Competitions

Why Compete?

camryn.jpeg

CONGRATS to my fellow skater,
CAMRYN APRILANTE,
for competing at the inaugural
National Festival Excel Series Final!
Read all about her amazing national skating experience on my peer blog page, https://www.figureskatingetc.com/peers-blog-4
_______________________________

Several of my students and their parents have inquired about skating competitions and whether or not their child is ready for such a feat. Personally, I feel competitions are not only a valuable learning experience, but also a great opportunity to demonstrate one’s skills and talents. Competitors receive the opportunity to challenge themselves by stepping out of their comfort zone and working hard to achieve their goals. In striving to improve with each performance, skaters gain self-esteem and confidence. Healthy competition not only teaches skaters respect for themselves, it also instills a sense of community and good sportsmanship.

Not all kids are ready for competitive sports so participants vary depending on the individual. I strongly advise against pushing skaters to compete unless he/she has expressed a clear interest. The skater should also be capable of handling the pressure of an audience and the impact of winning/losing. We must always remember to keep the experience fun and positive for the skater.

I recall my first skating competition when I was seven years old. I absolutely loved the spotlight and was obsessed with all the makeup and sparkles. My Basic Skills Level 4 program was only about a minute long, but I relished each second on the ice.

I highly recommend the Compete USA event program which is an entry-level skating competition specifically designed for the Learn to Skate USA student. It provides a fun and positive introduction to the world of competitive skating. The program is open to beginner skaters of all ages and skill levels who are either members of US Figure skating and/or Learn to Skate. Every skater receives an award as there are no more than six competitors per group.

The first annual Excel National Festival was held in Coral Springs, Florida from June 7-9. This offered an open invitation for any Learn to Skate member in Compete USA (from Snowplow Sam through FreeSkate 6). As there are no qualification requirements, I hope many of my students and parents will consider attending this national skating celebration event next year. It is incredibly valuable for beginner skaters to not only experience a national competition, but to also meet other skaters their age from around the country. The event also offers off-ice movement classes, team building activities, and a meet-and-greet with Team USA skaters. 

My fellow skating club member, Camryn Aprilante, qualified to compete in the Excel Series Final at the National Festival. The Excel Series was specifically developed to inspire skaters to remain committed to the sport of figure skating by providing a competitive structure to showcase their skills. The top six skaters from each section in the Series receive an invitation to participate in the Excel Finalist Camp and compete in the Excel Series Final at the National Festival.

For more information about Compete USA and local competition events, please check out https://learntoskateusa.com/eventsinyourarea/?source=post_page---------------------------





Attending a Skating Competition

For those who are not quite ready to perform in front of an audience, observing a local competition is a great way to gain insight into the competitive world of figure skating and see different skating disciplines- freestyle, dance, and pairs, and also different levels- basic skills to free skate to well balanced preliminary through senior programs. Young skaters will be inspired as they watch kids of similar age gracefully skating to the music and performing impressive mid-air jumps, flying leaps, and astonishing fast spins. I often catch young skaters mesmerized and oohing and ahhhing over the performers. They especially are dazzled by the beautiful costumes adorned with Swarovski crystals and sequins. Having the opportunity to watch a skating competition provides young skaters encouragement to go out there and show off their skills and talents and join the excitement of shining on the ice. I always try to encourage and convince my students to attend a competition and/or even come see me compete as I could always use the extra support.

One of the largest and most attended skating competition in NJ is the Garden State Games Figure Skating Championship. This competition is the qualifying event for the National State Games of America Championships. Sponsored by the North Jersey Figure Skating Club, the Garden State Games is a two-day event held on June 14-15 at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, NJ. The competition will include basic skills, freestyle, solo dance pattern, showcase, and compulsory spin and jump events. I was told it will be a huge turnout as there were over 375 skaters registered to compete.

Reflections of New Dance Judging System

I’m so ecstatic!!!…I just found out my dance article was accepted and published on Ice-Dance.com (IDC)! It’s one of the leading online resources for ice dancers, providing weekly news, partner search, coverage and results of ice dance competitions across the country and the world, and everything else related to ice dance.

I’m sorry I know this post is not very relevant to my young skaters but I wanted to add it as an addendum to my earlier post on the National Solo Dance Finals. My article is about this new judging system for the solo dance series and I can not tell you how excited I am to be writing and contributing to this ice dance website.

If you have time, please check out Ice-Dance.com (IDC) and my article, Reflections of New Dance Judging System.

HEY, MAYBE I CAN SPARK YOUR INTEREST AND ONE DAY YOU WOULD WANT TO LEARN TO ICE DANCE TOO?!?!

2018 National Solo Dance

Hi everyone! Back from National Solo Dance Finals and had the most amazing several days in Cape Cod. I still cant believe I won two national medals!..I earned Bronze in my Pre-Gold Pattern event and Pewter in my Junior Combined Free Dance. This year’s nationals was full of excitement and thrills but also never without high stress and pressure. I prepared for this day all year, putting in over hundred hours of practice, conditioning and strengthening off-ice, learning new judging rules and program requirements, traveling to local competitions to qualify, and rehabilitating through a painful ankle injury. My ankle sprain occurred halfway though the season and I suffered for many weeks, forced to stay off the ice and not compete to qualify. It never fails that something always happens to me before nationals- last year a week before competition, I had a severe cold and fever and spent four days in bed and nationals was held in Colorado Springs so the long trip and the altitude there didn’t at all help with my recovery.

A Day in the Life of a Figure Skating Judge

Early this year, I applied to be a skating judge because I wanted to become a better and informed skater and also share my skills and knowledge with younger skaters and help them achieve their skating goals.  I wanted to improve my technical knowledge by learning how to assess and evaluate and score skaters' programs in competition and test sessions. I felt learning to become a skating judge was another great way to meet and work with knowledgeable and experienced people who share my interest and also allow me to give back to the sport I love so much.  

What's the 6.0 Judging System?

Many beginner skaters who will start competing will come across a very unique judging system. It’s a very confusing skating judging system and the scores used to compete the final results and standings are difficult to interpret and understand. Many of my skaters and parents have asked to explain how the results are tallied and I will attempt to help clarify many of the confusion when reading the score sheets. I was just recently accepted by US Figure Skating in their accelerated track to become a trial judge and in this new capacity, I hope to better assist in helping you all understand the judging system.

The 6.0 system is an old scoring system is used mainly in lower level non-qualifying skating competitions, including basic skills through pre-juvenile levels.  The judging panel comprises of an odd number of judges, usually ranging in size from 3-9 depending on the competition level.  It’s a judging system based on majority and the winner is the skater who placed highest by a majority of judges.  Skaters are compared and ranked against each other based on an absolute range from 0 (horrible) to 6 (perfection) for technical merit and presentation quality. These scores are then tallied and translated into a rank such that the skater having the highest score will receive an ordinal of ‘1’ which is the highest mark.  These marks are how the standings for each skater is computed and it’s what gets reported on the final results sheet, showing how each judge scored the skaters.