Competition requirements

Does anyone know what the age requirements are for competing at each level (including the lower levels) What are the pros/cons for competing test track verses competitive. Also, what are the required elements and times for Preliminary and Pre-Juv competition programs?

Thank you!

There are no age limits for competing in the levels under juvinille. Once you hit juv you have to be under 13 to compete in qualifying events (regionals, sectionals etc.) but if you just do local compositions you don't have to be. Some events have "open juvinille" competitions for the skaters who are 13 and up. After that there are age limits for each level, I don't know them off the top of my head, but again these only pertain to qualifying events.

Are you talking about competing in the US?

The http://www.usfigureskating.org/New_Judging.asp?id=361Rulebook[/url] is now available online. You can search it to find the answers to most of your questions.

If you're in a different country, then you'd need to find that country's rules.

Here are the program requirements for the nonqualifying levels.

The first two links under Technical Information have the short and long program requirements for Intermediate or Juvenile through Senior.

The US has no age limits for novice through senior (except in synchro). There are age limits for competing internationally, so skaters at that level who might qualify for international assignments would take those into account when planning what level to compete at.

For singles, juvenile skaters have to be under 13 and intermediate skaters have to be under 18 as of Sept. 1 to compete at regionals at those levels that year. The limits for pairs and dance are different.

Thank you for the links. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me their opinion in competing test track? I am trying to decide if I should stay on a lower level and do regular, or test up and compete in test track.

I'm really glad that USFS has introduced a test track program. The decision on whether to skate test track or competitive is definitely a personal one. The standard competition track has some age requirements (until you reach Novice) and for many, qualifying events are the goal. That translates to a lot of training time both on and off the ice. Not everyone is willing or able to dedicate that much time to one aspect of their life. That's when the test track program comes into play. A skater doesn't have to give up competing, nor do they have to spend 6 hours a day skating. They can test and compete at a level they are comfortable with and everyone registered for that particular event will be doing the same thing.

Does anyone know what preliminary girls usually include in their competitive programs? I haven't competed in a while and I am trying to decide if I should test up or not. Some things in my program include a combination spin (forward camel, haircutter,twist,biellman, forward scratch,back scratch) a forward right 3 turn into a backwards shoot the duck up to a backwards spiral into an axle-double toe, and a spread eagle into a double loop-double toe. I am not using my double sowcow in my program or my layback, and no doubles above loop are alloud. Should I test and do pre-juv instead, test through juv or intermediate and do test track, or stay at preliminary? Thanks!

In Canada preliminary girls normally are trying up to and including the axel with a few who are doing double sals and toes and the occasional loop.

silver.blades said:

In Canada preliminary girls normally are trying up to and including the axel with a few who are doing double sals and toes and the occasional loop.

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Thank you. I live in the U.S though. Do you by chance know if it is the same in the U.S?

Typically Axel, 2S or 2T and 2Lo in Prelim. If you have three solid doubles, skate PJ. If you are over 11 or so, move up to Juv or Int and skate TT is usually the way to go.

I'm planning to skate one competition Preliminary, if I do well I'll move to pre-juv or tt juv. My double toe,sal, and loop are pretty clean and consistant, and I can do the combo double loop,double toe, double toe with a difficult enterance. My double flip and lutz I am working on getting clean and consistant and I can occasionally land a slightly cheated double axle.

You may do only 2 doubles in Prelim, either a sal, loop or toeloop.

Make sure you check over the well balanced program requirements before setting up a program--they are different than the test requirements.

Yes - that is why I said in our area it's typically:
2S or 2T
2Lo or the other

and if you have 3 solid doubles, you skate Prejuvenile.

Some competitions change it to meet THEIR OWN requirements

I spent a while debating that same problem. I decided to go with TT because I am in high school and might as well compete at the highest level possible. I also don't compete much anymore, so I figured it just made sense.

However, if you are younger, do whatever you feel like. Also, most skaters at PJ have only 3 doubles so you would do fine. If you would like to do qualifying competitions at some point, then you should stay regular track, but if qualifying isn't your goal, then do test track.

I know that say if you did a double loop-double toe the point value with 0 goe would be 2.8 (1.5 for the loop and 1.3 for the toe) What would the point value be for a spin that is a combination spin. Would you add the points again for each position, or feature, or something else? SO for example if I did a camel,layback, beilmen,fwd.scrath back scratch combo what would the point value be?

First of all, point values for elements apply only in under the IJS. They are irrelevant to competitions judged under the 6.0 system, where judges just give two marks for the whole program.

Preliminary and prejuvenile competitions in the US are judged under 6.0. So are Open Juvenile at most competitions, although some may treat them the same as juvenile. So are all test track competitions. So are all adult competitions at silver level or below, and many nonqualifying events for adult gold and masters.

If you're over 13 and not ready for standard-track intermediate, or if you're over 18 and not ready for standard-track novice or adult gold or masters, then you do not have to worry about IJS yet.

For future reference, in case you will be competing under IJS in the future, or if you just want to understand how the system works, you should read the documentation at the US Figure Skating Technical Information link I gave in an earlier post. Some of the same documents are available at the ISU Website under ISU Judging System.

What would the point value be for a spin that is a combination spin. Would you add the points again for each position, or feature, or something else? SO for example if I did a camel,layback, beilmen,fwd.scrath back scratch combo what would the point value be?

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Each type of spin has a base mark for level 1. To earn level 2, 3, or 4, you have to include and get credit for performing 2, 3, or 4 "features" to make it more difficult. Look at ISU Communications 1494 and 1557. Some of it has been excerpted into separate links at the USFS link.

The spin that you describe would be a spin combination with change of position and change of foot (element code CCoSp), and it would be level 1 as described, because it only contains one feature (the Biellmann counts as a difficult variation). The base value for a CCoSp1 is 2.0.

Since you already have one feature, if you were planning to do this spin in an IJS competition you might want to try to add another feature to qualify for level 2, which has a base mark of 2.5. Read the latest list of spin features in ISU communication 1557 to see what the options are.

Keep in mind that the final score for the spin would be the base mark plus or minus the average grade of execution (GOE) from judges. So it's only in a skater's best interest to add another feature to go up another level if doing so will not cause a lower GOE that would cancel out the higher base mark.

Keep in mind also that just attempting 2 features won't automatically qualify the element for level 2. The technical panel has to determine that the features were performed well enough to meet certain requirements, e.g., enough revolutions in position.

If you're competing at a level judged under 6.0, there's no automatic extra credit for doing more difficult spins. The judges will each be responsible for deciding how to reward the spins in the context of the whole program, and they'll each balance the quality and the difficulty in their own minds. My observations are that judges tend to be more impressed by good quality than by higher difficulty, especially it when it comes to spins. So under 6.0 it's usually even more true that a skater should only add more difficulty if it won't compromise the quality.

Thank you so much! I think I'm going to compete pre-juv and do juv next year when I am 12.

Good luck.

A coach should be able to help you with these questions better than strangers on the Internet, though.

gkelly said:

Good luck.

A coach should be able to help you with these questions better than strangers on the Internet, though.

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I am actually in the middle of a coaching change so.