TGee if what you're describing is true then Canada needs to move to a format similar to Japan's. Where levels are split not by skill, but by age. So pre-novice would be equal to Japan's Novice B, for skaters under 10 years of age, and novice would be equal to Japan's Novice A, for skaters 11 & 12. Then when you hit 13 you have to skate junior. But are most pre-novice skaters under 10 years old? I think they're more likely to be juvenile skaters at that age. Well, regardless of how they split it if they do it by age then it will make the girls up their TES before they have to skate junior. I don't think we'll see those teen aged novice ladies doing only doubles. .
Actually, quite the opposite! :noshake:
Regrets that I'm not expressing this very well...
The sports science is telling us that strict age based systems favour early developers which is exactly the WRONG thing for the acrobatic early specialization sports like gymnastics, diving, and figure skating.
The science says that you want the late developers to be encouraged because they are the ones most likely to achieve the elite level skills. But they are also less likely to have as good coordination etc. at early ages, so technical benchmarks tied to early ages actually weed out those the system most needs to retain.
If a country has a very genetically homogeneous population where on average you could say that you want to target late developing girls with peak height velocity (PHV) at say 13 years instead of 11, you could keep novices from competing until 13. But when a population is genetically diverse, even the average vs late vs early differ by ethnic group. And then we have the issue of the ISU age breaks being absolute.
So Skate Canada is trying to work around that while moving to a biologically paced system.
We are currently moving from an age based system to one that reflects biological development level. We want coaches to be aware that flexibility and jumps need to be developed very young in girls relative to their expected time for PHV.
But that means, as in gymnastics and as in the Russian ladies program, coaches need to start looking for the girls from families that on average mature later. We want the girls who may be relatively behind at 10, but have another 4 to 5 years to get the tech. And coaches need to help their families understand that even if their girls aren't progressing as fast, they have long run potential. On the other hand, the coaches need to be honest with families so that they understand the real prospects for a girl who has been doing well but who has finished growing by 10, and hasn't got a triple.
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Here's a short piece from Sport Canada's Sport for Life info on developmental/biological age.
http://canadiansportforlife.ca/ten-key-factors/more-developmental-age