What I wish I'd known to ask

Things I learned the hard way:

What's involved in competitions?
Both the obvious things like dedicated/extra cost, travel, extra practice time, how to get music. But also what happens when I get there? What's the parent's role? How many should we do?

Why should my skater do this particular competition?
I somehow got the impression that there were required competitions. I had no clue what that there was a thing called "non qualifying competition." No one ever told me what "regionals" was-- I thought you had to be invited, because our original coach never brought it up, and the mothers of the kids who went lorded it over us. Ask your coach why he/she does certain competitions, and what the value is in going to them.

Why do those kids go to different competitions?

Why don't I see the rink's best skaters at the competitions that my skater goes to?
 It might be that you're just not seeing them. It might be that your coach is taking you to crappy competitions, for reasons unknown.

How do you get to Nationals?
By which I mean, know what the path is, not whether you're talented enough.

What is "moves?" (or any other technical class)
Another thing I didn't learn until I started coaching.

Why should I join ISI-- what does that mean?

Why should I join USFS and does it matter which club?
In a small market, there's probably only one club. But in a large market like Chicago there are a lot of them. Our coach had us sign up for the "prestige" club, but frankly it was all in his head. This club had a terrible testing schedule, punitive fees, and arrogant skating moms in positions of power whose sole purpose in life sometimes seemed to be to lord it over the "lesser" skaters by withholding information and being generally unpleasant.

What questions do you wish you had asked?

Who do we talk to?

I'm a squeaky wheel.  I also like to know stuff.

Which is a problem when you're a new skater or skating parent. Skating culture is very insular--people hoard information. Further, since so many people in skating have skated literally their entire lives, they often do not understand how mysterious it can seem to neophytes. If you unluckily stumble onto a rink with a poisonous culture like we did, they take your questions as evidence of either stupidity or overreaching, which discourages the inquiries. (And will punish your child in subtle ways in retaliation, not kidding.)

People are sometimes afraid to get information from rink management or the clubs, because they're afraid of looking stupid, they're afraid of retaliation, they're afraid of stepping on the coach's toes.

So they: Ask the Coach, Ask the Gossip Moms, hunt the blogs, try to navigate the USFS site, the PSA site, the ISI site, the CanSkate site. (Which doesn't seem to have a parents' page? Can this be right?)

And you end up getting the not-always-accurate info you need by the seat of the pants.

But each of these places actually have people whose job it is to talk to you. Remember to go in with an open mind, don't snark at them right off the bat; assume they are there to help you, which in fact, they are (unlike local rink managements and club leadership, where that is not always the best assumption you can make). Here are some people to contact:

Susi Wehrli-McLaughlin (swehrli@usfigureskating.org)
Susi is the Senior Director of Membership at US Figureskating.  She's also very accessible, extremely interested in your needs as a coach, skater or parent, and very responsive to issues.

US Figure Skating Parents Committee
They've just introduced a Parents Committee Facebook page. The website has email addresses for contacts in every region. If you're concerned about your inquiry blowing up in your face, contact the chair, or someone from a different region.

Professional Skaters Association 
While this organization is set up for coaches, parents and skaters can also get trustworthy, confidential advice from this organization. Plus, they're in Minnesota, and you just can't believe how nice they are. I think they put something in the water up there. For coaching issues, try talking to Elizabeth Peschges (epeschges@skatepsa.com)

Randy Winslip at the ISI 
This guy knows everything there is to know about skating in the US. While the ISI website is an utter nightmare, their staff is terrific. Randy's email is randy@skateisi.org.  If the ISI conference comes to a town near you, or just for a vacation, go.  (They usually take place in vacation destinations like Florida or Las Vegas.) They always have sessions for and about parents and you'll meet a lot of people who have no stake in your child's or your career, so they are trustworthy to talk to.

Nationals
If you're a competitor, Junior Nationals and the US Figure Skating Championships (which after this year will be one and the same), have seminars for parents and skaters. And I'm betting you don't have to be connected with a competitor to go. If you're at Nationals as a spectator, or they're in your town, call up Susi and ask her if you can attend any of the sessions for parents.

The worst thing you can do as a parent, and especially the parent of a legitimately competitive skater, is to get all your information from a single source. If your coach feels threatened by you trying to get information from people other than him, my advice is to start questioning everything he's telling you, because unless he's feeding you bullshit, why should it matter?

Long story short: educate yourself. Meet other people. Get out of the rink!

A sample ISI judging sheet, explained

It's competition season! Get ready for bling, hardware, and take a deep breath. Your admission to Harvard is not at stake.

One of the most confusing things about competition, especially ISI competition, can be "why didn't the best skater win." So I've created a sample scoring sheet to explain how this might happen.

Please note that I have "rigged" this sheet-- it is not based on any real skater, I made it up, sitting at my desk, to illustrate various points. Randy Winship, Director of Skating Programs at the Ice Skating Institute, who reviewed this for me, strongly recommends that you read the competition manual for judges (someone let me know if you can open this; it may be allowing me in because of my professional membership) which is available as a free pdf download on the ISI site (search "Judging Essentials").

ISI competitions use a panel consisting of 3 judges, one of whom must be Gold tested, and a referee, who I believe must be Gold tested, all through the ISI judges certification system. Each judge has their own sheet like the one below (I've consolidated all three onto a single form for ease of discussion). They mark only their own set of columns. Judges do not discuss marks except in certain instances. It is impossible for a single judge to rig an outcome.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN EXAMPLE ONLY AND NOT IN ANY WAY CONNECTED TO ANY ACTUAL EVENT!


So who wins this event, and who was the best skater? Looking at the individual skills marks, looks like Skater 3 is the best skater, so how come she came in fourth? The worst skater- Skater 1, pulls off a third.

What happened?

