to save the per-student fee by not doing the registrations, but they collect the fees from students anyway.

I've had the same USFSA number since the late 1970's/early 1980's.  I let my membership lapse for a few years.  When I was coaxed back into skating and coaching, our skating director contacted the USFSA to resurrect my original membership number.  Per the program rules, the SD registered me as a Basic Skills Instructor.  I've since become an individual, then a Club/family member.  Coolest thing: all of my tests were resurrected!  I don't even remember TAKING the Dutch Waltz dance test, but there it is on my online profile! I love it when people do a double-take at how few digits I have in my ID number, lol.

You can ask the USFSA to locate and merge your ID numbers into a single record.  If you join the USFSA after the season starts, you can write and ask copies of the back issues of Skating magazine that you missed - they're included in your membership fee, so they've always sent them to me free of charge.


As for the LTS classes, the skating school will register you regardless of the type of membership you have with the USFSA.  They just register you as a member of their program.  Your individual or Club membership ID # will remain the same.  I don't know of any skating school that would turn away a skater because they belonged to the USFSA already.  Check with them, but I'm certain it won't be an issue.

[blue111moon]

I have both a Basic Skills membership and a full membership through my club and the numbers are different.  They stay the same every year that I renew but the BS # and the USFS # are different.

The Basic Skills membership does not allow skaters to log into USFS Members Only.  You have to have a USFS membership to do that and to register for any standard test past the badges, starting with PrePreliminary or Adult Pre-Bronze Moves.  Those are US Figure Skating rules.  But there is nothing stopping anyone from having both BS and USFS memberships at the same time.

Now, what individual clubs do beyond that is up to the club.  My club group program has several skaters who are full members of the club and still take group lessons.  In past years we've had skaters who have come to us from other clubs with one membership in the old club still active and the new one with us.  It's allowed.

The only other thing I think you need to consider is which club you'll be testing at.  Clubs can charge non-home members extra to test and sometimes those fees can be considerable.  If you pay $75 for the USFS Individual membershiop, then anywhere you test will be non-home-club .

[FigureSpins]

From the Basic Skills Director's Manual FAQ:

My instructors are already registered U.S. Figure Skating club or individual members and/or teaching pros. Do they still have to register for Basic Skills? Will this affect their eligibility status?

It is imperative that you register your instructors for insurance purposes and so that they receive and are equipped with updated manuals and teaching tools.

Registering a Basic Skills instructor will not alter his or her club or individual U.S. Figure Skating membership or eligibility status.

Just because the process CAN be used to make an erroneous separate ID doesn't mean it's the correct procedure.  I worked for The Most Organized Skating Director in the US, lol.  She registered anyone who might already have an ID as a "renewal" so their ID number stayed the same.  Even those skaters who came from another Basic Skills program kept their number - that's the idea of an ID number - it identifies YOU. 

There's no need for instructors or skaters to have separate membership numbers for Basic Skills and Club/Individual. You get the same accident insurance coverage.  Basic Skills tests aren't recorded by the USFSA; the skating program keeps those records.

There's no advantage to having two different numbers unless you're interested in doing something fraudulent.  Examples: getting two "welcome to our program" packets (progress book, patches, etc.), double-dipping on accident insurance, sandbagging in Basic Skills events even though you have standard tests recorded on the other ID, or registering as a less-expensive "introductory" member using the extra Basic Skills ID are the ones I can think of off-hand.  I'm sure there's other nefarious things, like altering ages, but that's beyond my detective skills.

[Debbie S]

But there is nothing stopping anyone from having both BS and USFS memberships at the same time.

(snip)

My club group program has several skaters who are full members of the club and still take group lessons.  In past years we've had skaters who have come to us from other clubs with one membership in the old club still active and the new one with us.  It's allowed.

From what I have seen, when an LTS 'graduate' joins the USFSA as a full member, their Basic Skills registration number carries over and becomes their USFSA number. I remember when I first joined a club, and signed up for a comp, there was a delay on the part of my club in registering me and several others, and when I contacted USFSA to see if it went through and what my number was, they said I only had a Basic Skills member number at the moment, and it was X, and when I joined as a full member that's what it would be.

At my club, we recently became aware of a member who had tested Pre-Prelim MIF when she was still only a Basic Skills member, b/c her mother was unaware she had to join a club to test and apparently the coach didn't check up on that (don't ask). She had since joined the club and taken several other tests but her results were all listed as "on hold" in the report we got from USFSA. Our membership chair investigated, discovered the problem, and was able to convert her Basic Skills membership into full membership (retro to last year) for $15, I think. And we had to hound the parent to give it to us but that's another matter.

