USFSA Updates

Posted by Timbre Beck-Murphy Jul 17, 2006

The United States Figure Skating Association has released some important updates for competitive skaters. Foremost, however, a big congratulations goes out to Matt Savoie who is a recently-appointed ISU singles and pairs technical committee athlete representative.

According to www.usfsa.org, there singles skaters who perform the flying camel spin - a required element for 2006-2007 junior short programs - should consult Clarifications/Rule Interpretations. The ISU has basically decided that "in order to attain a Level 4, the skate will be permitted to do the 'Butterfly' entry for credit for bullet #5 - 'Difficult variation of air or landing position'."

Other ISU communications are delineated in their Technical Documents section. The namely affect ice dancing and synchro skaters at the moment. For an overview of these considerations, read the article:

title="ISU Changes to Ice Dance Rules"> "ISU Changes to Ice Dance Rules."

Also important is the special notification to coaches and skaters regarding sit spins. "A sit position is obtained when the angle of the skating leg in the knee is not more than 90 degrees." If the position is considered "upright," with the butt higher than the knee, there will be a GOE reduction of -1 to -3.

I'm glad for this stipulation as I see a lot of younger skaters getting away with less than acceptable sits. Perfecting the sit, however, is easier said than done and requires concentrated off-ice strength training.

My butt has been below my knee in the upright position since before college. I wonder how much the deduction is for that.