Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating

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Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating Dec 17, 2015 2:48:10 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 17, 2015 2:48:10 GMT

The Toe Loop

This toe-pick assisted jump starts from the back outside edge and lands on the back outside edge of the same foot (if you're right handed, this is taking off from the right foot and landing your right foot). The toe loop above belongs to Russian skater Maxim Kovtun.

Salchow

If you look at the Salchow that Shizuka Arakawa is performing and scroll up to see Kovtun, you can see the massive difference between an edge jump and a toe jump. The Salchow starts from the back inside edge (if you were standing straight up, the edges that face each other) and lands on the back outside edge of the opposite foot (if you were right-handed, you'd take off from your left and land on your right).

The Loop

The loop is another edge jump, where the jumper (in this case, Johnny Weir) takes off from his back outside edge and lands on the back outside edge of the same leg. An easy way to remember this jump is that it's basically a toe loop without the assist of the toe pick.

The Flip

The flip like the toe-loop, is a pick-assisted jump. The difference between the flip, the toe-loop, and the Lutz is that the take off begins from the back inside edge and is landed with the opposite foot.

The Lutz

The only difference between a Lutz and a flip is the edge the skater is taking off from. Some skaters "cheat" and take off from the wrong edge when attempting to do a Lutz, which calls for takeoff from the back outside edge and landing on the opposite foot. What also makes the Lutz difficult is that it's counter-rotated, meaning that the rotation of the jump is the opposite of its entry. The triple Lutz above belongs to 2010 olympic gold medalist Kim Yu-Na, whose strongest jump is her textbook Lutz.

The Axel

The Axel is the easiest jump to tell apart from the other because of its entry — it looks particularly cool because the skater is taking this jump head-on. The Axel is also the hardest jump. Here's a slow-mo version of Mao Asada, one of the few women in history who has landed the triple Axel and one of the only women who regularly attempts it.

Last Edit: Dec 18, 2015 2:23:18 GMT by Admin

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Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating Dec 18, 2015 2:39:54 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 18, 2015 2:39:54 GMT

Technical Score

The score for the element is composed of a “Base Value” of each element (Technical Panel) and the so-called “Grade of Execution - GOE” (Judges). A group of experts, including experienced skaters and coaches, have worked out a summary list of each element’s Base Value as well as its “Level of Difficulty” in case of spins, steps, lifts, etc. The level of points of the Base Value depends on the difficulty of the element.

Some elements such as spins and footwork sequences are further broken down depending on their “Level of Difficulty”. These element Base Values and Levels of Difficulty ensure that skaters receive the appropriate and consistent credit for every element performed. The Base Value of all recognized elements are reviewed and published annually by the ISU in a Communication.

The name of the identified element will be listed instantaneously on the Judge’s screen. The Judge then simply grades the quality of the element on a scale of +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3. With this scale and the resulting “quality judgment”, the Judge can either increase or decrease the Base Value of each performed element. The total of all the elements scores gives the Technical Score.

Presentation Score

In addition to the Technical Score, the Judges will award points on a scale from 0.25 to 10.00 with increments of 0.25 for the Presentation Score to grade the overall presentation of the performance.

The Presentation Score is for Single and Pair Skating (Short Program and Free Skating):
- Skating Skills; which is the overall quality of the skating ability (e.g. balance, flow, multi directional skating, power)
- Transitions, Linking Footwork and Movement; which is the variety and difficulty how the individual elements are linked together. Unison in Pair Skating and Ice Dance as well as the balance of workload of both partners.
- Performance/Execution; is the physical and emotional involvement of the skater/couple as they translate the intent of the music and choreography (e.g. carriage, style, personality, variety, contrasts, projection)
- Choreography/Composition; which is the arrangement of all movements according to the principles of proportion, space and music (e.g. idea, concept, unity, pattern, phrasing, originality, design)
- Interpretation; which is the translation of the music to movement on ice (e.g. timing, expression of the music, use of nuances, relationship between partners, character of music)

Final Score

The total segment score is obtained from the Technical Score plus the Presentation Score, after having subtracted any deduction (for example 1.0 for a fall. Then, the Short Program and the Free Skating scores are added together to form the final score.

Availability of Data and Statistics

At the end of each segment, a list will be published which includes all relevant scoring data for skaters. Under the ISU Judging System there is far more data available to analyze than before. This data can help the National Federations, athletes and coaches to improve future performances.

Officials Accountability

The skaters performances are video recorded and can be reviewed on DVD at any time.
A computer checks and identifies possible anomalies of the Technical Panel or the Judges. If anomalies are identified action is taken. Officials who make repeated errors are subject to sanctions.

Personal Bests / World Standings

The ISU maintains on-going statistics regarding individual records. This includes information on personal bests, highest scores, seasonal bests etc. The most important individual results over the period of the last two years are ranked in the World Standings. The “Seasons Best” is displayed for each skater/couple on the scoreboard in the arena.

