Detroit selected to host 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

[BittyBug]

Splitting Lyft with friends in San Jose worked out great and was much cheaper than the shuttle. Since the Detroit downtown hotels are reasonably close to the arena, I imagine the cost for a Lyft/Uber should be similar.

The issue is the practice rink, which is 30 miles from downtown and probably an hour away in traffic.

 

[Debbie S]

The issue is the practice rink, which is 30 miles from downtown and probably an hour away in traffic.

The practice rink will only have Juv through Novice practices and events. The main arena will have all Jr and Sr events and practices. Of course, it will be a hassle for those who want to see the lower levels, but at least all the Junior (and Senior) events will be downtown.

 

[mackiecat]

I heard that at governing council, they are discussing removing juv and intermediate from Nationsls. I wonder if that is why there is a delay in selling tickets

 

[BittyBug]

Well that would certainly bring everything full circle.

The argument for combining what used to be jr. nationals with "big" nationals was that they wanted younger skaters to see the potential of a longer career trajectory by being part of a larger event in which their portion of the competition was just the start of the road, not then end. However, because of the enormous expense of full-sized arenas, in reality for most nationals the lower level events have been held in a separate facility. And with the lower level events held earlier in the week, many families of juvenile and intermediate skaters were not able to afford the cost of a stay that extended through the rest of the competition.

So in the end, it's not clear that there was much value rendered by combining the two events and I can see why they might vote to disaggregate them.

 

[Debbie S]

They did vote last year to go back to a separate JN and that was supposed to be implemented starting with 2019 Nats. But someone posted some months ago that the implementation was not going to be until 2020 and Detroit would be including Juv and Int. Perhaps there will be a vote at GC to move the implementation up a year...I imagine it depends on whether there is a viable proposal, with a host rink/club for JN lined up.

 

[Willin]

@BittyBug I thought having Jr. Nationals with Nationals had a lot more to do with the fact that literally no one wanted to host Junior Nationals. As @Debbie S said, moving it up would be contingent on if they could find a host, and I don't know if that would be able to happen.
(At least that's what I heard from the host club when I volunteered for the very last Junior Nationals)

It wouldn't make sense to remove it this close to Detroit. While January 2019 seems a ways off, it's only 9 months away, so I bet they have the ice booked and hotel deals made...

 

[BittyBug]

@BittyBug I thought having Jr. Nationals with Nationals had a lot more to do with the fact that literally no one wanted to host Junior Nationals.

That may have been their underlying reason but they sold it to members by positioning it as a way to encourage skaters to stay in the sport.

They did vote last year to go back to a separate JN and that was supposed to be implemented starting with 2019 Nats.

Thanks - I did not follow events at last year's GC so missed this. Am I totally misremembering or is it true that when they used to have junior nationals skaters qualified from regionals and not sectionals? And if that was the case, did they vote to return to the old format or will juv and int skaters still have to compete at sectionals?

 

[Willin]

@BittyBug To be fair, it would sound bad for any organization to say that they couldn't find a host for an event that the organization deemed important, so I don't think they would have admitted it. Also with USFS's eyes for PR it would make sense that they would try to turn every negative into a positive - and make it sound like it was their own idea.

I remember the organizer of the event said they had some reason to host that year - I think it was a favor for someone or maybe USFSA offering to give them more money towards the cost of hosting?
The big thing he said about Junior Nationals was it was a huge time waster for clubs. Every competition takes a lot of time and effort for a club to arrange, and there's pretty much no benefit monetarily for hosting Junior Nationals. Tacking it on to regular nationals is probably the only way to get that to happen. I wonder if it would be different if they tacked it on to Nationals in a different way? (Ie. if a club/city wants to host Nationals, they have to agree to host Jr. Nationals the same or next season)

 

[BittyBug]

I think junior nationals was difficult when there was only one layer of qualifying because the fields were enormous and therefore the event needed a lot of ice time. But if they kept the second qualifying layer at sectionals, then it doesn't seem like hosting junior nationals should be any more challenging than hosting sectionals.

 

[Debbie S]

Thanks - I did not follow events at last year's GC so missed this. Am I totally misremembering or is it true that when they used to have junior nationals skaters qualified from regionals and not sectionals? And if that was the case, did they vote to return to the old format or will juv and int skaters still have to compete at sectionals?

I believe they will still qualify through Sectionals, so the fields will still be 12 apiece. Probably to make it easier to find a host/keep costs down.

 

[jkl]

I spoke with my source at the Detroit Sports Commission. He says that ticket will go on sale "hopefully April". I came thisclose to telling him that fans were buying GPF and SKAM tickets and soon 4CC. Lots of folks have already spent their skating trip budget.