I believe it's impossible to have both a BS membership and full membership - one converts to the other, unless there is a mix-up and/or you get registered under a different name. And there is no reason for a skater to have 2 different IDs, unless, as FigureSpins pointed out, you're trying to do something wrong. A full membership encompasses the BS membership - so you can be a full member and still take lessons in the Basic Skills program

USFSA members change their home club all the time. If you are changing at the start of a new year (membership year is July 1-June 30), your new club doesn't have to do anything except register you as their member when they do renewals. If you are changing in the middle of a membership year, then you need to have a change-of-club formed signed by your old club and your new club can change your registration. You can be a member of more than 1 club at a time, but one club must be designated your home club with USFSA. Your home club is the club you represent in comp and where your test results are registered under.

[blue111moon]

I'm not going to get into an argument.  I do know that the BS numbering sequence is different from the USFS membership one (BS numbers have more digits) and the two systems do not communicate with each other at all.  Also, if a skater wants to test beyond the badge program, they must be a full member of USFS, either through a club or as an individual member, in order for the tests to be registered.

Which pretty much answers the Original Poster's question:  yes, you can be registered with both BS and USFS at the same time.  The advantages and disadvantages of doing that vary from club to club and are best left to the individual concerned to investigate and decide for themselves.

[Isk8NYC]

One other point: by not "converting" your basic skills number to a USFSA membership, the USFSA loses the ability to track how many Basic Skills skaters go on to take standard- or adult-tests.  I believe they ask that question in surveys now and then, but the ID numbers are a very clear indication and given the sequential number assignments, they can even pinpoint WHEN someone was registered with Basic Skills and HOW LONG it was before they started testing USFSA. 

Things that make me go hmmmm...

It might be something to think about: do judges look at that on the test sheets? 
I wonder if that would sway them to go easier or tougher on the skater?  (Just kidding: I'm sure they're impartial.)

[jumpingbeansmom]

Once my dd started testing moves-- PPM and PM and not quite done with FS6-- the LTS program didn't charge us for her Basic Skills membership anymore.

[Sierra]

It might be something to think about: do judges look at that on the test sheets? 
I wonder if that would sway them to go easier or tougher on the skater?  (Just kidding: I'm sure they're impartial.)

Haha, it took me a full two years and a half to do PPM. I passed with flying colors, but if the judges knew I'd skated that long, I wonder what they would think. Considering I spent the first year and a half doing one hour a week of skating, and then my test was postponed four months.. who can blame me?

[blue111moon]

My USFS number is lower than most of the judges I know. 

I've never heard a judge comment on a skater's USFS number.  I don't think they notice it.

[Query]

The USFSA and most clubs support an introductory Bridge Membership which is cheaper.

BTW, once you take a test outside Basic Skills, even a Preliminary level test in another skating discipline, you may have restricted eligibility to compete in Basic Skills. Search for  "1465" in http://www.usfigureskating.org/Content/2010-11%20Basic%20Skills%20Competition%20Manual.pdf

(I don't remember what the restrictions are on testing Basic Skills once you have tested anything else, but I think there are some.)

[Isk8NYC]

The USFSA and most clubs support an introductory Bridge Membership which is cheaper.

There is no "Bridge Membership" category for USFSA membership. 

In the document you linked, it says that Students can be either Basic Skills members or full USFSA members to participate in the Bridge program, which is a group lesson program for skaters need to step up, but aren't really ready to be training on their own.  It's like a clinic for figure skaters, making the sport more affordable. 

The document goes on to describe the USFSA's one-time "Introductory" membership category that is discounted.  It's only for Basic Skills members converting to Full members.  You have to time it right to really reap the savings by finishing June as a Basic Skills member and registering with a Club in July as a Introductory member.  Otherwise, you will be paying for both memberships during the same membership year.  (Some clubs/skating schools don't charge the membership fee for group lesson students, others do.  In reality, you're paying for it with your group lesson fees.)

BTW, once you take a test outside Basic Skills, even a Preliminary level test in another skating discipline, you may have restricted eligibility to compete in Basic Skills. Search for  "1465" in http://www.usfigureskating.org/Content/2010-11%20Basic%20Skills%20Competition%20Manual.pdf

It is true that skaters who have passed standard- or adult-track tests are excluded from competing in the Basic Skills and Freeskate 1-6 level events of a Basic Skills competition.  However, many Basic Skills competitions (not all) offer events for skaters who have tested.  These events may include Beginner, Limited Beginner, No Test, Pre-Preliminary and Preliminary, in both standard and Test Track flavors.

Example: http://www.mtpleasantskatingclub.com/MtnTownClassicAnnouncement2011.pdf

So, testing Moves excludes skaters from the lower Basic/Freeskate events.  Passing Pre-Prel or Preliminary just puts you in a different event. 

Passing Freeskate tests beyond Preliminary will keep you from competing in the Basic Skills part of the competition.  HOWEVER, many clubs run a standard-track competition at the same time as a Basic Skills competition, so you just have to use a different application form and skate in the events for your test level because you've tested up.  It's a pretty fair system in that respect.

No one looks at the type of membership you hold to determine whether or not you can take group classes.  That's just silly.  Skating schools are for-profit entities - if you want to take a class, they'll let you as long as you're not skating at too low a level for the group.