Figures: Do any coaches still teach them?

[minx]

If it's the same "walking out" that I'm thinking of, it's a way of estimating whether your circles in a figure 8 or a three-circle figure are the right size, without using a scribe or any other measuring tool.

After you skate your figure, you stand at the far end of one circle. Then you put your heel of one skate to the toe of the other skate and "walk" along the vertical axis of the figure to measure the length of a circle. For a figure 8 both circles together are supposed to be about three times your height, so if you know how long your skate blade is (and of course you know how tall you are), you should know how many "steps" should fit in when you "walk" across the circle. Then when you "walk" you can tell if your figure is too big or too small.

Yes, that's it exactly. If you're six feet tall the 8 should be 24', if blades were exactly 12 inches it would be 12 foot circles. So 12 steps on each circle. So, make center snick mark, walk 12 one way, make a mark. Walk 12 the other way, make a mark. Then also do a crossways 12 on each circle. You end up with marks at 3/6/9/12 of the circle. It's a very rough way of laying a patch and was excellent for patch rotations where you got the end spot to see if you could fit or would have to overlap the person beside you.

[leafygreens]

I think they should be brought back and used for testing only, not competition.

Yes I agree with this also. However, I think testing them should be optional with either MIF or figures required before the freestyle test. It would be interesting to see how comparable skaters turned out with their skating skills.