 

[purple skates]

TBH, I wouldn’t worry too much about ticket sales. There are a gazillion skaters in this area. As long as the prices aren’t too high, sales will be fine.

However, I’m not comfortable that the tickets won’t be too high. Red Wings games are cost-prohibitive as far as I’m concerned.

 

[misskarne]

I spoke with my source at the Detroit Sports Commission. He says that ticket will go on sale "hopefully April". I came thisclose to telling him that fans were buying GPF and SKAM tickets and soon 4CC. Lots of folks have already spent their skating trip budget.

Hold up, soon 4CC? Do we have a date for that? (I didn't think they'd even officially announced the venue yet.)

 

[5Ali3]

I heard that at governing council, they are discussing removing juv and intermediate from Nationsls.

The Request for Action from Competitions Committee will limit Nationals to Junior and Senior only; Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice will qualify from Regionals to Sectionals and their season will end at Sectionals, starting with the 2019-2020 season. (There's a little more to it than that, but that's the outline.)

 

[Debbie S]

The Request for Action from Competitions Committee will limit Nationals to Junior and Senior only; Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice will qualify from Regionals to Sectionals and their season will end at Sectionals, starting with the 2019-2020 season. (There's a little more to it than that, but that's the outline.)

I hope that doesn't pass. At least include Novice in the 'big Nats', like they always have. There are good reasons to have national Novice champs....one being future int'l opportunities....usually the top 2 or 3 Novices will get a spring int'l and/or a JGP. Those opportunities are crucial for skaters to get necessary experience for the higher levels.

 

[Sylvia]

@5Ali3, do you have a sense of whether or not this RFA will be voted in at the Governing Council meeting in early May? I was going to wait for the various documents to be published online before bringing up this verrrrry interesting topic/starting a separate discussion thread here at FSU!

 

[Willin]

TBH, I wouldn’t worry too much about ticket sales. There are a gazillion skaters in this area. As long as the prices aren’t too high, sales will be fine.

However, I’m not comfortable that the tickets won’t be too high. Red Wings games are cost-prohibitive as far as I’m concerned.

I found that most skaters I knew in Michigan (albiet all were synchro and a couple dancers/singles and college/just post-college) lacked interest in watching singles skating beyond any drama they knew about or coincidentally catching it on TV. If they gave out free tickets, I'd assume more would show up, but who knows... I'd bet it will be similar to San Jose with tons of little skaters and families going, a couple young coaches, and a bunch of older fans/coaches unless they give free tickets. They may also have problems with most demographics (including casual fans) if they really do follow through on not allowing people to purchase tickets at the door.

Once concern about local skaters and families showing up is the fact that a large amount of those skaters are involved in synchro. With Nationals being the weekend before Synchro sectionals, I'm willing to bet those teams/skaters will be spending a lot more time at their home rinks practicing than watching any of Nationals in person unless the team is selected to perform in the gala.

Hold up, soon 4CC? Do we have a date for that? (I didn't think they'd even officially announced the venue yet.)

It's in Anaheim, California on 2/4-2/10.
Depending on where I get hired and what the ticket prices look like, I might end up going. We shall see...

The Request for Action from Competitions Committee will limit Nationals to Junior and Senior only; Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice will qualify from Regionals to Sectionals and their season will end at Sectionals, starting with the 2019-2020 season. (There's a little more to it than that, but that's the outline.)

Very interesting... No Novice at Nationals?

 

[Sylvia]

@Debbie S, I saw a document that said the top 2 (I believe) Novices at each Sectional would have the opportunity to compete Junior at Nationals. The top Juvenile/Intermediate/Novice skaters from the 3 Sectionals also would be invited to attend a special camp to be held immediately following Nationals in or near the same city.

Hold up, soon 4CC? Do we have a date for that? (I didn't think they'd even officially announced the venue yet.)

The venue has yet to be announced; Feb. 4-10, 2019 are the dates listed on the ISU website right now: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-4cc-to-anaheim-ca.102069/page-2#post-5342753

 

[clairecloutier]

I’m kind of shocked at the idea of them eliminating Nationals for Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice. Particularly Novice.

I assume this is simply to reduce costs??

My first thought is will this demotivate younger skaters?

 

[Cleo1782]

I’m kind of shocked at the idea of them eliminating Nationals for Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice. Particularly Novice.

I assume this is simply to reduce costs??

My first thought is will this demotivate younger skaters?

