not sure but I believe since the school figures were deemed boring, I think a no jump program would be the same.
I guess you don't like ice dance or pro and show programs that don't rely on triple jumps either. I've seen many that have been succeeded artistically, although they would not fit into the format of freestyle competition.
there should be restrictions in the Coplike LP as they are today. The second LP should have some minor don'ts relating to repeats but not sacrificing the intent of freedom.
What is the purpose of this "second LP"? Is it to determine the best skater technically? The best skater artistically? Or is it just to entertain the audience?
How does one qualify to skate this second LP. Is it for all senior-level skaters? Or only those who have proven themselves good enough in the first LP, either earlier in the season/during earlier seasons in technical competition, or during the first phase of the current competition?
Is it to be used at all ISU championships (where cuts after the first program are often made), at all national championships (where countries with large fields often need to hold qualifying competitions to determine who gets to compete nationally), and at smaller internationals like Grand Prix events (where everyone skates both programs)?
didn't know this was a purpose. It always seemed like it was geared to the executives of the networks.
No, it was always geared toward what the ISU officials thought appropriate at the time as the best ways to determine skating champions. Often taking into account the needs of TV and live audiences, but not always. E.g., there are plenty of things that audiences and therefore TV networks would be happy to see in competition (such as backflips and music with lyrics) that the ISU does not allow because they distract from evaluating the skating skills.
I don't think the USFS has to ignore the Sport to please people who just want to be entertained.
USFS doesn't get to make the rules for senior (and junior) competition format. They have to follow ISU rules. There are some exceptions, but asking skaters to prepare completely different kinds of programs for US competition than they would need internationally and use a different program format to determine who gets to compete at those international competitions would be burdensome to the majority of skaters who go into debt just trying to get to Nationals.
One exception was the pro-ams or interpretive competitions or so-called "cheesefests" in which a handful top skaters were invited to compete in a format that was supposed to showcase artistry with limits on triple jumps. So those few skaters, who were chosen based on their results in regular competition, needed to come up with a separate interpretive-style program. Over the years, the USFSA held some invitational competitions just for US skaters and others for international fields using this format. Other federations such as Canada and Japan have also done so. The international events were sanctioned by the ISU and for a few years were part of a defined interpretive format. Some of them allowed ineligible pro skaters to participate, others did not. Some of these invitationals instead required regular long programs instead of interpretive-format programs, and some allowed either skaters to perform either format in the same phase of the same competition so that one skater's carefully choreographed artistic program might be competing against another skater's jump-filled long program or, where jump limits applied, an adapted version of the long program with fewer jumps.
In all these cases the skaters were invited to do these events because they had already established themselves as stars of the sport, and they were paid fairly well, in one form or another, for appearing in these events, even if they finished 6th=last. The purpose of these events was exactly as you suggest above, to please network executives and TV audiences.
Not to be a prig, but shouldn't developing skills come before any competition in any sport?
How can athletes develop the "skill" of managing competitive nerves without competing? How can skaters develop performance skills without performing?
Competition exists in skating and in other sports at different skill levels. It's not only the very best in the whole world who have opportunities to compete.
The sports governing bodies need to set minimum standards to enter competition at each level, but the athletes who want to win will strive to exceed those minimums.
At each skill level, whether prepreliminary level or elite senior level there will be some competitors who just barely possess the minimum skills to compete at that level and some (the perennial medal contenders) who have fully mastered everything expected at that level plus some more, and others with every combination of skills in between.
Yes, indeed it would be nice beyond discussion to get to the fairest and most productive format. I believe the Sport which is involved with so much money is unable to seek other means of promoting a sport in the USA. The adage: If it's not broken, don't fix it really doesn't apply, imo. because it needs fixing.
Let me suggest, if you want to fix the sport or offer suggestions for fixing it that can be taken seriously, make sure you first identify what the sport is trying to achieve as a whole and developing a plan for achieving that. Understand how income from live audiences and television networks around the world contribute to financing the activities of the international and national governing bodies, and also the financial contributions from the skaters themselves, government or corporate sponsors, and other sources. What kinds of rule changes would you be willing to make to accommodate the needs of any of these funding sources, and what changes would you consider inappropriate for the sport, no matter how much some outside source would want to fund them?
We can identify decisions that the ISU or individual national governing bodies have made that don't always seem to be in the best interests of the skaters or of the sport as a whole. We can also identify others that do serve the sport as a whole well but happen to adversely affect our favorite skaters or our favorite aspects of competition. But we also have to consider what effects changes to support our favorite skating values would have on all skaters and whether any attempts to "fix" things to our own liking might "break" things more seriously for the majority of skaters.
