now available here.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
US Figure Skating President Ron Hershberger dancing with Kristi Yamaguchi
One of the major highlights of Governing Council was the Athlete Alumni Dinner with special guest, Kristi Yamaguchi. Here is a picture of Kristi dancing with the outgoing US Figure Skating President, Ron Hershberger.
Once the final report from GC appears at www.usfigureskating.org, I encourage everyone to take the time to review it. The two actions that I believe will have the biggest impact on our day to day skating are the new Moves In The Field(implementation begins in Sept. 2010) and the allowance of music with vocals in freestyle programs in the Pre-Pre to Intermediate Levels(implementation immediate).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
President's Reception
Honoring our two 50 year judges: Howard Taylor and Marilyn Whelan
and our 75 years as a US Figure Skating club!!!
2009 GC From My perspective
Now that the 2009 Governing Council meeting is history, it would be better to refer you to the US Figure Skating website for the detailed report of action on all the changes and new items that were approved. Instead I'd like to use the space on this blog to share my perspective as a delegate of our club.
As usual the meeting had its occasional healthy disagreements among the various groups of clubs and delegates who represented the three sections, but what was most noteworthy is how civilized the 2009 GC was. Disagreements were discussed, and "politics as usual" was evident, but the work of GC was done quite efficiently and in a courteous way.
The tribute paid to the Association's out going president, Mr. Ron Hershberger, was quite moving. He became the 29th US Figure Skating president during a time when US Figure Skating faced many challenges. Mr. Hershberger through his leadership navigated the Association to the stability that has ensured our athletes their chances to be at their best both nationally and internationally. Mr. Hershberger's positive impact was recognized by all during this year's GC with the highlight at the very end of the official meeting complete with slide presentation, award ceremony and a few heartfelt speeches. The new President of US figure Skating, Ms. Patricia St. Peter, took the helm at the end of the meeting. Ms. St. Peter's impressive background and qualifications are available on the US Figure Skating Website. It is definitely worth mentioning that Ms. St. Peter continues to skate regularly as her primary form of exercise.
During GC our Club had its shining moments every day. From being recognized for our 75 years of membership, to honoring two of our national Judges, Ms. Marilyn Whelan and Mr. Howard Taylor for their 50 years of services, to all the attention paid to our fellow club member and Olympic Champion, Kristy Yamaguchi, we experienced many instances of being very proud of our home club. Of course what is known more to our members than it can be recognized by most people outside of our club is the rich history through which St. Moritz ISC has served its members and the community in both good and not so good times. I would be remiss if I did not thank our current and passed Board members, Club Officers and numerous volunteers who have made it possible for us to enjoy the current status of our Club. On that note let us thank those Board members who will continue to serve and those who served in the past and when they stepped aside they continued to, and still volunteer whenever they are needed. Let us also do our part as members to carefully study the resumes and qualifications of the nominees for the upcoming election, and cast our vote for those whom we think will best manage our club and carry on the Club's tradition of serving and promoting the skating community.
By all means if you have specific questions about what happened at GC or would like to know about the ramifications of some of the proposals that were passed, kindly post your question to the club's Yahoo Group, and one of your GC delegates will jump in to answer the question.
Respectfully...Kianoosh
As usual the meeting had its occasional healthy disagreements among the various groups of clubs and delegates who represented the three sections, but what was most noteworthy is how civilized the 2009 GC was. Disagreements were discussed, and "politics as usual" was evident, but the work of GC was done quite efficiently and in a courteous way.
The tribute paid to the Association's out going president, Mr. Ron Hershberger, was quite moving. He became the 29th US Figure Skating president during a time when US Figure Skating faced many challenges. Mr. Hershberger through his leadership navigated the Association to the stability that has ensured our athletes their chances to be at their best both nationally and internationally. Mr. Hershberger's positive impact was recognized by all during this year's GC with the highlight at the very end of the official meeting complete with slide presentation, award ceremony and a few heartfelt speeches. The new President of US figure Skating, Ms. Patricia St. Peter, took the helm at the end of the meeting. Ms. St. Peter's impressive background and qualifications are available on the US Figure Skating Website. It is definitely worth mentioning that Ms. St. Peter continues to skate regularly as her primary form of exercise.