ISI gives the judges a statutory range, based on the number of skaters in a flight, which is not supposed to go over 5. (For scheduling and other reasons, competitions may stretch this to 6 or even 7; the largest ISI flight I've ever seen was 9.) You'll see at the left top of the sheet "7.0-7.8" which is the statutory marks range for a flight of 5. Judges must stay within this range, except in certain prescribed instances, and must use the entire range for each skill. Judges grade ONLY the skills and qualities listed on their sheet. They do not see, or discuss, what the other judges are doing, unless there is a dispute or a question.

Looking over the sheet, you see everything within the marks range, except in the Back O-I Pivot and Duration columns (Judge 1), and the Change Foot column (Judge 2).

A correct duration gets 10 points (the referee has a stopwatch), but if you go over time (more than 10 seconds from start of movement to end of movement) there are prescribed penalty marks. Skater 4 went between 10 and 15 seconds over her time limit, so she loses 2 points. The referee notes this on her sheet, and initials the judge's sheet. Some coaches will mess around with the time limit; knowing that you've really got 10 extra seconds, they'll cut a 90 second program for 99 seconds. If the equipment plays that music a little slow (this happens less with digital recordings than it used to with audio tapes), or if she skates slow and finishes after the music ends, that skater is risking a penalty.

Silly skater 3 didn't do a pivot, so she gets a goose egg for the skill. This is not a bad pivot or an incomplete pivot, but a missing pivot. When this happens, the judge who is marking this skill will ask "Was there a pivot?" If all the judges and ref agree there was no pivot, it goes down on the judge's sheet and the ref's sheet as a zero, and the ref must initial the judge's sheet.

Skater 5 messed up her change foot spin. She might have had insufficient rotation, or left off the second forward spin. A recognizable attempt at a skill that is not completed gets a penalty mark of 5. This is NOT the same thing as a fall, or a badly executed skill. A fall on a completed skill will just put you at the bottom of the marks range (assuming someone else isn't even worse) and will cost you placement under "correctness" and "general overall"; falls on completed skills in ISI are not specifically penalized unless it prevents the skater from completing the skill. When there is any question at all, every panel I've ever been on will put a disputed skill at the bottom of the marks rather than giving a penalty mark. ISI judges try their hardest not to give penalty marks.

Again, all penalties must be agreed upon by the entire panel, and initialed by the ref. Some rinks also complete "penalty sheets" to back up any penalty calls in case of disputes.

And this is how it happens: Skater 3 had the highest marks across the board, and didn't do a pivot. Maybe she just forgot it. Maybe her coach is an idiot and didn't choreograph it. Notice that this error also cost her on Correctness and General Overall.

Skater 1 loaded her program with tons of extra content and apparently had great choreography, because her Pattern mark is also high, knocking her to the top of the heap with all her extras. That's a smart coach, and a good choreographer, focusing on this skater's strength.

Skater 5, also a good skater, needs to fix her pivot. But she's feeling pretty good right now, because she doesn't usually beat Skater 3.

Skater 3's parents are standing at the Skating Director's door, screaming at her. After she shows them the video, demonstrating that their kid missed an element, they're going to scream at poor Skater 3 all the way home for forgetting her pivot, and then fire the coach, even if it wasn't her fault.

Skater 1, who always comes in last, even against the book, as well as her parents and her coach, having no idea that all this is going on, now believe that she has a shot at the Olympics.

Should you switch from ISI to USFS

You see skaters every now and then with lots and lots of potential. The families seem committed, the kid's got talent and a work ethic, and you wonder, what is that coach thinking, keeping them competing at Ice Skate Institute (ISI) competitions only?

A coach with a comfort level with ISI might not suggest that you switch, even if they recognize that it might be the best thing. They might be afraid they'll lose the student (they will), or they might simply not get it. There's a lot of really brainless, if well-intentioned skating coaches out there.

ISI, the Ice Skating Institute (see the link in the side bar, along with other figure skating federations), is the recreational federation for skating in the U.S. It is active, has a large membership, and runs numerous competitions. But the focus is on fun and recreation, with competitions set up so that everyone gets a medal or a trophy (by limiting most flights to 5, and giving awards to 5th place). There are many kind of silly events, so that skaters can compete in multiple styles, increasing their opportunities for high placement, and the social aspects are emphasized, through things like team trophies (everyone from a single rink or program earns points for that program).

U.S. Figure Skating, on the other hand, is the federation recognized by the International Skating Union, meaning this is the only way that American skaters can qualify, as Americans, for international ISU competitions like the Grand Prix, Worlds and the Olympics. (Americans can also qualify by skating for another country's federation; each country has its own rules for foreigners qualifying to represent them in international competition.)

There is nothing wrong with ISI competitions. ISI skaters compete at very high levels and do all the skills that USFS skaters do. The hardest test in figure skating is not USFS Senior, but ISI Freestyle 10.

But it's not going to get you to Nationals, international ISU competitions, or the Olympics. The only way for a skater to qualify for these events is to test and compete through US Figure Skating or another country's federation.

To know whether you should make this switch, here are some questions to ask:

Is our skater good enough to be competitive at USFS events? (including the better non-qualifying Club events). Don't answer that! Go to the next question.

Could our skater be good enough? Look at the talent, age, level of commitment of your skater and similar skaters. A lot of skaters are better than yours simply because they skate more. If you think the answer is yes, read on.

How old is my skater? If your skater is 13 and could not pass the USFS Juvenile test tomorrow, it's too late. If they could pass it tomorrow, they'd better, because you've run out of time. You can still do it, but it's going to take a lot of hard work. If they are older than 13 and haven't passed Juvenile, they're done at singles and probably pairs. By the rules, you cannot qualify at Juvenile or below once you're 14. They can still be test skaters, competing USFS "test track" (this is a non-qualifying track for skaters who don't want to try for Nationals) and finish all their tests (this is what my daughter did). Think about ice dance, which many skaters start when they're a little older. (Post corrected)

If your skater is 7 or 8 and has a solid axel, you've got plenty of time. If your skater is 9 or 10, and is just getting the axel, it's going to be a little harder, but still doable.

