Synchro Rules & Reading Protocols 2011-2012

During the World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships, Précision was kind enough to write a guide to reading Synchro protocols! Thank you, Précision.

The World Senior championships is coming up April 13th & 14th in Göteborg, Sweden.

The ISU judging system PDF documents for Synchro are here:

http://www.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4844-192190-209413-nav-list,00.html

So if you plan on watching World Synchros, you might like to learn a little more about the rules.

dorispulaski said:

Competition is over. The Finnish teams take gold & silver. The Canadian team from Quebec takes bronze. The American teams place 4th and 5th. Team Braemer, the USA#1, had 5 girls fall.

TEAM Total score LP TES PCS Ded
1. Fintastic 171.67 115.77 50.51 65.26 0 (FIN)
2. Musketeers 168.76 114.72 52.20 62.52 0 (FIN)
3. Les Suprêmes 146.30 97.66 38.65 59.01 0 (CAN)
4. Team Braemar 145.08 95.14 43.07 57.07 5 (USA) - 5 girls fell
5. Skyliners 139.97 92.76 36.67 57.09 1 (USA #2 Skating Club of NY -too bad there was a fall. I love their Black Swan routine)
6. Nexxice 139.79 96.45 40.12 56.33 0 (CAN)
7. Convivium 135.45 89.96 37.58 55.38 3 (SWE)
8. Spartak Junost 134.03 92.30 35.95 56.35 0 (RUS)
9. Team Berlin Juniors 117.07 78.17 30.48 47.69 0 (GER)
10. Team Spirit 115.45 75.69 31.60 47.09 3 (SWE)
11. Idel 100.83 69.46 26.56 42.90 0 (RUS)
12. Cool Dreams Junior 99.84 65.34 25.64 39.70 0 (SUI)
13. Hot Shivers 92.56 61.50 25.68 36.82 1 (ITA)
14. Black Diam's 87.29 59.74 23.58 36.16 0 (FRA)
15. Wight Jewels 71.92 49.07 21.93 27.14 0 (GBR)
16. Frost Work 66.76 44.40 17.35 28.05 1 (HUN)
17. Majestic Ice 60.64 41.03 20.69 21.34 1 (AUS)
18. Duke Town Twinkle Stars 42.94 25.09 14.06 17.03 6 (NED)

Click to expand...

Just checked the protocols, "just" 4 girls fell, one of the deductions came from excessive use of ice, meaning one of the elements was taking too much ice coverage.
Mostly these deductions this season is given from Line element or Wheel. In Line two lines must be 2,5 meters apart at all times, and in wheel the center can be no more than 10 meters apart.

Another interesting fact was that Skyliners was the only team to get full credit on their lever 4 intersection. Other's have had some problems.

the Protocol:
http://www.isuresults.com/results/syswjc2012/JWCC12_JuniorSynchronized_FS_Scores.pdf


But yay for Finland!

I liked the Skyliners long program better than the Braemar long program from the US Nationals performances.

Thanks for the links to the protocols--I am just learning about the sport of synchro.

It will take me a while before I figure out the abbreviations in them.

I am guessing that:
MF4 + fm3 + fm3 + fm3 is the sequence of four moves in the field? What then does fm stand for

I4 is intersection level 4, but in I4 + pi2, what is the pi2?

B4 is block level 4

W4 is wheel level 4

Bss4 is block synchronized steps 4

CSS4 is circular synchronized steps 4

However, these have me more puzzled

NHSS2+s3 (Not holding hands synchronized step???)
MI3+fe3 (no clue)
L3 (even more clueless)

I like the Skyliners free program too, saw their performance in French Cup which was live streamed.

Yes I is Intersection. pi stands for point of intersection, and highest lever for pi is 3.
B= Block
C= Circle
MF= Moves in the field ,fm is move
MI= Moves in Isolation, fe is figure skating element
BSS= Block step sequence
CSS= Circle step sequence
NHSS= No hold step sequence
SP= spin elemet (you can do either Moves in the field or Spin)
L= Line
W= Wheel

Highest level is 4, except for juniors the highest level in Moves in isolation is 3. Also NHSS levels go up to 3, steps can be level 4.

Thank you so much! I was about to try digging this out of the ISU Synchro documentation, which is about 150 pages long.

Senior Worlds, I understand, will also be in Göteborg-Sweden?

http://www.synchroskating.com/en/competitions.php

This seems to be a pretty good website, in addition to the Synchro page of isu.org., but not many teams have sent them their profiles yet.

I'm looking for what would be the synchro equivalent of

www.ice-dance.com for Ice Dance.

dorispulaski said:

I liked the Skyliners long program better than the Braemar long program from the US Nationals performances.

Thanks for the links to the protocols--I am just learning about the sport of synchro.

It will take me a while before I figure out the abbreviations in them.

I am guessing that:
MF4 + fm3 + fm3 + fm3 is the sequence of four moves in the field? What then does fm stand for

I4 is intersection level 4, but in I4 + pi2, what is the pi2?

B4 is block level 4

W4 is wheel level 4

Bss4 is block synchronized steps 4

CSS4 is circular synchronized steps 4

However, these have me more puzzled

NHSS2+s3 (Not holding hands synchronized step???)
MI3+fe3 (no clue)
L3 (even more clueless)

Click to expand...

I just noticed that you added more questions.