During GC our Club had its shining moments every day. From being recognized for our 75 years of membership, to honoring two of our national Judges, Ms. Marilyn Whelan and Mr. Howard Taylor for their 50 years of services, to all the attention paid to our fellow club member and Olympic Champion, Kristy Yamaguchi, we experienced many instances of being very proud of our home club. Of course what is known more to our members than it can be recognized by most people outside of our club is the rich history through which St. Moritz ISC has served its members and the community in both good and not so good times. I would be remiss if I did not thank our current and passed Board members, Club Officers and numerous volunteers who have made it possible for us to enjoy the current status of our Club. On that note let us thank those Board members who will continue to serve and those who served in the past and when they stepped aside they continued to, and still volunteer whenever they are needed. Let us also do our part as members to carefully study the resumes and qualifications of the nominees for the upcoming election, and cast our vote for those whom we think will best manage our club and carry on the Club's tradition of serving and promoting the skating community.
By all means if you have specific questions about what happened at GC or would like to know about the ramifications of some of the proposals that were passed, kindly post your question to the club's Yahoo Group, and one of your GC delegates will jump in to answer the question.
Respectfully...Kianoosh
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Saturday Elections
The members of the 2009-10 Board of Directors have been determined.
ELECTED:
Officers
President: Patricia St. Peter
Pacific Coast and First Vice President: Jessica Gaynor
Midwestern and Second Vice President: Kathy Slack
Eastern and Third Vice President: Ann O'Keefe
Secretary: Samuel Auxier
Treasurer: Susan Keogh
Group Coordinators
Athlete Services: Brittney Bottoms
Membership Development: Michael Meyer
Technical: Hal Marron
Administrative/Legal: Winston Burbank
Coaching Members of the Board
Tammy Gambill
Mark Mitchell
ANNOUNCED
Athlete Members of the Board as elected by the athletes
Justin Dillon (Singles)
Deborah Koegel-Fediukov (Dance)
Mark Ladwig (Pairs)
Rebecca Search (Synchronized)
Three will be voting members; the fourth will be a non-voting member. The non-voting athlete member will be determined at a later date.
Other Announcements
USOC Representative: Charles Cyr
ISU Representative: Gale Tanger
Lyrics are LEGAL
The majority of delegates have now voted to allow:
LYRICS IN ALL SHORT PROGRAMS AND LONG PROGRAMS UP TO AND INCLUDING THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AND FOR ALL EVENTS USING THE 6.0 SYSTEM OF JUDGING, VOCAL MUSIC WITH LYRICS IS PERMITTED.
Lyrics for Freeskate Events
Next up is the debate on allowing Lyrics in freeskate events up to the intermediate level. I'm sure this is going to be a spirited debate.
What is your opinon on vocal lyrics in a technical freeskate program...... Where is this going? How will it affect artistic programs and participation in our showcase events? What will happen to our National Showcase competition? The rational that it works for dance so it could work for technical programs.......
Do you want to hear Miley Cyrus singing during an Intermediate Short Program?
New Preliminary & PreJuv Competition Rules
At this mornings meeting the delegates voted to approve item 350 affecting the Preliminary Well Balanced Free Skate. The new rule will amend rule 3701 in the rulebook to limit the double jumps that may be performed to double Salchow, double Toe Loop, and double Loop. Neither double flip nor double Lutz will be allowed.
The board of directors also approved the following rule change to Pre Juvenile Competition.
The PreJuv Well-Balanced Free Skate will now have a maximum of 5 jump elements.
This change was declared urgent by the board to become effective at the close of the Governing Council.