So, your kid is talented, motivated, and young enough. Big question coming up:

Can we afford it? This is the most important question you will ask. You need to look at all the fungible aspects: monetary cost, family sacrifice (say goodbye to new cars and vacations. Unless you're Bill Gates, you won't be able to afford them anymore), schedule flexibility, emotional commitment (there will be 5 a.m. practices in your future) and willingness of the child's school to work with you (most schools will). Your first year cost for switching that Freestyle 5 student is going to be at least $10,000. If she's successful, that will just go up and up and up.

Now, the critical piece:

Does my skater want to compete at US Nationals? This is not the same as ISI Nationals, which is an open event--you don't have to qualify for ISI Nationals, you just fill out a form and pay your money. You notice that this question is way down the list. Kids want to do lots of things that aren't possible without answering all those other questions first. If your skater understands all of the commitment, sacrifice, sheer agonizing work, and financial struggle that a skating career means for the whole family, then, yes go for it.

Which brings us, parents, to Rule Number One-- don't trust the coach to read your mind, or even necessarily, to listen to your words. Arm yourself with information, which is easy to get through everything from the gossip mill to the internet. Furthermore, you have to know your skater. Make sure this is not your dream, but his or hers.

What it all boils down to is knowing your skater, your options, and as much information as you can gather. You might love your ISI coach, but if what you want to do is compete at Nationals, then that might not be the coach for you.

Patches, stickers, and rewards

There are two primary curricula in figure skating schools, promoted by the Ice Skating Institute (called Learn To Skate or weSkate) and by US Figure Skating (Basic Skills). Many rinks also use their own curricula, although my sense is that this is getting rarer; using an established curriculum means that standards are starting to, well, standardize nationwide. You can now move from Chicago to Tucson, and if you tell the ice rink there "I was in Basic 4" or "I just passed Delta" they know pretty much where to put you, regardless of the curriculum that they use.

Along with the curricula, come bells and whistles. Basic Skills in particular sends lots of fun stickers and pictures and posters and progress books. You're also automatically a member of Basic Skills when you register for a basic skills program. You don't have to sign up separately. ISI has patches for registering tests, but you have to join ISI, on your own (rather than through the rink, with them handling the paperwork) which I think is just a barrier to membership.

Anyway, the patches and stickers and poster are a great way to motivate kids, to promote figureskating...

And to drive skating coaches and directors to insanity.

The problem is carrying all this stuff, and coordinating the awards. Basic Skills has sticker books. The kid gets a book, listing all the skills, with a sheet of stickers. The teacher is supposed to put the sticker in the book when the skater masters the skill. Here's what actually happens:

1. The kid gets the book on the first day of class, and yay! stickers! All stickers go immediately into random spots in the book, if you're lucky, and on the car window if you're not.
2. The kids who haven't used up all the stickers already bring the book, as instructed on the last day of class. The teacher is now juggling 14 books and trying to remember which kid gets which sticker. This all has to happen in the last 5 minutes of class, because the parents aren't paying you to put stickers in some stupid book.
3. Unless of course, you don't manage to get the stickers into the book, making Princess cry, and what kind of skating teacher are you, anyway.
4. The kids who DON'T pass and therefore aren't entitled to stickers want stickers anyway, because kids today get rewarded for simply breathing, which I guess they wouldn't be motivated to do if they didn't get stickers.
5. The kids who pass some things but not others want to know why they can't just pass to the next level anyway, since they have stickers (plus I'm still unclear on what prevents them from simply putting the stickers in their own books.)

ISI doesn't overload you with crap to carry around, and intelligently does not trust children with stickers; what they have are patches.

The patches are great-- they're major bling for one thing, and look pretty cool on a bag or jacket. In the past, ISI membership was so cheap-- just $7--that rinks could work it into the cost of a class. Rinks also used to award the patches--I can remember the skating director having a drawful of patches that you got when you passed a test; I never paid for one, and my daughter's got all but the last two (FS 9 & 10, oh was that me bragging?) but apparently now they make you pay $3 per patch. Budget cuts, I assume. I haven't heard of anyone getting their ISI patch in years at my rink; I don't think they tell parents about this. You have to be motivated enough to learn about it on your own. Don't know about other rinks, but ISI still makes patches, so someone must be doing it.

The problem with the patches, is, when do you award them? I've suggested doing it in class, but of course you run up against the everyone's a winner in modern America problem: what about the kids that don't pass? They'll feel bad when they don't get a patch! Musn't have that. How do you know the kid's an ISI member? This costs $25 now, and the benefits of ISI membership are really unclear. Magazine? meh. Compete? meh. Test? Don't you do that in class anyway? You could just award it for passing the class, although some rinks will tell you that class standard is lower than "test" standard (gosh, you mean I could have been "cuting" all those kids up, rather than making them actually master the skill? Stupid me), plus the patch is supposed to denote that you've formally registered the test with ISI, and there's that $25 fee that parents aren't going to pay (did I mention that you have to pay it every year?). Also, parents can't register tests. Only rinks can register tests, and trust me, skating directors have better things to do than help ISI increase their membership.

So what to do. My crankiness and poor juggling skills aside, the bling is a nice reward for mastering a set of skills. ISI and Basic Skills membership does help keep families in skating. So how do you get the bling into the hands of the kids that have earned it?

Competing as an adult: ISI

I sat down with my old friend and skating buddy Teresa G last week to talk about skating and competing as an adult. Teresa is a Freestyle 3 skater and a skating mom (our kids grew up together); she skated recreationally as a child, and has been skating seriously for about 12 years. She first competed as a soloist 3 years ago, but had done competitions with an adult ensemble and many show performances, both group and solo, before taking the plunge.

Teresa competes at ISI; I'll also be talking to a former Adult Nationals competitor in a future post.