So, MF is indeed moves in the field where teams has to do 3 different figure skating moves. One has to be a spiral. fm stands for figure skating move. For example Team Fintastic does a spread eagle outside= fm3, spiral with 2 change of edge = fm3 and spiral 135 degrees. The element level 4 is reached when one of the moves is in no hold, one is done in mirror pattern or there is a change of configuration during a move, and there is total of 3 different kind of shapes the moves are executed in. Then there is also a change of hold in one of the moves.
Rockettes' MF

pi is point of intersection. It means the rotational steps which are done during the actually intersection.

NHSS2+s3 is No hold step sequense. Usually all good junior teams and senior teams are going for level 3 which include 2 body movements and 2 extra features done during the step sequence. There has to be series of steps executed on one foot that cover half of the ice length. Usually that is the reason if the level 3 is not reached. +s3 means the level of the step sequence. For level 4 there has to be atleast 6 steps, 5 different, 4 done with one foot and one rotation (360 +360 in both ways)
Marigold ice Unity's No hold

MI3+fe3 is Moves in Isolation. Level 3 is the highest that juniors can do. 8 skaters do either a figure skating move or figure skating element (spin, butterfly, death spiral ) and the remaining 8 skaters also have to do and move or an element from the same level, but these are not called.
Musketeers' MI

L3 is Line. Line is pretty difficult element to explain, since the level 4 is interacting and pivoting lines, which i think for spectator is quite hard to understand.
Marigold ice Unity's Line (season 10-11) here's one example from last season, the rules are little different now.
So what the spesialists are watching: line's has to be no more than 2,5 meters apart, lines has to keep the 90 degree angle all the time, lines have to pivot continuesly and 360 degrees at minimum (in the video 180, last seasons requirements) and the hole line element must cover lenght of the ice (comparable distance) so about 60 meters.

Synchro Worlds are next week so I thought I could continue to write about the synchro rules since we have this threard now! ( Thank you, Doris!)

I hope someone finds this interesting, and please share your knowledge, other synchro fans!
I can't say that I'm an expert, so feel free to correct me if my writing is nonsense or you have other thoughts.

The rules changed a little this season, they added more difficulty to the elements, which is a really good thing. Synchronized skating is still young sport, and it still developes. COP has changed the sport tremendously. The programs look quite different now than they looked 10 years ago.
for example, this was the winning performance in 2002 Worlds: Team Finland 1:Marigold IceUnity's Free, Dracula
2011 world champions: Team Finland 1:Rockettes (video from nationals), Heaven of Hell

So, here's a "tutorial" to senior short programs.

Senior short program 2011-2012:
Thisyears short programs have 6 elements
Block (pivoting must be done in 4 lines)
Intersection (must be a triangle)
Circle step sequence
No hold step sequence
Wheel ( traveling in 2-spoke wheel, change of configuration and direction in 3-spoke)
Moves in the Field

Block for level 4 needs:
- change of configuration with rotational steps, minimum rotation 360°
-pivoting 270° 4 steps with one foot, and the steps must be correctly executed. Pivot point must change ends during the pivoting.
-must cover a full lenght of the ice surface

Pivoting 270 is a new feature that was introduced this season. It's very dificult to do, and there's only few teams that has got a level4 for their block. Usually the problem is with the steps, all skaters have to be on the correct edge (3 skaters can fail). Another common failure is, that the pivot stops before it's complited the required 270°.
example: Marigold IceUnity(FIN) SP block
Block is their first element. First they do change of configuration from pyramid to 4 lines, and then the pivoting. If I remember right, they got level 4.

Intersection
In short program the required intersection has to be a triangle, so it's a level 3.Intersections do have 4 levels, but the angled (level4)can be done only in free program.
point of intersection has 3 levels, and the highest needs 3 360° rotations while intersecting. Difficulty with that is that you have to do all 3 within the triangle. When the corners have come out, rotations after that don't count.
Team Unique's(FIN) SP intersection

Circle step sequence
-can be done with hold or no hold
-only one circle and the size can be no more that 1/3 of the ice surface

level 4 steps: 6 turns and 5 different kind of turns. 4 must be executed on one foot, only one change of edge permitted to do in between each of the turns + change of rotation (360 clockwise + 360 counterclockwise)

No hold steps
step sequence requirements are the same with circle steps. Actual element's highest level can be 3 and level 3 needs:
-two body movements, one has to be done during a difficult turn
-two extra features (toe steps, dance jumps (up to ½ rotations, spread eagle, ina bauer + other moves)
-one foot series of turns must cover ½ of the ice coverage requirement for the element (about 25 meters)

The best teams' skating skills are really good nowadays so I think the top teams can be compared with ice dancers. there are lot's of similarities with ice dance and their steps, expecially this year's circular step sequence in short dance is quite similar what the synchro teams do.
Rockettes(FIN)' SP CSS + NHSS step sequences are the first 2 elements in the program

Wheel:
For level 4 you need
-change of configurations with rotational steps minimum rotation 360°
-change of direction with rotational steps, minimum rotation 360° (rotation must start backwards)
-travel
-travel with 2 turns and linking steps
-1 extra feature: release a hold for 3 seconds or 2 360° rotations while traveling

Change of configuration is pretty easy for the senior teams, travelling is the hardest part because it is seems to be really easy to mess up.
Team Unique's SP wheel
First they travel in 2 spoke, their extra feature is release of hold for 3 seconds. then they do change of configuration to 3 spoke, and then the change of direction.

Moves in the Field I explained on the post above.

I would've loved to link some other top teams' short programs too, but there isn't so many this season's programs from other countries on youtube, or the quality is quite bad..hopefully there will be some videos after worlds.

bump for worlds

Just hoping IN will be able to have on demand footage after a few days