These are significant changes to our lower levels and I encourage you to comment with your thoughts.
Some Early Decisions
Decisions on Requests for Action (highlights):
312: Adopted: Adult Competitors who pass a free skate test, a pairs test or a dance test after the close of entries, at a level higher than the tests allowed for the event entered by the competitor will forfeit their eligibility to enter.
313: Adopted: Maximum of 24 skaters before a qualifying round is held.
314: Did Not Approve: Adult Sectionals must use IJS.
321: Adopted: To create 2 new Non-Qual judging appointments
352: Adopted: Synchronized Skating Committee: rule 4680 Novice: to change the age limit from under age 16: to under age 16 with the exception that a max of 4 skaters may be 16 or 17 years old.
More to come as the day progresses!
Actions Taken So Far:
Decisions so far:
Click Here for exhibits and requests for action on US Figure Skating (under business items).
Exhibit A- Redistricting- Withdrawn
Exhibit B- Adopted
Exhibit C- Adopted
Exhibit D- Adopted
Exhibit E- Change in Elections voting- Not adopted
Exhibit F- Nominating Committee Proposal by Region- Not Adopted
Exhibit G- Definition of an Athlete- Adopted
Exhibit H- Board of Directors- Composition and Qualification- Not Adopted
Friday, May 1, 2009
The big Fish Fry...
GC was officially kicked off today. The Pacific Coast meeting went quite smoothly. Lori Johnson was elected to the nominating committee. Lots of information was passed around. The new MITF and the new Synchro proposal were discussed thoroughly. Our club was honored for its 75 anniversary, as were Howard Taylor and Marilyn Whelan for their 50 years service as judges. There will be more ceremonies to officially recognize our club and judges at the general meeting.
The general meeting began this afternoon. My most immediate thought is that the meeting was incredibly civilized. In the old days we might have had blood on the floor of GC by now, where as today the sponsors of the less popular bylaw changes agreed to withdraw even before the matter went to vote. Lots of great discussions and pro/con exchanges.
In Summary, the new redistricting that would have expanded Pacific Coast to as far as Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas (exhibit A) was withdrawn. Exhibits B,C, D (see GC 09 on US Figure Skating.org) were all passed. Exhibit F was voted down.
More later...Kianoosh
The general meeting began this afternoon. My most immediate thought is that the meeting was incredibly civilized. In the old days we might have had blood on the floor of GC by now, where as today the sponsors of the less popular bylaw changes agreed to withdraw even before the matter went to vote. Lots of great discussions and pro/con exchanges.
In Summary, the new redistricting that would have expanded Pacific Coast to as far as Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas (exhibit A) was withdrawn. Exhibits B,C, D (see GC 09 on US Figure Skating.org) were all passed. Exhibit F was voted down.
More later...Kianoosh
| U.S. Olympic Team Wristbands to raise funds for the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund |
| A tragedy shook the figure skating world on Valentine's Day in 1961 when Flight 548, carrying the U.S. World Figure Skating Team to the World Championships in Prague, crashed near Brussels, Belgium. All aboard were lost. To this day, when you hear their friends speak of the tragedy, they are overtaken with tears. From this loss arose the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund. This fund benefits all future figure skaters. Their mission is to provide qualified U.S. Figure Skating skaters in need of financial aid with monetary assistance to pursue their goals both inside and outside the competitive arena. The fund is committed to awarding skating and academic scholarships to those athletes who have demonstrated excellent competitive results and/or academic achievements and who have future potential in national and international competitions. This US Figure Skating Association plans to launch this fundraising program at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, in Los Angeles in May 2009. The plan is to reach down into the club levels and offer the Team Rings bracelets to their members. All over the country, there are young skaters who dream of reaching their goal and skating at the Olympics. Proceeds from the Team Ring bracelets will directly benefit their dreams as well as our future Figure Skating Olympians. Pending SMISC board approval the club will have these exciting bracelets available at our annual picnic. This is a great opportunity to support the St Moritz Club and USFS and all the programs they provide. |
Pacific Coast Caucus
This morning Charlie Cyr lead a rousing discussion of the proposals and how they may affect the Pacific coast section.