Xanboni: what inspired you to get back into skating as an adult?
Teresa: oh, my daughter. She started skating, so I did too.
Xanboni: haha! That's exactly how I started!
Teresa: Actually, my daughter was in the Nutcracker on Ice, so I came to see the show. There's an adult number, of course, and I thought, well, I think I could do that. (NB: Nutcracker is an annual show at our home rink. Teresa has had many solos in the Nutcracker on Ice, including the Mrs. Stahlbahm, Mama G, and the Overture, as well as solos in the Spring Show.)
Xanboni: So, why compete?
Teresa: Well, a few years ago I joined this adult ensemble and they decided to compete. We just like to travel together, the competition is almost secondary, although that's fun too. What I learned from competing with adults, and at ISI, is that it's really different than the USFS competitions, either kids or adults. The skaters just take themselves way less seriously, even though they're good skaters. It's about meeting people and having fun. There's lots of camaraderie, especially if you keep going back to the same competition year after year. People praise you, and everyone is happy that you performed; it's fun to win, but that's not the emphasis.
Xanboni: what was the hardest thing when you started.
Teresa: Oh, I was nearly catatonic the first time I competed solo. The initial anticipation wasn't so bad, I mean I was nervous, but just short of debilitating. And then I got there and it was so scary. But you go out and skate and it was really fun. It kind of goes by in a blur. You finish, and think, "gee, did I leave something out? That seemed awfully quick."
Xanboni: how did you get over that?
Teresa: ISI competitions are so skater friendly, and having a really clear goal helps. I also have a great coach who really understands adults. He helped me understand how to be well prepared, he knows how to encourage you without coddling or kidding you and an experienced coach really knows the ins and outs of how to make the competition process work.
Xanboni: like what?
Teresa: I always skate the Spotlight and Light Entertainment events, rather than the skill-based solos, and we learned that you really have to pay attention to what ISI wants out of these performances. We kept thinking that it was about the skating, even thought the description of the event really deemphasizes that, and talks about character and props and costume. So we finally said: you have to skate well, but let's really amp up the concept.
Xanboni: So did you win?
Teresa: Well, I had this really cute program to Bjork...
Xanboni: Right, with the glasses and props; it was adorable
Teresa: Except that another skater in the flight had the identical music. So I don't know, maybe she did have the better skating, or maybe the judges liked her props better. But I came in second!
Xanboni: so good, experienced coach, good prep, what else?
Teresa: always always practice with your music, right from the start. This makes a huge difference. Learn lessons as you go; you'll get better just at competing as well as at skating. Keep at it. People go once, and then think well, that was okay and they don't go back. Go back, it'll be better the second and third and fourth time. I also think it really helped that I had done the shows here where everyone knows me, and with the team. Also, watch the winners, and figure out what they're doing right. Then copy them.
Xanboni: What do you think keeps people from competing?
Teresa: People think, oh I'll lose, or I'll look foolish, but really, it's not about that in ISI at all. Like I said, it's fun to win, but it's also fun just being there.

Have you competed as an adult? Share your experiences!

Test readiness

Tales from the front:

A friend recently overhead a coach at a USFS test session saying, "I don't expect most of my kids to pass, but they're graduating, so maybe the judges will take that into consideration."

Last week I did an ISI test for a girl who had been advised by her coach that she wasn't ready to test, but the girl and her mother insisted. When in fact she did not pass (and in fact did not pass rather miserably) I read her the riot act about wasting everyone's time. After I left, this girl turned to her coach and announced that she thought she had worked really hard, and that therefore she should get to move to the next level anyway.

In both of these cases the coach was at fault. The first one because she did not honor established USFS testing and PSA ethical guidelines, and the second because she didn't stand up to parental pressure even though she knew the parent was wrong.

It is the coach's reputation on the line when they bring kids to test who aren't ready. USFS states in its coaching guidelines very strongly that you do not test someone who is not ready to pass. In the case of that first coach, my guess would be that if a lot of her students didn't pass, the judges probably took her aside and asked her about it. This does happen and it's extremely embarrassing. The judges are volunteers. Don't waste their time.

A coach who bows to parental pressure is risking their reputation with the judges, and is also risking loss of the student. Because you can bet the parents are going to forget that they pressured the coach into testing and simply rewrite history in the direction of "incompetent coach." And they'll find a different coach. Judges have been known to speak to parents about coaches who do this all the time, suggesting in various roundabout ways that a different coach might be in order. An unethical coach at a test session might engage in a little "tampering" with remarks like "why did her coach let her test? She looks like she's not quite ready."

In a way, it doesn't matter why the coach is putting out unready tests, whether because he or she doesn't know what test-ready looks like, or doesn't override parents against her better judgment. And as far as I'm concerned a coach that puts her reputation and her income at risk in this way deserves everything she gets.

This past August a lot of tests were being put out not quite ready because everyone was scrambling to pass their Moves under the old guidelines before the change on September 1. In this case I think judges forgave the coaches for putting out iffy tests; I am as sure as I can be that no one got a pity pass because of it however.

So how does a parent know when the skater is ready to test?

You don't need to know. Your coach will tell you. You should have a general idea of how quickly a skater can move through the levels. For Moves, a skater who works on Moves every day can probably do 3 levels in a year. The less you work the slower you'll go, but it's not a race. You don't get extra points for getting through the levels faster. Go at your own pace. For Freestyle tests, be guided by your competition needs. You can pass a level before you're ready to compete at it; once you pass it you can only skate at that level (qualifying competitions) or higher (at some non-qualifying competitions), never down. Which brings us to...

Trust your coach. If your coach says don't test, for goodness sake don't test. You pay us to know this stuff. And a coaching relationship without that really minimal level of trust is doomed to failure anyway.

See if the coach will arrange a trial test. At the higher levels (Novice and up) the coach can arrange a USFS judge to observe a trial test. At the lower levels, this can be done with the coach's entire roster of students, with perhaps a fellow coach as the judge. It could be extremely instructive to give the parents testing sheets as well, so they know how it works, and how difficult it is. This can be done on any regular ice, or find ice that's typically empty (our rink has ice all morning and at 3 p.m. everyday), and arrange to have the kids get out of school early, or arrive late for this special instance. If you do this, pay the coach their regular hourly rate, and buy a nice thank you gift for the person acting as judge. (Never pay a judge.)

