September 2001,
Volume 1, No. 2
As the next step in implementing the plan passed in May, Sharon Watson, Chair of Strategic Planning, met with vice-chairs of competitions from the 9 regions, at-large members and Bob Crowley (HQ) to plan for new geographic boundaries for regions.
The
group came up with two possible plans:
One has 10 regions, the other 12; each calls for two Divisions (no more
Sections). The regions were drawn to
tighten up on the geographic spread that some currently have and to balance the
numbers. (Currently, some regionals
have 175 entries while others have 400.)
With
only two Divisions, more skaters per region will be able to compete in two
larger Divisionals, but the size of Nationals should remain about the same.
The
full Strategic Planning Committee will next look at the two plans, and then the
Executive Committee will look at their result.
Both groups meet in Scottsdale, the third week of September.
The
list of free fall seminars offered by USFSA/PSA is now posted on the USFSA
website. (www.usfsa.org). There are 15 of them and they should be an
excellent way for coaches and judges to get ready for the competitive
season.
ICE DANCING UPDATE
The questions we posed in last issue’s “Whither Dance” led to a dance survey being sent to many coaches and judges across the country. It was also placed at the registration table at the Lake Placid Summer Dance Competition in early August. We have received numerous and thoughtful replies from coaches, judges, skaters and parents. The numbers are not sufficient to allow a scientific analysis, but that was not the intent. We wanted to get people thinking and to gather their ideas. In this issue, I’ll list the questions asked and summarize some of the feedback we received.
SURVEY
– ICE DANCING
1. Dance Sessions
a.
Which clubs or rinks in
your area hold dance sessions?
b.
About how many hours per
week?
c.
What times of day?
d.
Are these limited by age or
test level?
e.
Are these paid for by those
who attend, or partly by clubs that hold them?
f.
Do any of them hold dance
weekends, social events, parties?
g.
If there are no sessions
nearby, how far must you travel to find one?
PART ONE – REPLIES:
Respondents told us, in general, that dance sessions are available at varying hours in most geographic areas. They are usually open to all ages and attract many adults and some youth. Few are stratified by age or test level. There are still adult dance weekends, though not so many, and he number of hours of dance available depends a lot on whether you’re in a training area (Boston, Delaware) or not, ranging from a few hours to over 20 hours a week.
PART 2: CLUB
DANCE
We
asked whether ice dancing is required or promoted by clubs, whether sessions
are included with dues, who takes part, if there are enough coaches, and about
the music.
We
learned that participation is not required, that only a few clubs offer
sessions as part of membership. Most
sessions are of mixed ages. Those that
are not are mostly adults. About half
the clubs who offer dance also promote it;
there are usually sufficient coaches, and a few people would like to see
more contemporary music used for compulsory dances, though they acknowledge
that this would be hard to find.
PART 3: DANCE TESTS
Here we asked about the frequency of dance tests, judging standards and availability of partners.
Depending on location, tests are run monthly, quarterly,
or twice a year. Sufficient judges can
be found and the standard is usually acceptable, though slipping. Where there was criticism, it was that the
judges are too easy. Standards also
vary (in the minds of some) depending on whether the test is held at a training
center. Then the expectations and
resulting standards, tend to be higher.
PART FOUR:
COMPETITIVE DANCE
In this section of the survey we asked about the availability of male skaters, how to bring in more, about adding dance events and whether compulsories should go the way of figures.
Let’s dispose of the last first. No one wished to see compulsories
dropped. The discussion on this point
was even more vehement than the one we heard on figures.
No surprises, there aren’t enough males. (Some males thought there aren’t enough good
females, either.) Adding events was
seen as having little effect.
Some thought coaches
should be encouraged to have their male free skaters take dance as well,
but others believe that many coaches resist this. Lack of a good image was also blamed. A few felt the USFSA (and especially the judges) should encourage
male free skaters to dance to help their presentation, and also to encourage
mediocre male free skaters to dance instead.
TEAMS TOGETHER
We asked why teams break up, how to keep them together, the effect of foreign skaters and coaches who are in this country, and how the U.S. can do better internationally. Most of these questions required lengthy responses as well as thought and should be discussed in a face-to-face forum where interchange would be possible.
