Figure Skating -- Quick Q's & A's

[Sierra]

Ha ha--you mean "ripped off" ISI's Pre-Alpha-Delta program?

I see no resemblance between Alpha-Beta-Gamma and Basic 1-2-3...7-8.

What year did the USFSA "start" the Basic Skills program?

I couldn't find the answer I'm not very good at searching, lol.

[aussieskater]

Believe it or not, this wasn't an issue at the 2010 Olympics.  I guess wearing ropes and being tossed around like a suitcase doesn't count and there's no rule against bad taste, lol.

Agree about the bad taste at the 2010 games (who could forget this one??)

http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/rt_Domnina_Shabalin2_100222_ssh.jpg

but 2006 mustn't have got the message about the "illusion" of nudity...

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/81432925.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA54877F8F179101C8677241D42C94DE9F945A921804CC4AF7BB8

The flowers at the medal ceremony covered more of her than the ""dress" did!!

http://www.zimbio.com/Elena+Grushina

Sorry I don't know the answer to when the basic skills program started.

[drskater]

According to the USFS 2009-2010 fact sheet, the Basic Skills program was set up in 1968. Sierra, the idea of a "Learn to Skate" program specifically designed for groups, with a group test ladder is an ISI (then called ISIA) innovation. But I see your point--perhaps I'm really just talking about LTS.

What year did USFS add free skating to its test structure and at what level?

[Isk8NYC]

I found the "1968" year to be incredulous, but maybe the Basic Skills programs existed in Colorado, near the USFSA's home?  From the 1970's to the 1990's, Basic Skills programs just didn't exist in the northeast.  The standard-track tests were conducted by Clubs and almost every rink used an ISIA or homegrown LTS program.  The USFSA must have made some change in the 1990's that made Basic Skills more affordable for the rinks since the turnover from ISI to USFSA has been incredible. 


Total guess: The USFSA added Novice, Junior and Senior Freeskate to its test structure in the 1920's or 1930's. Prior to that, all competitions were open.  That would explain "Novice" being so high in the current test structure and the three titles being so cohensive.  (When I skated, Preliminary was the first freeskate test.)

[icedancer]

Total guess: The USFSA added Novice, Junior and Senior Freeskate to its test structure in the 1920's or 1930's. Prior to that, all competitions were open.  That would explain "Novice" being so high in the current test structure and the three titles being so cohensive.  (When I skated, Preliminary was the first freeskate test.)

Total guess but I know that when I skated in the '60s the first Freestyle test came at Novice and you had to pass the 6th Figure test first and then in the same test session, you took the accompanying freeskate (if you passed the figures earlier in the day) - if you did NOT pass the freeskate, you had to take the whole thing over, including the figures.

But I don't know when freeskate tests were first introduced but sometime before the 50s and not sure when the separated the figures from the freestyle tests since I stopped skating in 1968 and started again in the mid-80s when it was all separate.

[drskater]

Isk8NYC-- I hear you with regard to USFS Basic Skills and ISI Group Lessons. I really thought Basic Skills was pretty recent; it certainly "took over" what ISI had been doing for years. I dunno--the 1968 date struck me as incredible too but it is cited on the USFS Fact Sheet for 2009-2010. I just wonder if they came up with some loose form of the program and only implemented it much much later.

According to Ellyn Kestnabum, "The USFSA did not include freestyle requirements in any of its tests until the 1960s, beginning with the eighth (senior) test and adding freestyle components to the sixth and seventh (junior) tests, and finally to the fourth (novice) test in 1970, before introducing a separate freestyle test stream at all levels in 1977-1978," [Culture on Ice, p. 83].

So *ding ding* Icedancer2-- ✔ you are; you need to ask a question, please!

[techskater]

I started skating in the mid-70s and there was a USFSA basic skills program at our rink and had seemed pretty established, so 1968 may be right.  I still have my LTS USFSA badges somewhere...

It was in the late 70s when the figures and FS tests were separated when the current FS test requirements were made.  Prior to 1978 (?), the Senior FS test only had a single Axel on it.

[icedancer]

  Prior to 1978 (?), the Senior FS test only had a single Axel on it.

The Senior FS test still only has "axel-type jump" required - you can do a single axel - and the highest double required is the double lutz - no required triples on that test.

What year were the MITF implemented?

[FigureSpins]

That's too hard!
My initial guess was the early 1990's, but I couldn't find a timeline anywhere to confirm that.

This site says 1994: http://www.margaretswinchoski.com/MS_Skating.html


How about a fun trivia question: how many times do your feet touch the ice during a side toe hop jump?  (From entry to finish)

[Sierra]

Not counting the foot that is stood on before hopping, three times. Tap tap glide. It can be left foot tap, right foot tap left glide or right foot tap left foot tap right glide.

I should know-- I spent my summer practicing waltz side toe waltz!

Who is the oldest female singles skater to have competed at the Olympics?

[aussieskater]

That's hard!  (Wiki told me that Madge Syers was the oldest person to win a gold medal in ladies singles (age 27 in 1908), but I can't work out the oldest competitor.)

[techskater]

The Senior FS test still only has "axel-type jump" required - you can do a single axel - and the highest double required is the double lutz - no required triples on that test.

Yes, but before 1978 (or 77 or 79), you didn't have to do a DOUBLE jump at ALL to pass Senior FS!   

[FigureSpins]

Okay, moving right along...

Where will the 2011 US Adult Nationals be held?

[blue111moon]

Salt Lake City, Utah.

[Isk8NYC]

...next question...

[sk8Joyful]

In the section here about Adult-skating references, it lists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_figure_skating ,
which says that in the ISU Adult-age classification, the maximum age is 71.

Skater(s) can Not be older, to participate in those events? - or does it mean currently there's no such skaters older?

[blue111moon]

It means that if you're over 71, you can't enter the ISU Adult Competitions. 

[FigureSpins]

How many intro strokes are allowed on Moves patterns in the US?  (For the ones that allow intro steps)

[Kim to the Max]

How many intro strokes are allowed on Moves patterns in the US?  (For the ones that allow intro steps)

It's a Maximum of 8 steps.

What are the elements in the Intermediate Freeskating Test?

[Isk8NYC]

Jumps (8/men, 7/women)
Double lutz plus three other doubles or triples.  Only one can be repeated in combos or sequences.
Two jump combinations
One axel type jump

Spins (3)
Flying spin of five or more revs
Spin combination w/ 1 min change of foot and 1 change of position.
(4 revs each position, min)

A straight line, circular, or serpentine step sequence to cover the ice.


How long does the skater have to wait for a USFSA retest?

[blue111moon]

28 days.

[FigureSpins]

Next question, next question...

[sk8Joyful]

It means that if you're over 71, you can't enter the ISU Adult Competitions. 

Someone asked for the next question, so here it is: Who? decided that limit, based on what?, assumption?
and
also, many Rules are shown as changing... like annually in Figureskating, is this true across the board?: ISI, & USFSA. - What factors determine these?

Thank you for your insights!

[FigureSpins]

The ISU sets the ISU rules for ISU competitions. 

New QUICK Q&A question:

What's another name for a Loop jump?

[RinkGuard]

Bummping


"Rittenberger jump"