Observe test sessions USFS test sessions are generally run by the clubs, are free, and are posted on line well in advance. You can download the schedule so you know what levels you're observing. It can be hard to find out who has passed (they generally don't post that) but even watching a session is instructive. Some rinks will post schedules for tests that their skaters are involved in. (Your skater does not need to know you're doing this.)

Observe other skaters. How does your skater look compared to a: skaters taking the same test; b: skaters taking a lower test; c: skaters taking the next level up. Your skater should look more like the skater above than like the skaters at or below his or her level. This is one of the places where chatter in the stands is good-- know the levels of your skater's peers, which you find out from the moms, who are more than ready to brag. They don't have to know your ulterior motive.

It's a little more complicated for skaters testing ISI Freestyle because every program has a slightly different system through FS6 (starting at FS7, ISI requires a special test at a District test session). At the three rinks where I teach the systems are:

Rink one: Class instructor can test you up to the next level for classes only, based on in-class skills test only (no program test required). For competition, Gold tested on-staff judge (one of several coaches) must do both the skills and the program test, generally on a Practice Ice session. For ice show free style groups and solos, skaters must pass skills and program test in a special test session arranged by the rink.

Rink two: Class instructor gives both the skills and program test in class, which can be registered with ISI.

Rink three: Testing is by recommendation only. Class instructor and private instructor must agree that student is ready to test. Either can veto the test. Testing is done the first day of classes by a disinterested panel (i.e. coaches who do not teach this student).

(I'd love to hear other testing systems for ISI; please share!)

If your skater keeps failing tests, you probably need a different coach because either that coach doesn't know what they're doing, or you're overriding them and making them put out unready tests (and they're letting you).

Bottom line? Your coach decides when you test, not the skater, not the parent, even if they think the coach is wrong.

What do test scores mean?

Both ISI, the recreational federation, and USFS, the competitive federation, have figure skating tests, broken down into progressively more challenging sets of skills. These test levels also generally correspond (but only generally) to competition programs.

However, the scoring on tests is very different than the scoring on competitions. For one thing, while there is a scale, the tests are essentially Pass-Retry. (The kinder, gentler, 21st century way of saying Pass-Fail. Musn't upset the kiddies or their check-writing parents, I guess.) There is a minimum passing score, for skating that meets the test standard. If you exceed the test standard, you can get a higher score; in USFS testing this is the rarer case. Most skaters pass AT the passing score because the passing standard is high and fairly universally agreed upon by nationally trained test judges.

I have heard at least two parents complain to their children that they "barely" passed a USFS test, i.e. got just the passing score. This is wrong. In USFS testing a pass is a pass. The standards are high; everyone passes with an A. Passing over the minimum score is equivalent to an A+. One parent told me she was going to make her daughter retake her test because "I wasn't happy with her score." First, this is not allowed, and second, sorry, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard from a parent, and I've heard a lot of stupid things from parents (and said a lot of stupid things AS a parent).

Unlike USFS, which uses a descending point system (10 point scale, your score is the accumulation of your deductions), ISI uses more of a grade system, 0 through 10. The handbook describes it as follows:

0- didn't attempt
1- attempted, not recognizable
2- attempted, recognizable
3- poor
4- not passable (F)
5- minimum passing grade (D)
6- Fair (C)
7- Good (B)
8- Very good (A)
9- Excellent (A+)
10- Superior, no errors (A++)

So as you can see, in ISI, you pass with a "D" just like in school.

I really don't like to see this however; who wants their kid to pass with a D? I don't think I'm alone in this either. Because ISI makes me pass Ds, I give more 3s and 4s than I might otherwise. I also really disagree that a "5" is a "D." Coaches that I know are looking for better than a D. You can't do only 70% of an axel, after all, which would be a D. I tell my students that you should not move up a level until you have at least one, and better yet two 7s in your scores. Further, I think that a teacher who gives all 5s is not paying attention. There are six skills in each test; I find it difficult to believe that all the skills are going to be equally just 5s. I have also observed that passing with all 5s is a guarantee that you will struggle at the next level. My grading looks more like this:

0- did not attempt
1- attempted, no understanding of skill
2- attemped, cursory understanding of skill
3- completed skill, unacceptable errors
4- completed skill, minimal errors
5- good understanding of skill, passing
6- skill is good enough for competition
7- excellent
8- superior
9- professional
10- perfect

To compete in ISI competitions through Delta you must complete an isolated skills test; to compete in Free Style you must also take a program test (all skills set to music). In USFS you need to do the Moves and Freeskating tests at each level to compete at that level. You can also "skate up" a level at some USFS competitions. You cannot skate up in ISI. You cannot skate down in either system. (Deliberately skating down by not taking a test you are ready for is called "sandbagging" and is considered cheating.) In both systems, your class level has no bearing on your test level. You can take classes both above and below your test level, depending on what your program or your coach requires or tolerates.

USFS tests must be taken in front of judging panels of varying sizes and judge's levels. They do not need to happen only at Club test sessions. Your coach can arrange separate, non-club tests if needed; you just have to pay for the ice. Club test sessions are a convenience, not a requirement. Talk to your coach and club leadership to find out about this. I took my First Figures test on a public session with a single Silver level judge (it was an utter disaster because you really can't skate figures on public, but the point is, you can do this).

ISI tests through FS 6 can be taken at your home rink. It is generally frowned upon to test your own private lesson student, even in class, but is not specfically against the rules. Each rink should have its own rules about testing-- some allow students to move up just from class tests, some set up special ISI test sesssions, some allow class testing to move up in the classes, but require a separate test to qualify for ice show solos. I've worked at 5 different rinks, and seen 5 different test arrangements. Above FS6 you must take the test at special sessions with impartial judges. Coaches are judges in the ISI system, with judging levels of Bronze, Silver, Gold.