I mean, juvenile and intermediate were separate for years and it didn't stop young skaters. Novice being left out is a bummer, but logistically it is a very long week especially for coaches who have students at low levels. Last year some coaches were at Nationals from Dec. 29th until the Monday after Nationals ended (Jan 8th I think?). I would take Juv and Int. out and keep Novice in.

 

[Lanie]

@Debbie S, I saw a document that said the top 2 (I believe) Novices at each Sectional would have the opportunity to compete Junior at Nationals. The top Juvenile/Intermediate/Novice skaters from the 3 Sectionals also would be invited to attend a special camp to be held immediately following Nationals in or near the same city.


The venue has yet to be announced; Feb. 4-10, 2019 are the dates listed on the ISU website right now: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-4cc-to-anaheim-ca.102069/page-2#post-5342753

It'll be at the Honda Center in Anaheim as that's the only place to do it.

 

[purple skates]

@Willin, synchro nationals are here (Plymouth) as are Synchro Midwesterns (in K-zoo). Not sure there’s any conflict either time or $$. (Unless they charge to much)

 

[Willin]

@purple skates Most teams have weekend practices, and some teams have weeknight/before school practices during the week, not to mention the homework to make up. Teams do not allow skaters to miss practices the week before Mids, even to watch Nationals. So the skaters would be expected to be at practice instead of at nationals.
Admittedly most practices are in the morning, but I know most teams will shove some extra hours in there. Some skaters may also have homework to make up for that weekend or the week before because they miss school, further limiting time.

 

[Debbie S]

@Debbie S, I saw a document that said the top 2 (I believe) Novices at each Sectional would have the opportunity to compete Junior at Nationals. The top Juvenile/Intermediate/Novice skaters from the 3 Sectionals also would be invited to attend a special camp to be held immediately following Nationals in or near the same city.

That sounds like another bad idea. So the top Novices would have to go home from Sectionals and add time/new choreo (and possibly different jumps) to their programs to meet the Junior requirements and then go compete 2 months later in Junior, where they would likely finish middle of the pack at best. Novices are in Novice for a reason - only in unusual cases would there be a Novice who could contend for medals in Junior. And then go to a camp (where they would miss more school). That doesn't sound conducive to skater development.

 

[Willin]

Maybe we should make a new thread on this topic?

I'm wondering why the heck they wouldn't want a National Novice competition when they've been sending some of their Novice national medalists to international competitions in recent years... If there were no Novice national medalists how would they choose which Novices to give an international Novice opportunity to? Or maybe it's like synchro where sending Novices to international competition was trialed for a couple years then scrapped?

 

[Sylvia]

Maybe we should make a new thread on this topic?

IMO, it doesn't make sense to make a new thread until more information is made available publicly... probably leading up to Governing Council. All I can or should say at this point is that a task force was set up by USFS last year to look into various ways/options to change/improve/enhance Nationals, the qualifying system, and the development system for young skaters. Coaches and athletes are involved in the process, too.

 

[Debbie S]

In the GC section in the members site on the USFS website, it says the meeting book and RFA will be posted by April 6.

 

[clairecloutier]

I mean, juvenile and intermediate were separate for years and it didn't stop young skaters. Novice being left out is a bummer...

But didn’t Juvenile and Intermediate have their own Nationals formerly? Under this proposal, they would have no Nationals. Their season would end at Sectionals.

Seems like an odd time to make this change, with international competitors developing at younger ages generally, especially in ladies. Will be interesting to hear the rationale/reasoning (aside from costs).

 

[mackiecat]

It is being set up similar to the Canadian model. In Canada it is based on their LTD model. Juvenile isn't an official part of the qualifying system at all. A lot of research went into those skaters who won Nationals and how it affected their future career. Yes there are some exceptions but in ladies and pairs you often don't see these kids " making" it. Why? Well when the goal is to win juvenile you have kids stay in longer to win thus missing prime development time. Juv in US can not include a triple.

In Canada, instead of Sectionals there is Challenge. Every skater who qualifies out of Sections (regionals for US), compete together. This is the end for the prenovice or intermediate skaters. Then the top Novice- senior plus byes go on to compete at Nationals.

 

[purple skates]

@purple skates Most teams have weekend practices, and some teams have weeknight/before school practices during the week, not to mention the homework to make up. Teams do not allow skaters to miss practices the week before Mids, even to watch Nationals. So the skaters would be expected to be at practice instead of at nationals.
Admittedly most practices are in the morning, but I know most teams will shove some extra hours in there. Some skaters may also have homework to make up for that weekend or the week before because they miss school, further limiting time.

I skate synchro so am familiar with the system.