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Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating Dec 22, 2015 1:41:57 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2015 1:41:57 GMT

Ice dancing is based on the different aspects of dance. The emphasis in ice dancing is on rhythm, interpretation of the music and precise steps. The strength of this discipline lies in its limitless creativity, choreography, its theatrical and innovative aspects, and as skating skills encompassing edging, position and power.

Ice dancing competitions begin at the pre--juvenile level and progress through the senior level. Competitive ice dancing events consist of pattern dances only, pattern dances and a free dance, or a short dance and a free dance, depending on the level. For adult skaters, ice dancing has its own adult and masters test tracks for pattern dance and free dance tests. Adult dance competitions have many events for all skill levels - beginning to advanced. The adult competitive events consist of pattern dances only or pattern dances and a free dance, depending on the level. Ice dancing can also be provided as a track in a Basic Skills program.

Ice dancing has gone through some changes over the past two years. The pattern dances had been known for many years as compulsory dances. Starting with the 2012 season, the juvenile through novice levels have one designated pattern dance for which the couples provide their own pattern dance music for qualifying competitions. The music, like that for the short dance and free dance, can have vocals. No longer are the same tunes played in rotation for all dances. U.S. Figure Skating hopes this will make the pattern dance events more fun for the competitors as well as for the fans. For the junior and senior levels, the short dance replaces the pattern dance and original dance events. The short dance reflects the character of selected dance rhythms or themes and contains required elements including a sequence(s) of a selected pattern dance.

Essential Skills

Ability to communicate and work well with others
Good listener
Willing to try new things
Strong
Musical/Ability to recognize and skate to a beat
Good skating skills (edges, turns, stroking, etc.)

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Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating Dec 24, 2015 1:27:49 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 24, 2015 1:27:49 GMT

Nancy Kerrigan

The Massachusetts native came in third in the 1992 Olympics and second at the 1994 Olympics, but she is probably best known for “The Whack Heard Round the World.” During the 1994 U.S. nationals, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband orchestrated an attack on Kerrigan. She’d been favored to win, but after the knee beating administered by Harding’s hooligans, she had to withdraw.

In 2008, the saga was memorialized on stage in musical called “Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera,” in 2014 ESPN documentary rehashed the whole Nancy-Tonya story and this year a pair of comedians opened up a Tonya and Nancy museum in Brooklyn. Despite it all, Kerrigan is still skating and in October, she did a 15-city Halloween skating tour featuring a family-friendly Halloween tale involving princesses and vampires.

Tonya Harding

Unequivocally the most famous bad girl in figure skating, Harding was also an incredibly talented skater. In 1991, she became the first American female to land a triple Axel in competition — a feat that wasn’t repeated until Kimmie Meissner did it in 2005.

She won nationals in 1991 and then again in 1994, but in the aftermath of “The Whack Heard Round the World,” Harding was stripped of her second national title and eventually given three years of probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. Around the same time she and her knee-beating boyfriend sold a sex tape to Penthouse, netting $200,000 plus royalties, according to Deadspin — so presumably she didn’t have a problem paying the fine. Harding ended up with a lifetime ban from competition, but she went on to do some other random and interesting things.

Kristi Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi won the 1992 Albertville Olympics, beating out Midori Ito and Nancy Kerrigan. Afterward, like many other skating stars of her day, she went on to join “Stars on Ice.” In 1996, she founded the Always Dream Foundation, a nonprofit that serves at-risk and disabled youth.

The following year, she authored “Figure Skating for Dummies” and she’s also contributed to “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She married Bret Hedican, a hockey player she met at the Olympics, in 2000 and now they have two daughters, Keara and Emma.

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Beginner's Guide to Figure Skating Jan 1, 2016 3:37:48 GMT

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Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2016 3:37:48 GMT

In 1921, Bror Meyer, a Swedish figure skater who won a bronze medal in the World Championships in 1906, published a manual called Skating With Bror Meyer. Meyer illustrated his book with numbered diagrams, hoping that readers would follow the sequence of actions skaters performed while executing particular maneuvers.

The diagrams, Meyer wrote, were made with the help of a Cinematograph—a movie camera. Though he isn't more specific about the origin of the camera, the name "Cinematograph" was copyrighted by the French filmmakers the Lumière Brothers in 1895. The Lumières' camera was portable enough to be carried outdoors.

This method of capturing skating in motion had some drawbacks, Meyer acknowledged. Yet, he argued, the end result was pedagogically useful: The disadvantages of this method (e.g. the relatively small photograph of the skater; occasional departures from the true perspective, displacement of proportion between the skater and the size of the figure) are far outweighed by the ability to show the whole figure which is being skated, with photographs closely following one another illustrating the changing positions of the skater.