Don't be this parent

I just got back from our annual ISI competition today. ISI is the figure skating federation that focuses on the recreational skaters-- the ones who now, and probably only and always, do it just for fun and the love of the sport. Don't get me wrong, there are some very talented, motivated skaters in ISI, and their top levels- Freestyle, Dance, and Pairs 10- have more challenging tests than the comparable USFS tests.

But the focus is fun.

One of the ways we make sure of this is the "everybody gets a medal, and all tots win first place" philosophy. Flights are small-- 1 to 5 people-- so that you can credibly do this. I love hearing all the clinking hardware at the end of an ISI competition, or see the kids juggling mulitple trophies. Sometimes the kids will brag "I got a First AND a second AND a third AND a fourth" as though it's a collection. Tots get first place no matter what, so that they (and their parents) get a big shiny trophy. For a 3-year-old, this is huge.

That's the set up.

Today, we had a wonderful 3-year-old skater. She did an entire program from memory, covering the entire ice, doing what I can only call a well-balanced program: a lot of different elements, responsive to the music, with energy and personality. But the coach had changed the music, and the mother forgot that this had happened, having sent the child skating only with the nanny for the past two months.

When the music came on, the mother flipped. First she stormed into the music booth and attempted to physically remove the CD while the child was skating, screaming at the announcer the whole time. Then she went into the lobby, where she was verbally abusive of the skating director (mind you, the child is still skating; mom is not watching, she's too busy flipping out over the 3-year-old's music). When the child was done, the mother got abusive with her relatives who were trying to calm her down. Then she moved on to the child's coach, and then to another coach who tried to ask her to please tone it down (we're talking screaming f-bombs in the lobby) as there were a lot of children present.

I want to emphasize that this was a Tot 1 program for 3 year olds at a local ISI competition.

There is never any excuse for this sort of behavior.

This was not the case here, but there are probably scenarios that we could come up with where heads should roll in figure skating. Maybe the coach blows off a major competition. Or says something inappropriate to a student or parent at a competition. I don't know. I guess you could come up with reasons to be publicly upset at a competition.

It is never okay to run with that. If you feel you must, calmly remove your child from the venue, explaining "something came up, I'm sorry, we have to go." Text the coach and let the competition director know you're withdrawing. Or let the child skate, pick up your trophy and take her home, then call and let the coach or the skating director have it, when the skater and other skaters/parents/judges/coaches/innocent bystanders are not there to observe.

There were coaches who felt that ISI should be called and have this family banned from competition. Imagine that? Your child banned from competition because you could not act like an adult? Others felt it unduly punished the child, but the coach in the music booth said he was seriously considering calling the police before he managed to get the mother to leave.

There is no competition so important--not at the local rink, not at the Olympics--that responsible behavior and appropriate ethics, not to say morals, are optional. And you know the worst part? She entirely missed seeing her beautiful daughter's adorable and excellent program. (Really, the program was excellent. One of the best tot programs I've seen.)

Think about this mother--abusive, out of perspective, and out of control-- next time you get upset at a competition. Don't be the parent that everyone talks about for the rest of the day.

Basic Skills and Learn To Skate, side by side

There are two figure skating curricula for skating schools, designed and sold by the two main organizing structures for ice sports in the US- USFS Basic Skills and ISI Learn to Skate (I believe they actually call it weSkate now, but whatever). US Hockey and USFS also have hockey curricula.

Learn-to-Skate has a very open curriculum, based on outcomes: ("forward crossover" "3 turn"); the Basic Skills curriculum is process oriented, breaking each skill down into components and testing those: (edges on a circle, two foot turns in place, two foot turns moving, before crossovers and 3 turns). Conversely, ISI has very restrictive competition rules, i.e. you must do the moves up to your level, and only up to your level, to very exact standards and use 9 separate judging criteria. Basic Skills competitions have much fewer specific skills requirements, and use only 2 judging criteria.

You'll learn how to skate using either. I've taught in both, and I find the ISI curriculum more teacher-friendly because it allows me to break down the skills in a way that makes sense to me and to each individual class. People swear by Basic Skills because it makes teachers break down the skill in a logical way. Here's the side-by-side:

Basic skating (forward and backward motion, gliding, stopping, falling)

ISI: PreAlpha, PreAlpha 1&2, PreAlpha and PreAlpha Plus etc. (different rinks break them down differently). Gliding forwards for your body height on two feet, and on one foot both sides. Forward and backward swizzles, backward wiggles. This level needs to be fun, because if you lose them here, they're gone. Like in all ISI levels, there are only 6 skills. (My rink also adds basic snowplow stop, two foot hop, and moving dip.) ISI classes will teach proper falling and getting up, but not as a testable skill.

USFS Basic 1 & 2, conversely, has 15 separate testable skills including all of the above including the hop and dip). They then add additional skills including things Rocking Horse (one forward, one backward swizzle over and over, essentially in place), backward two foot glide, turning in place, and half swizzle pumps (slalom) which is a pre-stroking and pre-crossover skill.

Xan's take: ISI teachers will learn that these extra things, like rocking horses and pumps, need to be taught; the USFS advantage is that it's handed to the teacher on a silver platter. There's a curriculum development philosophy called "deskilling" where you write the curriculum in such a way that the teacher doesn't need to have actual knowledge of the subject in order to follow the curriculum (in other words, the teacher doesn't need any skill). This is what Basic Skills feels like to me-- it is extremely restrictive for an experienced teacher, but a godsend if most coaches in the rink are high school students.