During the award portion of the meeting three clubs were honored for their 75 year history. Our club was one of those recognized. Two of our outstanding members: Howard Taylor and Marilyn Whelan were honored for their 50 years of service judging.
Ron Hershberger (outgoing President of USFS) and David Raith (Executive Director of USFS) gave us their vision on future television coverage as well as internet distribution rights for the ISU grand prix and junior grand prix competitions.
Discussions were held on a few motions:
1. Allowing vocals with lyrics in all test programs (for all levels) & short programs and freeskate programs for up to the Intermediate level.
2. Redefining what a collegiate member of a synchro team means based on part or full time status.
3. Adding a new level of judging for Novice and up national competitors called Non-qualifying competition judge. Those judges could judge all levels at a non qual competition without having to spend years trialing tests.
Our section also voted to elect Laurie Johnson (Salt Lake City SC) to the nominating committee.
If any readers have comments on these motions please feel free to reply or comment on this blog. We are checking through out the meetings.
Thanks for reading.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday's Schedule and MITF
Membership Committee Meeting - Jeanne
Pacific Coast Sectional Meeting - 8:30-12:00pm
Governing Council Meeting - 2-6pm
Athlete Alumni Dinner - 7-9pm
Friday we will be getting down to business. I'm excited for some fireworks. From what I've experienced so far this year seems pretty tame. Most of the major issues already have momentum to pass but we'll see how that works out. I was especially surprised that almost everyone in the room for the presentation of MITF seemed to be in favor of the changes. The only concerns from the crowd were centered around the timing of implementation (Sept 1st, 2010) and educational programs for judges and coaches (to be done in the fall of 2009). Participants felt it would be better to have a big push in education in Spring 2010. That way people could finish up the competitive season and then focus on the new moves for Spring and Summer giving them time to get ready for tests after Sept 1.
More tomorrow.
"Skating is not stressful, it is a privilege"
Day one was spent in seminars gathering information to be brought back for the SMISC's benefit. First up for me was the parents meeting. A few very important points were stressed by the speakers:
1) It is important to have communication with parents from the very beginning. As soon as a parent steps into the rink with a tiny tot skater, lines of communication between the rink, club, coach and so on must be created.
2) Skating is not stressful, it is a privilege. This is important for each skater to keep in mind, and just as important for each parent to remember.
3) Skating is not about winning, it is about feeling satisfied in what you have accomplished out on the ice.
Next up was: Real Programs that Work
Seven different speakers from various clubs around the country showcased various programs that they have successfully done. My personal favorites included the "big buddy idea", where younger skaters were paired with a more advanced skater, the "gong event" done in Wyoming, and the basic skills competition series done in Michigan.
Finally, the highlight of the day was the Moves in the Field Changes meeting.
Presented to a packed crowd, the new MIF were explained in great detail. First, each of the changes to existing moves was outlined. Second, the new moves were showcased via video. Third, implementation across the country was discussed.
Questions arose primarily about implementation in regards to judges, coaches, trial judges, and skaters. The whole presentation was very informative and well put together by those on the new MIF task force.
By this time Saturday we will know if they have passed!
Tomorrow promises to be a big day with Sectional Meetings, the beginning of Governing Council and the Athlete Alumni Dinner.
I'm off to bed for now!
-Katie
More on Day One...