The original plan was to have a discussion of these ideas
from the surveys at the Lake Placid Summer Dance Competition, but this didn’t
work out as fully as hoped. However,
among the answers received were the germs of some interesting ideas. I’d like to share these and hope to have a
fuller discussion at a future time.
SOME COMMENTS FROM THE SURVEYS:
q
Get free skating coaches to
promote dance.
q
Educate parents to what’s
involved.
q
Create a PSA dance coaching
program to attract more coaches.
q
Fund dance development
(through USOC?)
q
More PR for dancers
q
The problem is
international. Politics at worlds is a
joke and everyone knows it.
q
Have competitions with
prize money. (There’s no payoff for
dancers as there is for free skaters after competitive careers are over.
q
Develop with rinks a
volume-centered marketing and management program for ice dancing – like the
learn-to-skate classes.
q
Run compulsory dance
competitions in flights of four – more exciting, less time.
q
USFSA should encourage
clubs to have a dance period in club sessions.
q
Have separate competitions
for compulsories.
q
Have a point system for
funding which includes number of years together.
q
Don’t give grants until a
team has been together for more than two years.
q
Develop programs that allow
dancers to attend college and still skate at the college or nearby rinks.
q
Coaches could be more open
to skaters’ desire to get an education, and help them with that.
q
Dance needs a better image.
q
Replace Moves in the Field
with Dance Moves or Compulsories.
q
Make competitive test
structure shorter. If you want to
compete in Juniors, for example, require testing only at that level.
q
USFSA should provide
training on relationships – include parents and coaches, too.
q
Show some movement in dance
placements so teams don’t think they have no hope.
q
Success is a great
motivator. If you have a partner, you
will make it to Junior Nationals. – Not true in singles.
q
(On breakups) Treat the team as a unit in regard to
success, failure and fault. At the same
time, celebrate the individuality of each skater.
q
Without figures, the
compulsory dances teach control and pattern.
I also love MIF, but we allow them to be too out of control. In the dances they have to be in control and
listen to the music. Step on a specific
edge and have control of it. The
European Waltz allows you to teach a checked 3-turn – finally!
q
(On adding males) Entice them. Where else can you skate with a bunch of cute girls? And someday if you want to coach, you’ll
make a lot more money if you also know dance.
q
(On reasons for quitting)
Training costs, results in competition and especially the feeling that they are
unlikely to pass other teams.
q
(On male skaters) It has not changed over the last 30
years. The number of talented male
dancers has always been in short supply, but now there is a short supply of
male dancers with or without talent. It
is hard to compete with the desire to be a top free skater and with other
sports that look more favorably upon males.
q
(On foreign coaches) Some
skaters and their parents tend to think that these coaches have some special
talents that American coaches lack. If
a team won Worlds with purple hair, then next year there would be ten teams
with purple hair.
q
Expose young teams to
international competition. Arrange for
some of them to train abroad.
q
Compulsory dances are the
essence of ice dancing. Any competent
dancer can go out onto the ice and skate with another dancer because they all
know the same steps. That body of
common skills allows ice dancing to be a social event. Without compulsory dances, dance would be
restricted to couples that trained together all the time; ice dancing would
become pair skating without the jumps and lifts.
q
(from a parent) Boys need to be provided with a “team
identity.” Teen-aged boys want to belong
to a group of friends – boys and girls – which they define by the sport. Getting the dance teams together more often
in social and learning environments would allow them to make friends with
others in the same sport. Camps,
workshops, seminars, in addition to the competitions, would be useful, even if
parents have to help in paying the costs.
Giving them an occasional jacket or vest would also help since these
guys will probably never find the time to earn a coveted letter jacket from
their schools.
q
Foreign athletes get more
financial and judging support.
q
Publicize and promote our
own teams and coaches more. Try to use
older competitors in paid employment at the rink.
Skating should be considered an art. “It is not simple velocity or agility that
constitutes the perfection of it, but grace.”
1781 – John Adams
from the best-selling biography by David McCullough.
USFSA – EASTERN SECTION
Ted
Clarke, Vice-President
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