Forward skating: cross overs and stroking

ISI Alpha: Forward stroking, forward crossovers, snowplow stop. That's it.
USFS Basic 3: Forward stroking, half swizzle pumps on circle, moving turns, backwards one-foot glides, forward slaloms, two-foot spin, plus part of Basic 4: forward edges on a circle, forward crossovers

Xan's take: ISI Alpha makes sense to a customer. When you or your kid passes Alpha, you know exactly what's been learned. Crossovers. Stroking. If you don't pass Alpha, it's easy to see why. Basic Skills 3 feels like a "non" level--you have to explain every single skill in it to a non-skater. To a layman, the skills in it don't relate to recognizable skills like "crossover." Basic Skills takes an awfully long time to get to crossovers-- four levels-- and it mixes in skills that kids will need two and three levels on (by which time, by the way, they will have forgotten them). As a skating instructor, I can see the sense in the Basic Skills curriculum, and in fact I use these skills within the ISI structure to teach the named skills like crossovers and the various turns. But I think it would be hard for a parent to understand exactly why Suzy in the ISI program down the street is already doing crossovers, while my Johnny, who has been skating the same amount of time, is only doing something called "slaloms" and isn't that for skiing?

Backward skating: cross overs and backward stroking (backwards one-foot glides)

ISI Beta: Backward stroking, backward crossovers from lift, T-stop.
Basic 4: backward half-swizzle pumps on circle, backward stroking, hockey backward snowplow stops, and part of 5: backward edges on circle, backward crossovers from cut-back, one-foot spin with optional entry, side toe hop. (lost yet? And I left out some stuff for the next level.)

Xan's take: You start to see the problem. Basic Skills teaches necessary things, but they are all things that you have to teach anyway. When kids learn backward crossovers, they learn how to balance (i.e. one-foot glide) going backwards. If you can't do it, you can't do the crossover. No need to test it separately. Teach, yes. Test, no. Backwards glides are an integral part of backwards crossovers and stroking, and one-foot turns. For me it's like testing spelling by learning half a word at a time.

Turns

ISI Gamma and Delta: 3-turns inside and outside, forward inside open mohawks and mohawk combination (essentially skating into the turn), forward inside and outside edges on serpentine pattern, bunny hop, lunge, shoot-the-duck
Basic 4, forward outside three turn on half circle (they call it "from stand still" but they mean on half circle); Basic 6 forward inside three turn on half circle, moving backward two-foot three turn, lunge, bunny hop, spiral, T-stop; Basic 7 forward inside open mohawk, back outside to forward outside step on a circle (this is the same step that is part of the ISI mohawk combination), back crossovers to landing position (back one-foot glide with free foot extended), inside pivots.

Xan's take: At this level, I start to like Basic Skills better. There are fun skills mixed in with the difficult ones, like mohawks, and the progression from half-circle three turns to moving three-turns is nice. But you can see the problem-- parents can understand "three turn" and "combination" but everything else in this level is very wordy. You have to be a skater to understand the skills. I also disagree with taking the alternating forward edges out of the curriculum. This is skill left over from the old School Figures days, and is the first place where kids have to really think about precise upper body control in a considered way. (That's supposed to happen with turning skills, but it really doesn't.) Again, however, ISI is much more customer friendly-- you can really understand exactly what you need to do to pass, and the skills have short, familiar names.

Getting ready for freestyle

ISI: ISI does not have a formal transitional level, which I think is a failure of this curriculum. At the freestyle levels, they are still teaching skills in isolation, rather than making kids move into them. Many rinks add a "pre-freestyle" or "delta plus" level to overcome this omission, using patterns from USFS Moves, or making up their own, and adding in specific testable freestyle skills like Waltz Jumps, two-foot spins from backward crossover entry, etc.
USFS Basic 8: This includes Waltz Jumps, Mazurka (also known as an Albright or Scissor, essentially a backward-entry bunny hop from an outside edge. It's my favorite jump.) moving three turns on a circle, and a mohawk combination move (crossover into mohawk, forward step).

Xan's take: Basic Skills finally gets it right. ISI needs to add a pre-freestyle level.

Update: Here's a discussion from FSUniverse that brought up this post!

Have you taught or learned in either or both? Which did you like better?

Alphabet Soup

There are two established curricula for figure skating schools across the US: the Ice Skating Institute's Learn to Skate or weSkate program, and US Figureskating's Basic Skills. Both these programs take skaters from first-time on the ice up through triple jumps (in USFS kids transition to high freestyle through their Bridge program), as well as specialties like Pairs, Dance, Figures, etc. Basic Skills also has speed skating and hockey curricula. In Canada the skating federation (Skate Canada) promotes the CanSkate curriculum (see what they did there? Cute.).

There are also rinks that use their own curriculum, but if you then compete in any ISI or USFS competition you have to adhere to the curriculum as laid out in the two federations (ISI has greater restrictions on elements that can be in programs than USFS believe it or not).

ISI is strictly recreational. Although it does have local, national and even international competitions, and trains to the highest level (most difficult test in figureskating is not USFS Senior, but ISI FreeStyle 10) the focus is on fun. Even if you start in an ISI program, if you want to compete in qualifying competitions leading to Nationals, you must eventually switch to the USFS Moves and Free Style tests. It is possible and common for skaters to do both.

So that's the outline. What's the difference?

Both curricula are designed to lead the skater in a logical progression through the skills; to "build" each skill as it were. From two foot to one foot glide, to glide on a circle (edge), to crossovers. Then do it all over again backwards. Then combine forwards and backwards (turns). Add jumps, spins, more complex turns, etc.

ISI is a goal oriented curriculum. The skills are basically stated as "Forward Crossovers," "Backward Crossovers" "Three-turns" et cetera, leaving the instructor to break the skill down into the necessary glides, rotations, body alignment etc. A successful coach in ISI needs to understand the details of each move, because the curriculum doesn't hand it to you.

Basic Skills is very process oriented, and relies less on the knowledge and creativity of the teacher, but it forces students to really master each individual component of each skill.

I like the way Basic Skills forces a teacher to break the skill down. The drawback with the curriculum is that it breaks the skill down so far, with 7 testable skills at every level, that it removes a lot of discretion and creativity on the part of the coach, and just takes up a lot more class time on each line item skill. This is part of an educational approach called "deskilling" as in the teacher doesn't need actual skills to teach. It is directed at the idea of anyone being able to teach anything if they just follow the curriculum exactly, whether they're a trained teacher or not.