Day one was quite informative and as always a great learning experience. Thursday is traditionally the seminar day, and no matter how well informed you are about a subject, here you will learn something new. My main focus today were the IJS and Moves In The Field Seminars. The IJS seminar was very good and useful to coaches, skaters, and parents alike, though I was a bit disappointed that they did not include ice dance in today's session. The highlight of the day was attending the Moves presentation in which the new MITF proposal was presented and discussed in detail. The taskforce led by Wayne Hundley has done a magnificent job at thinking through the changes that will propel our skaters forward in accordance with the evolution of figure skating. At the conclusion of the seminar I was fully convinced that the proposed changes are for the better.
On a side note, our club delegates are all coordinated to spread the responsibilities of covering all seminars to prepare full reports for the Board of Directors and the general membership. This is a special year for our Club, because we will be recognized for our 75th anniversary as a US Figure Skating club, two of our national judges, Ms. Marilyn Whelan and Mr. Howard Taylor, will be recognized for their 50 years of service as judges, and our fellow club member and Olympic Champion, Kristy Yamaguchi, is the guest of honor and speaker at the traditional Friday night athlete's dinner. I am grateful to be here and feel honored to be in the company of my fellow club delegates. More later...Kianoosh
On a side note, our club delegates are all coordinated to spread the responsibilities of covering all seminars to prepare full reports for the Board of Directors and the general membership. This is a special year for our Club, because we will be recognized for our 75th anniversary as a US Figure Skating club, two of our national judges, Ms. Marilyn Whelan and Mr. Howard Taylor, will be recognized for their 50 years of service as judges, and our fellow club member and Olympic Champion, Kristy Yamaguchi, is the guest of honor and speaker at the traditional Friday night athlete's dinner. I am grateful to be here and feel honored to be in the company of my fellow club delegates. More later...Kianoosh
Day One--Susan Bonn
Once again the information from Governing Council was an overload of information. I began my first session with an "Introduction to Judging" I have always thought I would like to explore judging, but somehow was not able to figure out how to get started. This seminar was just what I needed! It walked us through every step on getting started and we even had a little practice-by video. I know it is a long road, but at least I now how to get started. I am really looking forward to this new endeavor.
Next we went to Program Development and talked about Scholarship programs and another one of my favorites--Theatre on Ice. The more I learn about TOI the more it becomes a reality that we can accomplish-at least in my mind. I believe this is a program that would definitely benefit a great deal of our members and add quite a few opportunities to grow.
My third workshop was "programs that work". There was lots of info about Basic Skills Programs and Bridge Programs. These are both are areas where SMISC could develop within the community and increase our presence in the area. It would also create some opportunuties for SMISC to develop programs in conjunction with other local clubs.
The longest session has been about the upcoming changes in the moves in the field. People are hesitant to make these changes.
We are off to the round table discussions and will be done for the day.
Survival of the Skating Parent
Hello from Buffalo......
One of the first meetings of the day was "Survival of the Skating Parent." It was presented by Kelly Rippon who is a motivational speaker and a life coach. She also happens to be the mother of six children, one of whom is Adam Rippon our current Junior World Champion. She had a very interesting perspective on parenting a skater.
She said that parents should feel satisfaction in their role of 'driver'. She meant this literally and figuratively. The skater can't physically get to the rink without someone driving the car. She also felt they were a "driving" force behind the skater.
Kelly spent time on teaching parents never to phrase statements using the "WE" or "OUR" as the pronouns. That there is no "we are doing that competition" or "our new skates aren't finished'. Don't forget it's the skater who is doing the activity not the parent.
A great quote from Kelly was:
A parent steps in front of a child when bullets are flying but steps behind them when the spotlight shines.
Beil Wiley (Mother of Paul Wiley, Olympic Silver Medallist) also commented on that during parents education seminars that it is important not to make the parents feel that they must know all the ins and outs of the judging systems. Both Beil and Kelly likened this to someone practicing medicine without a license.
Next. Off to more seminars.
Day 1
Schedule
Thursday, April 30
Intro to Judging- Judges School
Survival of the Skating Parent
Program Development
Understanding IJS
Real Programs that Work
Moves in the Field
Roundtables
Interclub Open Forum
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