trying to compare LTS levels between counties

[fortune8]

We have 13 LTS levels.
The 8th (intermediate 1) needs backward crossovers, 3 turns and mohawks to pass.
The 10th (free skate 1) needs a 1-foot spin.
The 11th (FS 2) has Salchows.
By the last (FS 4) you'd have all the spins and all the single jumps.
Then the "real" levels start.

I'm curious about how our LTS levels compare other places (especially USA, Canada, and the UK).

[Sk8tmum]

Canada's LTS is called Canskate and it's currently under revision; clubs are piloting a "new" program that is built around the Long TErm Athlete Development Model. There are 7 stages, but, the final stage is an optional bridging stage between LTS and figure skating.  We call our entry level pre-preliminary (Introductory exists, but, it's really  a Canskate level) - but our pre-pre is different from the US pre-pre!

The new model also has a "figure" track and a "hockey/ringette" track that splits off at the higher badge levels.

There is another specialized program called CanPowerSkate which focusses specifically on hockey/ringette skills outside of the regular Canskate program.

Stage 7 skills (NB this is from the current program, not from the pilot program model). The other stages lead into this ... 

"Optional Enrichment"Stage 7 (Pre-Preliminary)


• Full edges on a line: FI & FO
• Fast forward perimeter stroking with crosscuts – clockwise
• Fast forward perimeter stroking with crosscuts – counterclockwise
• Backward progressives
• Backward chasses
• Backward rolls or swing rolls
• Full edges on a line: BI & BO
• Fast backward perimeter stroking with crosscuts – clockwise
• Fast backward perimeter stroking with crosscuts – counterclockwise
• Forward fast skating, stop, backward fast skating, stop
• Simple set pattern step sequence (including 8's and Mohawks)
• One-foot spin with backward crosscut entry
• Sit spin (one revolution)
• Back sit spin (one revolution)
• Waltz jump (from backward crosscuts)
• Toe loop
• Salchow
• ½ flip or ½ Lutz
Optional Challenge Skills

• F: loop jump

• F: ½ Axel take off

• F: camel spin or back camel spin

[sampaguita]

Wait -- LTS includes jumps?  I thought it was only for the basics (up to mohawks/3-turns/edges).

[blue111moon]

US Figure Skating' Basic Skills Program starts with SnowPlow Sam 1 - 3, designed for tots.  Basic 1 - 8 (aka The Badge Program) covers skills from falling down and getting up (SS1-3 = Basic 1) to one-foot spins and waltz jumps.  From there the program splits into specialties - Hockey, Freeskate, Dance, Adult FS, Synchro, Pairs, Artistry in Motion (Choreography), Speedskating and Special Olympics.  The Freeskate Levels 1-6 cover skills from half-jumps up to the lutz and axel-prep and when completed, have the skater more than ready to move into the standard test level at Pre-Preliminary.  Adult 1 - 4 focuses more on edges and steps than on "tricks."  Dance 1 - 6 covers the first 6 dances of the Preliminary and Pre-Bronze tests.

Personally, I don't know that many skaters who actually complete all the levels in in Basic Skills before moving into the standard tests.  And I know very few adults who are satisfied with just the skills in the Adult levels; they move over to the Basic and Free Skate levels fairly quickly.

ISI has a whole different structure that I'm not current on.

[jjane45]

Wait -- LTS includes jumps?  I thought it was only for the basics (up to mohawks/3-turns/edges).

Different curriculums categorize skills differently, it's just a name. I like to think of ISI's alphabet levels (up to mohawks/3-turns/edges) as regular LTS, and the freestyle levels up to Lutz jump as advanced LTS. The single Axel jump is pretty much a milestone.

[Skittl1321]

USFSA's Basic Skills contains some jumps- http://www.usfsa.org/Content/BasicSkills1-8.pdf
They have bunny hop, ballet jump, mazurka, and waltz jump.  Technically the Freeskate levels are part of Learn to Skate (and they go through axel walkthrough) but most people don't think of that as LTS.

[Sk8tmum]

Wait -- LTS includes jumps?  I thought it was only for the basics (up to mohawks/3-turns/edges).

Canskate in Canada certainly includes jumps.  They start with the basic "two foot" and go up.  The waltz jump - renamed the "forward rotating power jump" comes in at I think Stage 5; bunny hops - renamed "Forward Power Jumps" I think came in at Stage 4 (sorry, I had two kids who went thru Old Canskate and one who went thru the new pilot model, so I get mixed on some of the stages).

After Canskate, skaters who continue in figure skating enter directly into the StarSkate Stream, which continues up to where it splits off into Competitive or continuing into StarSkate (test track). 

Our test levels are Preliminary, Junior Bronze, Senior Bronze, Junior Silver, Senior Silver, and Gold.  If you want to know what the requirements are for each test level ... below is a link to a page containing the test sheets for each level.

http://www.skatecanada-centralontario.com/Fillable%20Test%20Sheets.html

[hopskipjump]

Our LTS goes to ISI level 8 (doubles not including lutz).

[taka]

In the UK most learners start out doing SkateUK which has 10 grades. See here for info. Some rinks have their own scheme instead. My rink follows SkateUK levels about 95% of the time but instead of some of the easier parts of the higher grades, introduces a few higher level skills that will be needed for passport or field moves later on instead.

After SkateUK or equivalent you move on to "Skate UK Star - Passport to Competitive Skating", often called Passport. There are 4 streams - Singles, Ice Dance, Syncro and short track speed. Each stream has 3 parts - Bronze, Silver and Gold. See here for info. Passport is assessed by your coach.

Some things in passport come up again in subsequent tests so are held to a lowish standard to pass passport, eg jumps - Waltz, Salchow and toe-loop are in singles passport but crop up again in Level 1 and 2 in the NISA national tests where they are expected to be much better in order to pass each different level.

Once you have passed passport you can then take NISA national tests in
... singles you can go on to test - field moves, free and elements.
... ice dance you can go on to test - field moves, pattern dance, Variation/Origional dance and free dance.
There is also a set of Pairs tests but I'm not sure what is required for those.
There is no info on NISA national tests on the NISA website but wikipedia gives a brief overview of all the later tests. There are stupid number of them! A link to the test application paper pdf shows exactly how many! Some higher level tests can be passed as IJS competitive tests instead.

[fortune8]

Wow!! That was all so much more complicated than I expected. Thank you for taking the time. I'm going off now to enjoy some light link reading.

[karne]

Aussie Skate has six Learn to Skate levels and four "bridge program" levels which are an extension.

Basic 1 & 2, Novice 1 & 2, and Intermediate 1 & 2. By the end of Intermediate 2 you're doing mohawks, three-turns, bunny hops, two-foot spins.

Then you can choose to continue to Free Skate 1-4, Dance 1-4 or Pairs 1-4.

By the end of Free Skate 4, you have all your single jumps (sometimes minus the Lutz since there is only a requirement to do flip OR Lutz in the test), and have the upright, scratch, back scratch, sit, camel and change-foot upright spins. I think the idea is that you can then immediately take your Preliminary test if you so choose.