I like the way ISI makes it very clear to the student (and the parent) exactly what it is they are learning. "Forward Crossovers" is way clearer than "forward alternating half pumps on a line, then pumps on a circle, then forward inside and outside edges on a circle, then crossovers" (which spans 3 separate levels, but are all aimed at teaching crossovers). ISI forces skaters to connect the dots. My experience of Basic Skills was that kids just do not really get the connection between stroking, pumps, one-foot glides and crossovers, because the curriculum decouples the skill from the goal.

The drawback with ISI is that kids get "stuck" and it's harder to demonstrate why to the frustrated parent. In Basic Skills you can see that you have to have a solid one-foot glide on a circle before the crossovers. In ISI it's just "can't do crossovers."

Kids learn to skate no matter which curriculum they use, or neither. The key to learning how to skate is mileage. If you keep taking classes and lessons, you will get better, ipso facto. You will get best if you allow the teacher, and not the parent or the kid, decide when a child can move on. Slower is better. As I said to a child today, bored with edges, "in 5 minutes, you will get to do whatever you want. Is agonizing boredom for 5 minutes something you can handle?"

I like the way ISI leaves the breakdown up to the coach. Unfortunately this does not work if the coach does not know how to break down the skill.

So what's the solution? ISI requires coaches with a clue. USFS has the better skills progression. Coming up with better skills progressions and lesson plans is a favorite coaching parlor game.

Understanding competition placement

I was saving this post for the Olympics, but the controversial (for some reason) awarding of the US Ladies Singles title to Rachel Flatt, I dug this post idea out of my drafts list.

Competition placement ranks second only to changing coaches in anxiety production among figure skating parents and, if Twitter is anything to go by, figure skating fans. And just like bad calls in team sports generate weeks of recrimination, figure skating scores just never seem fair to the fanboys and -girls.

There are currently three judging systems being used in figure skating:

The big leagues: The International Judging System, or IJS (also referred to as NJS, new judging system and CoP, Code of Points) is used in all national and international "qualifying" competitions and in local, non-qualifying competitions for Juvenile through Senior that act as training competitions and feeders for the qualifying ones. This is the system that has those incomprehensible point totals (TES of 50.12, TCC of 21.87 and PCC of 29.02 for a total score of 101.01). The judges at these events must qualify through judges training and rigorous exams. As someone whose non-competitive (at singles) daughter once had to compete in the same flight with Alissa Ciszny I can tell you this system is nitpicky and brutal, but it really covers the bases and tells you how you skated. ( For more about qualifying and non-qualifying competitions, check out usfigureskating.org. )

Update: here's a great article at About.com explaining scoring in IJS.

The bush leagues: U.S. Figure Skating also sanctions competitions for beginning skaters, with such skill/level designations as "Beginner," "Limited Beginner," Basic 7, etc. These competitions still use the old 6.0 scoring system. Qualification to judge at Basic Skills competitions is, I believe, just membership in U.S. Figure Skating and age (you must be 16). In practice, judges at these competitions are local coaches or coaches from the sponsoring club.

The crosstown rival: The Ice Skating Institute, which is a strictly recreational skating association, also runs hundreds of local, national and even international competitions. Judges for these events again are local and participating coaches or interested amateurs that have taken the judging exams, available on line. These competitions are mostly run by skating schools rather than clubs.

Every single one of them will turn in results that seem incomprehensible, if not downright unfair. I have never been to a competition where some parent or coach did not insist that the judges "cheated," or that the rink "held up" its own skaters, or that some program "sandbags" its kids and on and on.

Salt Lake City notwithstanding, I believe in the basic integrity of all three judging systems, if for no other reason than that I have been through judges training and testing in all three systems and it is very very hard. The people doing this take it seriously, and they know that at the higher levels there is a lot at stake.

Dealing with disappointment
The gold and silver medal coaches from yesterday, Frank Carroll and Tom Zakrajsek, are madly spinning their skaters' scores and style today, and at that level it's expected. At non-qualifying competitions, at Basic Skills and ISI competitions, and even at Regional and Sectional competitions, that kind of talk should be kept within the skating family: skater, coach, parents. It is only destructive to complain about marks.

The best measure of how your skater did at a local competition is whether they achieved a personal best, or landed a new jump in competition. You cannot possibly ever demystify the individual decisions that went into the marks, especially in a system as on-the-fly and complex as the IJS. All three systems have mechanisms for protests, but they should be used sparingly and only in the face of overwhelming and obvious ill intent on the part of judges.

At the 2010 U.S. Nationals, Olympic berths and future careers are at stake. The controversy there is basically whether the system should reward technique or artistry, and in fact as it stands the system actually favors artistry--in the event of a tie, the higher component, or artistic, score (the so-called "second mark") wins. But judges can, and do, reduce component scores for poor technique, which is what happened at yesterday's Ladies Free Skate. It was a judgment call on the part of the panel, but that is why we call them "judges" and not "computers."

At local competitions, just don't worry about it. Ask your coach, or a judge, how scores are arrived at generally. Ask to have the relative placement of skaters in a flight explained, again, generally. Never berate a skater for their placement, as they have very little control over it. Ditto the coach, for the most part.

How can I learn more?
Both the Ice Skating Institute and U.S. Figure Skating have been running a series of articles on understanding their two judging systems. The latest one from ISI is in this quarter's Recreational Ice Skating magazine (available on line here) on page 27. A very clearly written series on IJS has been in the last several issues of Skating Magazine, U.S. Figure Skating's member's magazine. (I would be grateful if someone can find a link to Skating Magazine. U.S. Figure Skating has revamped their site and now I can't find anything. If you find the link, please post the URL in the comments.)

Monday morning quarterbacking is a blood sport to skating fans. I feel bad for Rachel Flatt, who gave a brilliant and flawless performance, won the gold, and had to wake up this morning to "Mirai wuz robbed" headlines.

How much worse for your little skater to feel like she did her best and an evil world conspiracy (in the person of those incompetent judges from that other rink) withheld the marks.